Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Allen, Day, Davidson, Fower, Lamb and Thacker. 

          Councillor Miners declared a pecuniary interest in the ‘Early Years Services Including Children’s Centres’ decision made by Cabinet at its meeting held on 18 November 2013 in that his partner worked for one of the service providers and would be affected by the new proposed delivery of the service.

          The Legal Officer provided clarification to Members as to whether it was necessary to leave the Chamber if they believed they were biased to any decision. It was advised that they did not need to leave, however they should not take part in debate or vote on the issue.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 October 2013 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

The Mayor advised that the Deputy Mayor had been unable to attend the ‘Thanksgiving Service and Pie’ social event that was listed.

With the amendment, Members noted the report outlining the Mayor’s engagements for the period commencing 30 September 2013 to 1 December 2013. 

The Mayor thanked Members for their support over the last six months and wished all a happy Christmas and New Year.

There were no announcements from the Leader.

          There were no announcements from the Chief Executive.

There had been two questions received from members of the public, these were in relation to:

1.    The cost of running the Children’s Centres; and

2.    The impact that the public would have on the proposals to close the Children’s Centres.

Questions relating to ward matters were raised and taken as read in respect of the following:

1.    The proposed partial closure of Caverstede Early Years Centre;

2.    The solar panels installed on the Freemans building;

3.    The future of schools on and around the Peterborough District Hospital site; and

4.    Timescales for new streetlights along Fulbridge Road.

Due to the time limit for the item being reached, a question relating to the following topic was responded to in writing outside the meeting:

5.    Why residents had no say or input into the Tesco store opening along Oundle Road.

A summary of all questions and answers raised within agenda item 8 are attached at APPENDIX A to these minutes.

There were no questions received.

Councillor Shearman submitted a petition signed by approximately 180 residents, requesting that the Council negotiate with Stagecoach with a view to re-routing, along Garton End Road and Elmfield Road, a number of journeys each day on Route 2, to protect the needs of elderly and vulnerable people who had lost out due to the removal of subsidies to the local link service.

Councillor Thulbourn submitted a petition signed by approximately 265 residents, requesting that the Council stop the Tesco development in Oundle Road and also to ensure that resident’s opinions were taken into consideration on these type of projects going forward.

Mrs Angela Brennan submitted a petition signed by approximately 665 residents requesting that the requesting that the proposals to close down six children’s centres and to restructure others, be rescinded.

Ms Faustina Yang submitted a petition signed by approximately 165 residents requesting that the proposals to close down Hampton Children’s Centre and to restructure the others be rescinded.

A further petition was received by a member of the public signed by approximately 45 residents requesting that the proposals to close down six children’s centres and to restructure others, be rescinded.

Clarification was sought by Councillor Khan as to the number of signatures a petition required in order for a debate to be triggered at Full Council, as was stated on the Council’s website. The Legal Officer advised that there was currently no provision for this within the Standing Orders and the wording on the website would be investigated for accuracy.

Questions to the Leader and Members of the Executive were raised, with all of the questions being taken as read, in respect of the following:

1.    The issues faced by residents due to the lack of brown bin collections during the winter months;

2.    The loss of urban green space to development;

3.    The policy for outreach services following the closure of the Veranda and details of the consultation process;

4.    The measures in place to assist families with the bedroom tax;

5.    Whether call-in had been factored into the timeline for the Children’s Centres decision;

6.    Whether the MPs actions were having a detrimental impact upon the investment in Peterborough; and

7.    Progress made into researching webcasting.

A summary of all questions and answers raised within agenda item 11 is attached at APPENDIX B to these minutes.

Early Years Services Including Children’s Centres

Prior to questions, Councillor John Fox declared an interest in the item, in that he sat on the Advisory Board for the Welbourne School Children’s Centre.

Councillor Judy Fox declared that she too sat on the Advisory Board for the Welbourne School Children’s Centre.

Councillor Seaton, Councillor Shabbir, Councillor Khan and Councillor Swift declared that they too sat on advisory boards and Councillor Casey declared that he was a Governor at Brewster Avenue School and also sat on an advisory Board.

The Legal Officer advised that Members were appointed to Advisory Boards in a non-fee earning capacity, therefore these appointments were not disclosable pecuniary interests, however there may be an issue in relation to predetermination on the matter, in which case Members would be able to speak but not vote on any decisions, of which there were none in the agenda item under consideration.

