Agenda and minutes

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 November 2017.

(a)       Minutes of Meeting held on 13 November 2017

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 13 November 2017 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Members may make any declarations of interest at this point and may also make them at any point during the meeting.

The Chairman of the Council advised that for the avoidance of doubt Members did not need to make a declaration in respect of the Members Allowance Report, as this was an area in which all Councillors were granted an exemption by the relevant legislation.  

No further declarations were made.

Setting out current position of previously agreed actions as at 12 January 2018.

The Monitoring Officer noted that all items due for completion were showing black, as having been completed.

The one remaining green item, was not yet due for completion and progress was being made. Consultation events had concluded and all parish councils had now been corresponded with. All parishes had been requested to adopt the new West Lindsey Code or NaLC Code by their AGMs in May 18.  Adoptions had commenced with several notifications of such already received.  The action was expected to be completed on target.

In reference to the black actions entitled, “Question to Council – Rural Transport” and “Motion to Council – EMAS” a Member sought indication as to whether further responses had been received in light of the communications sent in respect of these matters.

In the absence of the information being to hand, Officers undertook to investigate the position and report back to the Members outside of the meeting.

RESOLVED that the Matters Arising be noted

i)              Chairman of Council

ii)             Leader of the Council

iii)            Head of Paid Service

i)       Chairman

The Chairman addressed Council advising it had been a very busy, but enjoyable period, particularly in the run up to Christmas.  Over recent weeks she had had the pleasure of attending a number of Events, Award Ceremonies and Civic Carol Services, including her own for which she thanked those Councillors who had attended.  Reference was also made to the following: -

·         Honour to attend the Fire and Rescue Awards in Lincoln;

·         Attended the Gainsborough and Market Rasen Christmas Light Switch Ons;

·         Took part in a wonderful lantern parade. Children from many schools had attended workshops prior to the event to make their lanterns.  It had been a very windy evening but enjoyed by all and set the tone for future “illuminate” events, culminating in 2020;

·         A very moving “Light up a Life” service organised by St Barnabas;

·         Visits to a plethora of Care Homes, taking part in their Christmas festivities;

·         Officially opened the new Lidl store;

·         Hosted a Christmas reception for the staff and volunteers at the Trinity Arts Centre;

·         Visited and hosted receptions for the operatives at the depots, to thank them for their hard work throughout the year;

·         On Christmas day attended the Lunch hosted by Gainsborough House and visited the John Coupland Hospital;

·         Attended a presentation evening at the Queen Elizabeth’s High School in Gainsborough; and

·         Attended a memorial service for Tony Worth held in in the Cathedral.

The Chairman concluded her announcements by making special reference to an event she had hosted here in the Council Chamber on 8 December, this being a Gainsborough Junior Schools’ Council meeting.

Local schools had been asked to give ideas for the future use of the Butter Market building.  A total of 11 schools took part and presented their ideas.  Their ideas will be considered as part of the Gainsborough Neighbourhood Plan.  This had been a most enjoyable and informative event enjoyed by all who took part.

ii)      Leader of Council

The Leader addressed Council and advised that the previous Friday, a roundtable meeting of a number of agencies covering the Heath, Housing and Care agenda had been held at the Guildhall.  This was an area of work the Council was keen to progress due to a number of social issues across the County and District.

The Leader handed over to Councillor Sheila Bibb, Chairman of the Prosperous Communities Committee, the Committee responsible for progressing the Health agenda, and invited her to sum up the event’s proceedings.

Councillor Mrs Bibb addressed Council, outlining the plethora of agencies which had been in attendance.  The meeting had provided an opportunity to bring together a vast range of agencies to present information to them particularly around the Well-Being Service which would be place from April 2018 and which West Lindsey would be a key partner in.   The meeting had also provided opportunity for data to be shared and for agencies to outline their current action plans.  The aim of the meeting had been to facilitate greater engagement and partnership working across  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

Mr Ian Bradley attended the meeting to pose the following question to the Leader of the Council:-

“Sir, It is has recently become apparent that Councillor Tom Smith is the elected member champion for the Armed Forces, With this knowledge I have a few queries.

