Agenda and minutes

          The minutes of the meetings of Council held on 4 February 2015, 4 March 2015 and 18 March 2015 having been circulated, were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

          The Mayor made the following announcements:-

·       His Royal Highness, The Duke of Kent had recently visited the Borough to celebrate 1100 years of the Magna Carta in Runcorn. The Runcorn Historical Society had presented the Duke and the Mayor with signed copies of the book published to coincide with the celebrations;

·       The Mayor thanked everyone who had supported him and the Mayoress at the many charity functions throughout the year. Many young people in the Borough had benefited from those volunteers that had given so generously of their time;and

·       The Mayor thanked Councillor Marie Wright for all her support and work associated with organising Mayoral Charity events.

          The Leader had circulated his briefing to Members and had no further announcements.

          The Council considered the minutes of the Executive Board meetings of 12 February 2015, 26 February 2015, 12 March 2015 and 26 March 2015.

          RESOLVED: That the minutes be received.

The Council considered the minutes of the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting 11 March 2015.

          RESOLVED: That the minutes be received.

          It was noted that no questions had been submitted under Standing Order No.8.

(N.B. The following Councillors declared a Discolsable Other Interest in the following item of business for the reasons stated: Councillor Alan Lowe as Governor of Hallwood Park Primary and Nursery School; Councillor Martha Lloyd Jones as Governor of Beechwood Primary School)

Executive Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, on the Capital Programme for the Children and Enterprise Directorate.

RECOMMENDED: That Council approve the Capital Programme for 2015/16.

          Executive board had considered a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, which provided a summary of the Capital Programme for 2015/16 for the Children and Enterprise Directorate.

          RESOLVED: That the Capital Programme for 2015/16 be approved.

Executive Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, which sought approval of funding for an Invest to Save proposal.

RECOMMENDED: That Council approve the inclusion of £4.7m scheme within the Capital Programme, to be funded as set out in the report.

          Executive Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, which sought approval for an Invest to Save proposal and funding to cover the costs of an LED Conversion Programme.

          RESOLVED: That the inclusion of £4.7m scheme within the Capital Programme, to be funded as set out in the report, be approved.

Executive Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, which set out the Calendar of Meetings for 2015/16 Municipal Year.

RECOMMENDED: That Council approve the Calendar of Meetings for 2015/16 Municipal Year.

          Executive Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, which set out a Calendar of Meetings for the 2015/16 Municipal Year.

          Councillor Polhill moved an amendment, seconded by Councillor Wharton and it was:-

          RESOLVED: That the Calendar of Meetings for the 2015/16 Municipal Year be approved, subject to the deletion of the April 2016 meeting of Council.

Executive Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, which sought approval of a number of changes to the Council’s Constitution.

RECOMMENDED: That Council approve the revised Constitution, including the amendments set out in Appendix 1, attached to the report.

          Executive Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, which sought approval of a number of changes to the Council’s Constitution.

          RESOLVED: That the revised Constitution, including the amendments set out in Appendix 1, attached to the report, be approved.

(N.B. Councillor Martha Lloyd Jones declared a Dislcosable Other Interest in Minute BEB 36 of the Business Efficiency Board, as her Grandson was on placement as a teacher at Spinney Avenue CE Voluntary Controlled Primary School)

          The Council considered the reports of the following Boards in the period since the meeting of Council on 4 February 2015:-

·       Children, Young People and Families;

·       Employment, Learning, Skills and Community;

·       Health;

·       Safer;

·       Environment and Urban Renewal;

·       Corporate; and

·       Business Efficiency.

In considering the minutes, the following observations were made:-

·         Councillor Gilligan reminded all PPB Chairs that the cross-PPB Topic Group on Fees and Charges would be meeting again in June;

·         Councillor Roberts reported on the complimentary comments he had received from the Council’s external Auditors, Grant Thornton and thanked Officers for their work on providing training to Members of the Business Efficiency Board throughout the year; and

·         Councillor Thompson highlighted the forthcoming Topic Group of the Safer PPB, looking at the emergence of new psychoactive substances (legal highs).

The Council considered the reports of the following Committees in the period since the meeting of Council on 4 February 2015:-

·       Development Control;

·       Regulatory;

·       Appeals Panel;

·       Standards;

·       Mayoral; and

·       Appointments.

In considering the minutes, the following observations were made:-

·       In moving the minutes of the Appeals Panel, Councillor Wainwright wished to place on record his thanks to Councillor Angela McInerney for her work as Vice Chair of the Panel, and to Kath Lunt, Housing Benefit Officer, for her work in presenting the increased number of appeals for Discretionary Housing Payment;

·       In moving the Minutes of the Mayoral Committee, The Mayor, Councillor Shaun Osborne, wished to place on record his congratulations to Councillor Ellen Cargill on her appointment as Mayor-elect and Councillor Ged Philbin on his appointment as Deputy Mayor-elect and wished them a successful year ahead; and

·       In moving the minutes of the Standards Committee, Councillor Peter Lloyd Jones wished to place on record his thanks to all Elected Members, Co-optees and Independent Persons on the Standards Committee for their support.

        In this case Council has a discretion to exclude the press and public and, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, it is RECOMMENDED that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, having been satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

Please note that if this resolution is passed, members of the press and public will be asked to leave the room during consideration of the following business.

            Council considered:

(1)      whether Members of the press and public should be excluded from the meeting of Council during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be considered, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972; and

(2)      whether the disclosure of information was in the public interest, whether any relevant exemptions were applicable and whether, when applying the public interest test and exemptions, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed that in disclosing the information.

          RESOLVED: That as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

(N.B. Councillor Carol Plumpton Walsh declared a Disclosable Other Interest in the following item of business as she was related to the Officer referred to in the report)

Executive Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, which sought approval to amend the Capital Programme allocation.

RECOMMENDED: That Council approve a revision to the Capital Programme for £2.3m for the construction of the rail infrastructure to 3MG HBC Fields.

          Executive Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, which sought approval to amend the Capital Programme allocation.

          RESOLVED: That a revision to the Capital Programme for £2.3m for the construction of the rail infrastructure to 3MG HBC Fields be approved.

(N.B. The following Members declared a Disclosable Other Interest in the following item of business and left the room during consideration of the item: Councillor Wainwright – Chair of Halton Transport and Councillor John Stockton, Councillor MacManus, Councillor Wharton and Councillor Woolfall - as Board Members of Halton Transport)

Council are asked to consider the attached report of the Operational Director, Finance.

          Council considered a report of the Operational Director, Finance, on Halton Borough Transport Ltd.

          RESOLVED: That

1)              Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) replace the Council as having the first legal call on the Moor Lane Depot (the Depot) of Halton Borough Transport Limited (the Company);

2)              An agreement be drawn up between the Council and RBS to provide the Council with the first option to purchase the Depot, based upon an independent valuation, in the event of RBS taking freehold ownership; and

3)              Halton Borough Transport Limited be asked to provide a monitoring report to Operational Director – Finance every three months, commencing October 2015, to include the information as set out in paragraph 6.4 of the report.