Agenda and minutes

The meeting will commence with a short service of prayers.

The meeting was opened with Prayers led by the Mayor’s Chaplain, Father Roger Jackson of St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Fareham.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors K A Barton, T Davies, J Englefield, G Fazackarley, J Forrest and Mrs K Mandry.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Council Meeting held on 24 October 2019.

RESOLVED that that the Mayor be authorised to sign as a correct record the Minutes of Council meeting held on 24 October 2019

The Mayor announced that her next tea party will be held on the 9 January when Santander will be giving a talk on Cyber Security and Scam Information. The tea party on 6 February will include a talk by David Luckett MBE on the History of Luckett’s Travel.

On the 29 February at 7pm there will be a Leap Year Supper at Portchester Parish Hall where there will be a talk by Richard Newman on the History of Bursledon Brickworks and a Call My Bluff quiz.

The Mayor announced that she had great pleasure in accepting an invitation from the First Sea Lord to greet the new aircraft carrier Prince of Wales as she arrived in her Home port at Portsmouth recently and was now honoured and thrilled to have been invited to attend her Commissioning Ceremony next Tuesday which she has accepted.

There were no Executive Leader announcements made at the meeting.

Executive Member for Health and Public Protection

Fareham Community Hospital

Councillor T M Cartwright MBE, the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection, announced that he recently attended the Fareham Locality Patient Group meeting at the Hospital where one of the items on the Agenda was a dialysis service.  The Executive Member was pleased to inform Council that the Finance Director of the NHS Trust confirmed that dialysis would take place at the hospital.  The alteration works have been agreed and work started on the 18^th November with a finish towards the end of January 2020.  In February 2020, initial staff training will take place followed by patient access. 

The other announcement at the meeting was that the NHS is looking at its pricing structures at the hospital to make it more competitive.  This is excellent news and we can look forward to additional services taking place in the future.

Executive Member for Streetscene

Climate Change Working Group

Councillor S D Martin, the Executive Member for Streetscene, took the opportunity to provide a brief update on the progression of the Council’s work on the climate change agenda.

Since the last Council meeting, the inaugural meeting of the Climate Change Working Group has recently been held, and in particular the Working Group considered and agreed the group’s Terms of Reference.  These Terms of Reference cover the role and membership of the group, the broad scope of work to be progressed, reporting arrangements, meeting arrangements and resources. 

Next key steps include the appointment of a part-time Climate Change Officer.  The post has been advertised internally and it is envisaged that an appointment will made shortly, resulting in a dedicated resource being available to progress the Council’s work from mid-January onwards.

A scoping report will be created setting out the detailed scope of work to be undertaken by the Council, including mitigating the effects of climate change through carbon reduction planning, and also climate change adaptation and resilience work. It is envisaged that this report will be presented to the Policy & Resources Scrutiny Panel to be held in early March 2020, followed by consideration by the Executive in either April or May 2020.

Regular updates on the progression of the Council’s work on climate change will be made available on the Council’s website, given the wider public interest in the matter.

Councillor Martin also announced the retirement of James Clark, the Manager and Registrar of Portchester Crematorium, after 31 years of service.  Mr Clark joined the Crematorium in 1983 as a trainee administrator and is only the 3^rd Registrar to hold the position.  Councillor Martin wished Mr Clark well in his retirement.

To receive any declarations of interest from members in accordance with Standing Orders and the Council’s Code of Conduct.

Councillor R H Price JP declared a pecuniary interest in respect of item 18 on the agenda as he owns a property immediately adjacent to a development site.  Councillor R H Price JP left the chamber as soon as the development sites were listed and took no further part in the discussion.

Councillor I J Bastable declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 18 on the agenda as he has a friend who lives adjacent to the Brook Lane site.

Councillor Miss S M Bell declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 18 on the agenda as she is a Council appointed Trustee of Portchester Parish Hall which has an interest in land at Moraunt Drive.

