Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Neil Bloomfield, Gye Dibben, Kaysar Hussein, Jenny Kenton, Sarah Lindsay, Mike Lock, Sam McAllister, Graham Oakes, Sue Steele, Linda Vijeh and William Wallace. 

To approve and sign the minutes of the previous Council meetings held on Tuesday, 13^th October and Thursday, 22^nd October 2015.

The minutes of the Council meetings held on the 13^th and 22^nd October 2015, copies of which had been previously circulated, were approved as a correct record of the meetings 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.

Councillors Peter Gubbins, Andy Kendall, Tony Lock, David Recardo, Rob Stickland and Alan Smith declared a personal interest in Agenda item 9: Delegated Licensing Arrangements with Yeovil and Wincanton Town Councils, as members of Yeovil Town Council.

Mr Bud Budzynski wished all Councillors a Happy Christmas.

Councillor Tony Capozzoli, Vice-Chairman of Council, thanked the Councillors and officers who had attended the Council Christmas dinner the previous week.  He also thanked all officers of the Council for their work throughout the year and wished them all a Happy Christmas. 

The list of Chairman’s Engagements was noted.

The Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning (Place Making) advised that the Statement of Community Involvement had been subject to extensive public consultation and had been presented at a Portfolio Briefing as well as the Scrutiny and District Executive Committees. 

In response to questions from Members, the Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning (Place Making) and the Leader of Council advised that:

·         Although no change to the Council’s approach to consulting the public on planning applications was proposed, the Portfolio Holder said she was happy to discuss this further with the Member outside the meeting.

·         SSDC would fund the cost of any referendum required as part of a Neighbourhood Plan. 

·         Although not specifically mentioned in the document, SSDC would also consult Internal Drainage Board’s directly where it was felt necessary

·         The mapping of Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes (SUDs) was a vital piece of work and they were the responsibility of Somerset County Council as the lead flood authority.

At the conclusion of the debate, the majority of Members were content to confirm the adoption of the South Somerset District Council Statement of Community Involvement.

(Voting: 47 in favour, 1 against, 0 abstentions)

The Portfolio Holder for Licensing introduced the report and invited questions from Members. 

There were no questions and the recommendations were proposed and seconded and unanimously agreed by Members.

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

The Portfolio Holder for Licensing introduced the report and advised that the proposal had been subject to a Scrutiny Task and Finish review as well as presented to District Executive.

There were no questions and the recommendations were proposed and seconded and confirmed by the majority of Members present. 

(Voting: 47 in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention)

The Chairman of the Audit Committee introduced the report and invited the Assistant Director (Finance and Corporate Services) to clarify the increase in balances on page 156 of the Agenda.

The Assistant Director (Finance and Corporate Services) advised that balances had increased by £2.7m as New Homes Bonus money had been put aside and there had been a slight increase in capital receipts. In response to questions from Members she confirmed that some residents and businesses paid their Council Tax and Business Rates early and the figure in the report relating to the Hinton St George loan should be £190,000 not £1.9m. 

At the conclusion of the debate, Members were pleased to unanimously confirm the recommendations of the report.

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

The Leader of Council, as Portfolio Holder for Strategy and Policy introduced the report to Members.  He advised that whilst there was some excellent private rented sector housing, there was also some which were substandard and which often linked to poor health issues for tenants.  He said the need for private sector housing would increase and so the strategy document was important to help to maintain housing standards. 

In response to questions from Members, the Portfolio Holder confirmed:-

·         He would clarify the number of long term empty properties which it was not practical to bring back into use. 

·         Page 9 of the Policy document – the final bullet point relating to homelessness across Somerset would be separated to two bullet points for clarification.

·         Persimmon Homes were already experiencing a skills shortage in the building trade and he had referred them to Yeovil College for assistance.

·         The Landlords Forum meetings were well attended, however, he would be happy to discuss including more private sector landlords at the borders of the district.

At the conclusion of the debate, Members unanimously confirmed the Private Sector Housing Strategy 2015-19as a future strategy of the Council.

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

The Leader of Council introduced the item and advised that the new SSDC Council Plan would be delayed until March 2016 when the journey of exploration with Sedgemoor DC would be resolved.  He also mentioned the impact which New Homes Bonus would have on the authority.

There were no questions and the report of Executive Decisions was noted.

Councillor Derek Yeomans, Chairman of the Audit Committee, introduced the report and advised that the target for the Council’s Council Tax collection rate had been increased by 1% as 4 additional staff were now engaged on this within the Revenues section.

There were no questions and the report of the Audit Committee was noted.

Councillor Dave Bulmer, Vice-Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee, introduced the report and thanked the officers and Members who had participated in the Scrutiny Task and Finish reviews during the year.

The report of the Scrutiny Committee was noted.

The following Motion was submitted by Councillor Nick Colbert:-

Local Homes for Local People

Proposal - That Council agreed to adopt as soon as practically possible a system of scoring that reflects locality, family, school and work commitments to enhance the quality of life of South Somerset residents by keeping their family and friends network together, reducing the burden on social services and reducing carbon emissions by removing the need for unnecessary travel to and from visiting family, friends and work.  If this cannot be achieved through the Somerset Homefinder system then South Somerset should adopt its own system for the benefit of our residents or adopt the “doughnut” system of allocation via s106 agreements as used in Barton St David or a proportion, say 50% of affordable housing in market towns should be held aside for local families using the doughnut principle.

Councillor Nick Colbert advised that his motion was a moral point which had occurred on four occasions within his Ward. He mentioned the stress which it caused to families and the burden it placed upon Social Services.  Although plenty of affordable homes had been built in Wincanton, fewer than 10% had been made available to local families.  He asked that the current policy be reassessed and adapted to make recognition of local connections to keep families together and he said he would welcome an all-party committee to push the proposal forward.

Councillor Sylvia Seal introduced Kirsty Larkins, Housing and Welfare Manager, who had been invited to explain the effect of the proposed Motion on the current Homefinder policy. 

The Housing and Welfare Manager outlined the current Homefinder Policy and the banding system of priority for housing and the allocations which had occurred within Wincanton.  She said that all the partners in the Homefinder Somerset scheme would have to agree to the change in policy, or otherwise, SSDC would need a separate policy and then housing applicants would need to register with each of the 2 schemes.  This could also lead to nomination issues with the Councils registered housing providers.  She noted that there could be some improvement in the marketing of vacant properties to local residents. 

During discussion varying views were expressed.  Some Members felt that the Motion should be supported and the policy should be amended to allow families to remain locally for support by extended family members, whilst other Members cautioned the unintended consequences of agreeing to the Motion as it was proposed.  Several Members suggested that the Homefinder Policy be reviewed by a Scrutiny Task and Finish group as they had assisted in formulating the original policy and this could be more acceptable to the other Somerset Council partners in the Homefinder scheme. 

At the conclusion of the debate, Councillor Colbert said the current scheme was not working for local people and the necessary negotiations should be made with Homefinder Somerset.  He asked that his Motion be proposed as it was.

The Motion was then put to the vote and was declared lost by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 10.

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 10.

Members noted that the next meeting of the Full Council would take place on Thursday 21^st January 2016 in the Council Chamber, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 7.30 p.m.