Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil.

Contact: Angela Cox, Democratic Services Specialist - 01935 462148  Email: angela.cox@southsomerset.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Election of Chairman

To elect a Chairman for the ensuing year. (Following the election the formal Declaration of Acceptance of Office will be read and signed.)

Decision:

 

RESOLVED:

that Councillor Tony Capozzoli be elected as Chairman of the Council for the Municipal Year 2018/2019.

 

Minutes:

Councillor Mike Best, seconded by Councillor Dave Bulmer nominated Councillor Tony Capozzoli as Chairman of the Council.

There being no other nominations it was:

RESOLVED:

that Councillor Tony Capozzoli be elected as Chairman of the Council for the Municipal Year 2018/2019.

 

Following his appointment Councillor Capozzoli read and signed the formal declaration of acceptance of office, and thanked Members for their support.

2.

Appointment of Vice-Chairman

To appoint a Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year. (Following the appointment the Vice-Chairman will read and sign the formal Declaration of Acceptance of Office.)

Decision:

 

RESOLVED:

that Councillor Mike Best be elected as Vice Chairman of the Council for the Municipal Year 2018/2019.

 

Minutes:

Councillor Jo Roundell Greene, seconded by Councillor Andy Kendall, nominated Councillor Mike Best as Vice-Chairman of the Council.

 

Councillor Mike Lewis, seconded by Councillor Martin Wale, nominated Councillor Linda Vijeh as Vice-Chairman of the Council.

 

The two nominations were put to the vote and Councillor Mike Best was declared elected as Vice-Chairman of the Council (voting: Mike Best 28 votes, Linda Vijeh 21 votes).  It was therefore:-

 

RESOLVED:

that Councillor Mike Best be elected as Vice Chairman of the Council for the Municipal Year 2018/2019.

 

Following his appointment Councillor Best read and signed the formal declaration of acceptance of office and thanked Members and officers for their support during his time as Chairman of Council.

3.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Marcus Barrett, Neil Bloomfield, Amanda Broom, Adam Dance, Jenny Kenton, Sue Osborne and Netta Meadows, Director.

4.

Minutes

To approve and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday, 15th March 2018.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 15th March 2018, copies of which had been previously circulated, were approved as a correct record of the meeting and signed by the Chairman.

 

5.

Declarations of Interest

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015 and modified 9 February 2016), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

Members are reminded that they need to declare the fact that they are also a member of a County, Town or Parish Council as a Personal Interest.  Where you are also a member of Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council within South Somerset you must declare a prejudicial interest in any business on the agenda where there is a financial benefit or gain or advantage to Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council which would be at the cost or to the financial disadvantage of South Somerset District Council. 

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

6.

Public Question Time

Minutes:

Miss R Kendall spoke of the difficulties of requesting a taxi during school drop off and pick up times as so many of them were engaged in school transport.  She said this affected many people and had caused difficulties with hospital appointments at these times.  She asked if there was anything the District Council could do to help?

 

Councillor Ric Pallister, as Leader of Council said this was a problem across Somerset as many of the special schools used taxis to transport students and the taxi firms relied on the income the work brought.  He offered to raise the issue with Somerset County Council transport team to see if there was anything to be done.

7.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

The Chairman advised of the death of ex-District Councillor Martin Rawstorne of Ilminster the previous week.  He asked that Members stand for a moment of silence in his memory. 

 

The Leader of Council spoke of the recent Unitary Council proposal by Somerset Country Council (SCC).  He noted that there was a Joint CEO and Leader meeting with all Districts and SCC the following day where it was likely to commission a study into the proposals and options.  He confirmed that his intention was to reform the cross party Leaders Group and no substantive decisions would be taken without referral to the District Executive and Full Council.

8.

Chairman's Engagements pdf icon PDF 76 KB

Minutes:

The list of Chairman’s engagements was noted.

9.

Strategic Development and Regeneration in South Somerset District Council pdf icon PDF 487 KB

Decision:

 

RESOLVED:

That Full Council agreed to:-

 

1.

discontinue the following Programme and Project Boards:

 

a.   Strategic Regeneration Board

b.   Local Development Scheme Board

c.   The Four Area Regeneration Boards (West, North, East and South)

d.   The Chard Regeneration Project Board

 

 

2.

establish a Strategic Development Board with the remit and membership as set out in paragraphs 6.1 to 6.5;

 

 

3.

establish a Chard Regeneration Programme Board with the remit and membership as set out in paragraphs 6.6 to 6.16;

 

 

4.

establish a Yeovil Regeneration Programme Board with the remit and membership as set out in paragraphs 6.6 to 6.16;

 

 

5.

establish a Wincanton Regeneration Programme Board with the remit and membership set out in paragraphs 6.6 to 6.16;

 

 

6.

the principle of delegating a Gross Spend and Net Cost budget to the Regeneration Programme Boards as outlined in section 7 of this report, and delegated authority to S151 Officer to approve funding arrangements for Gross and Net arrangements;

 

 

7.

the principle of prioritising Business Rates Pooling gains for Regeneration Programmes;

 

 

8.

the constitution and financial procedure rules to be amended to reflect the proposed delegations.