Councillor N J Walker declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 18 on the agenda as he is the Chairman of Portchester Parish Hall Board of Trustees which has an interest in land at Moraunt Drive.

Councillor T M Cartwright, MBE, declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 18 on the agenda as he is pre-determined on applications relating to those applications for Warsash sites.

Councillor J G Kelly declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 18 on the agenda as he is a Council appointed Trustee of Portchester Parish Hall which has an interest in land at Moraunt Drive.

Councillor S D T Woodward declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 18 on the agenda as the owner for the Funtley site is known to him and the owner of Egmont Nursery site is also known to him.

Councillor M J Ford declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 18 on the agenda as he is pre-determined on applications relating to those applications for Warsash sites.

To receive any petitions presented by a member of the Council.

Note: any petition so presented will be dealt with in accordance with the Council’s petition scheme.

There were no petitions presented at this meeting.

To receive any deputations of which notice has been given.

There were no deputations given at this meeting.

To receive, consider and answer questions on reports and recommendations of the Executive.  Minutes of the meetings of the Executive and a schedule of individual Executive member decisions are appended.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Executive held on Monday 4 November 2019 be received.

RESOLVED that the Schedule of Individual Executive Member and Officer Delegated Decisions be received.

To receive the minutes of the following Committees and to consider and answer questions on any reports and recommendations made.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Planning Committee held on Wednesday 16 October 2019 be received.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Planning Committee held on Wednesday 13 November 2019 be received.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Audit and Governance Committee held on Monday 25 November 2019 be received.

To receive, consider and answer questions on reports and recommendations of the meetings of the Scrutiny Panels.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Streetscene Scrutiny Panel held on Thursday 17 October 2019 be received.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Leisure and Community Scrutiny Panel meeting held on Monday 21 October 2019 be received.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Policy and Resources Scrutiny Panel meeting held on Wednesday 23 October 2019 be received.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Health and Public Protection Scrutiny Panel meeting held Thursday 31 October 2019 be received.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Housing Scrutiny Panel meeting held on Thursday 7 November 2019 be received.

To answer questions pursuant to Standing Order 17.2 for this meeting.

There were no Questions received for this meeting.

Members will be informed, prior to the meeting, of any motion duly notified in accordance with Standing Order 15 but received after print and dispatch of the agenda.

There were no Motions received at this meeting.

The Council is invited to appoint a representative to the Solent Growth Forum which has been reconfigured to provide a complimentary role to the Solent Leaders Forum. 

The Solent Leaders Forum will continue to act as the primary mechanism for collective engagement on future economic strategy across the areas with the focus of the Solent Growth Forum providing a scrutiny panel function to enable the Solent LEP to benefit from external scrutiny and expert oversight of local authority partners.

In considering this item is was AGREED that Councillor Mrs S M Bayford be appointed as the Council’s Representative on the Solent Growth Forum.

A report by the Director of Leisure and Community.

RESOLVED that the Council:

(a)  notes the results of the annual review of the Corporate Strategy; and

(b)  approves the updates to the Corporate Strategy.

A report by the Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

RESOLVED that the Council approves:

(a)  the approach for the proposed policy for up to 100% of the Council Tax for properties occupied by Care Leavers under 25 years of age, to be considered as irrecoverable (Section 10 of Appendix A to the report); and

(b)  the latest discretionary reductions and premiums set out in Section 9 of Appendix A to the report for:

(i)     0% discount for properties which are unoccupied and unfurnished for less than 2 years (Class C);

(ii)    0% discount for properties requiring major works to render them habitable (Class D);

(iii)   100% to 300% Long Term Empty property premiums for properties which have been unoccupied and unfurnished for more than 24 months.

A report by the Deputy Monitoring Officer.

A revised Appendix C – Scheme of Delegation to Officers was tabled in respect of this item.

In respect of the draft Scheme of Delegation to Officers at Appendix C, Councillor R H Price proposed that paragraph 2.17 be removed and this was seconded by Councillor S Cunningham.