1) Will Cllr Smith be allowed within the remit of his role able to service the needs of All Veterans and members of the armed forces of West Lindsey with support and referrals from other elected members and officers of the council?

2) If he is able, will his role have a full job description and be launched properly in all the local newspapers, websites and other publications?

3) The Armed Forces Covenant places certain responsibilities on all public bodies, councils and other local organisations. As this is the case is it possible to form a scrutiny body under Cllr Smith to see if that the Covenant is being taken into regard in all aspects of this Council’s day to day business?”

The Leader had requested that Councillor Sheila Bibb, Chairman of the Prosperous Communities Committee, which had oversight of the role of Member Champions, respond on his behalf.

Councillor Bibb responded as follows: -

“Thank you for your question Mr. Bradley. The Leader has asked me to respond in my role as chair of Prosperous Communities Committee which has oversight of the role of Member Champions.

Following on from the Prosperous Communities meeting in June 2017 I commissioned a report from officers regarding the role of a member champion and I am expecting to consider this at the Committee in March. This will clarify the interaction between the formal decision-making of the council with the various champions.

At West Lindsey we operate a Committee system which means that individual members of council have no executive decision-making powers. However I would anticipate that the role would include dealing with referrals which member champions would take up with the appropriate officers and/or committees.

As part of the report which is coming to Committee a full job description for the role of a Member Champion will be agreed and will form part of the constitution of the council.

In terms of forming a dedicated scrutiny body I do not believe that this is necessary at this time as West Lindsey is already a signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant and this informs the relevant work carried out by officers and is therefore automatically scrutinized at various levels. However, it is something that the Council may wish to consider in the future should there be concerns that it was not meeting its obligations under the Armed Forces Covenant.

Mr Bradley thanked Councillor Mrs Bibb for the response and indicated he did not wish to ask a supplementary question having heard the response.

Mr Bradley was advised that he would receive a copy of the response in writing.

No further questions had been submitted.

Councillor Mick Devine, Leader of the Labour Group, had submitted the following question to the meeting: -

"With all the development taking place around the new hotel and Roseway car park with third party interest, can the Leader confirm that at no time will WLDC lease, sell or in any way pass control of all or any part of the Roseway car park to a third party and that any future development of the car park shall be solely the decision of this Council and its Members. "

The Leader responded as follows: -

“Thank you for your question Councillor Devine.

I can confirm that Council has no intention to dispose of the Roseway car park and is in fact investing in the refurbishment of this car park to help meet the future town centre needs and increase its capital value.

Considering the extensive regeneration plans for the town centre,

increase in housing and footfall. The removal of Roseway car park would only hamper our progressive work plan.

The business case for this was agreed as part of the Gainsborough car parking review in 2017.

In the very unlikely event that the Council needed to consider a business case to dispose of part or all of the car park it would require the consent of both Prosperous Communities committee, as a variation to the Gainsborough car park strategy and Corporate Policy and Resources for the disposal and financial implications.

I trust that this reassures you and dispels all fears which may have arisen from speculation.”

No further questions had been submitted to the meeting.

1.           “Madam chairmen fellow members, currently council’s do not know definitively and easily how many veterans live within their respective boundaries that is why I am requesting permission from the council to jointly with leader write to the minister pledging the council’s support to the Royal British Legion count them in campaign where by a question would be placed on the census asking people if they are a veteran. The ONS have confirmed their intention to recommend its inclusion. However, support for this campaign needs to continue to ensure it is included in the next census. This would enable the council to know without any doubt how many veterans are within our district so that we can provide them and their families with the support they need and deserve we counted on them now it’s time we counted them in.

