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Contact: Democratic Services Email: democratic.services@crawley.gov.uk
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Moment of Reflection Minutes: The Deputy Mayor held a minute of silence as a mark of respect to Sir David Amess MP, who was tragically killed on 15 October 2021 The Deputy Mayor spoke of her sadness over the murder of Sir David Amess and announced that on behalf of the Council she would be writing to Sir David’s widow and family to pass on its condolences. The Deputy Mayor invited the two Group Leaders Councillors Crow and Lamb respectively to say a few words over the sad loss of Sir David. Then Councillor Millar-Smith paid her personal respects to the passing of Sir David Amess with a heartfelt tribute.
The Deputy Mayor then held a minute’s silence in memory of former Mayor and Councillor Peter Milton who sadly passed in July 2021. The Deputy Mayor invited representatives from each party to pay tribute, Councillors Lanzer, C Mullins, Irvine and B Smith all paid their respects with touching tributes.
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Disclosures of Interest PDF 127 KB In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, councillors are reminded that it is a requirement to declare interests where appropriate. Minutes: The disclosures of interests made by Councillors are set out in Appendix A to these minutes.
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To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Full Council held on 14 July 2021
Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Full Council held on 14 July 2021 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Deputy Mayor.
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Communications To receive and consider any announcements or communications, including any additional Cabinet Member announcements. Minutes: The Deputy Mayor addressed the Full Council and thanked members across the chamber for their support since she began covering the duties of Mayor in September 2021, as it is a role she had not necessarily been expecting to take on. It was also confirmed she would be continuing to support the British Red Cross as the Mayoral Charites as previously planned for 2021-22 municipal year. She would also be supporting a local charity, SEDS – the Sussex Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Hypermobility Disorders Support. SEDS is a charity very close to her heart, as she came across it when accessing support personally. It was noted that the charity not only raises awareness of the condition to the public, which was particularly crucial given the often-invisible nature of it, but also effectively lobbies the local CCG to ensure that medical professionals in the local area were educated and understand the condition. The charity also provides vital support to members in answering their queries and helping them to access support. Councillor Flack commented that she was looking forward to raising some vital funds for those charities over the course of the remainder of the Council year. The Deputy Mayor also declared that her consort for the year would be Peter Lamb.
The Deputy Mayor then gave the Full Council a brief update of what she had been doing so far, including visiting the Gurdwara, to celebrate the 400th birthday of one of their gurus, attended an exhibition at Crawley Museum, put on for Black History Month and also visited Crawley Community Action which was formerly known as Crawley CVS on their 60th anniversary. It was noted that the Deputy Mayor would be at the Remembrance Service on the 14th November at St Johns Church.
In a further communication item, the Leader of the Council, Councillor Lamb confirmed that, following Councillor Fiveash having resigned from his Cabinet position, that the new Deputy Leader of the Council would be Councillor Peter Smith, who would also remain as the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development. The Leader in doing so thanked Councillor Fiveash for his work as the Deputy Leader and the Cabinet Member for Resources during this municipal year and wished him all the best in his future endeavours. |
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Public Question Time To answer public questions under Full Council Procedure Rule 1.1-E. The questions must be on matters which are relevant to the functions of the Council, and should not include statements.
One supplementary question from the questioner will be allowed.
Up to 30 minutes is allocated to Public Question Time. Minutes:
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This item seeks consideration of a petition, submitted as an e-petition via a third party provider that was received by the Council’s Petitions Officer. The petition contains over 1000 valid signatures and as such is required to be debated at Full Council.
The Full Council is asked to consider report LDS/174 by the Council’s Petition Officer which details the petition "On the closure and change of use for the Millpond site at Bewbush and the site at Cherry Lane, Langley Green” and the procedure for considering the petition including that in accordance with the Council’s Petition Scheme, the Full Council has a maximum of 30 minutes at each meeting to consider petitions. Within this time the Principal Petitioner will be given five minutes to present the petition to the Council and the remaining time will be for the Council to consider the petition.
