Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brock, Denham, George, Hannaford, Laws, Morris, Pearson, The Deputy Lord Mayor, Sheldon and Spackman.

The minutes of the Scrutiny Committee – Resources - Special of 29 July 2015 were presented by the Chair, Councillor Bull,

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Scrutiny Committee – Resources - Special held on 29 July 2015 be received.

Minute 85 of Executive – Special held on 11 August 2015 was presented by the Leader, Councillor Edwards and taken as read.

In response to a Member’s question, the Leader stated that the funding for Marsh Barton railway Station would only be available once £8 million of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) had been collected for city centre investment. Therefore Devon County Council would be arranging for forward funding of the city commitment and it was anticipated that sufficient monies would have been collected by 2020.

RESOLVED that Minute 85 of the Executive - Special held on 11 August 2015 (as below) be received and adopted:-

£1.3m Community Infrastructure Levy be available for investment in the new railway station at Marsh Barton on the following basis:-

(1)        that no funds to be made available until adequate Community Infrastructure Levy had been collected and funding for city centre major infrastructure investments has been secured in line with the resolution of Executive on 10 February 2015;

 (2)       of the £1.3 million funding:

that £660,000 be committed specifically for Marsh Barton Station; and

the other £640,000 be available for Devon County Council to deliver infrastructure needed to serve development at South West Exeter, which could include Marsh Barton Station; 

(3)        City Council CIL funding for the railway station to be conditional on ‘claw-back’ provisions whereby the Council would be an equal-proportion recipient of any project cost savings, and

(4)        the Assistant Director City Development be given delegated authority to finalise an agreement with Devon County Council that accords with these recommendations. 

The Leader moved that the following items be taken in part II to exclude the press and public.

This was seconded by Councillor Sutton.

RESOLVED that, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 3 respectively of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act. 

Minute 88 of Executive – Special held on 11 August 2015 was presented by the Leader, Councillor Edwards and taken as read.

In response to a Member’s question, the Leader assured Members that all Waste Drivers employed by the City Council had been offered the training to obtain the Certificate of Professional Competence. 

RESOLVED that Minute 88 of the Executive – Special held on 11 August 2015 (as below) be received and adopted:-

(1)                  approves that a mechanism to introduce a market supplement at short notice if required to retain existing refuse collection vehicle (RCV) drivers and/or successfully recruit to RCV driver vacancies, in order to prevent service disruption to refuse collections;

(2)                  approves that this market supplement maybe up to £1,500 per annum and paid pro rata on a monthly basis to Waste Operations drivers whose job description requires them to operate a large goods vehicle (LGV), and whose job role it is to operate a refuse collection vehicle in excess of 7.5 tonnes;

(3)                  this mechanism to be invoked by the Assistant Director Environment in consultation with the Assistant Director Finance, and agreement of Portfolio Holder for Health and Place if required due to the likelihood of service disruption;

(4)                  approves a supplementary budget provision of £16,500 to be ear-marked from the General Fund working balance for the part-year of 2015/16 (sufficient to pay the maximum market supplement from 1 September if necessary); and

(5)                  approves a provision of £32,895 to be earmarked from the General Fund for the full year of 2016-17 (sufficient to continue the market supplement at the maximum level, if necessary).

Minute 89 of Executive – Special held on 11 August 2015 was presented by the Leader, Councillor Edwards and taken as read.

The Leader stated that there was a compelling business case to invest in the new leisure complex and swimming pool with the enhanced facilities. This proposal was the next stage in the development of the city centre building on the success of Princesshay and would be at no extra cost to the tax payers.

The Leader moved the recommendation to invest an additional £6 million to provide an enhanced leisure complex and swimming pool.

This was seconded by Councillor Sutton.

A Member stated his party did not support this proposal and would be voting against the recommendation. He thought that the leisure complex and swimming pool project was being rushed through and there were still many unanswered questions regarding the relocation of the Bus Depot to Matford Park and Ride including the future of the Sunday car boot sales; the road layout and the stopping up of Paris Street; and who would be the operator of the Leisure Complex.

RESOLVED that Minute 89 of the Executive – Special held on 11 August 2015 (as below) be received and adopted:-

(1)                    that there was a compelling business case to invest an additional £6m to provide an enhanced leisure complex and swimming pool; and also 

(2)                    following the statement from the Leader of the Council, it was further recommended that the funding for the £26m should not result in an increase in the Council’s underlying debt, noting that £8m has already been set aside from New Homes Bonus and that a further £10m will be set aside from New Homes Bonus over the next five years, with the additional £8m coming from Community Infrastructure Levy and capital receipts. 

In accordance with Standing Order 27(1), a named vote on the recommendation was called for, as follows:

Voting for:

Councillors Bialyk, Branston, Brimble, Bull, Buswell, Choules, Crew, Edwards, Hannan, Lyons, Morse, Owen, Packham, Raybould, Sutton, Vizard, Wardle and Williams

 (18 Members)

Voting against:

Councillors Baldwin, Harvey, Henson, Holland, Leadbetter, Mottram, Newby, Prowse

(8 Members)

Abstain:

Councillor The Lord Mayor

(1 Members)

Absent:

Councillors Brock, Denham, Donovan, George, Hannaford, Laws, Morris, Pearson, the Deputy Lord Mayor, Sheldon, Shiel and Spackman

(12 Members)

Vacancy (1)