Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Atkins.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in items on the agenda in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct. For any advice on declarations of interest, please contact the Monitoring Officer before the meeting.

There were no disclosable pecuniary or other significant interests declared at the meeting.

To receive any declarations by members of instruction given by or on behalf of a political group as to how that member should speak or vote on any items on the agenda. For any advice on declarations of a party whip, please contact the Monitoring Officer before the meeting.

There were no declarations that any Member was subject to a party whip.

To note any Visiting Members or members of the public wishing to speak, of which due notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 18 or 19, and which item(s) they wish to speak on.

Councillor Macmillan took the opportunity at this point in the meeting to give an apology regarding any statements or comments made at the last meeting that might have caused offence. 

Councillor Bailey was in attendance and would be presenting the Call-in in respect of Item OSC41/22.

Councillors Chapelard, Hayward, Pound and Warne were in attendance on behalf of the Cabinet in respect of item OSC41/22.

Councillor Dawlings had registered to speak on item OSC41/22.

To consider the called-in item, details of which are set out in the associated report, and to decide a response.

The Chairman explained the Call-In process.

Councillor Bailey presented the Call-In on behalf of those who had signed the Call-In request.  Comments included:

-       To ask whether the correct process had been followed, following the decision by Cabinet on 27 October 2022 to allocate £100k of parking revenue to the new Community Support Fund.

-       The Community Support Fund was a worthy and viable scheme that would help the most vulnerable in the Borough and this was welcomed.

-       Decisions on the use of tax payers money must be made on sound evidence and advice and that it acted within the budget framework that was democratically agreed by Full Council. Further that it allowed for thorough and transparent scrutiny of its proposals. On this occasion this had not happened.

-       The Council’s decision making process had a number of stages that included public consultations, the opportunity for Members to ask Officers questions and the right of members of the public to speak.  This tried and tested method of scrutiny had been in place at the Council for a number of years and ensured that any proposed policy/decision was fully considered before it was put before Cabinet for a final decision. 

-       In terms of the decision to move £100k from car parking revenue to the new Community Support Fund, this process was not followed.  Instead Cabinet announced the proposal at their meeting on 27 October 2022. 

-       There was no advance notice of this proposal and the decision to approve was taken by Cabinet in under 3 minutes.

-       This proposal, including any mention of the Community Support Fund had not been discussed at the Finance and Governance Cabinet Advisory Board on 11 October 2022 and had therefore not been scrutinised by the Committee specifically set up to consider upcoming Cabinet decisions.

-       Due to the lack of notice, no Members or members of the public were afforded the opportunity to speak on this issue.

-       There was still little detail regarding the Community Support Fund.  At Cabinet in July, only scant details were given, with only an initial step of creating terms of reference being decided. 

-       To date, details of any terms of reference had not been made known to Members. 

-       The only details available were included in Appendix D (2.16 and 2.17) of the report which stated that  an initial allocation to the fund would be made from higher fees and charges and the money would be awarded to local organisations based on recommendations from the Grants Assessment Panel. 

-       Who were these local organisations and what were the mechanisms in place to distribute the funds.

-       Details of the Grants Assessment Panel were also not known.

-       This raised further questions related to the criteria that would be used to establish who would benefit from the fund. 

-       Central Government were also providing support including help with energy bills.  Will all types of support be taken into account when considering which households would benefit from  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC41/22

To consider any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent, for the reasons to be stated, in accordance with Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There was no urgent business.

To note that the next scheduled meeting is Monday 21 November 2022.

The next meeting is scheduled for 21 November 2022.