 

Reason:

To focus the Council’s strategic development of the District including regeneration, economic development, infrastructure and housing.

(Voting: 32 in favour, 14  against, 5 abstentions)

Minutes:

The Leader of Council, as Portfolio Holder for Strategy and Policy advised that as the Council Plan had been agreed, it must be implemented and the Council’s structures must also be aligned to do this and deliver the priority projects.  He noted the dis-establishment of the Regeneration Boards and their replacement with Programme Boards and said that although they were only resourced for certain projects, smaller schemes could be supported by the Area Committees

 

The Chief Executive advised that there were elements of some of the proposed schemes where an income could be generated and therefore they could be forward funded by SSDC and the income generated would repay the investment to achieve the net spend. 

 

In response to questions from Members, the Leader of Council and Chief Executive advised that:-

 

·         Paragraph 6.13 relating to the Regeneration Programme Boards, should include in consultation with the relevant Area Chairman when any differences were referred to the CEO and Leader for a decision.

·         The Council had appointed a Regeneration Manager for Chard and the Chief Executive and Director for Commercial Services and Income Generation both had a commercial background. 

 

Councillor Michael Lewis, as Leader of the Conservative Group said that whilst they could agree the majority of recommendations, they were concerned at 3.1.6 until finer detail on the delegation was given.  The Leader of Council and Portfolio Holder for Property and Climate Change sought to give assurance by drawing attention to paragraph 7.10 which required Council to approve the gross and net budgets of each programme.

 

At the conclusion of the discussion, the majority of Members were content to confirm the recommendations of the report (voting: 31 in favour, 14 against, 5 abstentions).

 

RESOLVED:

That Full Council agreed to:-

 

1.

discontinue the following Programme and Project Boards:

 

a.   Strategic Regeneration Board

b.   Local Development Scheme Board

c.   The Four Area Regeneration Boards (West, North, East and South)

d.   The Chard Regeneration Project Board

 

 

2.

establish a Strategic Development Board with the remit and membership as set out in paragraphs 6.1 to 6.5;

 

 

3.

establish a Chard Regeneration Programme Board with the remit and membership as set out in paragraphs 6.6 to 6.16;

 

 

4.

establish a Yeovil Regeneration Programme Board with the remit and membership as set out in paragraphs 6.6 to 6.16;

 

 

5.

establish a Wincanton Regeneration Programme Board with the remit and membership set out in paragraphs 6.6 to 6.16;

 

 

6.

the principle of delegating a Gross Spend and Net Cost budget to the Regeneration Programme Boards as outlined in section 7 of this report, and delegated authority to S151 Officer to approve funding arrangements for Gross and Net arrangements;

 

 

7.

the principle of prioritising Business Rates Pooling gains for Regeneration Programmes;

 

 

8.

the constitution and financial procedure rules to be amended to reflect the proposed delegations.

 

Reason:

To focus the Council’s strategic development of the District including regeneration, economic development, infrastructure and housing.

(Voting: 31 in favour, 14 against, 5 abstentions)

10.

Appointment of Member Level Bodies 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 273 KB

Decision:

 

 

Recommendation (1) – to note the appointment of Leader of the Council

 

RESOLVED:

that Council noted that it appointed Councillor Ric Pallister as Leader of the Council for a period of four years, starting on the day of his election (May 2015) and ending on the day of the post 4-year Council election annual meeting (May 2019).  

 

Recommendation (2) – to note the appointment of Deputy Leader of the Council

 

RESOLVED:

that Council noted that it appointed Councillor Jo Roundell Greene as Deputy Leader of the Council to hold office (subject to Article 7.03) until the end of the term of office of the Leader (May 2019).

