Agenda and minutes

To sign the minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2010.

The minutes of the Council meeting held on 14 December 2010 were taken as read and signed as correct.

The minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee of 17 January 2011 were taken as read.

A Member declared the following personal interest:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 17 January 2011 be received.

Subject to noting the proposed amendment of Min. No. 1 by the insertion of “next meeting” in place of “future meeting”, the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee of 15 February 2011 were taken as read.

 A Member declared the following personal interest:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 15 February 2011, be received, subject to noting the proposed amendment.

The minutes of the meeting of the Special Scrutiny Committee - Community of 11 January 2011 were taken as read.

A Member declared the following personal interest:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Special Scrutiny Committee - Community held on 11 January 2011 be received and, where appropriate, adopted.

Subject to noting that, in relation to Min. No. 8, Councillor Newcombe’s personal interest was as a member of the Turntable Committee and not a Trustee, the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee - Community of 18 January 2011 were taken as read.

Members declared the following personal interests:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee - Community held on 18 January 2011, be received, subject to noting the proposed amendment.

The minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee - Economy of 20 January 2011 were taken as read.

A Member declared the following personal interest:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee - Economy held on 20 January 2011 be received.

Subject to noting an amendment proposed in relation to Min. No. 5 to read “The Scrutiny Committee - Resources noted the report and the recommendation being made to Executive that” in place of “The Scrutiny Committee - Resources noted the report and recommended that”, the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee - Resources of 26 January 2011 were taken as read.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee - Resources held on 26 January 2011, be received, subject to noting the proposed amendment.

The minutes of the meeting of the Executive of 25 January 2011 were taken as read.

A Member declared the following personal interest:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 25 January 2011 be received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Executive of 8 February 2011 were taken as read.

Members declared the following personal interests:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 8 February 2011 be received and, where appropriate, adopted.

“This Council asserts that any change in the role of Exeter Arts Council can only come about following proper scrutiny and executive process”

Councillors Coates and Sheldon declared personal interests as City Council representatives on the Exeter Arts Council.

Councillor Newcombe declared a personal interest as Chair of the Grants Committee and did not vote on this matter.

Councillor Newton declared a personal interest as one of her employers had worked on a project that had received grant aid from Exeter Arts Council.

Councillor Wadham declared a personal interest as a member of the Exeter Arts Council.

Councillor Coates, seconded by Councillor Wadham, moved a Notice of Motion in the following terms:-

“This Council asserts that any change in the role of Exeter Arts Council can only come about following proper scrutiny and executive process.”

Councillor Coates set out the background to a proposal in a report to the Grants Committee on 24 February to withdraw the annual grant support to the Exeter Arts Council and for arts grants to be administered in future by the Council’s Arts and Festival Officers. He considered that this proposal was lacking in transparency and had been brought forward with little prior consultation with the Arts Council and, if agreed, would represent a significant policy change in bringing to an end a long established arms length process of distributing arts grants in the City. He commended the work of the Arts Council and its members who, he felt, brought considerable expertise to the process and offered a differing perspective in the evaluation of the applications for grant support. One of the reasons cited for changing the process had been the administrative costs incurred by the Arts Council and he stated that the Arts Council was considering options for reducing costs. He stated that there was little in the report to explain the background to the application and there was therefore a possibility that the issues would not be fully scrutinised.

The Portfolio Holder responded by stating that due process would be followed as the matter would be considered by both the Grants Committee and Executive. Both would, in effect, be scrutinising the matter, with the Grants Committee making a recommendation to Executive.

The motion was put to the vote and carried.

“This Council welcomes and supports the Coalition Government’s policy of freezing the level of council tax”

Councillor Taghdissian, seconded by Councillor Coates, moved a Notice of Motion in the following terms:-

“This Council welcomes and supports the Coalition Government’s policy of freezing the level of Council Tax.”

Councillor Ruffle, seconded by Councillor Newton, moved an amendment in the following terms:-

“This Council welcomes and supports the Coalition Government’s policy of freezing the level of Council Tax noting that this comes with a grant equivalent to 2.5% of our Council tax. This Council notes that the present grant applies at this stage for only the year 2011/12.”

The proposed motion and amendment were debated and Councillor Taghdissian withdrew his motion in favour of the amended motion.

The amended motion was put to the vote and lost.