Councillor Murphy queried why there had not been a proposal to cut Members’ Allowances, as a non-ringfenced fund, yet there were proposals for a 40% cut in the 0-2 provision at the Children’s Centres, which was also non-ringfenced? The Legal Officer advised Councillor Murphy that this question was not relevant to the decision made at Cabinet, this being for the proposals to go out for consultation and not for any approval in budget cuts.

Councillor Murphy stated that the ‘Executive Report – Record of Executive Decisions’ report did not detail that there had been a call-in invoked since the previous meeting, this being for Children’s Centres decision. The Legal Officer advised that the call-in would be reported to the next Council meeting as it had happed following the publication of the meeting papers.

Appointment of Authority Governor – Matley Primary School

Councillor Shearman sought clarification as to what happened to those Local Authority (LA) Governors appointed to primary schools that subsequently changed to academies. Were there LA representatives on academies? Councillor Holdich stated that all academy schools had one LA representative on their board and the lady appointed as a Governor to Matley Primary School would also become an academy governor.

Termination of Development Agreement and Compulsory Purchase Order Agreement in Respect of North Westgate – Special Urgency Provisions Invoked

Councillor Thulbourn queried whether the Peterborough MP had any involvement in the decision? Councillor Cereste responded that the MP had no involvement, rather it was a technical issue relating to the transfer of ownership of Queensgate to the new owners. 

A1139 Fletton Parkway Junction 17 A1(M) – Junction 2 Widening Scheme – Appointment of Site Supervision and Contract Administrator

Councillor Thulbourn queried whether the decision would go some way to assisting with air quality on the Fletton Avenue, Fletton High Street, Whittlesey Road, Stanground corner,  as this area had some of the worst air quality in the city and was one of the worst in the region. Councillor Cereste advised that he was not in a position to answer the question.

Councillor Sandford sought assurance that the timings of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Cabinet at its meeting of 4 November 2013 received a report, following approval of the Consultation Draft version of the City Centre DPD (from now on referred to as the City Centre Plan) on 10 December 2012, and following public consultation and further evidence gathered since that date.

Councillor Cereste introduced the report and moved the recommendation that Council approved the Peterborough City Centre DPD (Proposed Submission Version) for the purposes of public consultation and submission to the Secretary of State, subject to the amendments as detailed within the report. This was seconded by Councillor Hiller, who reserved his right to speak.

Members debated the recommendation and in summary raised points including:

·         Were there plans within the document to prevent Tesco from taking over numerous properties across the city, as they had done in Woodston?

·         Assurance was sought that the Queensgate development would match up with the Bourges Boulevard crossing, to ensure that people crossing the road had somewhere to go. An earlier scheme had mentioned easier access into Queensgate and into the bus station;

·         The older buildings along the riverside such as the old mill, added interest and should be renovated in order to make them more attractive. Existing buildings should be improved and given a new life, making the city more interesting;

·         The city centre was not particularly lively later on in the evenings;

·         The Plans to regenerate North Westgate were welcomed and this regeneration would hopefully bring new business to the area;

·         The New England and Millfield areas had not been identified in the Plan for regeneration, work did need to be undertaken in these areas;

·         The Long Causeway works’ timetable needed to be adhered to, in order to ensure the least amount of disruption;

·         There were some wonderful houses along Broadway and Park Road, and initiatives were needed to entice the small businesses away from them to enable them to be brought back into residential use;

·         The submission was extremely good and hopefully it could be carried forward and delivered;

·         It should be ensured that the Plan did not become too developer led;

·         Ensuring the sustainability of public transport and tackling climate change were important and should continue to be addressed;

·         The overdevelopment of supermarkets in the city particularly along Bourges Boulevard should be avoided;

·         The document was excellent for which the planning department should be congratulated; and

·         The scheme was well thought out and would deliver business and good quality homes for the people of Peterborough.