 

Recommendation (3) - Appointment of Membership and establishment of District Executive Committee

 

RESOLVED:

that the Leader appointed the following Members and Portfolio responsibilities for 2018/19;

 

Ric Pallister

Lib Dem

Leader: Strategy & Policy (including Strategic Housing, LSP, HR, Efficiency agenda, Performance,  Private Sector Housing, oversight of Civil Contingencies)

 

Jo Roundell Greene

Lib Dem

Deputy Leader: Environment & Economic Development and Transformation:  (including Economic Development, Regeneration, Streetscene, Waste & Recycling)

 

 

Peter Seib

Lib Dem

Finance &  Legal Services (including Strategic Car Parking Income, Revenues & Benefits, Strategic Asset Management, Procurement,  South West Audit Partnership

 

 

Sylvia Seal

Lib Dem

Leisure & Culture: (including Sport, Countryside, Arts, Health & Well-Being, Third Sector, Operational Housing & Welfare)

 

 

Henry Hobhouse

Lib Dem

Property and Climate Change and Income Generation: (including Strategic Transport, Property & Engineering,  ICT, GIS, Carbon Management)

 

 

Angie Singleton

Lib Dem

Strategic Planning (Place Making)  (including Development Management, Spatial Planning, Area Development, Market Town Investment Group, Licensing)

 

Val Keitch

Lib Dem

Area West Chair (Environmental Health, Health and Safety, Democratic Services and Member Development, Equalities and Diversity)

 

Graham Middleton

Cons

Area North Chair (Waste and Recycling and Tourism)

 

Nick Weeks

Cons

Area East Chair (Civil Contingencies and Heritage, Building Control and Listed Buildings)

 

Peter Gubbins

Lib Dem

Area South Chair (Yeovil Town Centre Regeneration, Community Safety and  Crematorium)

 

Recommendation (4) – Re-establishment of member level bodies for 2018/19

RESOLVED:

that the following member-level bodies be re-established for 2018/19:

 

4 Area Committees (geographical representation)

Scrutiny Committee (14 members)

Audit Committee (10 members)

Regulation Committee (14 members)

Licensing Committee (15 members)

Appointments Committee (8 members)

Standards Committee (6 District Council members plus 5 co-optees)

 

Recommendation (5) - Appoint Members to Member-Level Bodies

RESOLVED:

that the memberships of the bodies established as in recommendation (4) be approved as follows for 2018/19 having regard to the principles of political balance as set out in the report and giving effect to the wishes of the party political groups:

Area North Committee

13 members (exempt from political balance)

 

Adam Dance

Lib Dem

 

Stephen Page

Lib Dem

 

 

Crispin Raikes

Lib Dem

 

 

Jo Roundell Greene

Lib Dem

 

 

Sylvia Seal

Lib Dem

 

 

Clare Aparicio Paul

Conservative

 

Neil Bloomfield

Conservative

 

 

Graham Middleton

Conservative

Chairman

 

Tiffany Osborne

Conservative

 

 

Gerard Tucker

Conservative

Vice Chairman

 

Dean Ruddle

Conservative

 

Sue Steele

Conservative

 

 

Derek Yeomans

Conservative

 

Area South Committee

19 members (exempt from political balance)

 

Cathy Bakewell

Lib Dem

 

 

John Clark

Lib Dem

 

 

Peter Gubbins

Lib Dem

Chairman

 

Kaysar  ...  view the full decision text for item 10.

Minutes:

The Chairman asked for Members to consider each recommendation individually and it was resolved that:-

 

Recommendation (1) – to note the appointment of Leader of the Council

 

RESOLVED:

that Council noted that it appointed Councillor Ric Pallister as Leader of the Council for a period of four years, starting on the day of his election (May 2015) and ending on the day of the post 4-year Council election annual meeting (May 2019).  

 

Recommendation (2) – to note the appointment of Deputy Leader of the Council

 

RESOLVED:

that Council noted that it appointed Councillor Jo Roundell Greene as Deputy Leader of the Council to hold office (subject to Article 7.03) until the end of the term of office of the Leader (May 2019).

 

Recommendation (3) - Appointment of Membership and establishment of District Executive Committee

 

RESOLVED:

that the Leader appointed the following Members and Portfolio responsibilities for 2018/19;

 

Ric Pallister

Lib Dem

Leader: Strategy & Policy (including Strategic Housing, LSP, HR, Efficiency agenda, Performance,  Private Sector Housing, oversight of Civil Contingencies)

 

Jo Roundell Greene

Lib Dem

Deputy Leader: Environment & Economic Development and Transformation:  (including Economic Development, Regeneration, Streetscene, Waste & Recycling)

 

 

Peter Seib

Lib Dem

Finance &  Legal Services (including Strategic Car Parking Income, Revenues & Benefits, Strategic Asset Management, Procurement,  South West Audit Partnership

 

 

Sylvia Seal

Lib Dem

Leisure & Culture: (including Sport, Countryside, Arts, Health & Well-Being, Third Sector, Operational Housing & Welfare)

 

 

