Issue - meetings

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

(At this point Councillors Michael Best, Tim Carroll, Peter Gubbins, Anna Groskop, David Norris, Peter Seib, Angie Singleton and Linda Vijeh all having previously declared a personal and prejudicial interest in this item, left the room.  They took no part in the debate or voting on this item).

(Councillor Carol Goodall in the Chair).

The Leader of Council thanked the members of the Scrutiny Task and Finish Group who had spent a great deal of time ensuring the policy was fit for purpose.  He drew Members attention to the changes in the Governments contribution to the scheme,  the key principles of the policy, the organisations and businesses who must now apply with justification for relief and the Hardship Scheme which had been set up to address exceptional cases.

In response to a question, the Assistant Director (Finance and Corporate Services) advised that at the current time, there was no mention of animal welfare in the Council Plan and therefore the Scrutiny Task and Finish Group members had found no policy reason to extend the scheme to cover support to Animal Trusts, however, they were eligible to apply to the Hardship Scheme if required.

At the conclusion of the debate, Members agreed to adopt the draft Discretionary Rate Relief Policy and Schedule 1 at Appendix A to the Agenda report.

(Voting: unanimous in favour)