Agenda and minutes

The meeting will commence with a short service of prayers.

The meeting opened with prayers led by the Mayor's Chaplain, Father John Humphries.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J V Bryant, K D Evans, N R Gregory and D Whittingham.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Council Meeting held in 9 May 2013.

RESOLVED that the Mayor be authorised to sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 9 May 2013 subject to the amendments of:

(a)       Appendix B of minute 19 – Appointments to Outside Bodies, item 9 Fareham Welfare Trust to show Councillor J Bryant as the appointee for the period 2012/16 and Councillor Mrs S Pankhurst as the appointee for the period 2010/14; and

(b)       the second paragraph of minute 19 – Appointments to Outside Bodies to show that it was proposed that Councillor G Fazackarley be appointed as a representative. On the proposal being put to the meeting it was declared LOST, 7 members voting in favour and 21 voting against.

The Mayor was delighted to report that the work of her charity appeal had begun in earnest with the successful launch on 19^th May at the Rainbow Centre in Fareham.

The Mayor confirmed that the next Mayor’s Tea Party would be on 4th July and would feature 12 children from Titchfield Primary School giving a presentation on cultural journeys.

This would be followed by the Bangladeshi Lunch on Sunday 7th July at Abshot Country Club where freshly prepared authentic Bangladeshi food prepared by Chef Rahman, will be enjoyed by all.

The Executive Leader reminded Members that at the Annual meeting of the Council, he had stated that the Daedalus Strategy Group would be reviewing its representation and considering asking the council to nominate two representatives. The Executive Leader confirmed that this was now the case and that as Councillor Knight had already been confirmed as the deputy to Councillor Mandry, he would become the second representative.

The Executive Leader announced that in his role as Hampshire County Council’s Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment he would be holding a briefing meeting on the Newgate Lane improvements and the potential Stubbington Bypass, at the Civic Offices on Friday 5 July at 1pm. This will be an opportunity for Members to view the publicity materials to be used by Hampshire County Council in a public consultation exercise.

The Executive Member for Leisure and Community commented on the lovely wild flowers throughout the borough, which were sown last autumn. These are now resulting in numerous positive comments from many members of the public. The Executive Member offered her thanks to everyone involved in the drive to plant wild flowers.

To receive any declarations of interest from members in accordance with Standing Orders and the Council’s Code of Conduct and disclosures of advice or directions received from Group Leaders of Political Groups, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

There were no declarations of interest declared at this meeting.

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 as follows:-

(1)       13 May 2013 x-130513-m

(2)       Schedule of Individual Executive Decisions cl-130620-xschedule

The minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 13^th May 2013 were presented to the Council, together with a schedule of decisions made by individual Executive Members. 

RESOLVED that:-

(a)       the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 13 May 2013 be received;

(b)       the recommendation of the Executive contained in minute 11(1): Food Standards Agency – Food Safety Service Plan to approve the Food Safety Service Plan 2013/14 be agreed; and

(c)           the schedule of decisions made by individual Executive Members cl-130620-xschedule be received.

To receive, consider and answer questions on reports and recommendations of the meeting of the Scrutiny Board held on 30 May 2013.

The minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Board held on 30 May 2013 were presented to the meeting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Scrutiny Board meeting held on 30 May 2013 be received.

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

(1)       Planning Committee                                 24 April 2013

(2)       Planning Committee                                 22 May 2013

(3)       Strategic Planning Development and    14 May 2013

Environment Policy and Review

Panel

(4)       Streetscene Policy Development            16 May 2013

and Review Panel

(5)       Leisure and Community Policy               15 May 2013

Development and Review Panel

(6)       Public Protection Policy Development   21 May 2013

and Review Panel

(7)       Health and Housing Policy                      23 May 2013

Development and Review Panel

(8)       Licensing and Regulatory Affairs            9 May 2013

Committee                                                   28 May 2013    

The minutes of the following Committee meetings were presented to Council:-

RESOLVED that:-

(a)       the minutes of the meetings of the Planning Committee held on 24 April 2013 and 22 May 2013 be received;

(b)       the minutes of the meeting of the Streetscene Policy Development and Review Panel held on 16 May 2013 be received;

(c)       the minutes of the Leisure and Community Policy Development and Review Panel held on 15 May 2013 be received;

(d)       the minutes of the meeting of the Public Protection Policy Development and Review Panel held on 21 May 2013 be received;

(e)       the minutes of the meeting of the Health and Housing Policy Development and Review Panel held on 23 May 2013 be received; and

(f)        the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Committee held on 9 May 2013 and 28 May 2013 be received.

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

There was on set of questions submitted for this meeting:

Questions by Councillor P J Davies:

1.    Is the Leader aware that the external and security lights at Trafalgar Court have not been working since March?

2.    Is he aware that given the open field and footpath adjacent to Trafalgar Court, the pitch darkness is a threat to elderly and vulnerable folk who live in this FBC sheltered home complex?

3.    Is he aware that at least one sub-contractor who undertakes work  for FBC, does not carry ID for entry into peoples' homes and can he assure me that all those who enter our FBC social housing homes will carry ID and have the necessary CRB checks, as elderly and vulnerable folk are involved?

The Executive Leader referred the questions to the Executive Member for Health and Housing for reply.

Response by the Executive Member for Health and Housing:

1.    The previous lighting at Trafalgar Court was disconnected by Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) as part of Hampshire County Council’s lamp column replacement programme. This work was a county-wide scheme and was unfortunately carried out without advising Fareham Borough Council. 

Supplementary lighting units were connected to the HCC circuits some 20 years ago without consent, and these were therefore unable to be reconnected as part of the lamp column replacement works. 

FBC officers have visited the site during hours of darkness and have concluded that the light levels provided by the new columns provide increased visibility compared to the previous columns.

2.    FBC officers will discuss the possibility of installing additional light columns with HCC officers and residents will be advised when the options are known. I will inform Councillor Davies of the outcome.

3.    All procurement arrangements are subject to a contractual requirement that representatives of contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers carry company identification and show this prior to entering a residents’ home.  CRB checks have now been replaced with DBS (Disclosure Barring Service) checks which are contractually required where the works deem it necessary.  Both of these matters are included within tender documentation and further discussed as pre-contract meetings and contract progress meetings as standard items.

Any known deviance from these arrangements should be reported to Building Services officers who will immediately address the situation with the appropriate contractor or sub-contractor.

Officers will ensure that an item will be included in the next tenants’ newsletter advising residents of the importance of seeing such identification, refusing access where identification is not shown and reporting incidents to Council officers.  Building Services officers will issue an immediate reminder to all contractors to further mitigate any such situations arising.

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 submitted for this meeting.

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 21 June 2013.

There were no appointments to committees made at this meeting.

A report by the Director of Planning and Environment seeking authority for an arrangement with Gosport Borough Council for the discharge of Fareham Borough Council’s planning function by Gosport Borough Council relating to the registration and determination of a planning application to be submitted to Gosport Borough Council which includes a small area of land within the administrative area of Fareham Borough Council.

RESOLVED that the Council, pursuant to Section 101 of the Local Government Act 1972, authorises   Gosport Borough Council to discharge the planning function of the Council in registering and determining a planning application for the provision of a road section between the proposed Broom Way junction and the existing gatehouse within the Daedalus site in respect of the land hatched in black on the plan at Appendix 1 to the report.