Henry Hobhouse

Lib Dem

Property and Climate Change and Income Generation: (including Strategic Transport, Property & Engineering,  ICT, GIS, Carbon Management)

 

 

Angie Singleton

Lib Dem

Strategic Planning (Place Making)  (including Development Management, Spatial Planning, Area Development, Market Town Investment Group, Licensing)

 

Val Keitch

Lib Dem

Area West Chair (Environmental Health, Health and Safety, Democratic Services and Member Development, Equalities and Diversity)

 

Graham Middleton

Cons

Area North Chair (Waste and Recycling and Tourism)

 

Nick Weeks

Cons

Area East Chair (Civil Contingencies and Heritage, Building Control and Listed Buildings)

 

Peter Gubbins

Lib Dem

Area South Chair (Yeovil Town Centre Regeneration, Community Safety and  Crematorium)

 

Recommendation (4) – Re-establishment of member level bodies for 2018/19

RESOLVED:

that the following member-level bodies be re-established for 2018/19:

 

4 Area Committees (geographical representation)

Scrutiny Committee (14 members)

Audit Committee (10 members)

Regulation Committee (14 members)

Licensing Committee (15 members)

Appointments Committee (8 members)

Standards Committee (6 District Council members plus 5 co-optees)

 

Recommendation (5) - Appoint Members to Member-Level Bodies

RESOLVED:

that the memberships of the bodies established as in recommendation (4) be approved as follows for 2018/19 having regard to the principles of political balance as set out in the report and giving effect to the wishes of the party political groups:

Area North Committee

13 members (exempt from political balance)

 

Adam Dance

Lib Dem

 

Stephen Page

Lib Dem

 

 

Crispin Raikes

Lib Dem

 

 

Jo Roundell Greene

Lib Dem

 

 

Sylvia Seal

Lib Dem

 

 

Clare Aparicio Paul

Conservative

 

Neil Bloomfield

Conservative

 

 

Graham Middleton

Conservative

Chairman

 

Tiffany Osborne

Conservative

 

 

Gerard Tucker

Conservative

Vice Chairman

 

Dean Ruddle

Conservative

 

Sue Steele

Conservative

 

 

Derek Yeomans

Conservative

 

Area South Committee

19 members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

Report of Executive Decisions pdf icon PDF 95 KB

Minutes:

The report of Executive Decisions was noted.

12.

Audit Committee pdf icon PDF 83 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Derek Yeomans, Chairman of the Audit Committee, presented the report of the Committee. 

The report of the Audit Committee was noted.

 

13.

Scrutiny Committee pdf icon PDF 174 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Sue Steele, Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee, presented the report of the Committee. 

 

The report of the Scrutiny Committee was noted.

 

14.

Motions

There were no Motions submitted by Members.

Minutes:

There were no Motions submitted by Members.

15.

Questions Under Procedure Rule 10

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 10.

Minutes:

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 10.

16.

Date of Next Meeting pdf icon PDF 18 KB

Minutes:

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council was a reserve date of 21st June 2018. 

Unless there was any urgent business to progress on this date, the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council would take place on Thursday, 19th July 2018 in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 7.30 p.m.

 

17.

Exclusion of Press and Public pdf icon PDF 72 KB

Decision:

RESOLVED:

That the following item be considered in Closed Session by virtue of the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A under Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

That the following item be considered in Closed Session by virtue of the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A under Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

 

18.

Budget for Chard Regeneration Programme and Yeovil Regeneration Programme (Confidential)

Decision:

 

RESOLVED:

That Full Council agreed the recommendations of the report.

Reason:

To deliver on the regeneration priority projects within the Council Plan and meet the needs of the towns and communities in which the regeneration is to take place.

(Voting: 36 in favour, 10 against, 3 abstentions)

Minutes:

The Portfolio Holder for Environment and Economic Development advised that the proposals would finance the Chard Regeneration Scheme and the Yeovil Regeneration Scheme which were both specific objectives in the Council Plan. 

 

The Chief Executive outlined the finance proposed and the possible schemes to regenerate the towns and advised that a commercial approach would be taken to fund the schemes to minimise the borrowing and net cost to the Council. 

 

During the following discussion, the Director for Commercial Services and Income Generation, Leader and Section 151 officer answered Members questions on points of detail, and, at the conclusion of the debate, the majority of Members were content to confirm the recommendations of the report.

 

RESOLVED:

That Full Council agreed the recommendations of the report.

Reason:

To deliver on the regeneration priority projects within the Council Plan and meet the needs of the towns and communities in which the regeneration is to take place.

(Voting: 36 in favour, 10 against, 3 abstentions)