Agenda and draft 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 Her Worship The Mayor.

To receive apologies for absence from Members to determine the quorum of the meeting in accordance with Rule 7 of Part 4 of the Constitution.

An apology for absence was received from Councillors R H Adams, F S Broadley, L M Broadley, H E Darling, J K Ford, D A Gamble, G G Hunt, P Joshi, R V Joshi and C A M Walter.

It was moved by the Mayor, seconded by Councillor M H Charlesworth and

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

Councillor C D Kozlowski be appointed as an Assistant to the Mayor for the duration of this meeting only.

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'.

None.

Report of the Chief Executive Officer / Head of Paid Services

Council gave consideration to the report and appendices (as set out at pages 3 – 160 of the agenda reports pack and pages 3 – 11 of the agenda update) which sought approval for the final proposal.

In light of the technical difficulties Councillor I K Ridley queried how the meeting would be recorded. The Senior Democratic & Electoral Services Officer advised that a fuller version of the minutes would be produced.

The Chief Executive Officer presented the report, highlighting the fact the draft proposal was approved unanimously at the meeting on 28 October and summarising the amendments made to the proposal following feedback from each of the involved Councils’ meetings, which were agreed by each of the Council’s Leaders.

Councillor M H Charlesworth raised queries relating to an economic imbalance between the proposed North and South unitaries and the sustainability of the City unitary, including whether the final document will address the issue of the City’s’ enlargement. Councillor M H Charlesworth stressed that if the issue is not addressed it would be a serious flaw and could affect the government’s decision on whether to approve the proposal.

The Chief Executive Officer advised that in terms of the North/South divide, the Council Leaders were satisfied that there is balance in the proposal regarding financial sustainability, geography and partnerships. It was also advised that the issue raised regarding the City was addressed in section 2 of the proposal and the financial sustainability of the City at page 9, which sets out analysis of their finances and funding. The Chief Executive Officer also advised further work was being done to strengthen the proposal regarding the belief that the City would be sustainable.

The Leader of the Council also addressed the points made by Councillor M H Charlesworth, advising that the Section 151 Officers for each Council had done detailed work around the sustainability of all the proposed unitaries and that independent financial advisors had also looked into the issue around the City’s sustainability and taking into account the deprivation in the city and the fairer funding formula, as well as the change in formula for the housing targets set out by government that the City will be sustainable. The Leader also reiterated the fact that this local government reorganisation was forced onto the Council, and that while the Council would prefer the status quo, it had a duty to work on creating a proposal that would be the best option for local residents.

The Leader went onto outline the proposal highlighting the fact that the North-City-Couth proposal was the closest to meeting the governments’ aims for the reorganisation and that it received strong support from the public with over 6000 responses to the public consultation.

The Leader of the Opposition echoed the Leaders’ sentiments and thanked Officers and Members for their hard work, stating that he was pleased with the alignment of all Councillors on this proposal whether Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or Independents. The Leader of the Opposition queried the population densities of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.