During debate on this item, Councillor S D T Woodward confirmed the 12 sites relating to the planning applications as referred to in the report, following which Councillor Price sought legal advice in respect of his Declaration of Interest as one of the applications relates to a site adjacent to his address.

The Solicitor to the Council advised that as specific sites had been mentioned, any Declaration of Interest which any Member had concerning a site, or sites, would need to be declared.

Councillor R H Price declared a pecuniary interest as he owns a property immediately adjacent to a development site. Councillor R H Price left the Chamber for the remainder of this item and took no part in the discussion or vote.

As Councillor R H Price had proposed the amendment but had left the Chamber and was unable to take part in discussion, Councillor S Cunningham proposed the Amendment that paragraph 2.17 be removed.

In accordance with the advice received from the Solicitor to the Council, non-pecuniary declarations of interests were made by the following Councillors, as detailed at item 7:

Councillor I J Bastable

Councillor Miss S Bell

Councillor N J Walker

Councillor T M Cartwright

Councillor G Kelly

Councillor S D T Woodward

Councillor M J Ford

The amendment proposed by Councillor S Cunningham was debated and at the request of Councillor S Cunningham a recorded vote was taken on the amendment and, having been seconded by Councillor Mrs K K Trott, it was LOST with 19 voting in favour, 3 voting against and 1 abstention.

(Councillors S Cunningham, G Kelly and Mrs K K Trott voting in favour,

Councillors I J Bastable, Mrs S Bayford, Miss S Bell, F W Birkett, J E Butts, T Cartwright, Mrs L Clubley, P Davies, S Dugan, Mrs T Ellis, K D Evans, M J Ford, Miss T Harper, Mrs C L A Hockley, L Keeble, S D Martin, Miss S Pankhurst, N J Walker and S D T Woodward voting against and Councillors Mrs C Heneghan abstaining).

During debate on the recommendations as laid out in the report, Councillor P Davies proposed an amendment to paragraph 2.17 that wording be inserted after the fifth word in the first sentence, as underlined:

“Authority to determine planning applications, in specific planning application circumstances and as determined by the Planning Committee, following due consideration of any further material planning considerations and amendments to and/or additional planning conditions and amendments to and/or additional heads of terms in related planning obligations where necessary, to address any likely significant effects identified through appropriate assessments where:….”

This amendment was seconded by Councillor Bastable, however during debate on this item, Councillor Bastable retracted his seconding and therefore without a seconder, the Motion FELL.

Councillor S D T Woodward proposed an Amendment to paragraph 2.17 that the paragraph be amended to specify that that once the 12 planning applications had been dealt with, the delegation in the Constitution be removed.  

Having been seconded by Councillor T Cartwright, the Amendment was CARRIED unanimously.

RESOLVED that the Council approves:-

(a)  the amendments to the Standing Orders with Respect to Meetings, as set out in Appendix B to the report;

(b)  the amendments to the Scheme of Delegation to Officers as set out in Appendix C to the report, to include the amended wording to be inserted into paragraph 2.17 that once the 12 planning applications had been dealt with, the delegation in the Constitution be removed;

(c)  the addition of the Anti-Bribery Policy in Part 5 of the Constitution; and

(d)   the deletion of the Part 3 – Chapter 12 – Deputation Scheme.

The Council is asked to agree a revised date for the Council meeting in February 2020 and that the meeting be moved from 28 February to Friday 21 February 2020 commencing at 5pm. 

This is to take into account the meeting dates for Hampshire County Council and the Fire Authority which will enable the Council to set it’s Council Tax and meet its statutory obligations for meeting Council Tax billing.

RESOLVED that the Council agrees a revised date for the Council meeting in February 2020 and that the meeting be moved from Friday 28 February to Friday 21 February commencing at 5pm.

To make any changes in appointments to the seats on committees in accordance with the wishes of political groups.  Such appointments will take effect from 06 December 2019.

There were no changes to the appointment to Committees made at this meeting.