Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Katie Coughlan  Governance and Civic Officer

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Items
No. Item

64.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 244 KB

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the previous meeting held on 4 March 2019.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(a)     Minutes of the Meeting of Full Council held on 4 March 2019.

 

Before approving the Minutes, the Chairman invited the Section 151 Officer to address Council in respect of the addendum note which had been circulated with the Minutes.

 

Members were advised that, since the last meeting, it had been brought to Officers’ attention that the capital programme included within the Council reports and circulated to Members, for the meeting on 4 March, had had some detail omitted. A number of lines within the Capital Programme had not been transposed.  However the Section 151 Officer offered assurance that totals within the report and the bottom line remained the same.  The omission did not impact on the accuracy of the budget which was set at the last meeting, and Members were being made aware for openness and transparency reasons.

 

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting of Full Council held on 4 March 2019 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

65.

Members' Declarations of Interest

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

From the Chair, the Chairman made a blanket personal declaration on behalf of all Members, in that they all knew the Officers referred to in the report, “Designation of Head of Paid Service Role and Director of Sure Staff” – agenda item 9 (a).

 

No further declarations were made.

66.

Matters Arising pdf icon PDF 23 KB

Setting out current position of previously agreed actions as at 29 March 2019.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Monitoring Officer presented the report and advised Members that all actions had been completed within their targets.  Members’ attention was particularly drawn to the black action which related to a motion submitted by the Leader of the Council, back in April 2018, regarding the Corringham Road/Thorndyke Way Junction.

 

The Scheme had now been agreed for implementation by Lincolnshire County Council and was in full scheme design stage for implementation this calendar year.  Members welcomed this development.

 

It was noted the two remaining green actions would be dealt with as part of the Annual Review of the Constitution, which was due to be presented to Members at the Annual Meeting in May.

 

RESOLVED that the Matters Arising be duly noted.

 

67.

Announcements

i)             Chairman of Council

ii)            Leader of the Council

iii)           Head of Paid Service

Additional documents:

Minutes:

i)       Chairman

 

The Chairman addressed Council and advised that in the run up to her final couple of months as Chairman of the Council, she had had the pleasure of hosting some West Lindsey civic functions including:

 

          Commonwealth Day, where she was honoured to raise the Commonwealth flag outside the Guildhall to celebrate with others around the world this special day; and

 

          just last week, she had hosted a school council, for seven primary schools in the area. Nearly 30 children had presented, in the Chamber, their findings into waste and recycling and it had been a joy to hear how passionate they were and how much they had put into researching the topic.

 

Out of the area the Chairman had been delighted to be invited to:

 

             A South Holland District Council dedication service for the Spalding WWII memorial, which was unveiled by His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent;

 

             A North Lincolnshire Council hosted Civic Dinner at Normanby Hall and a Civic Dinner hosted by North Kesteven District Council.  Both events had raised lots of money for their chosen charities.

 

The Chairman had also had the pleasure of attending a meeting of a large Chinese delegation including the Governor of Hunan Province, along with the Chairman of Lincolnshire County Council and people from the ‘Midlands Engine’.

 

This had included a visit to RAF Scampton, where delegates had met the Red Arrows Team. This was a return visit as the Red Arrows had visited Hunan Province last year. The whole day, including dinner in the evening, had been quite an experience as everything had to be interpreted. It was however a day not to be forgotten and it had certainly been an honour to take part in.

 

Back in Gainsborough, the Chairman had attended an evening of music from Gilbert & Sullivan operettas performed by the Choral Society, as always, this was very enjoyable.

 

With still a few weeks as Chairman, the Chairman advised she was looking forward to her final few engagements.

 

 

ii)      Leader of Council

 

The Leader addressed Council and advised that he too had attended the Choral Society evening.  The quality of the musicians and singers was breathtaking and he highly recommended anyone who had not seen one of their performances to go along.

 

The Leader had also recently attended a Lincolnshire Waste Partnership meeting. One of the most important facts he had taken away from the meeting was that for every tonne of food waste delivered to an Anaerobic Digestion Plant this saved the County Council approximately £70.00.

 

Last week he had attended a key note seminar in London entitled Next Steps for Waste.  There had been 18 speakers, on a range of subjects associated with the production of packaging, re-use, handling, and the disposal and recycling of waste of all types.

 

Chris Preston of DEFRA spoke about Government resources, priorities and a waste strategy.

 

Their main objectives were to

1.         Maximise the value of resource used and minimise adverse environmental impacts.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

68.

Public Question Time

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Monitoring Officer confirmed to the meeting that no questions had been received from members of the public.

69.

