Agenda and minutes

The meeting of the Council will be called to order to receive Her Worship The Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

The meeting of the Council was called to order to receive His Worship The Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

An apology for absence was received from Councillors G S Atwal, Miss A R Bond, Mrs K M Chalk, Miss M V Chamberlain, J Kaufman and Mrs S B Morris.

Members are reminded that any declaration of interest should be made having regard to the Members’ Code of Conduct. In particular, Members must make clear the nature of the interest and whether it is 'pecuniary' or ‘non-pecuniary'.

Councillor Mrs H E Loydall declared a non-pecuniary interest regarding agenda item 4c as Chair of the Senior Citizens Forum.

Report of the Interim Chief Finance Officer / Section 151 Officer.

The report and appendices will follow in a supplementary Agenda update issued ahead of the extraordinary meeting of the Council in due course.

The Council gave consideration to the reports and appendices as set out in the first and second supplementary agenda updates (at pages 1 -29 and 1 - 6) as delivered and summarised by members of the Senior Management Team (SMT) which should be read together with these minutes as a composite document.

The report recommended that the Council review a range of budget options and provide advice and guidance to the SMT to enable production of a robust programme of projects and schemes to be brought forward as part of the budget plans for 2018/19 and achievement of the planned net reduction in spending set out in the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).

It was agreed that rather than considering the budget options report as a whole, Members would debate each option individually in the order they appeared within the report, and aim to reach an overall consensus with regard to the future budget direction the Council wished to take, as well as determining which areas required more evidence in order to inform future decisions.

A debate held in open session in relation to each budget option considered by the Council is summarised as follows:

a)    Materials Recycling Facility (MRF)

Members acknowledged that in light of recent decisions by the County Council the operational reality was that this facility would now have to be closed down. It was suggested that in view of this closure, there may be scope to relocate some services to the Bushloe House site, as well as potential for increased waste partnership working with other Boroughs and Districts.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

An options appraisal be brought to Council for consideration as soon as possible, outlining the future possibilities for services currently undertaken at the depot site.

b)    Wholly Owned Housing Company

RESOLVED THAT:

The report be noted by Members.

c)     Reducing the Revenue Costs at Brocks Hill, Oadby

Members acknowledged that whilst Brocks Hill since its opening has been and continues to be a highly regarded and valuable community asset, there had been a gradual deterioration of the facilities over a prolonged period of time, and various initiatives to steady financial losses had achieved mixed results. There was a general consensus that the Council was no longer best placed to run the facility and new management was needed in order to secure its future. Of the options outlined within the report, there was a strong interest from Members to look in closer detail at the option of partnership working with Sports Leisure Management (SLM) Limited.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

A full report and presentation outlining SLM’s proposal for running the Brocks Hill centre be brought to the next Council meeting on Tuesday 5 September 2017, covering the key areas of car parking, access and financing arrangements.

d)    Potential Closure of Public Toilets

A range of views were expressed regarding whether or not public toilets within Oadby and Wigston should remain open. Some Members commented that they are seldom used, poorly maintained and often subject to vandalism. Other Members disagreed and suggested that in their experience the facilities were situated in convenient locations and had a reasonable standard of cleanliness. It was suggested that rather than a blanket closure of all public toilets, each of the six sites identified in the report needed to be assessed on a case-by-case basis.  There was scepticism from Members that the option of a grant scheme to support local businesses in offering their toilet facilities would not receive much take-up.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

That a further report be brought to Council identifying how public conveniences can be delivered and what alternative options exist for running the existing facilities.

e)    Potential Introduction of a Charge for Collecting Green Waste

Members acknowledged that the collection of green waste is a discretionary service and therefore had no objection in principle to a charging scheme for providing the service, noting that Oadby and Wigston were one of the few authorities not to currently charge. There were a range of questions from Members regarding whether any charges introduced would be per bin or per household, as it was noted that some large properties in the Borough had more than one  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44a

The press and public are likely to be excluded from the remainder of the meeting in accordance with section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (Exempt Information) during consideration of the item(s) below on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in the respective paragraph(s) 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act and, that in all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exempt item(s) outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED THAT:

The press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting in accordance with section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (Exempt Information) during consideration of the item(s) below on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in the respective paragraph(s) 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act and, that in all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exempt item(s) outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

A debate held in closed session in relation to each budget option considered by the Council is summarised as follows:

a)    Discretionary Services

Members requested a more detailed breakdown of the costs involved in delivering the discretionary services and what outcomes were being achieved with the financial support from the Council.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

A report covering each of the discretionary services provided be brought to the Council meeting on Tuesday 5 December 2017.

b)    Grants

Members stated that they could not make a judgement on the value for money achieved through the grants given to outside bodies based solely on the figures provided within the report and requested further information about what functions these bodies perform and how the grants are spent.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

A politically balanced five-member Working Group be established to look at the system for awarding grants. Terms of reference for the Working Group shall be brought to the Council meeting on Tuesday 5 September 2017, with a report to be produced by the end of 2017.

c)     Review the Vacant Position of Chief Executive

There was agreement from Members that they wished to see the Council retain the position of Chief Executive as paid Head of Service. It was suggested that Oadby and Wigston required a voice to represent the authority at a senior level, and past experience of sharing senior staff with another local authority had not proved to be successful. It was also agreed that now would be the opportune moment to review the structure of the Senior Management Team as a whole, rather than just the Chief Executive’s position.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

A five member panel be established to review the Senior Management Team Structure, the role of the Chief Executive and the recruitment process for a successor. After the current Chief Executive vacates the position in September 2017, Mrs Anne E Court to serve as Interim Chief Executive for a period of time to be determined by the panel.