Agenda and minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the Council Meeting held on 28^TH July 2022.

The Minutes of the meeting of 28^th July 2022 were confirmed, with the removal of the words “Doesn’t like cabinet will do” from question 5 in Appendix A of the 28^th July draft minutes signed as a correct record.

To receive any apologies for absence from Members*.

*Note: Members are asked to email Committee Services in advance of the meeting as soon as they become aware they will be absent.

Apologies were received from

Councillor Bailey

Councillor Harwood

Councillor Lamb

Councillor Southern

Councillor Wright

Councillor Dorn joined remotely. A pointof orderwas raisedas tothe validityof joining remotely. It was clarified that under normal circumstances councillors were required to be in the council chamber for Full Council meetings, however exceptions could be given and had been on this occasion, for councillors to observe but not take part in the meeting if they could not attend due to illness.

To declare disposable pecuniary, and any other interests*.

*Note: Members are asked to email Committee Services in advance of the meeting as soon as they become aware they may have an interest to declare.

No declarations made.

Presentation by Colin Ive, Chairman of Yateley Sports Community Interest Company

A presentation was given by Colin Ive, Chairman of Yateley Sports and Community Interest company, about the building of the new sports pavilion on the Sean Deveraux Park in Yateley.

To receive any questions from members of the public submitted pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 12.

Note:  The text of any question under Council Procedure Rule 12 must be given to the Chief Executive (email committeeservices@hart.gov.uk) no later than Noon on Friday, 23^rd  September 2022

No questions from the public had been received.

A pointof orderwas raisedby CouncillorFarmer requestingan explanation as to why the questions that had been raised by a member of the public had not been accepted. The Joint Chief Executive explained the background to the rejection but confirmed that the questions could be received at the November Full Council meeting. 

Under rule 12.6 the rejected questions are recorded in Appendix A of these minutes.

To receive any questions from Members submitted pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 14.

Note: The text of any question under the Council Procedure Rule 14.3 must be given to the Chief Executive (email committeeservices@hart.gov.uk) not later than 5.00pm on 26^th September 2022

The text of any question under Council Procedure Rule 14.4 must be submitted to the Chief Executive before 10.00am on 29^th September 2022

Questions were received from Councillors Dr Crampton and Forster. These questions and their replies are detailed in Appendix B of these minutes.

The Chairman gave a vote of thanks to Janet Stanton who was retiring as the Fleet Town Council Clerk.

The meeting was informed about the charitable donations made in the name of former Councillor the Late Sharon Wheale. £1,363 had been given to each of the following; Victoria’s Promise, Church Crookham Men’s Shed and Vision for Youth Yateley. The other charity that Councillor Wheale supported was The Base in Hook.  Unfortunately this charity has not run for a number of years, the money for it will be retained in the Chairman’s fund.

The Chairman informed the meeting that she was looking at supporting Magic Breakfasts Hook, and hopefully rolling this out over the District.

The D of E Scheme for children with additional needs, is progressing. A business plan is in place and connections have been made with Hart Voluntary Action and Hart and Rushmoor Young Carers Group as well as with some corporate groups to provide funding.

The meeting was informed that plans for the Civic Service and the Civic Day are progressing.

The Chairman also announced she would be reinstating the Volunteer awards.

The Leader of the Council congratulated Hart staff for the showcase that had happened that afternoon in the Harlington Centre. He also informed the meeting that he would shortly be meeting with the leader of Hampshire County Council to discuss the next wave of funding.

The Cabinet Member for Finance thanked Ms Isabel Brittain for all her help and work as Section 151 Officer.

The Cabinet Member for Place made the following announcement:-

“Our Planning Policy team is currently working on a number of projects, and I can update Members on some of them:

• Hart’s Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan or “LCWIP” has been jointly commissioned with Hampshire County Council.  Sustrans were the successful consultants.  We expect that the LCWIP will take about 12 months to finalise.  Once complete, and endorsed by the Council, it will be used as a major part of the evidence base for the Green Grid. By encouraging modal shift to cycling and walking for shorter, local journeys, we will be helping the district towards being net carbon zero. We have also provided consultation responses to our Basingstoke & Deane and Rushmoor on their LCWIPs.
• The Odiham and North Warnborough Conservation Area Appraisal will be reported to Cabinet in November, where we will seek to endorse it and use it as a material consideration in the determination of planning applications.
• Winchfield Parish Council has started a review of the 'made' Neighbourhood Plan and we will be providing our comments on that as it progresses.
• One of our ‘business as usual’ tasks is to complete and publish our Annual Monitoring Statement by 31^st December. The Overview & Scrutiny panel have asked to see a draft of this report and that will be with them for their December meeting.
• Our Housing Land Position Statement and Housing Trajectory were both published in August and demonstrated a 10-year housing land supply. This means that we can continue to use our Local Plan policies to robustly defend areas from inappropriate and unsustainable development.
• Members will recall that the Cycle and Car Parking standards Technical Advice Note was published in August which updates our previous standards. This is a prelude to a full supplementary planning document.

