Meeting documents

Council
Thursday, 12th December, 2013 7.30 pm

Date:
Thursday, 12th December, 2013
Time:
7.30 pm
Place:
New Council Chamber, Town Hall, REIGATE
 

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillor Dr. L.R. Hack (Mayor); Councillors S.S. Banwait, Mrs. N.J. Bramhall, S.T. Bramhall, Mrs. J.S. Bray, V.W. Broad, Mrs. L.J. Brunt, M.A. Brunt, G.P. Crome, A.J. De Save, J. Durrant, J.M. Ellacott, J.C.S. Essex, S.N. Farrer, Ms. S. Finch, K. Foreman, R. Harper, N. Harris, N.D. Harrison, A.C.J. Horwood*, A.J. Kay, F. Kelly, G.J. Knight, S.A. Kulka, A.M. Lynch, Mrs. R. Mill, M.J. Miller R.C. Newstead, G.L. Norman, D.J. Pay, Mrs. C.E. Poulter, D.T. Powell, S. Rickman, Mrs. D.A. Ross-Tomlin, T. Schofield, M.J. Selby, Ms. P. Shillinglaw, Mrs. J.M.A. Spiers, B.A. Stead, J.M. Stephenson, B. Truscott, M.A. Vivona, S.T. Walsh and C.T.H. Whinney.

* Part meeting only
Min NoDescriptionResolution
Part I
30. MINUTES
 RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 10th October 2013 be approved as a correct record and signed
31 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
 Councillors Mrs. G. Harper-Adamson, E. Humphreys, R.S. Mantle, S. Parnall, Mrs. R. Renton, Ms. B.J. Thomson and Mrs. R.S. Turner.
32 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
 It was noted that all Members present had a common interest in Minute 40 (Members' Allowances 2014/15) for financial reasons. In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct (Part 5, Paragraph 2a) the general dispensation applied in relation to this matter as the number of persons prohibited from participating in this matter would otherwise be so great that it would impede the transaction of business.
33 URGENT BUSINESS
 None.
34 PUBLIC QUESTIONS
 None.
35 QUESTIONS BY MEMBERS
 Five questions were asked and responses given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 14 and the Order paper circulated at the meeting.

Details were as follows:

Councillor J.C.S. Essex to the Executive Member for Finance (Councillor V.W. Broad) on Right to Buy initiative
Councillor Ms. S. Finch to Executive Member for Planning and Development (Councillor M.J. Miller) on Longmead School, Redhill
Councillor Mrs. P. Shillinglawto Executive Member for Leisure (Councillor A.J. De Save) on Increasing Tourism and Inward Investment
Councillor C.T.H. Whinney to Leader of the Council (Cllr Mrs. J.M.A. Spiers) on Maintenance of the Priory, Reigate
Councillor G.L. Norman to Executive Member for Recycling and Street Services (Councillor A.J. Kay) on Recycling Service
36 RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE
 RESOLVED that the Recommendations of the:
(i) Executive under Minute 53 (Localised Council Tax Support 2014/15) be adopted;
(ii) Executive under Minute 62 (Half Yearly Treasury Management Performance Report) be adopted;
(iii) Executive under Minute 70 (Merstham Regeneration) be adopted; and
(iv) Executive under Minute 72 (Construction of New Leisure Centre, Youth and Community Facilities and Spine Road) be adopted.
37 STATEMENTS
 The Leader of the Council (Councillor Mrs. J.M.A. Spiers) made a comprehensive statement on the Council's great progress in several important Regeneration activities. These included the Merstham regeneration project, the Preston regeneration project, and the improvement of Memorial Park in Redhill. The Leader praised the ability of the Council to carry out these activities in economically challenging times, and thanked both officers and Executive Members for their hard work in driving forward these projects.

The Executive Member for Property and Regeneration (Councillor Mrs N.J. Bramhall) made a statement on recent progress that had been made regarding the development of the Marketfield Way site in Redhill. Councillor Mrs Bramhall informed the Council of a ‘drop in' session planned for Wednesday 18th December between 6.00pm and 7.30pm, which would enable all Members to view the final two schemes on offer from potential development partners CoPlan Estates and Bridehall, and to ask any questions.

