Agenda and minutes
Venue: Conference Chamber, West Suffolk House, Western Way, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 3YU
Contact: Claire Skoyles: Democratic Services Officer
Email: claire.skoyles@westsuffolk.gov.uk
Items
No. |
Item |
238. |
Minutes PDF 139 KB
To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on
14 June 2022 and 26 July 2022 (extraordinary meeting) (copies
attached).
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The minutes of the meetings held on 14 June
2022 and 26 July 2022 (extraordinary meeting) were confirmed as
correct records and signed by the Chair.
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239. |
Chair's announcements PDF 284 KB
To receive announcements (if any) from the
Chair.
A list of civic events/engagements attended by
the Chair and Vice-Chair since the extraordinary meeting of Council
held on 26 July 2022 are attached.
Minutes:
As this was the first meeting of Council since
the sad death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September
2022, the Chair, followed by Group Leaders, took the opportunity to
pay their respects to Her late Majesty. A minute’s silence in
remembrance was also observed by all persons present.
The Chair then reported on the civic
engagements and charity activities which he and the Vice-Chair had
attended since the last meeting of Council on 26 July 2022.
Attention was particularly drawn to the
‘National Young Traders Competition’ and the
‘British Ugandan Asians at 50’ exhibition.
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240. |
Apologies for absence
To receive announcements (if any) from the
officer advising the Chair (including apologies for absence).
Minutes:
Apologies for absence were received from
Councillors Trevor Beckwith, Mick Bradshaw, Nick Clarke, Jason
Crooks, Brian Harvey, David Nettleton, Richard Rout, Jim Thorndyke
and Nick Wiseman.
Councillors Max Clarke and Aaron Luccarini
were also unable to attend the meeting.
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241. |
Declarations of interests
Members are reminded
of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary or local non
pecuniary interest which they have in any item of business on the
agenda no later than when that item is reached and, when
appropriate, to leave the meeting prior to discussion and voting on
the item.
Minutes:
Members’ declarations of interest are
recorded under the item to which the declaration relates.
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242. |
Leader's statement (Report number: COU/WS/22/016) PDF 145 KB
Paper number: COU/WS/22/016
Council Procedure Rules 8.1 to
8.3. The Leader will submit a report (the Leader’s
Statement) summarising important developments and activities since
the preceding meeting of the council.
Members may ask the Leader questions on the
content of both his introductory remarks and the written statement
itself.
A total of 30 minutes will be allowed for
questions and responses. There will be a limit of five minutes for
each question to be asked and answered. A supplementary question
arising from the reply may be asked so long as the five minute limit is not exceeded.
Minutes:
Councillor John Griffiths, Leader of the
Council, presented his Leader’s Statement as outlined in
paper number: COU/WS/22/016.
In his introductory remarks, Councillor
Griffiths:
a. Investment
zone: drew members’ attention to the recent Government
announcement that Suffolk had been named as one of the UK’s
special investment zones. This recognised the opportunities
contained in Suffolk for business and economic growth.
b. Mildenhall
Hub: reminded Council that this month marked the first
anniversary of the opening of the Mildenhall Hub. He highlighted
its successes including the benefits of public services working
together under one roof.
c. Mildenhall skate
park: that work on the £100,000 skate park in Mildenhall
was nearing completion. Funded by the Council’s Community
Asset Renewal Fund, local young people had collaborated in the
design process which helped enable this fit-for-purpose facility to
come to fruition.
d. ‘In
Bloom’ initiative: whilst special mention had been given
in his written statement to ‘in Bloom’ groups in
Brandon and Bury St Edmunds, Councillor Griffiths thanked all the
volunteers involved across West Suffolk who took part in
this initiative and other projects that
encouraged a sense of pride in towns and villages across the
district.
e. Cost of
living: working with partners across Suffolk, Councillor
Griffiths summarised the support available to those in need during
the current cost of living crisis. A more detailed update would be
provided to members in due course.
f. Bus routes:
that West Suffolk Council was seeking reassurances that action was
being undertaken by the relevant transport authorities to actively
pursue, and where possible, secure replacement operators for the
bus routes recently ceased by other operators. This situation had
largely arisen as a result of viability
challenges faced by the previous providers.
