Agenda and minutes

Pastor Joyce of the International Prayer Church opened the meeting with a prayer.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Annual meeting of the Council held on 19th May 2021.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on the 19th May 2021 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive from Members declarations as to disclosable pecuniary or non-statutory disclosable interests in relation to any Agenda item. See Notes below.

No declarations were received.

To receive a verbal report by the Returning Officer on the person elected to the Office of District Councillor for the St Neots East ward.

The Returning Officer reported that following a by-election in the St Neots East Ward on 8th July 2021, Councillor Ben Pitt had been elected to the District Council. The Chairman welcomed Councillor Pitt to his first meeting of the Council.

To note the Chairman’s engagements since the last Council meeting.

The Council noted those engagements attended by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman since the last meeting (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book).

The Executive Leader, Councillor R Fuller to address the Council on the State of the District.

The Chairman will invite the Leaders of the Opposition to respond to the address.

[In the ensuing debate, a Member may speak once and no speech may exceed 5 minutes in length without the consent of the Chairman].

The Chairman invited the Executive Leader, Councillor R Fuller to address the Council on the State of the District 2021 and to open the debate which was scheduled to follow. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is appended in the Minute Book.

In his opening remarks Councillor Fuller began by reflecting back on his State of the District address the previous year that focussed on the Council’s immediate Covid response and was proud to report on a record of action that been undertaken since then to support communities around the District. His sincere thanks were offered to both Officer and Members who supported the delivery over the last year, with new ways of working being deployed.

Focussing on the business community, Members were advised of the successful delivery of a range of discretionary grant schemes alongside the mandatory Government schemes resulting in the award of £56m to support local businesses. Alongside this £22m of business rate reliefs and the securing of an additional £1.4m of Government funding to further business recovery and growth support schemes and the direct delivery of £900k of hardship funding and Council Tax support payments.

Attention was drawn to support of £65k funding for the community and food banks, together the Council’s own stock of food and supplies for vulnerable and shielding residents, the extension of the Community Chest fund to £50k for Covid support and Covid recovery projects and the success for the Council in the being an early adopter of the Kickstart youth employment scheme.

In referencing his first public statement on the Coronavirus on 18th March 2020, the Executive Leader reminded Members of the Council’s priority to assist the business community, maintain essential services and support the most vulnerable in the District and this has guided all the Council had achieved over the last 16 months in response to the pandemic.

The Executive Leader explained that the resultant delivery of new services in response to the pandemic would have been easy for this to impact on other areas of activity, but he reported that the direction of the Cabinet was to maintain business as usual. This can be demonstrated by the continued delivery of the waste and operations service, with the District Council being one of only 5% of all Council’s that have managed such an achievement.

Members were informed of the success in preventing 523 homelessness cases throughout the past year and the eventual accommodation of 108 individuals under the Government’s ‘Everyone In’ scheme, as well as new Homelessness and Housing Strategies securing £25k of Government funding to continue the Council’s outreach service to support rough sleepers.

An update was provided on the channel shift of an increase in residents accessing services digitally at times to suit them, with more than 24k online portal accounts created and activity taking place outside normal working hours. A further update was provided on the award of £12.2m of Community Infrastructure Levy funding towards a range of infrastructure projects around the District, the most awarded in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

The Executive Leader, Councillor R Fuller to present for approval the revised key actions and performance indicators for inclusion in the Corporate Plan for 2021/22.

(The report was considered by the Cabinet at their meeting on 15th July 2021 and their recommendations will be reported verbally).

In conjunction with the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Performance and Growth) held on 7th July 2021 and recommendation of the Cabinet, consideration was given to a report by the Business Intelligence and Performance Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) on an update on the refresh of the Corporate Plan 2021/22. The Executive Leader reminded Members that this was the last refresh for the four-year Corporate Plan that had been introduced in 2018 to take account of the Council’s decision to move to whole Council elections every four years. It was further explained that the Covid actions had been removed and a separate Covid Plan had been drafted to complement the Corporate Plan.

