Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting which was being livestreamed and would be available to view within 48 hours on the North Somerset Council website.

She reminded members that only those present in the Chamber would be able to vote but any members joining on Teams would be able to take part in the debate.

The Council will hear any person who wishes to address it in accordance with the Standing Orders. The Chairperson will select the order of the matters to be heard.

Each person will be limited to a period of five minutes for public participation and deputations and three minutes for petitions.  This section of the meeting must not exceed 30 minutes and discussion must not refer to a current planning application.  

The Council will also receive questions from the public and provide answers thereto, subject to the Chairperson being satisfied that the questions are relevant to the business of the meeting.  

Requests must be submitted in writing to the Assistant Director Legal & Governance and Monitoring Officer, or to the officer mentioned at the top of this agenda letter, by noon on the day before the meeting and the request must detail the subject matter of the address.

John Martell addressed members on the use of motorcycles in bus lanes. Mr Martell asked for support in allowing motorcyclists to ride in bus lanes in North Somerset.  He outlined his previous experience as a biker for nearly 60 years.  The main focus was on A370 to Bristol which included a number of bus lanes, most notably the Long Ashton bypass.  Bristol City Council already allowed motorcycle use of bus gates and bus lanes throughout the city and gave encouragement to do so.  Allowing such use would enhance road safety and be better for the environment. 

Steve Voller addressed members on the Banwell bypass scheme.  He was speaking as the organiser of the Build Our Bypass scheme and was pleased to confirm that preparatory work had been seen to be underway.  He gave heartfelt thanks to both present and past councillors who had supported the scheme for many years.  The scheme would make a tremendous difference to Banwell in terms of reduced noise, pollution, safety, and atmosphere.

The Chairperson thanked Mr Voller for such a positive address.

Debbie Apted addressed members on the public consultation on the introduction of three-weekly residual waste collections.  As well as a resident, she was also the community lead for Plastic-free Weston-super-Mare which had over 200 members.  Since the campaign’s inception, awareness had been raised considerably and it was recognised that significant money could be saved rather than literally throwing money away.  She gave examples of collaboration and suggestions for education for the community and undertook to share these with Councillor Waite.

Michelle Michael addressed members on the premises adjoining the Premier Inn and going along into Oxford Street which was under the ownership of the council.  As well as a resident, she was speaking as Director of the Grand Pier and of collective family businesses relying on tourism.  She spoke of a specific business which closed in 2017 due to fire issues and had recently transferred to the council along with others.  This building was in a terrible condition and in highlighting this she also represented the interests of others in the surrounding areas whose properties had fallen into similar disrepair.  These premises were an eyesore and was in a prime location on the seafront.  She asked for immediate action to be taken and for short term and long-term plans for demolition and clearance. 

A Member must declare any disclosable pecuniary interest where it relates to any matter being considered at the meeting. A declaration of a disclosable pecuniary interest should indicate the interest and the agenda item to which it relates. A Member is not permitted to participate in this agenda item by law and should immediately leave the meeting before the start of any debate.

If the Member leaves the meeting in respect of a declaration, he or she should ensure that the Chairperson is aware of this before he or she leaves to enable their exit from the meeting to be recorded in the minutes in accordance with Standing Order 37.

None declared.

9 January 2024, to approve as a correct record (attached)

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting of 9 January 2024 be approved as a correct record. 

Councillor Burden stated his concern that the second part of the resolution relating to the Regional Flood and Coast Defence Committee had not been resolved.  It was confirmed that the letter had been written to the Environment Agency.  No reply had been received to date and an undertaking was given that this matter would be discussed at the next Council meeting.

The Chairperson announced the news of the recent death of former Councillor David Jolley.  Also, that of Ann Shopland, the wife of Councillor David Shopland.

She thanked councillors and officers for the extensive briefings and information sharing regarding the budget, enabling all to be fully informed for this meeting tonight.

Councillor Crockford-Hawley was given the opportunity to talk of the birthday of this council.  It would have been formed for half a century by the time council next met, first as Woodspring, then North West Somerset Council, and now North Somerset Council.