I so move”

Councillor Thomas Smith

2.         “Council notes:

·         The contents of the Smith Institute report into Local Housing Companies and its summary[1].

o   http://www.smith-institute.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/The-rise-of-local-housing-companies.pdf

o   http://www.smith-institute.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/LHCs-Summary-Report.pdf

·         That the Corporate Plan first theme (Open for Business) supports housing led economic growth to deliver:

o   West Lindsey as a place of choice to live

o   A sustainable and thriving economy

o   Sustainable neighbourhoods

Further, that the second theme (People First) supports meeting local housing needs and aspirations to ensure that residents can live, grow and remain in the District.[2]

            Council believes that:

·         Having handed over the Council Housing stock to ACIS the Council is not in a position to develop the amount of housing needed to meet current and future demand in the district and that with limited appetite from the private sector to deliver affordable homes there may be opportunity for the Council to intervene in the market, whilst not detracting from private enterprises efforts.

·         The benefits of developing a Local Housing Company are:

o   Socio-Economic

§  Council can control the direction of housing provision and tenure: increasing supply and tenure mix, especially affordable homes, with the Council as master developer

§  Meet specific housing needs: low income residents, elderly, students, homeless, key workers etc.

§  Act as an innovator: trying different development models and tenure mix

§  Greater accountability and scrutiny than other housing providers

§  Exemption from HCA/government regulations and standards

o   Financial

§  Generates income for the Council: directly through on-lending, property investment and rental/sales income and through additional New Homes Bonus, Community Infrastructure Levy and additional Council Tax receipts

§  Savings to the Council: providing lower cost temporary accommodation and providing cheaper housing maintenance and other services

§  Greater borrowing capacity to meet housing needs (escaping HRA debt/borrowing caps)

§  Securing additional private investment in housing and regeneration

§  Securing better value for Council assets than conventional disposal

§  Receptacle for communted sums from S.106 agreements

§  Public procurement advantages

o   Place-shaping

§  Intervening and influencing local housing markets: to achieve, support and encourage development

§  Bring forward development: unimplemented consents and provided scale for local construction/suppliers

§  Making best use  ...  view the full agenda text for item 62.

Councillor Tom Smith had submitted the following Motion: -

"Madam chairmen fellow members, currently councils do not know definitively and easily how many veterans live within their respective boundaries that is why I am requesting permission from the Council to jointly with the Leader write to the minister pledging the council’s support to the Royal British Legion count them in campaign whereby a question would be placed on the census asking people if they are a veteran. The ONS have confirmed their intention to recommend its inclusion. However, support for this campaign needs to continue to ensure it is included in the next census. This would enable the council to know without any doubt how many veterans are within our district so that we can provide them and their families with the support they need and deserve we counted on them now it’s time we counted them in.

I so move”

Councillor Jeff Summers, as Leader of the Council, responded as follows: -

"Thank you for raising this Councillor Smith. I agree with your thoughts and I believe it will helpful to us to learn more about our communities. We assume that there are large number of ex service personnel living within the district but we do not currently know how many.

It is therefore a pleasure for me to second this motion.”

Having being moved and seconded, with no debate on being put to the vote the Motion was declared CARRIED.

Councillors Stuart Kinch, Giles McNeill, Sheila Bibb and Ian Fleetwood had submitted the following Motion.  Councillor Kinch stated the motion to the meeting : -

“Council notes:

·         The contents of the Smith Institute report into Local Housing Companies and its summary[1].

o   http://www.smith-institute.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/The-rise-of-local-housing-companies.pdf

o   http://www.smith-institute.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/LHCs-Summary-Report.pdf

·         That the Corporate Plan first theme (Open for Business) supports housing led economic growth to deliver:

o   West Lindsey as a place of choice to live

o   A sustainable and thriving economy

o   Sustainable neighbourhoods

Further, that the second theme (People First) supports meeting local housing needs and aspirations to ensure that residents can live, grow and remain in the District.[2]

Council believes that:

·         Having handed over the Council Housing stock to ACIS the Council is not in a position to develop the amount of housing needed to meet current and future demand in the district and that with limited appetite from the private sector to deliver affordable homes there may be opportunity for the Council to intervene in the market, whilst not detracting from private enterprises efforts.

·         The benefits of developing a Local Housing Company are:

o   Socio-Economic

§  Council can control the direction of housing provision and tenure: increasing supply and tenure mix, especially affordable homes, with the Council as master developer

§  Meet specific housing needs: low income residents, elderly, students, homeless, key workers etc.