The Leader responded to a range of questions
relating to:
a. Investment
zones: that although much of the detail was yet to be received,
the Council was working collaboratively with partners to ensure any
investment zone initiatives would be for the benefit of businesses
and residents, with potential environmental impacts assessed and
mitigated, as appropriate. Representations relating to the
potential effect of relaxing planning considerations in certain
circumstances had been made with relevant civil servants and the
local MPs.
b. Rural England
Prosperity Fund (‘Rural Fund’): Councillor Victor
Lukaniuk wished to place his thanks on record to the Operations
team, and in particular the work of those in the Parks and
Landscapes for their efforts in Brandon. In response to Councillor
Lukaniuk’s question, Councillor
Griffiths informed Council that once further detail had been
received, the methods by which to allocate monies from the Rural
Fund would be agreed, following which a range of initiatives would
be assessed across the whole of West Suffolk, where eligible and
appropriate.
c. Mildenhall
Hub: Councillor Griffiths wholeheartedly agreed that by working
with partners, the Mildenhall Hub had been a tremendous success in
providing vital services from a single location. The benefits for
the community were evident and the Hub was an excellent example for
modelling future developments of this kind. ...
view the full minutes text for item 242.
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243. |
Public participation
Council Procedure Rules Section 6.
Members of the public who live or work in the district may put
questions about the work of the council or make statements on items
on the agenda to members of the Cabinet or any committee.
(Note: The maximum time to be set aside for
this item is 30 minutes, but if all questions/statements are dealt
with sooner, or if there are no questions/statements, the Council
will proceed to the next business.)
Each person may ask one question or
make one statement only. A total of five minutes will be
allowed for the question to be put and answered or the statement
made. If a question is raised, one supplementary question will
be allowed provided that it arises directly from the reply and
the overall time limit of five minutes is not exceeded.
If a statement is made, then the Chair may
allow the Leader of the Council, or other member to whom they refer
the matter, a right of reply.
The Constitution allows that a person who
wishes to speak must register at least 15 minutes before the time
the meeting is scheduled to start.
We
urge anyone who
wishes to register to speak to notify Democratic
Services by 9am on the day of the meeting so that
advice can be given on the arrangements in place.
As an alternative to addressing
the meeting in person, written
questions may be submitted by members of
the public to the Monitoring Officer no
later than 10am on Monday 26 September 2022. The written
notification should detail the full
question to be asked at the meeting of the
Council.
Minutes:
No members of the public in attendance had
registered to speak.
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244. |
Referrals report of recommendations from Cabinet and the Portfolio Holder for Resources and Property (Report number: COU/WS/22/017) PDF 267 KB
Minutes:
Council considered the referrals report of
recommendations from Cabinet and the Portfolio Holder for Resources
and Property, as contained within Report number: COU/WS/22/017.
A.
Referrals from Cabinet: 21 June 2022
1. Procurement
Policy and Contract Procedure Rules
It was noted that the new West Suffolk Council
Procurement Policy (Appendix A to Report
number CAB/WS/22/028) was approved by Cabinet on 21 June
2022. The approval of the West Suffolk
Council Contract Procedure Rules had been recommended to Council,
as it required changes to be made to the Council’s
Constitution.
Councillor Sarah Broughton, Portfolio Holder
for Resources and Property drew relevant issues to the attention of
Council.
Discussion was held on the percentage of the
total number of business contracts made with the Council that were
local to the district. This data was not held; however, local
businesses did partake in the Council’s procurement
processes.
Together with welcoming the key aims of the
revised documents, as summarised in paragraph 1.3 of the referrals
report, recognition was particularly given to promoting
environmental sustainability to support the Council’s
commitment to achieving carbon net zero by 2030; and to adhering to
the Council’s Modern Slavery Statement.
On the motion of Councillor Broughton,
seconded by Councillor Joanna Rayner, it was put to the vote and
with the vote being 50 for the motion, none against and two
abstentions, it was
Resolved:
That the constitutional changes, as set out in the revised West
Suffolk Council Contract Procedure Rules at Appendix B to Report
number CAB/WS/22/028, be approved.
B. Referrals from Cabinet: 19
July 2022
An extraordinary meeting of Council was held
on 26 July 2022 which considered a referral from Cabinet on 19 July
2022. There were no other referrals emanating from that
meeting.
C. Referrals
from Portfolio Holder for Resources and Property: 23 September
2022
Following the sad
death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and observing the period of
national mourning, the Cabinet meeting arranged for 20 September
2022, was cancelled as a mark of respect.
As three of the
items were due to be referred by Cabinet to Council for a final
decision, the Portfolio Holder for Resources and Property was asked
to make these decisions on behalf of Cabinet. These were to
recommend to Council, approval of the recommendations set out in
the relevant reports.
Following the publication of the agenda and
papers for this meeting, which took place before the portfolio
holder decisions were taken on 23 September 2022, the Chair
confirmed that no changes had been made to the recommendations
contained in the referral report.
1. Annual
Treasury Management and Financial Resilience Report (2021 to
2022)
Approval was sought for the Annual Treasury
Management and Financial Resilience Report (2021 to 2022).