Having been advised that the Cabinet supported the refresh at their meeting on 15th July 2021, it was

RESOLVED

  that the revised key actions and performance indicators for inclusion in the Corporate Plan for 2021/22 be approved.

In accordance with the Council Procedure Rules, all questions –

·  Must be relevant to an item which the Council has powers or duties;

·  Must not relate to an item which is included elsewhere on the Agenda

·  Should be limited to obtaining information or pressing for action; and

·  Should not exceed two minutes in duration.

Questions should not divulge or require to be divulged, confidential or exempt information.

Arising from questions from Councillor Mrs S A Giles on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) up to an including April 2021, Councillor J Neish, Executive Councillor for Strategic Planning, explained that all the information was available on the District Council’s website. In so doing, he reported that up to and including 14 July 2021 there had been £47m generated and £16.9m had been allocated to projects at various locations around the District, with the market towns taking the largest proportion, since the Council became a charging authority in 2012. He reported that the current balance of the CIL budget was around £21m and plans to support infrastructure strategic transport items such as the A428, A141, A14, A1 and East-West rail to support the delivery of growth in the District. This was all caveated with uncertainly surrounding the planning reform proposals and potential changes to CIL with the charging authority.

In response to a comment from Councillor T Alban on issues surrounding increasing frequencies of internet outages in Stilton this year and the ability for the District Council to take action in support of taking up such issues with Openreach and Connecting Cambridgeshire, Councillor D N Keane, Executive Councillor for Corporate Services, reported upon ongoing work by the District Council working with Openreach to deliver full fibre broadband across Huntingdonshire. Further work was being undertaken with Openreach to expand this coverage to other parts of the District, both urban and rural and undertook to take this issue forward on behalf of the parishes.

Councillor R J West commented upon the success of the Council’s refuse collection service having recently won the APSE Award for this service and requested that the thanked be conveyed to the Team for their achievement. In response, Councillor Ms M L Beuttell, Executive Councillor for Operations and Environment, undertook to pass on the praise to the Team for their hard work. 

Councillor P Kadewere raised a question in relation advice to communities to keep them safe with the restrictions being lifted and Covid cases continuing to rise, whereby Councillor S Bywater, Executive Councillor for Community Resilience and Well-Being, reported that the increase in numbers was not unique to the District with an upward trend nationally and urged residents to continue to follow the Government guidance and to act responsibly.

The Executive Leader to present a report inviting the Council to consider whether they wish to make any comments to the Boundary Commission for England on the initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituencies affecting Huntingdonshire.

(The report was considered by the Cabinet at their meeting on 15th July 2021 and their recommendations will be reported verbally).

In conjunction with the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Performance and Growth) held on 7th July 2021 and recommendation of the Cabinet at their meeting held on 15th July 2021, consideration was given to a report by the Elections and Democratic Services Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) on a review of Parliamentary Constituency boundaries.

The Executive Leader drew Members attention initially to the recommendation of whether Members wished to make any representations to the Boundary Commission for England given the initial proposals may be contentious for political parties with advice given to local political groups. Members were informed of the Cabinet support for the initial proposals, although not ideal that the parliamentary constituency boundaries were not coterminous with the District boundary, but welcomed Members viewed on the proposals.

It was noted that concern was raised at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Performance and Growth) in respect of the new proposed constituency of St Neots and the inclusion of the District Ward of Fenstanton and St Neots Wards within the South Cambridgeshire District would have no affinity with the other residents located across the District boundary.

Councillor D A Giles indicated his concern with the proposal in terms of the future proofing and suggested the inclusion of Wyboston across the border in Bedford Borough District that had a projected increase in electorate with the large housing development and impact on St Neots. 

Councillor B M Pitt referred to similar concerns with the growth in electorate projected for the St Neots East ward in Loves Farm and Wintringham Park and with these projected electorate increases of over 6.5k would push the proposed constituency for St Neots over the recommended threshold for the size of each constituency.

Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

  that the Boundary Commission for England be informed of the Council’s support for the initial proposals for the new Parliamentary constituencies affecting Huntingdonshire, with the highlighted concern of the inclusion of  District Ward of Fenstanton and St Neots Wards in the new St Neots constituency and of the likely effect of the increase in electorate of St Neots East ward on the proposed St Neots constituency.

The Managing Director to present the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel.

(At 8.18pm, during consideration of this item, Councillor Mrs P A Jordan joined the meeting).

The Managing Director presented a report by the Elections and Democratic Services Manager, to which was appended the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) summarising the outcome of the interim review of the Members' Allowances Scheme by the Independent Remuneration Panel.

Attention was drawn to the establishment of the Combined Authority in 2018 and enhanced demands on District Council appointments and their commitments. Members were appraised of details of the Independent Remuneration Panel that met on 9th and 10th June 2021 and attention was drawn to the final report that had a net effect on the Members’ Allowance budget of an increase in the overall budget of £6,093 if the proposals were implemented to take effect from 2nd June 2021. The proposals also offered a short-term solution that would be subject to further review at the full review of the Members’ Allowances Scheme scheduled for review in 2022.

Councillor Mrs S J Conboy, although in agreement to the extra work that was imposed on Members appointed as representatives to the Combined Authority, suggested that as a full review would be undertaken the following year the matter should be deferred for a year.

In response Councillor D B Dew commented as a current representative on the Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee and explained that the work involved large Agendas and reports, with long meetings and working groups established and if Members were expected to step up to these roles it was necessary that they be recompensed for their time. He also explained that the District Council was in the minority of the other constituent authorities that had either included an allowance in their scheme for their Members or the matter was under review.

In reflecting on the comments raised by the previous Members, the Executive Leader, Councillor R Fuller, felt that by deferring a decision would not be appropriate and intimated that irrespective of the decision on the report he would continue in his role on the Combined Authority whether they were approved or not. The Executive Leader also considered it appropriate for a remuneration to be in place for all Members appointed as representatives to support them in their work and explained that their had been a saving on the Members’ Allowance budget as he had retained a Portfolio and the Cabinet had also not appointed additional Members.

Subject to the removal of recommendation (d) of the report now submitted and voting thereon, Councillor L W McGuire moved the recommendations and was duly seconded by Councillor K Gulson and the Council

RESOLVED

  that with effect from the 2nd June 2021

(a)  the Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) paid to the District Council’s Executive leader be reduced to £14,813 and the establishment of a new separate SRA of £5,100 to be paid to the Huntingdonshire District Council appointee to the Combined Authority Board;

(b)  the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

Councillor G J Bull, Chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee to present the Annual Report of the Corporate Governance Committee for 2020/21.

(The report was approved for submission to the Council by the Corporate Governance Committee at their meeting on 9th June 2021).

In conjunction with a report by the Internal Audit Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) Councillor G J Bull, Chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee, presented the Annual Report for 2020/21 of the Corporate Governance Committee that outlined the work that had been undertaken by the Committee over the previous year. In congratulating Officers in the services that they had delivered over the previous year, it was

RESOLVED

  that the Annual Report 2020/21 of the Corporate Governance Committee be received and noted.

Councillor J A Gray, Executive Councillor for Strategic Finance to present the Treasury Management Six Month Performance Review.

(The report was considered by the Cabinet at their meeting on 17th June 2021).

Consideration was given to a report by the Council’s Chief Finance Officer (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) presented by the Executive Leader providing a six-month update in respect of treasury management activity for the period 1st October 2020 to 31st March 2021.

Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

  that that the Treasury Management Performance during the period 1st October 2020 to 31st March 2021 be noted.

Councillor R Fuller, Executive Leader to present on the activities of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

Councillors  S Corney and D B Dew to provide an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor G J Bull to provide an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Audit and Governance Committee.

Decision summaries for recent meetings of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Audit and Governance Committee and Board are marked TO FOLLOW.