§  Act as an innovator: trying different development models and tenure mix

§  Greater accountability and scrutiny than other housing providers

§  Exemption from HCA/government regulations and standards

o   Financial

§  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

To note the outcome of District Council by-election held on 16 November 2017 in the Sudbrooke Ward.

Members were asked to the note the outcome of the District Council By-Election held on 16 November 2017 in the Sudbrooke Ward.

The report set out the number of votes polled and the percentage turnout.

The Chairman, Leader and fellow members took the opportunity to welcome newly elected Councillor Waller to the Chamber.

RESOLVED that the outcome of the By-Election be duly received and noted

Members were asked to give consideration to a report to fully ‘make’ (adopt) the Lea Neighbourhood Plan following a successful referendum.

Councillor England, Member Champion for Neighbourhood Planning, introduced the report, noting that the two plans on tonight’s agenda, would see the number of adopted plans across the District reach a total of 10, with a more significant currently at some stage within the process. He expressed thanks, both to the Group for their hard work, and to the Officers for the support they had offered.

Representatives from Lea Parish Council were in attendance and prior to Members debating the matter the Chairman invited them to make a short address to Council and present their successful Neighbourhood Plan.

Chairman of Lea Parish Council, Fiona Anderson described the process gone through in the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan and thanked a number of people for their hard work and support in the production of the Plan, and all those residents who had contributed. 

Lea Parish Council were delighted with the result of the referendum and the excellent turnout, close to 50%, the highest achieved so far in West Lindsey for a Neighbourhood Plan Referendum.  With a significant majority and the high turnout Lea Parish Council considered there to be a very strong endorsement of the Plan by the community.  The Steering Group had comprised a number of parishioners and three Councillors and they had had to work quickly with the village being the subject of several large planning applications during 2016 and 2017. Despite only having had their first meeting on 4 January 2017 they had by 30 March delivered a first draft for public consultation.  This was a remarkable achievement and Councillor Anderson expressed her sincere thanks to all members of the Steering Group for their commitment and hard work. It was also noted that four of those parishioners involved wished to continue their contribution to the village, and had been co-opted on to the Parish Council.

Gratitude was also expressed to the Neighbourhood Planning Team at West Lindsey for their encouragement, help and guidance throughout the regulatory process.  The Parish Council were now looking forward to the Plan being made full use of in all planning application determinations and appeals.

Parish Councillor Anderson then formally presented the Plan to the Chairman.

It was moved, seconded and duly

RESOLVED that the Lea Neighbourhood Plan be adopted and made.

Members were asked to give consideration to a report to fully ‘make’ (adopt) the Scotter Neighbourhood Plan following a successful referendum.

Councillor England, Member Champion for Neighbourhood Planning, again introduced the report, expressing thanks, both to the Group for their hard work, and to the Officers for the support they had offered.

Representatives from Scotter Parish Council were in attendance and prior to Members debating the matter the Chairman invited them to make a short address to Council and present their successful Neighbourhood Plan.

The Clerk of Scotter Parish Council, Nicola Altoft described the process gone through in the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan and thanked a number of people for their hard work and support in the production of the Plan, and all those residents who had contributed. 

The Clerk advised that taking the decision to produce a Plan had been an easy one, residents had felt strongly that they wished to influence and control development in the parish as much as they could.  Producing the Plan had provided an opportunity to engage fully with the local community to discover what was uniquely important to the parish and its residents.

Residents raised a variety of issues which the Plan needed to address. The Plan had provided an opportunity to do just that ensuring future issues of a similar nature did not arise again.

The Scotter character assessment had proved to be a useful and informing document and a real talking point at consultation events, increasing engagement with communities again.

The Clerk expressed thanks to a number of Groups and individuals for their help in making the production of the Plan possible, including parish councillors, district councillors, neighbourhood planning officers, the consultants and most importantly the residents for their time, views, feedback and engagement.

Ms Altoft then formally presented the Plan to the Chairman.

It was moved, seconded and duly

RESOLVED that the Scotter Neighbourhood Plan be adopted and made.