The agenda item number mentioned in the heading of the individual extract refers to the agenda of the relevant Executive meeting. All Members have received the agenda papers and are commended to review them prior to the Council meeting.

(1) EXE84 Medium Term Financial Plan 2024-2028 (MTFP) and Revenue

Budget for 2024-25 (Agenda Item 06) (draft minute extract and report attached)

Note: The published Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) that underpin the

2024/25 budget savings plans can be found at Appendix 9 to the Executive report. Councillors are asked to familiarise themselves with the EIAs in advance of the meeting.

(2) EXE86 Treasury Management Strategy 2024-25 (Agenda Item 08) (draft minute extract and report attached)

(3) EXE87 Capital Strategy 2024-28 and Capital Budget 2024-25 (Agenda

Item 09) (draft minute extract and report attached)

Note for Councillors:

Council is requested to consider item 6 (1) above together with the following report (item 7) which contains the Council Tax charges for the Council and the

precepting authorities for 2024/25.

If changes are approved to the recommendations from the Executive, alterations to the recommended Council Tax resolution as contained within the following report might be required. In this case Council will be requested to adjourn to enable the figures in the Council Tax resolution report to be recalculated and recirculated.

With the agreement of the Chairperson, Councillor Bell presented the Executive finance references and council tax setting reports en bloc, that is: Revenue Budget 2024/25, Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2024-28, Treasury Management Strategy 2024/25, and Capital Strategy 2024-28, together with the Council Tax Setting resolution 2024/25.  Members were reminded that a named vote would be required on the budget decision and that an update report had been published containing the precept demand from outside bodies not available at the time of the publication of the original report.

In presenting the Executive references and the reports, Councillor Bell acknowledged that it had been a difficult year to reach a balanced budget given the inflationary pressures on costs, continued increase in demand on resources and services, in-year mitigation pressures, together with the poor local government grant settlement.   He was therefore pleased to be able to present a balanced budget that continued to support our core services for the community and delivered long term investments.  It did not, however, shirk the difficult choices that had to be made.

The MTFP set out £6million of savings, efficiencies, and increased income for 2024/25, and a further £26million in future years.  This gave an overall saving of £50million in five years.  Councillor Bell thanked all staff for their hard work and dedication in helping to achieve these ambitious savings and efficiencies.  He gave particular thanks to the finance officer team in overcoming the genuine difficulties in reaching this outcome.

Councillor Bell acknowledged the difficult decisions contained within these proposals that would impact at a time when many are already experiencing financial difficulty.  The examples given were not things that the council would choose to do but were unavoidable given the challenges faced. 

Councillor Bell voiced determination in making sure that the council did not follow the course of others leading into bankruptcy and would continue to lobby the government on the need for financial reform.  Without that change, local services would suffer, and local authorities would disappear completely.

Councillor Bell highlighted some of the positive work including investment in schools, in highways and pavement maintenance, continuation of delivering high performing waste and recycling, leisure centres, and tackling inequality and anti-social behaviour.  The council would work with town and parish councils and continue to tackle housing inequality, local environment and climate change, provision of family hubs, and social care.  Councillor Bell also highlighted improvements to bus services, the A38, Birnbeck Pier, and levelling up for Weston-super-Mare.

In discussing the Executive references and council report, members expressed support for the budget and financial strategy but also noted areas of concern regarding the impact to council services including housing, transport, medical care, children’s centres, and libraries.  There was agreement that this was a particularly difficult time for local government, and a call for all councillors to continue to lobby for change and to challenge their political leaders.

Members expressed concerns for future year savings whilst giving general support the budget.  There was discussion of the option of bringing  ...  view the full minutes text for item COU137

Councillor Bell presented the reference from the Executive.

All finance items were discussed together en bloc (see minute no. COU 137 above).

