Council – 2 November 2020

Venue:  Virtual Meeting Microsoft Teams
Time:  10am
Email:  Richard.mell@northlincs.gov.uk

Watch this meeting live

1.  Mayor’s Remarks

2.  Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Personal or Personal and Prejudicial Interests.

3.  To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Ordinary Meetings of the Council held on 27 January and 26 February 2020 (budget meeting).

4. Treasury Management Annual Report 2019/20 – Report of the Director: Governance and Partnerships.

5.  Annual Report of the Audit Committee 2019/2020 – Report of the Director: Governance and Partnerships.

6. Standards Committee – Annual Report 2019/2020 – Report of the Director: Governance and Partnerships.

7Constitutional Matters– Report of the Director: Governance and Partnerships.

8. Urgent Key Decisions – Annual Summary – Report of the Director: Governance and Partnerships.

9. To receive the minutes of the under mentioned committees/panels/board and to consider any recommendations made and to pass such resolutions as may be necessary.

Planning Committee –
(15 January, 12 February 11 March, 12 May, 3 and 17 June, 1, 15 and 29 July and 26 August 2020)

Licensing Committee –
(23 January, 6 February, 5 and 18 March, 4 June, 9 and 28 July, 27 August and 10 September 2020)

Audit Committee –
(22 January, 20 May, 15 July and 16 September 2020)

Standards Committee –
(9 and 29 July, and 16 September 2020)

Health Scrutiny Panel –
(6 March, 20 May, 22 July, 14 August, 15 September and 5 October 2020)

Governance Scrutiny Panel
(18 and 20 February, 6 July, 9 and 23 September 2020)

Places Scrutiny Pane
(14 July and 6 October 2020

Children and Education Scrutiny Panel
(10 February, 12 June, 7 August and 14 October 2020)

Health and Wellbeing Board
(17 December 2019, 29 June and 14 September 2020)

10. To consider any questions on the discharge of the functions of the Humberside Fire Authority.

11.  Questions from members of the public (including town and parish councils).

12.  To consider a joint motion of which notice has been given and to pass such resolutions as may be necessary (none received).

MINUTES

Present

THE MAYOR – Councillor J Evison

Councillors Ali, Allcock, Armiger, Armitage, Bainbridge, Briggs, Clark, J Davison, Ellerby, England, L Foster, T Foster, Gosling, Grant, Hannigan, Marper, Mitchell, Ogg, Poole, Rayner, Reed, Robinson, Rose, Rowson, C Sherwood, N Sherwood, Southern, Swift, K Vickers, P Vickers, Walshe, Waltham MBE, Wells, Wilson and Yeadon,

The council met remotely via Microsoft Teams.

2720   MAYOR’S REMARKS – The Mayor welcomed fellow councillors, officers and members of the public to the first remote meeting of North Lincolnshire Council. He referred to everyone’s difficult experiences during the current Covid19 pandemic, but also to the community cohesion, family support, self-help and outstanding voluntary endeavours especially including those of the NHS, emergency services and community workers who had been a bright beacon for our community. The Mayor on behalf of the Council offered its heart felt gratitude and admiration, sincerely thanking them all. He also explained that he would be continuing with Local Hero Awards and encouraged local residents and organisations to inform him or Mayoral Services of individuals and groups who should be considered for such an award especially during the ongoing pandemic.

The Mayor also informed the Council of the recent sad deaths of Councillor Derek Longcake, North Lincolnshire Councillor for the Bottesford Ward and former Scunthorpe Borough Councillors Jim Pearson, Robin Downs, and Alec Readhead. The Mayor paid tribute to the councillors’ years of dedicated public service and on behalf of all councillors, expressed their thoughts for their families. He also referred to the recent sad death of Colin Davison, Councillor A Davison’s husband and on behalf of all councillors, expressed their thoughts for Councillor A Davison and her family at this sad time.

The council then observed a minute’s silence in memory of those above, and for those North Lincolnshire residents who had tragically lost their lives to Covid19.

(The Leaders of both political groups paid tribute during the meeting to Councillor Longcake and expressed their deepest sympathy to Councillor A Davison).

2721   DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AND SIGNIFICANT LOBBYING – Declarations of personal interests were indicated as follows –

Member Councillor M Ali
Subject/Minute  Licence Holder with schools transport contract; Crosby Community Association – Trustee

2722   MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the Ordinary Meetings of the Council held on 27 January and 26 February 2020 (budget meeting) having been circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the Mayor.