Councillor Sarah Broughton, Portfolio Holder
for Resources and Property drew relevant issues to the attention of
Council.
Reference was made to paragraph 1.6 of the
referral report where it was questioned whether the external
borrowing of £10 million created additional risk to the
Council’s financial position rather than ‘
...
view the full minutes text for item 244.
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245. |
Community Governance Review (Report number: COU/WS/22/018) PDF 333 KB
Report number: COU/WS/22/018
Additional documents:
Minutes:
(Councillor Peter Thompson declared that he
was the Mayor of Bury St Edmunds Town Council. He remained in the
meeting for the consideration of this item and voted.)
Council considered this report, which sought
approval for the final recommendations emanating from the interim
Community Governance Review (CGR).
Councillor Carol Bull, Portfolio Holder for
Governance, drew relevant issues to the attention of Council. She
thanked the Community Governance Review Task and Finish Group and
the Business Partner (Governance) for their work on the review, and
extended her thanks to members, town and parish councils and other
groups that had engaged with the process.
On 22 March 2022, Council considered and
approved the draft recommendations for consultation and at that
meeting it was recognised by members that a
general consensus on those recommendations was not always
going to be achievable. The consultation on the draft
recommendations was held between April and end of June 2022,
following which the Task and Finish Group considered each of the 10
issues (summarised in section 2.6 of the report) in detail and the
evidence within the consultation responses before making the final
recommendations. This included exercising their delegated authority
to amend and re-consult on revised recommendations for ‘Issue
1: Bury St Edmunds (Out Westgate) Town Ward and Bury St Edmunds
(Westgate) Town Ward’ and ‘Issue 7: Properties on
Wickham Street between Wickhambrook and
Denston’ to ensure it made its
final recommendations based on sufficient evidence provided.
It had also been
recommended that delegated authority be given to officers to take
the necessary steps to implement the changes so that they took
effect from 1 April 2023. This included enabling engagement to take
place with the Local Government Boundary Commission for England
(LGBCE) to request any necessary changes to district wards and
county divisions so that they remained aligned with parish
boundaries.
A discussion was held on Issue 4, which sought
to extend the boundary of Bury St Edmunds parish to include the
Lark Grange housing development, which was currently located within
Rushbrooke with Rougham parish, as
detailed in Appendix A. Lark Grange was located
in the district ward of Moreton Hall.
Recognising that a general
consensus was not achievable in this case and that
opportunities for enabling electoral boundaries to be looked at
again as part of future CGRs, Councillor Peter Thompson, one of the
ward members for Moreton Hall, spoke moderately in support of the
final recommendation for Issue 4 and was relatively satisfied with
the proposal.
In response, Councillor Bull informed Council
that the feedback from the consultation had been carefully
considered and with the evidence presented to the Task and Finish
Group, the final recommendation had been made on that basis.
On the motion of Councillor Bull, seconded by
Councillor Robert Nobbs, it was put to the vote and with the vote
being 51 for the motion, none against and one abstention, it
was
Resolved: That
1. the
recommendations, as set out in Appendices A to J to Report number:
COU/WS/22/018, be ...
view the full minutes text for item 245.
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246. |
Appointment of Independent Persons (Report number: COU/WS/22/019) PDF 125 KB
Report number: COU/WS/22/019
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Council considered this report, which sought
approval for West Suffolk Council to join a consortium of Suffolk
authorities that held a pool of Independent Persons and for the
individuals proposed for that role to be appointed accordingly.
The Localism Act 2011 required that
authorities adopted arrangements for dealing with complaints about
potential breaches of the Code of Conduct by members. This must include provision for the appointment of
at least one Independent Person.
Since 2012 the Council had appointed two
Independent Persons whereas Babergh
District Council, Mid Suffolk District Council, Ipswich Borough
Council and Suffolk County Council had formed a consortium and had
jointly recruited and appointed a pool of Independent Persons, the
rationale for which was set out in paragraph 1.3 of the report.
The arrangement with the current Independent
Persons appointed by West Suffolk Council ended on 30 September
2022. Although the work of the
Independent Persons had been exemplary, they had both decided they
no longer wished to continue to undertake the role. The current pool of Independent Persons for the
consortium of four authorities was also ending so it would be an
appropriate time for this council to join the consortium and have a
pool of Independent Persons from which to select to consider a
complaint.
Councillor Carol Bull, Portfolio Holder for
Governance, drew relevant issues to the attention of Council,
including that a recruitment process had been undertaken over
summer 2022 with a view to appointing five individuals to form the
aforementioned pool. Short profiles for
each were attached as Appendix A to the report.