Questions Pursuant to Council Procedure Rule No. 9 pdf icon PDF 188 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillors Maureen Palmer, Anne Welburn and Chris Darcel, Ward Members for the Cherry Willingham Ward, submitted the following question to the meeting: -

 

1)        Question to Cllr Jeff Summers Leader of the Council, from Councillors       Maureen Palmer, Anne Welburn, and Chris Darcel, Ward Members for the Cherry Willingham Ward.

 

“End unfair evictions

Is this Council happy to support a request for changes to Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 that secures longer term tenancies for our residents and will the Leader write to the Government advising of our support for any changes to the Act that will provide stability for millions of private renters.

 

Thank you”

 

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

 

“Thank you Councillors for your question this evening, it is a very important issue. You will be aware that our Home Choices team owe duties to people within 56 days where they are at risk of homelessness, and those who are homeless.   Households leaving the private rented sector are one of the three main causes of homelessness along with domestic abuse and non-violent relationship breakdown.  This is in line with the national picture. 

 

During the last financial year, 30% of persons owed a prevention duty by West Lindsey were at risk of homelessness due to the serving of a Section 21 notice.  Three quarters of households served with a Section 21 notice were served a notice due to no fault of their own.  Reasons for this are more often due to a landlord selling a property but can also include increase in rent which makes the property unaffordable or the property needs repairs which cannot be done with a tenant in situ. 

 

The private rented sector is becoming an increasingly important part of our housing system, with the latest figures showing that nationally it houses 20 per cent of all households. Short term tenancies do not create a settled environment for households.  This in turn creates a bigger demand for social rented housing due to the security of tenure it holds. However, private rented housing is a key tool for preventing homelessness and increasing the length of tenancies from 6 months can have a huge impact on reducing homelessness, creating settled communities and improve mental and physical health of the households within those properties.

 

Considering this I would wholeheartedly support writing to the Government to seek changes. It is important that we are clear about what changes we specifically would want to see and therefore I think this question is best referred to the Prosperous Communities Committee where both Officers and Members can give full consideration to the matter and formulate a detailed response.”

 

 

 

 

 

70.

Motions Pursuant to Council Procedure Rule No. 10

No Motions have been received for this meeting.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman confirmed to the meeting that no Motions, under Council Procedure Rule No.10, had been received.

 

 

Note:         Before proceeding to the next item of business, the Section 151 Officer left the Chamber, due to him being referenced in the report, therefore allowing Members to debate the matter in his absence.

71.

Designation of Head of Paid Service Role and Director of Sure Staff pdf icon PDF 135 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council, as Chairman of the Chief Officer Employment Committee, presented the report which sought to re-designate the role of Head of Paid Service.

 

The current Head of Paid Service (and Executive Director of Operations) had made the Leader of the Council aware that he intended to retire on 1st October 2019.

 

The Head of Paid Services was responsible for ensuring that appropriate structures were in place to deliver the services and ambitions of the Council.  It was a statutory role, which in accordance with Section 4 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 the Council must designate to one of its Officers.

 

As the current Head of Paid Service has indicated his intention to retire it was appropriate to designate the role to another Officer of the Council who could therefore plan for and implement a structure in the future.

 

Council noted that any changes to the senior management structure would require consultation with the Chief Officer Employment Committee and any subsequent appointments would need to be agreed by Full Council.

 

The Chief Officer Employment Committee had considered the re-designation of the role at their meeting on 19 Feb and were recommending to Council that Ian Knowles the Executive Director of Resources be designated as the Head of Paid Service for West Lindsey District Council on an interim basis.

 

The report further advised that the Director of Operations also held the role of director of WLDC Trading Limited, WLDC Staffing Services and Surestaff Limited.

 

On 15 February the Executive Director of Operations had used his power to sub delegate the role to the Communities and Commercial Programme Manager, Karen Whitfield, again in order to prepare for his pending retirement.

 

Council were asked to ratify this appointment and it was being proposed in the Constitution review, which Members would consider at Annual Council, that the power to sub-delegate this function in the future be removed.

 

On being moved and seconded it was: -

 

RESOLVED that:-

 

(a)     the recommendation from Chief Officer Employment Committee be accepted and Ian Knowles, the Executive Director of Resources, be designated as the Head of Paid Service for West Lindsey District Council, on an interim basis, with effect from 1st May 2019; and  

 

(b)     the nomination of Karen Whitfield, as Director for WLDC Trading Limited, WLDC Staffing Services Ltd and Surestaff Ltd, with immediate effect, be ratified.

72.

Chairman's Concluding Remarks

Additional documents:

Minutes:

This being the last meeting of Full Council for the current civic year and the current electoral cycle and therefore the last time all Members would meet as a current compliment, having been in office for four years, the Chairman invited all those present to join her for light refreshments at the conclusion of the meeting.

 

Members and Officers alike were thanked for their contribution over the year.