Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mike Beech, John V Chainey, Nick Colbert, Tony Fife, Marcus Fysh, Dave Greene, Brennie Halse, Tim Inglefield, Mike Lewis, Graham Middleton, Terry Mounter, David Norris, Sue Osborne, Patrick Palmer, Ros Roderigo, Jo Roundell Greene, Paul Thompson, Kim Turner, Martin Wale and Derek Yeomans.

To approve and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday, 15^th January 2015.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 15^th January 2015, copies of which had been previously circulated, were approved as a correct record of the meeting and signed by the Chairman.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (adopted July 2012), 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. A DPI is defined in The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1464) and Appendix 3 of the Council’s Code of Conduct. A personal interest is defined in paragraph 2.8 of the Code and a prejudicial interest is defined in paragraph 2.9.

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. As a result of the change made to the Code of Conduct by this Council at its meeting on 15th May 2014, 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. If you have a prejudicial interest you must comply with paragraphs 2.9(b) and 2.9(c) of the Code.

There were no declarations of interest made.

Questions, statements or comments from members of the public are welcome at the beginning of each meeting of the Council. The total period allowed for public participation shall not exceed 15 minutes except with the consent of the Council and each individual speaker shall be restricted to a total of three minutes. Where there are a number of persons wishing to speak about the same matter, they should consider choosing one spokesperson to speak on their behalf where appropriate. If a member of the public wishes to speak they should advise the committee administrator and complete one of the public participation slips setting out their name and the matter they wish to speak about. The public will be invited to speak in the order determined by the Chairman. Answers to questions may be provided at the meeting itself or a written reply will be sent subsequently, as appropriate. Matters raised during the public question session will not be debated by the Council at that meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public present.

The Chairman asked that Members had the correct paperwork for the evening including the two additional reports.  He also asked that Members collect their agendas for the Council meeting the following week and deliver any to those Members not present at the meeting. 

The Chairman also reminded Members of the evening of music, song and dance on 22nd April at the Octagon Theatre to raise funds for the Mayor of Yeovil’s Charity, Flying High for Flying Colours for Yeovil Women’s Hospital.

The list of Chairman’s Engagements was noted.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Spatial Planning, with the aid of a power point presentation, outlined the financial challenges and successes which had faced the Council over the last 4 years.  He referred to the Council’s successful investment programme and the grants of New Homes Bonus funding awarded and the challenge of the reductions in Rate Support Grant.  He drew Members attention to paragraph 53 of the report which outlined the Council’s reserves and he proposed an amendment to Recommendation D of the report to reduce Council Tax for the forthcoming financial year to £147.75 for a Band D property, to be funded from New Homes Bonus money representing a reduction of 1.99%.  This proposal was seconded. 

In response to the proposal, the following comments were made:-

·         No increase in the level of Council Tax for the last 5 years has been laudable but taking the number of properties in the district, a modest increase would not have had a tremendous impact upon residents and the Council could have done much with the additional money.

·         With the reducing budgets, services had been reorganised over the last 4 years with no reduction in service to the residents.

·         Pleased we are in a position to give money back to the electorate.

·         The reduced car park income is noted and perhaps it would be better to abolish car parking charges across the district.

·         Abolishing car park charges would only benefit people who owned a car and not all of the residents in the district.

·         Both officers and members have worked as a team to make a prudent position which allows the proposed reduction in Council Tax.

At the conclusion of the debate, a named vote was requested by more than 10 Members present and the voting was as follows:-

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Spatial Planning advised that the consequential amendments to the Council Tax setting were highlighted in the updated report circulated to all Members.

There was no debate and the majority of Members were content to confirm the Council Tax setting for 2015/16.

RESOLVED:  That Full Council approved the following:

(a)       the formal council tax resolutions referred to in paragraphs 3 to 11 (as amended);

(b)       and the individual tax setting as follows:

(i)      that the Somerset County Council; Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset (PCC for Avon and Somerset); and Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority has stated the amounts shown in paragraph 7, 8 and 9 respectively of this report in precept issued to the Council, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Act 1992 (as amended), for each of the categories of dwelling;

(ii)     that the total amount of council tax for each band of property in the South Somerset area for 2015/16 be as given in the table below:

NB –   The above figures exclude all town/parish precepts.

(iii)    that, having calculated the totals of each precepting authority’s amounts (including town and parish precepts), the Council (in accordance with Section 30(2) of the Local Government Act 1992) (as amended) hereby sets the amounts shown at TOTAL in the table shown at Appendix A as the council taxes for the year ending 31 March 2015 for each category of dwelling.

(c)       the total Band D Council Tax will be as follows:

(Voting: 34 in favour, 1 against, 5 abstentions)

Councillor Ian Martin, as Vice Chairman of the Audit Committee, stated that they had scrutinised the Treasury Management Strategy Statement and Investment Strategy and he invited any questions upon it.

There was no debate and Members unanimously confirmed the Treasury Management Strategy Statement and Investment Strategy for 2015/16.

(Voting:  unanimous in favour)

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Spatial Planning advised that the amendments to the Financial Procedure rules were highlighted in the report and he asked that Members confirm them. 

There was no debate and Members unanimously confirmed the updated Financial Procedure Rules.

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

The Assistant Director (Legal and Corporate Services) advised that from 7^th May, Councillors would be required to register the Disclosable Pecuniary Interests of their spouse or civil partner as well as their own, as part of the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012.  This required a small amendment to the Councillor’s Code of Conduct which was detailed on Agenda page 74 at paragraph 2.2.

The Portfolio Holder for Regulatory and Democratic Services asked if this change would affect the Council’s registration with the Information Commissioners Office and the Assistant Director (Legal and Corporate Services) confirmed that it was not required to be separately identified however, he would check this with the Commissioners office.

There being no other debate, Members confirmed the revised code of conduct to be formally adopted by Council.

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Spatial Planning stated that all Councils were obliged to publicise their chief officer’s salaries and any other benefits received each year as a requirement of the Localism Act 2011.  He noted that no other benefits were listed for SSDC senior officers.

There was no debate and Members were pleased to approve the proposed Statutory Pay Policy Statement for the year 2015/16 for publication. 

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

The Assistant Director (Legal and Corporate Services) advised that Councillor Chainey was still unable to attend Council meetings and so the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Group Leaders, had agreed to extend his existing dispensation to allow him to remain a Councillor until his term of office ended. 

Members were content to note the decision taken by the Chief Executive. 

The following amendments to the 2015/16 meetings timetable were noted:-

·         Budget and Council Tax Setting Full Council meeting - moved to 25^th February 2016

In response to a question, the Portfolio Holder for Regulatory and Democratic Services confirmed that Councillors current IT equipment could be purchased by them for a nominal sum, or returned to SSDC for recycling after the Election in May 2015.

The report of Executive Decisions was noted.

Councillor Ian Martin, Vice Chairman of the Audit Committee, advised that SSDC had received a positive outcome to their appeal to the Department of Work and Pensions, resulting in a small refund due to SSDC. 

The report of the Audit Committee was noted.

The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee said a great deal of task and finish work had been completed during the year and she thanked both the officers and councillors who had contributed to them.  She encouraged new Members to join the task and finish groups in the forthcoming council year.    

The report of the Scrutiny Committee was noted.

There were no Motions submitted by Members.

There were no Motions submitted by Members.

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 10.

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 10.

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council would take place on Thursday, 5^th March 2015 in the Council Chamber, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 7.30 p.m.