On the motion of Councillor Bull, seconded by
Councillor David Roach, it was put to the vote and with the vote
being 50 for the motion, none against and two abstentions, it
was
Resolved:
That
West Suffolk Council joins the consortium of authorities
which held a pool of Independent Persons, and the
individuals listed in Appendix A to Report number: COU/WS/22/019,
be appointed as the Council’s Independent Persons pursuant to
section 28(7) of the Localism Act 2011 for a term of two years with
an option to extend the appointment for a further two
years.
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247. |
Representation on Suffolk County Council's Health Scrutiny Committee
The Council is asked to nominate one member
and one substitute member to serve on Suffolk County
Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on 16
June 2022, considered nominations for a representative and a
substitute member for 2022 to 2023.
Recommendation:
It is recommended that Councillor
Margaret Marks be nominated as West Suffolk Council’s
representative and Councillor Mike Chester as the nominated
substitute member on the Suffolk County Council Health Scrutiny
Committee for 2022 to 2023.
Minutes:
Council considered a narrative item, which
sought approval for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s
nominations to Suffolk County Council’s (SCC) Health Scrutiny
Committee.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on 16
June 2022, had considered nominations for a representative and a
substitute member to sit on behalf of West Suffolk Council on
SCC’s Health Scrutiny Committee for 2022 to 2023.
The Committee had recommended that Councillor
Margaret Marks be appointed as the Council’s nominated
representative on this body, and for Councillor Mike Chester to be
the substitute, as set out in the Council agenda.
Councillor Ian Shipp, Chair of the Overview
and Scrutiny Committee, drew relevant issues to the attention of
Council, including proposing the Committee’s
recommendation.
On the motion of Councillor Shipp, seconded by
Councillor John Burns it was put to the vote and with the vote
being 51 for the motion, 0 against and 1 abstention, it was
Resolved:
That Councillor
Margaret Marks be nominated as West Suffolk Council’s
representative and Councillor Mike Chester as the nominated
substitute member on the Suffolk County Council Health Scrutiny
Committee 2022 to 2023.
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248. |
Any other urgent business
To consider any business, which
by reason of special circumstances, should in the opinion of the
Chair be considered at the meeting as a matter of
urgency.
Minutes:
There were no matters of urgent
business considered on this occasion.
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249. |
Exclusion of press and public
To consider whether the press and public
should be excluded during the consideration of the following item
because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be
transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the
public were present during the item, there would be disclosure to
them of exempt categories of information as prescribed in Part 1 of
Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and indicated
against the item and, in all circumstances of the case, the public
interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest
in disclosing the information.
Minutes:
As the next item on the agenda was exempt,
on the motion of Councillor John Griffiths, seconded
by Councillor Cliff Waterman, and duly carried, it was
Resolved:
That the press and
public be excluded during the consideration of the following item
because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be
transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the
public were present during the item, there would be disclosure to
them of exempt categories of information as prescribed in Part 1 of
Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and indicated
against the item and, in all circumstances of the case, the public
interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest
in disclosing the information.
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250. |
Exempt item: Referral of recommendations from the Portfolio Holder for Resources and Property: Investing in our commercial portfolio (paragraph 3) (Exempt Appendix A to Report number: COU/WS/22/017)
C. Referral from the
Portfolio Holder for Resources and Property: 23 September
2022
3.
Exempt Appendix A to Report number: COU/WS/22/017
(Portfolio holder decision Exempt Report number:
CAB/WS/22/045)
Investing in our commercial portfolio (paragraph 3)
Portfolio holder:
Councillor Sarah Broughton
Minutes:
C. Referral
from the Portfolio Holder for Resources and Property: 23 September
2022
1. Investing in
our commercial portfolio
Council was advised of an opportunity to
invest in a Council-owned site which would help with the delivery
of the Council’s strategic, place-shaping and medium term financial plans.
Councillor Sarah Broughton, Portfolio Holder
for Resources and Property, drew relevant issues to the attention
of Council, including that if the outline business case was
approved at this meeting, the full business case would be presented
to Cabinet for consideration and approval in due course.
Following due consideration and debate,
the majority of members acknowledged the
benefits of the proposal and supported the development of a full
business case, as set out in the exempt report and appendices
attached.
On the motion of Councillor Broughton,
seconded by Councillor Sara Mildmay-White, it was put to the vote
and with the vote being 50 for the motion, none against and two
abstentions, it was,
Resolved:
That the
recommendations, as set out in Exempt Report No: CAB/WS/22/045, be
approved.
(This decision and associated papers will be
available in the public domain in due course.)
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In this section
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