2723 TREASURY MANAGEMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2019/20 – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted the Treasury Management Annual Report 2019/20 which summarised the council’s arrangements, activity and treasury performance during 2019/20; the key points being –

  • Borrowing was within Prudential Indicator Limits;
  • Investment balance levels were increased. Yields initially rose, then fell in the final weeks of the period and into the new year in response to the Coronavirus pandemic;
  • Debt costs were well within budget delivering in-year savings to support pressures elsewhere in the organisation, and
  • Investment income exceeded budget to further support other services

The Treasury Management Outturn 2019/20 report/presentation was attached as an appendix to the report and covered key issues including-

  • The Treasury Management Strategy for 2019/20 assumed further borrowing would be required during the year. The net increase in council debt in 2019/20 was £8.5m.  Long-term debt increased by £3.4m and short-term by £5.1m.  The average interest rate on borrowing fell from 3.4% to 3.2%;
  • The cost of servicing the council’s debt was £11.6m. This remained below the council’s guideline of debt management costs being below 10-12% of the council’s revenue stream;
  • The level of debt was within the operational boundary and authorised limits set in the Treasury Management Strategy, and
  • Investment balances increased from £13m to £35.3m by the end of 2019-20. The main reason for this increase was various Covid-19 related grants being paid to the council by central government.  The average investment interest rate was 0.13%.

Resolved – That the Treasury Management Performance for the 2019/20 financial year be noted.

2724   ANNUAL REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE 2019/20 – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report which presented to Council the second annual report of the Audit Committee. It summarised the activities of the committee and demonstrates how it had discharged its duties for the period May 2019 to May 2020. A copy of the annual report was attached as an appendix.

The report stated that the annual report of the Audit Committee was considered good practice, and provided a mechanism to demonstrate transparently the effectiveness of the committee and provided assurance on the effectiveness of its role.

The annual report had been approved by the Audit Committee at its meeting of 15 July 2020 and recommended that it be presented to Council in support of the requirements of the Council’s Code of Governance.

Resolved – That the annual report of the Audit Committee for 2019/20 be received.

2725  STANDARDS COMMITTEE – ANNUAL REPORT 2019/20 – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report which attached as an appendix the seventh annual report of the Standards Committee under its standards regime and associated published Standards Arrangements pursuant to the Localism Act 2011.

The report covered the period 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020, and detailed the work and activities of the Standards Committee throughout that time.

The report was approved by the Standards Committee at its meeting on 9 July 2020 with a request that the Monitoring Officer provide a copy to all Town and Parish Councils in the area.

Following receipt of this report by Council, the Monitoring Officer would provide the annual training sessions to town and parish members using the report to inform the itinerary.

Resolved – That the report of the Standards Committee for the period 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 be received. 

2726  CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report which set out relevant Constitutional matters requiring the Council to consider, note and approve.

The Director in her report explained that ‘The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 No. 392’ (‘Regulations’) were brought into force following the pandemic to enable, amongst other things, local authorities to hold meetings remotely and to dispense with Annual General Meetings.

To give practical effect to the Regulations and in the absence of an Annual General Meeting, it was necessary to make consequential amendments to the Council’s Procedure Rules to facilitate business continuity and develop a remote meetings protocol to govern the conduct of remote meetings, in accordance with sector advice from both Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) and the Association of Democratic Services Officers (ADSO).

Accordingly, these changes were consolidated as set out in Appendix A of the report :   Part D Rule 9 – Remote Meetings Procedure Rules (and Remote Meetings Protocol). Advice from both LLG and ADSO was that even though the Regulations have had an “automatic amending effect on an authority’s existing rules and can be applied immediately” it was nonetheless good practice for these changes to be “adopted formally by the full authority at the first opportunity to do so.” This report sought such approval from Council.

The report also stated that pursuant to the Local Government Act 2000 (as amended) the Leader was responsible for determining the size and composition of the Cabinet for the discharge of executive functions, including the content of any cabinet member portfolios.    Under the Constitution, the Leader was required to notify the Council at each Annual General Meeting of any changes to cabinet member portfolios so that these could be received and included in the Constitution.  In lieu of this year’s Annual General Meeting, this report sought to acknowledge formally the changes to cabinet member portfolios as detailed in Appendix B as notified by the Leader on 3 July 2020, and for inclusion in the Constitution.

Resolved – (a) That the report be noted and its content explained in paragraph 2 of the report and set out in its appendices be approved, and (b) that the Constitutional amendments as detailed in this report and as set out in its appendices be approved and adopted.   

2727    URGENT KEY DECISIONS – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report in accordance with requirements of the Council’s Constitution ‘Access to Information Procedure Rules’ executive key decisions taken over the last year where the making of the decision was agreed as urgent. The report in an appendix summarised three executive key decisions taken as urgent over the last year and stated that the required public notice of the decisions to be taken were published on the council’s website, and the required agreement for the decisions to be made were obtained from the chairs of the relevant scrutiny panels.

Resolved – That the annual report summarising executive key decisions where the making of the decision was agreed as urgent be received and noted.