In accordance with the Protocol agreed at the February 2017 meeting, this item provides an opportunity for District Council Members to ask questions and comment on Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority issues.

If Members wish to raise questions or issues requiring a detailed response, it would be helpful if they can provide prior notice so that the necessary information can be obtained in advance of the meeting.

(At 8.34pm, during consideration of this item, Councillor J P Morris joined the meeting).

In conjunction with the decision summaries of the recent meetings of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Executive Leader, Councillor R Fuller, presented an update of their activities. Copies of the decision summaries are appended in the Minute Book. He referred to the challenge being faced for the newly elected Mayor coming into office and was reported that he was currently in the process of setting his policy platform and ambitions for the next four years. Members were advised of the early casualties of the schemes proposed by the previous administration being the Cambridge Autonomous Metro and £100k homes had been discontinued. The Executive Leader further highlighted the continuation of discussions on bus network reforms work to progress the affordable housing agenda.

Councillors D B Dew provided an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee and in particular drew Members’ attention to the recent procedural concerns that had been highlighted following the election of the Chairman of the Committee and the process for deciding upon a tied vote that had not been detailed in their Constitution. The Executive Leader echoed the concerns raised and reminded Members of a decision that was publicly agreed by the Mayor that the Chairman of the Committee should be from a different political party to the elected Mayor. He also reported that the matter had been raised with the Mayor for further discussion at a future meeting of the Board.

Councillor A Roberts raised his concern in relation to the recent consultation exercise that was being undertaken in relation to the St Ives Transport Study and the now inclusion of two further bypass options that had not been shared previously. This had occurred despite the extensive work that had been undertaken previously by the Deputy Leader and himself working with the Combined Authority in securing previous commitment to proposals and the additional options being presented had led to concerns raised by residents as unsuitable options. Members noted that this matter had been taken up with the Mayor.

Members were provided with an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Audit and Governance Committee by Councillor G J Bull.  

To consider a report requesting the extension of the 6-month rule for a Councillor on the grounds of ill-health.

The Managing Director presented a report (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) detailing a request to consider the extension of the six-month rule of non-attendance at meetings in relation to Councillor Ms P E Shrapnel on the grounds of her ill-health. Whereupon, the Council

RESOLVED

(a)  that Councillor Ms P E Shrapnel’s non-attendance at meetings be extended until 30th November 2021 in accordance with Section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972; and

(b)  that the Council’s best wishes be conveyed to Councillor Ms P E Shrapnel for continued improvement to her health.

An opportunity for Members to raise any issues or ask questions arising from recent meetings of the Council’s Committees and Panels.

A list of meetings held since the last Council meeting held on 19th May 2021 is attached for information and Members are requested to address their questions to Committee and Panel Chairmen.

A copy of the list of meetings held since the last meeting of the Council held on 19th May 2021 is appended in the Minute Book and Members were advised that any issues or questions could be raised in relation to these meetings.

Section 18.3 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules require the Executive Leader to report on executive decisions taken under the Special Urgency provisions within the Council’s Constitution.

There have been no Executive Decisions taken under the Special Urgency provisions in 2020/21.

The Executive Leader informed Members that the use of special urgency provisions taken throughout the previous year had not been required and there were no items to report.

A report was submitted by the Elections and Democratic Services Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) relating to the principles of proportionality to be applied to the appointment of Committees and Panels in accordance with Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and Part II of the Local Government Act 2000 following the by-election held on 8th July 2021 and change in proportionality on the Council.

Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

(a)  that the allocation of seats on Committees and Panels to political groups and non-aligned Members be determined as set out in the report now submitted; and

(b)  that the requirements for appointments to advisory/sub-groups in paragraph 5.3 be noted.

Group Leaders to report on variations to the Membership of Committees and Panels if necessary.

Further to Minute No. 21/31 ante, it was

RESOLVED

that Councillor B Pitt be appointed to the vacant seat on the Licensing and Protection Committee/Licensing Committee.

The meeting ended at 8.47pm.