Mr David Lomas, Chairman of the Independent Remuneration Panel introduced the report and outlined the process that had been undertaken to produce the recommendations set out in the report.  Consultation had taken place with Councillors and thanks were expressed to those that had responded.  It was considered that the changes to the Special Responsibility Allowances were reasonable and the Panel had been mindful of the need for caution in increasing allowances, whilst also been aware of the dangers of remuneration failing to adequately compensate for the role.  Consideration had also been given to the pay rises for staff in order to avoid any feeling of inequality. 

The Panel had been made aware of constitutional changes affecting the Licensing and Regulatory Committees and hence had made specific recommendations regarding these Committees.  Changes to the Dependent Carers Allowance and the introduction of an eye test reimbursement allowance were also being proposed.

Comparison had been made with other authorities and the results were set out in the appendix.

The Panels full set of recommendations were as set out below: -

                                                                                     Currently                         New Rate                                                                                                            

Dependent Carer’s Allowance                         £6.50                          £10

Eye Test Re-imbursement                             n/a                               £20 per 2 years

No change to travel allowances.  The Panel noted and commented that travel allowances are currently in line with the tax efficient rate authorised by the Inland Revenue

Subsistence –  No change  (Receipts must be provided for subsistence claimed and attached to the claim form).

a.    Absence of more than four hours but no more than eight hours – only the cost of one meal can be reimbursed up to a maximum of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

The Chairman of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee presented the report which had been considered by the Committee and referred to Council for approval. 

Council Tax Benefit had been a national scheme providing means-tested financial help to households to pay their Council Tax liability, but had been abolished on 31 March 2013.  Since that time every Local Authority had been tasked with designing a local scheme of financial support to replace Council Tax Benefit.

The Scheme was reviewed and approved annually.

The implementation of universal credit had resulted in an increase in the number of reported changes of claimants’ circumstances.  Each change in circumstance amended the council tax support offered and this in turn resulted in an amendment to the council tax instalments being made.

In an effort to ensure budget stability for claimants and to reduce administration costs it was being proposed that a fixed period assessment for universal credit claimants of 4 months be implemented for the 2018/19 financial year.  In order not to disadvantage claimants in receipt of Bereavement Support Payment it was also being proposed that this be disregarded when calculating council tax support.  The final proposal was that the same annual up-ratings as the Department for Works and Pensions should be applied as this would ensure council tax support and housing benefit remained aligned.

For the reasons outlined above the Corporate Policy and Resources committee on 14 December 2017 had therefore RECOMMENDED that option 3 of those set out in the report be the adopted scheme

Option 3 was proposed and seconded and on being voted upon it was:-

RESOLVED that Option 3 be agreed as the preference for the Local Council Tax Support Scheme for West Lindsey District Council for 2018/19 as recommended by Corporate Policy and Resources Committee on 14 December 2017.

The Leader of the Council and Chairman of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee presented the report, which had been considered and RECOMMENDED by the Committee at its meeting on 14 December 2017.

The report set out the declaration of the estimated surplus on the Council’s Collection Fund relating to Council Tax at the end of March 2018 and how it was shared amongst the constituent precepting bodies.  It also set out the Council Tax base calculation for 2018/19. The tax base was a key component in calculating both the budget requirement and the Council Tax charge which would be used by West Lindsey District Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Lincolnshire Police and all of the Parish and Town Councils in the district. 

The recommendations as set out in the report were moved, seconded and voted upon.

RESOLVED that

(a)     the estimated surplus of £105,010 be accepted and be declared as accruing in the Council’s Collection Fund at 31 March 2018 relating to an estimated Council Tax surplus;

(b)     the Council uses its element of the Collection Fund surplus/deficit in calculating the level of Council Tax in 2018/19.

(c)     the calculations of the Council’s tax base for 2018/19 as set out in Appendix A be approved, and that in accordance with the Local Authorities’ (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1993 (as amended), the tax base for each part of the Authority’s area shall be as set out in Appendix B.

The Chairman of Council presented the report which advised of the receipt of a request from Owmby Parish Council to change the name of the Parish Council to Owmby by Spital Parish Council.