Minutes: The Full Council considered an e-petition, submitted via change.org and in a CSV format, received by the Council’s Petitions Officer. As the petition contained over 1000 (approximately 1950) valid signatures it was required to be debated by Full Council. The petition stated as follows “On the closure and change of use for the Millpond site at Bewbush and the site at Cherry Lane, Langley Green”.
“Please find attached the completed petition representing people’s views regarding the closure and change of use for both the Millpond site at Bewbush and the site at Cherry Lane, Langley Green”
Councillors were informed that as the Full Council was the decision maker regarding the changes to the Adventure Playgrounds as a clearly identifiable saving within the Budget setting report and therefore, the Full Council retained the decision making power in respect of the petition before them. The Deputy Mayor reminded Members that the Constitution limits debates on petitions to 30 minutes per meeting.
Natalie Campbell, the Principal Petitioner, presented the petition to the Full Council (the presentation is attached as Appendix B to these minutes).
Councillor C Mullins, as Cabinet Member for Wellbeing addressed the meeting, thanking the Principal Petitioner for submitting the petition. Councillor C Mullins, then made the following points including:
· Reiterated it was a difficult decision to make but the council was in a challenging financial situation as a result of the pandemic. · It was planned to ‘mothball’ two sites, with others as unsupervised. It was noted that the staffing figure was not attainable. · The unsupervised sites would mean that there would be more available. · It was acknowledged that the service was governed by the HSE and has to ensure that the standard of equipment meets the highest specification. · Following the serious accident a few years’ ago at Cherry Lane adventure playground all equipment was removed, albeit equipment that had been passed by the HSE. In order to meet safety standards equipment costs are in excess of £200,000 per site and consequently refurbishment programme and equipment costs are not feasible.
The Deputy Mayor then opened the debate to the floor.
Councillor Crow’s comments included – · Covid has changed how services are run. · Health and safety has changed and affected ways of working and it now becomes more expensive to provide a service. · It is not a decision that the Council wanted to take, it was a decision that resulted from public consultation. Preserving weekly bin collection was a greater priority for the Council but other options could come forward and be costed, then those should be investigated.
Councillor Jones’ comments included – · Never wanted to reduce services and some difficult decisions had to be made. · Cabinet Members had been responsive to residents and ward Councillors. · Wanted to maintain Millpond to remain open as a play area. · There was a balance to be made between the concerns with what could be achieved. · There would be an outreach play service that would go out to areas across ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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Procedural Motion to suspend a particular Full Council Procedure Rule - to suspend the Chair’s casting vote. Minutes: Councillor Crow put forward a Procedural Motion in accordance with Full Council Procedure Rules, to suspend a particular Full Council Procedure Rule, namely the Chair’s casting vote. This was seconded by Councillor McCarthy.
The Monitoring Officer commented that Councillor Crow was proposing to use Procedural Motion 13.1 to suspend the Mayor’s casting vote and a similar Procedural Motion at the AGM. However, paragraph 8.1 of the introduction of the Council’s Constitution states that the purpose of any suspension should be to enhance the democratic process and not to restrict it. Referring to the Local Government Act 1972 s39 this covers meetings and proceedings of Local Government and that requires Local Government business to be dealt with by a simple majority and that includes use of the casting vote in the event of a tie. That is the democratic process set out by legislation and Crawley’s constitution aligns with that. Departing from that, and using the procedural motion you are wishing, would restrict democratic process which would remove a well-established process for removing deadlock. On that basis, the advice of the Monitoring Officer was that the Deputy Mayor does not allow the vote on this procedural motion and continue with the business of the meeting.
In response Councillor Crow, commented that the casting vote had just been used to hinder the democratic process as a decision had just been taken with the Deputy Mayor’s casting vote that had not been scrutinised.
