Agenda and minutes

To sign the minutes of the Extraordinary and Ordinary meetings held on 15 December 2009.

The minutes of the Extraordinary and Ordinary meetings of Council held on 15 December 2009 were taken as read and signed as correct.

The Lord Mayor informed Council of the death of Mark Marshall, a soldier in the Territorial Army and former Police Community Support Officer for Countess Weir who recently lost his life on duty in Afghanistan. He also informed Council that Alderman Anthony Fry, who was Mayor of the City in 1991/92 and Mrs Doreen Long, Mayoress to Mr Raymond Long in 1983/84 had recently passed away.

The Council stood for one minute’s silence in tribute to Mark Marshall, Alderman Fry and Mrs Long.

The minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee of 18 January 2010 were taken as read.

Members declared the following personal (*prejudicial) interests and, where appropriate, left the meeting during consideration of the items:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 18 January 2010 be received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee of 2 February 2010 were taken as read.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 2 February 2010 be received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee - Community of 19 January 2010 were taken as read.

Members declared the following personal interests:

In relation to Minute 6 (Efficiency Gains to Domestic Refuse and Recycling Collection) it was acknowledged that the word “consensus” in the third paragraph was an inaccurate representation of the views of the Working Group. It was agreed to replace it with the word “majority”.

RESOLVED that, subject to the amendment of Minute 6 as agreed, the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee - Community held on 19 January 2010 be received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Special Scrutiny Committee – Community of 15 February 2010 were taken as read.

It was noted that Councillor Hobden had sent her Apologies for the Committee due to a prior commitment.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Special Scrutiny Committee - Community held on 15 February 2010 be received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee – Economy of 21 January 2010 were taken as read.

Members declared the following personal interests:

In relation to Minute 9 (Reducing Carbon Emissions in Exeter) Councillor Martin clarified that he was a member of 2020 Vision Exeter, not Exeter Vision as stated in the minute.

RESOLVED that, subject to the amendment of Minute 9 as agreed, the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee - Economy held on 21 January 2010 be received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee – Resources of 27 January 2010 were taken as read.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee – Resources held on 27 January 2010 be received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Local Government Review Committee of 26 January 2010 were taken as read.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Local Government Review Committee held on 26 January 2010 be received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Executive of 26 January 2010 were taken as read.

Members declared the following personal (*prejudicial) interests and, where appropriate, left the meeting during consideration of the items:

In relation to Minute 8 (Restructure of Control Centre Resources following Review) Councillor Newton, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Involvement undertook to provide reassurance to service users regarding the impact of the proposals on mobile wardens and agreed that an update report would be submitted to a future Scrutiny Committee – Community.  Councillor Taghdissian suggested that contributions towards the costs of CCTV should be sought as part of the prosecution costs in court proceedings and the Leader agreed that the proposal should be explored.   With regard to the proposal of Scrutiny Committee – Community to hold a meeting with other Control Centre service users to seek a contribution to the running of the service, the Leader reported that the police were also subject to serious budgetary cuts but the meeting would be progressed.

In relation to Minute 13 (Appointment of Representatives to serve on Outside Bodies) Councillor Taghdissian was appointed as representative on Exeter School Governing Body to replace Alderman Landers.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 26 January 2010 be received and, where appropriate, adopted.

The minutes of the meeting of the Executive of 9 February 2010 were taken as read.

Members declared the following personal interests:

In relation to Minute 25 (Reducing Carbon Emissions in Exeter: The Role of Planning and Transportation Strategy) Councillor Coates, seconded by Councillor Mrs Henson, moved the amendment of Recommendation (2) to read “the strategy and measures proposed by the Turner Committee be noted”.

Speaking for the amendment, Councillor Coates felt that the Council had not had the opportunity to debate the full recommendations of the Turner report and the comment relating to nuclear energy did not reflect the views of all Members.

The amendment was put to the vote and lost.

In relation to Minute 29 (Councillors Allowances 2010/11), Councillor Gale, seconded by Councillor Danks, moved an amendment in the following terms:

“That the recommendation 29(2) (v) be deleted and replaced by “that all Basic and Special Responsibility Allowances be reduced by 2% for 2010/11 and not increased by the inflation factor recommended by the Independent Remuneration Panel in Minute 29 (2) (v) of Executive.”

Speaking for the amendment, Councillor Gale urged Councillors to show restraint in acknowledgement of the distrust which he felt discouraged people from voting and in order to reflect the pay constraints and hardship imposed on other sectors of the community by the recession. A number of Councillors spoke against the proposal emphasising the detrimental impact this could have on attracting a diverse range of people to stand as candidates for the Council. This was a particular concern for younger people whose career paths may be disrupted by serving as Councillors. Whilst acknowledging that Councillors did not undertake the role for financial reasons, it was felt that the hard work and responsibility required of a Councillor should be recognised. 

The amendment was put to the vote and lost.

Councillor Fullam, seconded by Councillor Mrs Henson moved that the recommendation of the Executive that no annual increase be made to Councillors’ Basic and Special Responsibility for 2010/11 be adopted. This was put to the vote and agreed.

The recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel were agreed, subject to agreement to a zero increase in basic and special responsibility allowances for the year 2010/11 instead of an increase in line with the annual staff pay award as proposed by the Panel in Minute 29 (2) (v).  

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 9 February 2010 be received and, where appropriate, adopted.

The Lord Mayor formally recorded the appreciation of the Council for the significant contribution made to the work of the Council by Mr John Rigby, Director Economy and Development and conveyed the good wishes of the Council on the occasion of his retirement.