Agenda and minutes

          The minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2014, having been circulated, were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

          The Mayor made the following announcements:-

·       He had attended the Freedom of the Borough march by Troops from the 1st Battalion the Mercian Regiment (Cheshire) on 1 December 2014, as they paraded through Widnes and Runcorn town centres;

·       The Mayor thanked everyone involved in the arrangements for the Town Hall Open Day on 6 December 2014. He reported that £1,006.34 had been raised for his three Mayoral charities.

          The Leader made the following announcements:-

·       The recent Ofsted inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers had now been completed. He advised that their report would be available in the New Year;

·       The  HMCI Ofsted Annual report showed Key Stage 4 GCSE performance of pupils on Free School Meals in Halton was ranked 10th out of 150 local authorities in England and first out of the 23 North West Local Authorities.

Councillor Philbin, Portfolio holder for Children, Young People and Families, wished to add his thanks to all staff involved in supporting the Ofsted inspection already mentioned.

          Council considered the minutes of the Executive Board meetings from 16 October 2014, 6 November 2014 and 20 November 2014.

          RESOLVED: that the minutes be received.

          The Council considered the minutes of the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting of 12 November 2014.

          RESOLVED: that the minutes be received.

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

Executive Board considered the attached report.

RECOMMENDED: That Council approve the initial budget proposals for 2015/16 as set out in Appendix 1.

          Executive Board had considered a report of the Operational Director, Finance, on initial revenue budget proposals for 2015/16.

          Members were advised that, under Standing Order 16(3), a recorded vote was required on all matters that related to decisions on the Budget.

          The following Members voted FOR the motion:

Councillors  S. Baker, M. Bradshaw, J. Bradshaw, D. Cargill, E. Cargill, Cassidy, Cole, Dennett, Fry, Gerrard, Gilligan, Harris, P. Hignett, R. Hignett, S. Hill, V. Hill, Horabin, Howard, Jones, M. Lloyd Jones, P. Lloyd Jones, C. Loftus, K. Loftus, A. Lowe, J. Lowe, MacManus, McDermott, A. McInerney, T. McInerney, Morley, Nelson, Nolan, Osborne, Parker, Philbin, Polhill, C. Plumpton Walsh, N. Plumpton Walsh, Ratcliffe, Joe Roberts, June Roberts, Rowe, Sinnott, G. Stockton, Thompson, Wainwright, Wallace, Wharton, Woolfall, Wright and Zygadllo.

          There were no votes against the motion.

          There were no abstentions.

          RESOLVED: That the initial budget proposals for 2015/16 as set out in Appendix 1 attached to the report, be approved.

Executive Board considered the attached report.

RECOMMENDED: That Council approve

1)       the Council Tax Base for 2015/16 to be set at 32,100 for the Borough, and that the Cheshire Fire Authority, the Cheshire Police & Crime Commissioner and the Environment Agency be so notified; and

2)       the Council Tax Base for each of the Parishes as follows:

          Executive Board considered a report of the Operational Director, Finance, on the requirement for the Council to determine a ‘Tax Base’ for its area and the tax base for each of the Parishes.

Members were advised that, under Standing Order 16(3), a recorded vote was required on all matters that related to decisions on the setting of Council Tax.

          The following Members voted FOR the motion:

Councillors  S. Baker, M. Bradshaw, J. Bradshaw, D. Cargill, E. Cargill, Cassidy, Cole, Dennett, Fry, Gerrard, Gilligan, Harris, P. Hignett, R. Hignett, S. Hill, V. Hill, Horabin, Howard, Jones, M. Lloyd Jones, P. Lloyd Jones, C. Loftus, K. Loftus, A. Lowe, J. Lowe, MacManus, McDermott, A. McInerney, T. McInerney, Morley, Nelson, Nolan, Osborne, Parker, Philbin, Polhill, C. Plumpton Walsh, N. Plumpton Walsh, Ratcliffe, Joe Roberts, June Roberts, Rowe, Sinnott, G. Stockton, Thompson, Wainwright, Wallace, Wharton, Woolfall, Wright and Zygadllo.

          There were no votes against the motion.

          There were no abstentions.

          RESOLVED: That Council approve

1)    the 2015/16 Council Tax Base be set at 32,100 for the Borough, and that the Cheshire Fire Authority, the Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner and the Environment Agency be so notified; and

2)    the Council Tax Base for each of the Parishes as follows:

Executive Board considered the attached report’

RECOMMENDED: That Council approve the revisions to the Council’s 2014/15 Capital Programme set out in paragraph 3.2 of the report.

          Executive Board had considered a report of the Operational Director, Finance, which reported on the 2014/15 Half Year Spending as at 30 September 2014.