Councillor Hiller exercised his right to speak and in response to points raised by Members advised that the majority of planning applications for a change of use required planning consent and Ward Councillors could refer these issues to the Planning Committee for consideration. Also, recent government initiatives did favour office use reverting to residential use and as a local planning authority, Peterborough City Council would look at city centre properties favourably for reversion. Finally, Gemma Wildman, Principal Planner was to be congratulated for her work on the document and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13 (a)

Council received a report which requested it to note the recommendations of the Independent Members’ Allowances Panel and to determine the action it wished to take in response to those recommendations. Councillor Cereste introduced the report and stated that whilst he supported the idea that Councillor’s should be remunerated appropriately for what they do, the particular recommendations contained within the Panel’s report would add in excess of £100k to the budget, and this was considered to be unacceptable. The Panel was thanked for the hard work and effort that they had put into the report, however the Conservative Group could not support any increase and Councillor Cereste moved a motion that there be no change to the current allowances scheme for 2014/15. This was seconded by Councillor Walsh who reserved her right to speak.

Members debated the motion and raised points including:

·         This was the third year that the Panel’s recommendations had been rejected in their entirety;

·         Continued rejection could create an impression that those in power were responsible for determining their own remuneration;

·         The basic level of remuneration could compound problems in the future by deterring able individuals from becoming Councillors, a small increase in the basic allowance would have been more appropriate;

·         With the current financial climate and with the cuts to valuable public services and jobs, any increase would be insensitive and out of touch; and

·         The implementation of a set figure for all council’s would mean that the issues experienced when determining members’ remuneration would be avoided going forward.

Councillor Walsh exercised her right to speak and in doing so stated that although there were green shoots appearing in the economy, any increase in members’ remuneration would be inappropriate when residents were being asked to accept the consequences of decisions that the Council was having to make.

Councillor Cereste summed up as mover of the recommendation and stated that he did not have anything further to add.

A recorded vote was requested and agreed. Members voted as follows:

Councillors For: Arculus, Ash, Casey, Cereste, Elsey, Fitzgerald, Fletcher, Forbes, JR Fox, JA Fox, Goodwin, Harper, Harrington, Hiller, Holdich, Jamil, Johnson, Khan, Kreling, Lane, Lee, Maqbool, Martin, McKean, Miners, Murphy, Nadeem, Nawaz, North, Over, Peach, Rush, Saltmarsh, Sanders, Scott, Seaton, Serluca, Shabbir, Sharp, Shearman, Stokes, Swift, Sylvester, Todd, Thulbourn and Walsh.

Councillors Against: None.

Councillors Abstaining: Knowles, Sandford and Shaheed.

Following the vote (46 For, 0 Against and 3 Abstentions) the motion was CARRIED as follows:

That the Council notes the recommendations of the Independent Members’ Allowances Panel, as summarised at paragraph 3 of the report, and that there should be no increase in the Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2014/15.

Council received a report that requested it approve a revised budget process and timetable, which included commencing budget consultation at the Cabinet meeting scheduled to take place on 3 February 2014. Councillor Seaton moved the recommendations in the report and this was seconded by Councillor Elsey.

A vote was taken (unanimous) and it was RESOLVED to:

Approve a revised budget process and timetable that included commencing budget consultation at the Cabinet meeting on 3 February 2014.

Council received a report requesting that a number of Standing Orders be varied and adopted, and that the proposed variation be postponed without discussion to the next ordinary meeting of Council, in accordance with Standing Order 10 of the General Standing Orders. Furthermore that the Constitution Working Group consider those revisions made following six months of operation and report back to the Council as necessary. Councillor Seaton moved the recommendations in the report stating that the proposals were tabled and would be brought back to the next appropriate meeting for debate. Councillor Seaton further thanked the officers and the cross party working group for the work undertaken.

This was seconded by Councillor Sandford and he endorsed the comments made by Councillor Seaton.

A vote was taken (unanimous) and it was RESOLVED to:

Postpone the proposed variation without discussion to the next ordinary meeting of council, in accordance with Standing Order 10 of the General Standing Orders.

Council received a report requesting it agreed to confirm the date of Annual Council in 2014. Councillor Seaton moved the recommendation and this was seconded by Councillor North.

A vote was taken (unanimous) and it was RESOLVED:

That Council, in respect of the Programme of Meetings June 2014 to May 2015, agreed to confirm the date of Annual Council as Monday 16 June 2014.

Council received a report requesting it to agree to appoint Council David Over to the Cambridgeshire Fire Authority following the resignation of Council Sue Day. Councillor Cereste moved the recommendation and this was seconded by Councillor Holdich.

A vote was taken (unanimous) and it was RESOLVED:

That Council agree to appoint Councillor David Over to the Cambridgeshire Fire Authority following the resignation of Councillor Sue Day as a member of the Fire Authority.