The Executive Member for Planning and Development (Councillor M.J. Miller) made a statement regarding the Council's Core Strategy, and the apparent success of the last hearing sessions for the Core Strategy Examination in Public, which were held at the Town Hall on Tuesday 10th December. Councillor Miller expected that the Council would be provided with a report in January and anticipated the adoption of the Core Strategy in the New Year.
38 SEALING OF DOCUMENTS
 RESOLVED to:
(i) authorise the sealing of any Orders, Deeds or Documents necessary to give effect to any matter contained in the Minutes of the meetings held between 27th September 2013 and 2nd December 2013 (2013/14 Volume 3) and any previous Minutes; and
(ii) ratify the sealing of documents referred to in entries 91/13 to 101/13 in the Seal Register.
39 THE COUNCIL TAX BASE 2014/15
Minute for Minute Number 39
RESOLVED that in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Tax Base) Regulations 1992, the Council Tax Base for 2014/15 for each of the Council's areas shall be as follows:

Reigate & Banstead as a whole: 57,001
Horley Town Council area: 8,479
Salfords & Sidlow Parish area: 1,341
40 MEMBERS' ALLOWANCES 2014/15
Minute for Minute Number 40
RESOLVED that:
1. the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel be agreed as follows:
(i) the principle of adopting the CPI as the external benchmark for the purposes of uplifting Members' Allowances be adopted;
(ii) in relation to the "voluntary element discount":
a. the calculations on Basic Allowances for 2014/15 be applied on the basis of the existing level of 40%; and
b. no review of the Voluntary Discount to the Basic Allowance be undertaken at this time;
(iii) there should be an increase in the Basic Allowance for 2014/15 of 1.1%;
(iv) there should be an increase of 1.1% for all Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) for 2014/15;
(v) no new Special Responsibility Allowances be introduced for 2014/15;
(vi) all travel and subsistence allowances be retained at 2013/14 levels for 2014/15;
(vii) a Carers' Allowance be retained within the Members' Allowance Scheme, with a maximum rate paid per hour to a carer capped at the Reigate and Banstead minimum wage of £7.49 and the maximum amount to be claimed in any year by a Councillor should remain at £3,000;
(viii) no Member should be entitled, at this time, to a pension in accordance with a scheme made under Section 7 of the Superannuation Act 1972;
(ix) the Members' Allowances Scheme (set out at Annex 3) be amended to take account of (i) to (viii) above with effect from 1st April 2014.
2. the Chief Executive be authorised to make any necessary changes to the Members' Allowances Scheme for 2014/15 (approved under (1) above);
3. the financial implications arising from the adoption of recommendation 1 above be noted and built into the Council's 2014/15 Budget Proposal and future years projections; and
4. the IRP be thanked for its report.
41 APPOINTMENT OF MONITORING OFFICER
Minute for Minute Number 41
RESOLVED that:

(i) Michael Graham be appointed as the Interim Monitoring Officer for the Council with immediate effect; and
(ii) a report be brought forward to review the appointment no later than June, 2014.
42 LEADER'S ANNOUNCEMENTS
 The Leader of the Council (Councillor Mrs. J.M.A. Spiers) made a statement welcoming Michael Graham to the Council as Interim Monitoring Officer.
43 MAYOR'S ANNOUNCEMENTS
 The Mayor reported on the following:

• That a Holocaust Memorial Day Service would take place at the Town Hall on Thursday 23 January at 6pm.

• That on Friday 28 February the Mayor would be hosting a Ladies Luncheon at Kingswood Golf Club to raise funds for her charities The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, and also Surrey Crimestoppers. Special guest and speaker at the event would be Philip Birkenstein, Chairman of The St. Petersburg Collection of Theo Faberge creations.

• That the Mayor would be hosting a fundraising concert at the Harlequin next year. The concert would feature multi award-winning Italian acoustic guitar virtuoso Antonio Forcione, joined on the evening by Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale. The concert was to take place on Sunday 27 April, and the Mayor announced that she would also be hosting a reception at this event. All proceeds would go to the Mayor's Charities, The Royal Marsden Cancer Trust, and Crimestoppers.

• That on Sunday 23 March, the Mayoral XI would take on the Chelsea Coaches XI in a charity football match, with proceeds going to the Mayor's charities. The match was to be held at Redhill Football Club, with a kick off time of 2pm.