          RESOLVED:That the revisions to the Council’s 2014/15 Capital Programme set out in paragraph 3.2 of the report, be approved.

RECOMMENDED: That Council re-appoint  Miss Elizabeth Lawler as a voting co-optee on the Children, Young People and Families Policy and Performance Board for a period of four years.

          Council were asked to consider the appointment of a voting co-optee to the Children, Young People and Families Policy and Performance Board.

          RESOLVED: That Miss Elizabeth Lawler be re-appointed as a voting co-optee on the Children, Young People and Families Policy and Performance Board for a period of four years.

Council are asked to note that, in accordance with Standing Order 30 (4), the Leader has notified a change in Committee/Board membership as follows:

Health PPB 

Councillor Carol Plumpton Walsh to replace Councillor Gerrard

Children Young People and Families PPB

Councillor Carol Plumpton Walsh to stand down from this Board

          Council were asked to note that, in accordance with Standing Order 30 (4), the Leader had notified a change in Committee/Board membership.

          RESOLVED: That Council note the following changes in Committee/Board membership:-

Health Policy and Performance Board

Councillor Carol Plumpton Walsh to replace Councillor John Gerrard.

Children, Young People and Families Policy and Performance Board

Councillor Carol Plumpton Walsh to stand down from this Board.

(N.B. The following Councillors declared a Disclosable Other Interest in Minute BEB28 of the Business Efficiency Board for the reasons stated:

Councillor Martha Lloyd Jones as a Governor of St Edwards Catholic Primary School; Councillor Joe Roberts as a Governor of St Michael’s Catholic Primary School at the time of the audit although he no longer held that position.)

          The Council considered the reports of the following Boards in the period since the meeting of Council on 15 October 2014:-

·       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 comments and observations were made:-

·         SAF 29 – Councillor Thompson reported that 20% of all emergency call-outs from the RNLI station at New Brighton were to incidents within the Borough;

·         SAF 31 – Councillor Thompson advised that an agreement had been reached with a number of retailers in the Borough to print an awareness message on till receipts regarding help available for those subjected to domestic abuse;

·         BEB 25 – Councillor Joe Roberts reported that in the Annual Update on Fraud and Corruption report, there were very few incidents recorded of fraud within the Borough. Also he reported that responsibility for the National Fraud Initiative would transfer to the Department for Works and Pensions in 2015.

          The Council considered the reports of the following Committees in the period since the meeting of Council on 15 October 2014:-

·       Development;

·       Regulatory; and

·       Appeals Panel.

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

·         Councillor Wainwright reported on the large increase in the number of Discretionary Housing Appeals which the Appeal Panel had dealt with since April 2014. His view was that this was a direct consequence of changes in Welfare Reforms.

        In this case the Board 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 item of business on the grounds that it involves 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 item 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 item 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.

Executive Board considered the attached report.

RECOMMENDED: That Council

1)    note the progress made to date and approve the timeline for the tender and construction process detailed in Appendix A;

2)    approve the proposal to tender works for the construction of a new cemetery;

3)    approve the addition of the £2.8m project to the Council’s Capital Programme; and

4)    approve the new name of the cemetery as Peel House Cemetery.

          Executive Board had considered a report of the Strategic Director, Communities, which updated Members on the timetable for the construction of the new Widnes Cemetery at Peelhouse Lane.

          RESOLVED: That

1)    the progress made to date be noted and the timeline for the tender and construction process detailed in Appendix A be approved;

2)    the proposal to tender works for the construction of a new cemetery be approved;

3)    the addition of the £2.8m project to the Council’s Capital Programme be approved; and

4)    the new name of the cemetery ­- Peel House Cemetery - be approved.

Executive Board considered the attached report.

RECOMMENDED: That Council

1)    Note the revised scheme costings, set out in Section 5 of the report, subject to formally agreeing the required additional funding contributions from the Homes and Communities Agency, and a developer’s planning obligation (S106) contribution;

2)    increase the estimated amount of the new permanent Warrington Road site within the Council’s Capital Programme, in line with the final estimated cost identified following the value engineering process; and

3)    granted delegated authority to the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, in consultation with the Portfolio holder for Physical Environment, to consider how any residual gap in funding might be met.

          Executive Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, which provided an update on the delivery of the new permanent Traveller site at Warrington Road.

          RESOLVED: That

1)    the revised scheme costings, set out in Section 5 of the report be agreed, subject to formally agreeing the required additional funding contributions from the Homes and Communities Agency, and a developer’s planning obligation (S106) contribution;

2)    the estimated amount of the new permanent Warrington Road site within the Council’s Capital Programme be increased, in line with the final estimated cost identified following the value engineering process; and

3)    the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, be granted delegated authority, in consultation with the Portfolio holder for Physical Environment, to consider how any residual gap in funding might be met.