The Deputy Mayor responded by, thanking Councillor Crow, stating that his last point had been noted and that she would be following the Monitoring Officer’s advice to not allow the procedural motion for the same reasons provided.
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Review of May 2021 Polling Arrangements - Recommendation 1 Minutes: The Full Council considered report LDS/171 of the Head of Legal, Governance and HR which requested Members consider the outcome of the temporary changes to the Scheme of Polling Places made for the elections held on 6 May 2021 and decide whether to make any changes to the existing Scheme (adopted in 2019) either on a permanent or temporary (one year) basis.
The item had been previously considered at the Governance Committee on 21 September 2021. Councillor McCarthy moved the recommendation which was seconded and supported by Councillor Burrett.
Councillor Lunnon moved and presented the amendment, (Amendment 1) to the Recommendation, seconded by Cllr Lamb, which was:
That the Full Council be recommended to approve the proposed Polling Scheme (as being proposed in Recommendation 1) with the following changes:
(The new words are in Bold and words crossed through to be removed)
In response to Councillor Lunnon’s amendment Councillor McCarthy tabled a further amendment (Amendment 2) from the floor, which was seconded by Councillor Burrett:
That the Full Council be recommended to approve the proposed Polling Scheme (as being proposed in Recommendation 1) with the following changes:
(The new words are in Bold and words crossed through to be removed)
The Deputy Mayor invited Councillor Lunnon to respond to the tabled amendment, where he confirmed that he would be willing to withdraw Amendment 1 and instead second Councillor McCarthy’s proposal, if he included the Amendment 2 as part of substantive proposal that would be put to the Full Council for its consideration.
Councillor McCarthy, then moved to the Recommendation 1 with the inclusion of Amendment 2, which was seconded by Councillor Lunnon.
With no further speakers the Deputy Mayor called for a vote, which was carried unanimously.
RESOLVED
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Crawley City Status Bid - Recommendation 2 PDF 297 KB The Full Council is asked to consider report CEx/56 by the Chief Executive. Minutes: The Full Council considered report CEx/56 of the Chief Executive. Councillor Lamb, as the Leader of the Council, introduced the report that sought agreement for preparation and submission of a bid for ‘City Status’, for Crawley, as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition, which was part of the celebrations marking the Queen’s 70 years (Platinum Jubilee) on the throne. It was noted that in 2022 Crawley would be celebrating its 75th anniversary (Diamond Jubilee) as a New Town and it would be fitting to celebrate both events with Crawley receiving ‘City Status.’
Councillor Crow seconded the recommendation.
Councillor Lanzer also spoke on the item and in support of the recommendation.
RESOLVED
That Full Council agrees
a) to the preparation and submission of a City Status bid for Crawley Borough as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition and
b) that the Council will commence a community stakeholder consultation exercise, that will run from 21 October 2021 to 18 November 2021.
c) to delegate the submission of the bid to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader.
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Notice of Motion 1 - Motion Amending the Requirements of a Procedural Motion PDF 237 KB To consider, in accordance with Full Council Procedure Rule 1.1-H, the following Notice of Motion to be moved by Councillor Lamb and seconded by Councillor Lunnon. Minutes: The Council considered the Notice of Motion 1 – Motion Amending the Requirements of a Procedural Motion as set out on page 93 of the Full Council’s agenda.
The Motion was moved and presented by Councillor Lamb and doing so gave further explanation on the reasoning behind the Notice of Motion, which was seconded by Councillor Lunnon.
Councillor Crow was then invited to move the ConservativeAmendment to Notice of Motion 1. Councillor Crow commented that he would not be moving the published amendment yet, instead moving from the Full Council Procedures Rules a Procedural Amendment, 11.1F To refer something to an appropriate body or individual, namely that Full Council resolves to refer the Motion to the Governance Committee for detailed consideration including an officer report.
Councillor McCarthy seconded the Procedural Motion.