• The Mayor reminded Members that a photograph of all Councillors had been taken in the Old Council Chamber after the previous Council Meeting copies of which could be purchased at a cost of £10 each.

• Finally, the Mayor wished all present a very happy Christmas and enjoyable New Year and invited all Members of the Council to join her for Christmas refreshments in the Old Council Chamber, where entertainment would be provided by the Beacon School choir and Vocal Blaze.
9.14 pm

Minute

Min NoMinute
39Council received a report on the Council Tax base for 2014/15. The Council Tax base was the measure of the relative taxable capacity of each of the three different tax-raising areas of the Borough (the Borough as a whole, the Parish Council area and the Town Council area). It had to be determined before 31st January each year and reported to the Department for Communities and Local Government. The report set out relevant statutory powers, background, information on the Council Tax base calculation, and the collection rate. The report also set out options, legal, financial and equalities implications, risk management considerations, the position on consultation and policy framework factors.
The report was introduced by the Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance (Councillor V.W. Broad) who moved the Recommendation set out. This was seconded by Councillor Mrs N.J. Bramhall whereupon it was
40The Chief Executive introduced a report on a review of Members' Allowances by the Council's Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP).
The report of the Corporate Policy and Governance Manager included background information, set out relevant statutory powers, had appended to it the fourteenth report of the IRP (with a Members' Allowances Scheme for 2014/15) and detailed a summary of the IRP's recommendations together with financial implications.
In relation to the report, Councillor M.A. Vivona moved and Councillor J.M. Ellacott seconded the following motion:
That:
1. the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel be agreed as follows:
(i) the principle of adopting the CPI as the external benchmark for the purposes of uplifting Members' Allowances be adopted;
(ii) in relation to the "voluntary element discount":
a. the calculations on Basic Allowances for 2014/15 be applied on the basis of the existing level of 40%; and
b. no review of the Voluntary Discount to the Basic Allowance be undertaken at this time;
(iii) there should be an increase in the Basic Allowance for 2014/15 of 1.1%;
(iv) there should be an increase of 1.1% for all Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) for 2014/15;
(v) no new Special Responsibility Allowances be introduced for 2014/15;
(vi) all travel and subsistence allowances be retained at 2013/14 levels for 2014/15;
(vii) a Carers' Allowance be retained within the Members' Allowance Scheme, with a maximum rate paid per hour to a carer capped at the Reigate and Banstead minimum wage of £7.49 and the maximum amount to be claimed in any year by a Councillor should remain at £3,000;
(viii) no Member should be entitled, at this time, to a pension in accordance with a scheme made under Section 7 of the Superannuation Act 1972;
(ix) the Members' Allowances Scheme (set out at Annex 3) be amended to take account of (i) to (viii) above with effect from 1st April 2014.
2. the Chief Executive be authorised to make any necessary changes to the Members' Allowances Scheme for 2014/15 (approved under (1) above);
3. The financial implications arising from the adoption of recommendation 1 above be noted and built into the Council's 2014/15 Budget Proposal and future years projections; and
4. The IRP be thanked for its report.
In relation to this motion, Councillor M.A. Brunt moved and Councillor S.T. Walsh seconded the following amendment:
That in:
1.
(iii) there be no increase (0.0%) in the Basic Allowance for 2014/15;
(iv) there should be no increase (0.0%) for all Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) for 2014/15.
Following a full debate, the amendment was put to the meeting, whereupon it received an equality of votes (21 For and 21 Against). To break the deadlock and to allow the Council to continue to debate the matter, the Mayor utilised her casting vote against the amendment, which was declared lost.
A second amendment was moved by Councillor M.J. Selby, that in:
1.
(iv) there should be a 2.2% increase for all Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) for 2014/15.
There being no seconder for this amendment, it did not proceed.
The original Motion was therefore put to the meeting whereupon it was declared carried, with a clear majority voting in favour.
It was therefore
41The Chief Executive reported to the Council that following the decision of the Legal Services Manager to leave the Council the position of Monitoring Officer was vacant. Pending a review of the legal service and a permanent appointment, it was noted that Mr. Michael Graham, the Head of Corporate Governance at Spelthorne Borough Council had agreed to provide leadership and management of the Council's Legal Services on a temporary basis. It was proposed that Mr. Graham be appointed as the Council's Monitoring Officer on an interim basis.