Finally, as a result of the changes in the Council’s senior management team, responsibility for Flooding and Emergency Planning are both moving into the Place service and the responsibility for the administration and monitoring of S106 developer contributions will come into the Place service as well.

The Cabinet Member for Regulatory told the meeting that some of the newer councillors had been invited to go on some licencing visits. They had all enjoyed the experience and gave their thanks.

The Cabinet Member for Environment thanked John Elson, who is retiring at the end of October, for all his work during the many years he has been at Hart District Council; stating that he couldn’t have asked for better help from an officer and that John exhibited the values that the council should exhibit to residents.

The Cabinet  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

The Joint Chief Executive reported that as part of rebuilding links with the local community, post covid, Mrs Hughes was absent from the meeting as she was attending an event at RAF Odiham on the Council’s behalf.

The Minutes of the following Committees, which met on the dates shown, are submitted.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 14.1, Members are allowed to put questions at Council without Notice in respect of any matters in the Minutes to the Leader of the Council or any Chairman of the relevant meeting at the time those Minutes are received by Council.

The Minutes of the following Committees, which met on the dates shown, were received by Council.

A query was raised about not being able to access via Modern.gov exempt papers for the Cabinet Meeting 4^th Aug. Councillor Clarke was asked to work with officers to resolve this issue. Members in return were asked to log any further issues that they may experience.

To agree the appointment of Graeme Clark as Section 151 Officer from 1st November 2022. Mr Clark is CIPFA qualified and has performed the role of S151 Officer at Waverley Borough Council since 2014

RECOMMENDATION

The council should appoint Graeme Clark as Section 151 Officer

The Leader of the Council Councillor Neighbour proposed to the Council that Graeme Clarke be appointed as the Council’s Section 151 Officer from 1 November 2022. This was seconded by Councillor Radley and voted for unanimously.

Decision

Graeme Clarke be appointed as the Council’s Section S151 Officer from 1 November 2022.

To recommend that the Council should adopt on an interim basis a single CEO model and to bring it into full effect at the earliest opportunity.

RECOMMENDATION

Full Council agrees that the Council should adopt a single CEO model and bring it into full effect at the earliest opportunity (and that some of the estimated annual revenue budget savings achieved potentially reinvested to create additional capacity in Tier 3 manager posts to increase operational capacity/Monitoring officer provision)

The Joint Chief Executive, Daryl Phillips, left the Meeting

Full Council was asked to agree to move to a single CEO model and bring the arrangement into full effect at the earliest opportunity (and that some of the estimated annual revenue budget savings achieved potentially be reinvested to create additional capacity in Tier 3 manager posts to increase operational capacity/Monitoring officer provision) 

Proposed by Councillor Neighbour and Seconded by Councillor Radley.

Clarification was asked for about an apparent ambiguity in the reports concerning when the shared model arrangement should be put in place. The report from SOLIS had quoted a 2 year timescale for this to happen.  However, it was confirmed that Staffing Committee and Cabinet had agreed to progress to a shared CEO model by the end of the 2022/23 municipal year. 

A query was raised as to what level savings would be achieved in the current financial year if the model was adopted. It was explained that as this was the start of the process specific figures could not at this stage be confirmed.

A question was asked about keeping the organisation a ‘lean’ organisation. The meeting was told that for transparency purposes it should be made clear the there may be a need to backfill some resources that are currently being taken out of the staffing structure as the Council had just lost a Head of Service and would now be losing a Joint Chief Executive (JCE). Therefore, there may from a capacity point of view be a requirement for some replacement resources.

Decision

Full Council unanimously agree that the Council adopt a single chief Executive Model and that it should be brought into full effect at the earliest opportunity (and that some of the estimated annual revenue budget savings achieved potentially be reinvested to create additional capacity in Tier 3 manager posts to increase operational capacity/Monitoring officer provision).

To receive any feedback from Members who are representatives of the Council on an Outside Body.

There was no feedback from Outside Bodies.