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Vote to Extend the Meeting (Guillotine) Minutes: As the business had not been completed within the scheduled 2 hours 30 minutes a vote on continuation, and in line with Council Procedure Rule 8.3, was held. The Deputy Mayor required the Full Council to consider if it wished to continue with the meeting.
Having put it to the vote, the Council agreed that the meeting be continued for an additional period not exceeding 30 minutes.
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Notice of Motion 1 - Motion Amending the Requirements of a Procedural Motion - (Continued) Minutes: Following the agreement of the Full Council to continue the meeting, the Deputy Mayor restarted the discussion on the Notice of Motion 1 – Motion Amending the Requirements of A Procedural Motion and Councillor Crow’s moved Procedural Motion.
Councillor Lunnon responded to the Procedural Motion, and in doing so spoke, against it as he felt it duplicated the previous discussion earlier during the meeting (item 7) regarding the use of the Chair’s/ Deputy Mayor’s casting vote.
The Deputy Mayor sought advice on the Procedural Motion from the Head of Legal, Governance and HR as the Monitoring Officer, who commented that there was a technical point as to what the appropriate body (referred to in 11.1F) for constitutional amendments would be. Ultimately the Full Council had the responsibility, but it does delegate discussion on the constitution to the Governance Committee. The Monitoring Officer’s advice given on the use (and potential suspension) of the Chair’s casting vote an earlier in the meeting (item 7) remained the same and it was stressed that that advice would be provided to the Governance Committee or Full Council.
The Deputy Mayor invited any further comments on the Procedural Motion and on the Notice of Motion. Councillor Burrett spoke in support on the Procedural Motion.
The Deputy Mayor accepted Councillor Crow’s proposed Procedural Motion re: 11.1FTo refer something to an appropriate body or individual, namely the discussion on the proposed Constitutional change to the Governance Committee, and put it to the vote.
There were 18 votes in favour and 18 against with 0 abstentions.
Having put it to the vote which resulted in a tie, the Deputy Mayor used her casting vote to decide against the Procedural Motion and declared that the Procedural Motion re: 11.1F had fallen by 19 votes against the motion and 18 for the motion and 0 abstentions.
Following an invitation from the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Crow then moved the ConservativeAmendment, (as published in Supplementary Agenda Order Paper). The proposed amendment was 'Full Council resolves to refer to the Governance Committee for detailed consideration, as per the usual practice for changes to the constitution, the following proposed change to section 13.1 of the Full Council Procedure Rules within the Constitution, so that it reads:
All Full Council Procedure Rules, except Rules 1.2(C1) (signing of minutes) and 10.4 (holding a recorded vote), may be suspended if they receive a majority of support from members present, as set out in Rules 10.2 (majority) and 10.3 (Mayor's casting vote). Suspension will only apply for the duration of that meeting.'
Councillor Burrett seconded the amendment and spoke on the Amendment.
Councillors Lunnon, B Burgess, and McCarthy all spoke on the debate on the Notice of Motion and the Amendment.
The Mayor then called for a vote on the Conservative Amendment to Notice of Motion 1 – Motion Amending the Requirements of a Procedural Motion
There were 18 votes in favour and 18 against with 0 abstentions.
Having put it to the vote ... view the full minutes text for item 12. |
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Notice of Motion 2 - Land West of Ifield / Crawley PDF 249 KB To consider, in accordance with Full Council Procedure Rule 1.1-H, the following Notice of Motion to be moved by Councillor Bounds and seconded by Councillor Crow. Minutes: The Council considered the Notice of Motion 2 – Land West of Ifield/ Crawley as set out on page 95 of the Full Council’s agenda.
The Motion was moved and presented by Councillor Bounds and in doing so gave further explanation on the reasoning behind the Notice of Motion and the need for the Council to show its objection to the proposed development on the land west of Ifield/ Crawley. Councillor Crow seconded the Motion.
Councillor P Smith then moved and presented the Labour Amendment (as shown in Supplementary Agenda Order Paper). The Amendment was seconded by Councillor Lamb who also spoke on the item.