2728        MINUTES OF COMMITTEES, PANELS AND BOARDPLANNING COMMITTEEResolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Planning Committee held on 15 January, 12 February, 11 March, 12 May, 3 and 17 June, 1, 15 and 29 July and 26 August 2020 be received with the exception of minutes 2004 (ii) and 2014(i)

2729   APPLICATION PA/2019/1782 – With regard to the excepted portion (a) it was –

Moved by Councillor N Sherwood and seconded by Councillor J Evison –

That the minute be received.

Moved by Councillor L Foster and seconded by Councillor S Swift as an amendment-

That the minute be received with regret at the decision arrived at by the panel.

At the request of members and in accordance with Procedure Rule 1.22(d) the names of members voting for, against and abstaining from the amendment are as follows –

FOR:   Councillors Ali, Allcock, Armiger, Armitage, Bainbridge, Briggs, Clark, J Davison, Ellerby, England, Evison, L Foster, T Foster, Gosling, Grant, Hannigan, Marper, Mitchell, Ogg, Poole, Rayner, Reed, Robinson, Rose, Rowson, C Sherwood, N Sherwood, Southern, Swift, K Vickers, P Vickers, Walshe, Waltham MBE, Wells, Wilson and Yeadon,      

AGAINST:   Nil

ABSTAINING:        Nil

Amendment Carried
Substantive Motion Carried

2730   APPLICATION PA/2020/103 – With regard to the excepted portion (b) it was –

Moved by Councillor N Sherwood and seconded by Councillor J Evison –

That the minute be received.

Motion Carried

2731   LICENSING COMMITTEE – Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Licensing Committee held on 23 January, 6 February, 5 and 18 March, 4 June, 9 and 28 July, 27 August and 10 September 2020 be received, approved and adopted.

2732   AUDIT COMMITTEE – Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 22 January, 20 May, 15 July and 16 September 2020 be received, approved and adopted.

2733   STANDARDS COMMITTEE – Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Standards Committee held on 9 and 29 July and 16 September 2020 be received.

2734 HEALTH SCRUTINY PANEL – Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Health Scrutiny Panel held on 6 March, 20 May, 22 July, 14 August, 15 September and 5 October 2020 be received with the exception of minutes 536 –

2735    COVID19 – LOCAL RESPONSE AND CURRENT POSITION – With regard to the excepted portion it was –

Moved by Councillor T Mitchell and seconded by Councillor S Wilson –

That the minute be received.

Motion Carried

2736     GOVERNANCE SCRUTINY PANEL – Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Governance Scrutiny Panel held on 18 and 20 February, 6 July, 9 and 23 September 2020 be received with the exception of minute 31–

2737  CALL-IN MINUTE 9 OF THE DEPUTY LEADER CABINET MEMBER MEETING HELD ON 12 FEBRUARY 2020 – APPROVAL OF COMMUNITY GRANT APPLICATIONS- With regard to the excepted portion it was-

Moved by Councillor D Robinson and seconded by Councillor T Gosling –

That the minute be received.

Moved by Councillor S Swift and seconded by Councillor L Yeadon as an amendment-

That the minute be received with regret at the decision arrived at by the panel.

At the request of members and in accordance with Procedure Rule 1.22(d) the names of members voting for, against and abstaining from the amendment are as follows –

FOR:   Councillors Ali, Armitage, Bainbridge, Ellerby, L Foster, Gosling, Grant, Rayner, Southern, Swift, Wilson and Yeadon.        

 AGAINST:  Councillors, Allcock, Armiger, Briggs, Clark, J Davison, England, Evison, T Foster, Hannigan, Marper, Mitchell, Ogg, Poole, Reed, Robinson, Rose, Rowson, C Sherwood, N Sherwood, , K Vickers, P Vickers, Walshe, Waltham MBE and Wells.

ABSTAINING:        Nil

Amendment Lost
Motion Carried

2738 PLACES SCRUTINY PANEL – Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Places Scrutiny Panel held on 14 July and 6 October 2020 be received.

2739   CHILDREN AND EDUCATION SCRUTINY PANEL – Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Children and Education Scrutiny Panel held on 10 February, 12 June, 7 August and 14 October 2020 be received with the exception of minutes 21 and 31-

2740   ADDED ITEM – HOLIDAY HUNGER – With regard to the excepted portion (a) it was –

Moved by Councillor T Foster and seconded by Councillor L Yeadon-

That the minute be received.

Motion Carried

2741   LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS TO SAFEGUARD AND PROMOTE THE WELFARE OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE 2018/19 – With regard to the excepted portion (b) it was –

Moved by Councillor T Foster and seconded by Councillor L Yeadon-

That the minute be received.

Motion Carried

2742  HEALTH AND WELLBEING BOARD – Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on 17 December 2019, 29 June and 14 September 2020 be received.