The request received was attached as an Appendix to the report.

It was noted that a change of parish name could be dealt with under section 75 of the Local Government Act 1972 by the District Council and the actions which would need to be undertaken, if the request were approved, were set out at Section 2 of the report.

The Leader indicated that this was a Parish Council within his Ward and the requested change was a “common sense” one.

On being moved and seconded it was

RESOLVED that the making and publication of an order under section 75 of the Local Government Act 1972 to change the name of Owmby Parish Council toOwmby by Spital Parish Council be approved.

The Chairman of Council introduced the report which set out the wishes expressed by the Administration to make an appointment to the current vacancy on the Planning Committee. 

It was noted that arrangements would be made for Councillor Waller to undertake the necessary training on his appointment to the Committee prior to him sitting as a voting member.

Members were asked to agree the appointment and in concluding her presentation the Chairman moved the paper.

Having being seconded and put to the vote it was: -

RESOLVED that In accordance with the provisions of section 16 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and the wishes expressed by political groups, the Members set out below be appointed to serve on the Council’s Planning Committee for the remainder of the 2017/18 civic year.

Councillor Ian Fleetwood (Chairman)

Councillor Own Bierley (Vice-Chairman)

Councillor Matthew Boles

Councillor David Cotton

Councillor Michael Devine

Councillor Hugo Marfleet

Councillor Giles McNeill

Councillor Mrs Jessie Milne

Councillor Roger Patterson

Councillor Mrs Judy Rainsforth

Councillor Tom Smith

            Councillor Bob Waller

To resolve that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

The meeting continued in exempt session and the Chairman advised that owing to the Chief Officer Employment Committee having only met earlier in the day, it had not been possible to provide Members with a copy of the report in advance.

Members were therefore provided with a copy of the report and a short adjournment was taken to allow Members time to consider the information which had been presented to them, prior to the item being formally debated.

The meeting re-convened at 8.15 pm and the Monitoring Officer and Chief Operating Officer left the meeting prior to consideration of the next item of business.

The Leader of the Council and Chairman of the Chief Officer Employment Committee presented the report which asked Members to consider the recommendation from the Chief Officer Employment Committee regarding the appointments to Statutory Roles and the deletion of the Chief Executive position.

The Committee had met earlier in the day to review the interim senior management arrangements which had been in place since July 2017. In presenting the report the Leader outlined to Members the discussions the Committee had had, the decisions it had made earlier in the day and rationale for the recommendations presented to Members.  He shared with Members some of the feedback which had been received from staff, when reviewing the position, and which had informed the decision.

The Leader also indicated that any decision taken at this stage did not prevent the position being reviewed again in the future, outlining circumstances and scenarios when it may be prudent to do so and some of the future options Members could consider.

Debate ensued and a large number of Members expressed their support for the decisions which had been made by the Chief Officer Employment Committee.  They considered the team had done an excellent job in the past six months and had the support of the teams they led.  The Council was moving into an important delivery phase with some major projects nearing delivery, and the majority of Members were in agreement that continued stable leadership was the right direction to take.  Some Members shared their experience of the organisation over the last six months

However a few Members expressed concern that this decision appeared to be a hasty one, with little Member engagement and the report to be lacking in information. 

Members of the Chief Officer Employment Committee reminded Council members that the structure and remuneration of Chief Officers was a function delegated to the Chief Officer Employment Committee.  The Committee had thoroughly considered all of the options available to the Authority, taken into account the current context and performance, and had sought independent advice in doing so. 

However statute required Full Council to appoint to statutory positions and this was the purpose of the report presented.

It was again re-iterated that the structure could and would be looked at again in the future by the Chief Officer Employment Committee as and when the need arose.

On that basis it was RESOLVED that recommendations from the Chief Officer Employment Committee be approved and

(a)     Mark Sturgess be appointed as the Council’s Head of Paid Service;

(b)     Alan Robinson be appointed as the Council’s Returning Officer; and

(c)     the post of Chief Executive be deleted from the establishment and the necessary amendments be made to the Constitution to reflect such.