Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, Councillors of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to declare interests where appropriate.

The disclosures of interests made by Councillors were set out in Appendix A to the minutes.

To receive and consider any announcementsor communications.

The Mayor provided the Full Council with a brief update of the Mayoral events. The Mayor thanked those Councillors that attended his recent Mayor’s Ball and was pleased to announce that it raised £3500.  The Mayor noted that he was attending the opening of the John Stanley Centre at the Waterfield Primary School in Bewbush.

To answerpublicquestionsunder Council Procedure Rule10.The questionsmust be on matterswhich are relevanttothe functionsofthe Council, andshould not includestatements.

One supplementaryquestionfrom thequestioner will be allowed.

Up to 30 minutesisallocatedto PublicQuestionTime.

Questions asked in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9 were as follows:

To approve as a correct recordthe minutesofthe meetingof the Full Council held on 13 December 2017.

The minutes of the meeting of the Full Council held on 13 December 2017 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

Prior to the introduction ofthe Minutesofthe Cabinet, Overviewand Scrutiny CommissionandCommittees (ascontained in the BookofMinutes), Memberswill be given the opportunity to indicate on which items they wish tospeak.

TheseReservedItemswill then bethe onlymattersto bethe subject ofa debate.

Councillors indicated that they wished to speak on a number of items as set out in the following table:

1)            Toreceive theminutes ofthe meetings ofthe Cabinet,Overviewand Scrutiny Commission and Committees, as listed on page 23, and set out in the appendices to this item.

2)            Toadopt any of therecommendationsto Full Council,which have notbeenreservedfor debate and as listed on page 23, and set out in the appendices to this item.

1)         Moved by Councillor Portal Castro (as the Deputy Mayor):-

RESOLVED

That the following reports be received:

·                     Planning Committee – Monday, 4 December 2017

·                     Overview and Scrutiny Commission – 8 January 2018

·                     Cabinet – 10 January 2018

·                    Planning Committee – 29 January 2018

·                    Overview and Scrutiny Commission – 5 February 2018

·                    Cabinet – 7 February 2018

2)         That the recommendations contained in the reports on the following matter, which had not been reserved for debate, be adopted:-

Treasury Management Strategy 2018/2019 – Cabinet – 7 February 2018

(Recommendation 3)

The Full Council considered report FIN/433 of the Head of Finance, Revenues and Benefits

RESOLVED

That the Full Council approves:

1)         the Treasury Prudential Indicators and the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Statement contained within Section 5 of report FIN/433

2)         the Treasury Management Strategy contained within Section 6 of report FIN/433;

3)         the Investment Strategy contained within Section 7, and the detailed criteria included in Appendix 3 of report FIN/433

Councillor Crow, on behalf of the Conservative Group, explained the rationale for bringing forward this item for debate. The aspect of the Establishment of and Appointments to Scrutiny Panels he wanted to address was the Social Mobility Scrutiny Panel (SMSP), especially as social mobility was an important issue affecting the Borough and it was the Leader’s topic suggestion. Councillor Crow commented that he was concerned to hear from his colleagues on the Commission that the decision on confirming the membership and Chair of the SMSP had been delayed to the next meeting of the Commission, as no Labour nominees were ready. He on behalf of the Conservative Group had submitted the required two nominations including highlighting that Councillor Belben would be happy to be selected as the chair the Panel. He commented that he would presume Councillor Belben would be the Chair as there no other nominees?

Councillors Lamb, Lanzer, Burrett, and Irvine also spoke on this item.

Councillor B Smith, as the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission, responded that she took responsibility for the confusion over the nominations, she had unfortunately been unwell for a three week period prior to the Commission. She was unaware of the Labour nominations including for their proposed Chair. As the Commission’s Chair she made the decision of deferring the decision, to avoid any confusion. She highlighted that at that meeting of the Commission, there had been an agreement to increase membership for the SMSP to seven Members, due to the importance of the subject matter.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Lamb addressed the Council and made his budget speech, in doing so presented report FIN/434 of the Head of Finance, Revenues and Benefits, which set out the Budget and level of Council Tax for the year 2018/19. It was noted that the report detailed each of the Revenue, Capital and Housing Revenue Accounts that combine together to formulate ‘The Budget’. In proposing the level of Council Tax for the Financial Year 2018/19, each of those accounts identified had been considered. The combined proposal ensured that the Council had a balanced Budget. It was noted that the report had been considered by the Cabinet on 7 February 2018 and by the Overview and Scrutiny Commission at its meeting on 5 February 2018. Councillor Joyce then seconded the report.

The Full Council was reminded that regulations required all Councils at their annual budget meetings to adopt the practice of recorded votes - that is, recording in the minutes of the meeting how each member present voted on any decision relating to the Annual Budget and Council Tax. This applied not only to substantive budget motions to agree the budget and setting council taxes, including precepts, but also on any amendments proposed.

The Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Duncan Crow addressed the meeting and made his budget speech. The Mayor then opened up the general debate on the proposed Budget report. The Full Council undertook a full and detailed debate on the Budget with Councillor Lunnon, Lanzer, Irvine, Burrett, Mullins, Dr Bloom, P. Smith, Thomas and Joyce all speaking in the general debate.

At the conclusion of the discussion, Councillors expressed their thanks and appreciation for the work carried out by Karen Hayes (Head of Finance, Revenues and Benefits), the Finance Division generally and the Budget Advisory Group (BAG).

Voting in Favour: Councillors: Ayling, Belben, Bloom, Boxall, B J Burgess, R G Burgess, Burrett, Cheshire, Crow, Eade, Fiveash, Guidera, Irvine, Jaggard, Jones, Joyce, Lamb, Lanzer, Lunnon, McCarthy, Mullins, Peck, Pendlington, Pickett, Portal Castro, Quinn, Rana, Sharma, Skudder, B A Smith, P C Smith, Stone, Sudan, Tarrant, Thomas and Vitler. (36)

Voting Against: Councillors: None (0)

Abstentions: Councillors: None (0)

The Mayor declared the recommendation was carried – votes in favour 36, and votes against 0 with 0 abstention.

RESOLVED

That the Full Council approves:

1)         the proposed 2018/19 General Fund Budget including savings and growth as set out in section 6 and Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 of the report FIN/434,

2)         the proposed 2018/19 Housing Revenue Account Budget as set out in section 10 and Appendix 3 of the report FIN/434,

3)         the 2017/18 to 2020/21 Capital Programme and funding as set out in paragraph 11.4 of the report FIN/434,

4)         that the Council’s share of Council Tax for 2018/19 be increased by 2.55% from £194.04 to £198.99 for a band D property as set out in paragraphs 5.5.1 and 13.3 of the report FIN/434,,

5)         the Pay Policy Statement for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Councillor Lamb referred to the receipt of the Notice of Precept from the Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex and West Sussex County Council, (Recommendation 2) which had been circulated separately in the Supplementary Agenda.

Moved by Councillor Lamb, seconded by Councillor Joyce and

Following approval of the Council’s budget in Recommendation 1, and in accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014,the names of the Members voting for and against Recommendation 2 were recorded as set out below:-

Voting in Favour: Councillors: Ayling, Belben, Bloom, Boxall, B J Burgess, R G Burgess, Burrett, Cheshire, Crow, Eade, Fiveash, Guidera, Irvine, Jaggard, Jones, Joyce,  Lamb, Lanzer, Lunnon, McCarthy, Mullins, Peck, Pendlington, Pickett, Portal Castro,  Quinn, Rana, Sharma, Skudder, B A Smith, P C Smith, Stone, Sudan, Tarrant, Thomas and Vitler. (36)

Voting Against: Councillors: None (0)

Abstentions: Councillors: None (0)

The Mayor declared the recommendation was carried – votes in favour 36, and votes against 0 with 0 abstention.

RESOLVED

That the Full Council approves:

1.         That it be noted that on 12 December 2017 the Leader of the Council under delegated powers calculated the Council Tax Base 2018/19 for the whole Council area as 34,484.4 [Item T in the formula in Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the "Act")] ; and

2.         That the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2018/19 is calculated at £6,862,051

3.         That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2018/19 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

4)         That it be noted that the County  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To answer Councillors’ writtenquestionsunder Council Procedure Rule 11.3.

Councillors’ written questions, together with the answers, were published in advance of the start of the Meeting. The questions were as follows:-

Questioner                    Councillor Irvine

Addressed to                 Cabinet Member for Housing

Subject(s)                     Sale of Council Houses

                                      Expected annual rent from Council Houses

                                      Estimated cost of Homelessness

Questioner                    Councillor Peck

Addressed to                 Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Sustainability

Subject                          Number of fines issued since 2014 relating to littering and dogfouling

Questioner                    Councillor Eade

Addressed to                 Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development

Subject                          Identifying and Monitoring HMOs (Houses of Multiple Occupation) in Crawley

Anopportunityfor CabinetMembersto report verbally (ifnecessary)on issuesrelating totheirPortfolio not covered elsewhere on the agenda.

CouncillorThomas –(Cabinet MemberforEnvironmentalServicesand Sustainability).

The Full Council were informed that the Green Bin service would be extending its service to 50 weeks a year from the current 39 weeks. The change had occurred following a consultation process with 3500 replies. The service would now cost £57.50, but there would be a discount of £2.50 for those paying by direct debit.

To answer questionsto CabinetMembersunder Council Procedure Rule 11.2.

Up to 15 minutesisallocatedfor questionsto CabinetMember

To answer questionsto Committee Chairs.

Up to 15 minutesisallocatedfor questionsto CommitteeChairs.