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Vote to Extend the Meeting (Guillotine) Minutes: As the business had not been completed within the additional period of 30 minutes after the vote on continuation, and in line with Council Procedure Rule 8.3, the Deputy Mayor required the Full Council to consider if it wished to continue with the meeting and having put it to the Full Council, the meeting was continued for an additional period not exceeding 30 minutes.
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Notice of Motion 2 - Land West of Ifield / Crawley (continued) Minutes: Following the agreement of the Full Council to continue the meeting, the Deputy Mayor restarted the discussion on the Notice of Motion 2 – Land West of Ifield/ Crawley and the related amendment and held a single debate on both elements.
Councillors Crow, Irvine, Burrett, Lanzer and S Mullins all spoke during the debate, as did Councillor Bounds using his right to reply, emphasising that he had hoped that his Notice of Motion would have be seen apolitical, and whilst it had not been seen that way, it was pleasing that all Members appear to be against the proposed West of Ifield development.
The Mayor then called for a vote on the Labour Amendment to Notice of Motion 2 – Land West of Ifield/ Crawley.
There were 18 votes in favour and 18 against with 0 abstentions.
Having put it to the vote which resulted in a tie, the Deputy Mayor used her casting vote to decide in favour of the Labour Amendment and declared that the amendment had been carried by 19 votes against the motion and 18.
The Mayor then called for the vote on the substantive Notice of Motion, which was carried unanimously.
RESOLVED
Crawley Borough Council formally re-states its strongest possible opposition to the Homes England proposal to build up to 10,000 new homes to the west of Ifield/Crawley.
The Council congratulates the administration for having written some time ago to both Homes England and Horsham District Council on behalf of the council’s entire membership, to set out the full range of concerning impacts for Crawley and the environment, including infrastructure pressures, that this development would create, and seeking both maximum mitigation measures and ongoing influence for Crawley throughout the entire process, in order to protect Crawley’s interests.
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Receiving the Minutes of the Cabinet, Overview and Scrutiny Commission and Other Committees PDF 7 KB To receive the minutes of the meetings of the Cabinet, Overview and Scrutiny Commission and Committees, as listed on page 25, and set out in the appendices to this item and to debate any Reserved Items contained within those Minutes.
NB: In advance of the meeting Political Groups can identify any items they wish to debate as a Reserved Item. These Reserved Items will then be the only matters to be the subject of debate.
Minutes: Moved by Councillor Flack the Deputy Mayor –
RESOLVED
That the following reportsbe received:
Audit Committee – 19 July 2021 Planning Committee – 20 July 2021 Planning Committee – 31 August 2021 Overview and Scrutiny Commission – 6 September 2021 Cabinet – 8 September 2021 Licensing Committee – 13 September 2021 Governance Committee – 21 September 2021 Overview and Scrutiny Commission – 27 September 2021 Cabinet – 29 September 2021 |
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Councillors' Questions Time PDF 260 KB There will be a maximum of 30 minutes for Councillors’ Question Time (CQT). Councillors may ask questions relating to either a portfolio issue or with regard to the functions delegated to a Committee.
There are two methods for Councillors asking questions:
1. Councillors can submit written questions in advance of the meeting and written answers will be provided on the evening of the Full Council.
2. Councillors can also verbally ask questions during the CQT.
Councillors have the opportunity to ask oral supplementary questions in relation to either of the methods above. Minutes:
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Guillotine and End of the Meeting Minutes: The Deputy Mayor informed the Full Council that as the business of the meeting had not been completed by 11.00pm, and in line with Council Procedure Rule 8.4, the guillotine must fall and the meeting was to end.
It was noted that the only item on the agenda that not been completed and could not be dealt with following the falling of guillotine was Items For Debate – Review of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, Licensing Committee, 13 September 2021 (Minute 4) – Conservative Group.
The Deputy Mayor closed the meeting.
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