Motion: moved by Councillor Bell, seconded by Council Gibbons it was

Resolved: that the Council

i.      Approved the Treasury Management Strategy for 2024/25, as described throughout the report and shown in Appendix 1 of the report,

ii.     Approved the Prudential Indicators for 2024/25, as shown in Appendix 2 of the report

iii.    Approved the Minimum Revenue Provision Statement for 2024/25, as shown in Section 3.5 of the report.

Councillor Bell presented the reference from the Executive.

All finance items were discussed together en bloc (see minute no. COU137 above)

Motion: moved by Councillor Bell, seconded by Councillor Gibbons it was

Resolved: that the Council

1.             a.  approved the capital strategy for 2024 to 2028 as detailed throughout the

     report

b.   approved an increase in the capital programme of £9.789m for a new range of investment proposals as detailed in section 3.5 and Appendix 3 of the report, subject to confirmation of grant funding allocations

2.             noted the additional borrowing impact within the capital programme of £2.6m

for the period 2024 to 2028 as detailed in section 3.4 and Appendix 4 of the report, which will increase the council’s overall borrowing requirement to £114.6m over the period

3.             approved the amendments to the capital budget for 2023/24 as detailed in

Appendix 2 of the report

4.             delegated the approval for the detailed highways programme to the

Assistant Director for Neighbourhoods and Transport in consultation with the Executive Member for Transport and Highways.

Report of Councillor Bell (attached)

Councillor Bell presented the Corporate Plan which had been developed through comprehensive engagement with staff, members, and residents.  He brought attention to the four headline ambitions and gave particular thanks to officers for their work in supporting community and budget engagement. 

There would be ongoing monitoring of the Corporate Plan as a living document offering a good framework for engagement.

Motion: moved by Councillor Bell and seconded by Councillor Gibbons

Resolved: that the Council approved the Corporate Plan for the period 2024 to 2028 as recommended by the Executive

Report of Councillor Bell (attached)

The Chairperson referred to exempt appendices accompanying the report and reminded members that discussion of any matters contained within would be held in private session at the end of the meeting.

Councillor Bell presented the report noting that the existing contract was due to expire.  There were drivers as to the mitigation of cost pressures and delivery of better outcomes for service users and the council.  The process to date had been comprehensive including, market comparison, value for money, alternative delivery models including in-house, and shared service with another authority.  The value was likely to be in the range of £35million to £65million pounds depending on the contract duration and inflationary uplifts.

Motion: moved by Councillor Bell and seconded by Councillor Bridger

Resolved: that the Council

1.       approved the appointment in principle of the Preferred Bidder for the provision of the Revenues, Benefits, Welfare, Exchequer and Civil

           Enforcement Administration services contract and

2.       delegated the final decision for the contract award to the Executive Member for Corporate Services, in consultation with the Project Board (Chaired by the Director of Corporate Services), subject to the following:

•         Finalising the contract documentation for execution, and

•         Ensuring the costs and savings are within the financial envelope.

Report of Councillor Solomon (attached)

Councillor Solomon presented the report.  Whilst the Tropicana was currently run by North Somerset staff, local authorities were increasingly moving away from this model of delivery.  The council had great ambition for the future of the Tropicana as a cultural place to go with a prime position on the sea front. 

Members discussed the preferred option of procuring an operator on the basis of a long full repair lease of fifteen years or more, and consideration of a specialist advisor for an entertainment partner.

Motion: moved by Councillor Solomon and seconded by Councillor Bell

Resolved: that the Council approved the Commissioning Plan for the procurement of an operator for the Tropicana as set out in sections 3.10 to 3.29 of the report

Report of Councillor Gibbons (attached)

Councillor Gibbons presented the report which addressed engagement with and listening to children in care and care experienced young people.  The full Bright Spots report had been sent to all councillors.  There had been well attended engagement sessions and conversations with young people providing helpful feedback about language and how documents are written with proposed changes welcomed across the board.  There was also an ambition to reinvigorate the Youth Parliament.

Bethany Swann, Young Director, joined the meeting remotely.  She thanked those who had attended the latest Corporate Parenting Panel and the support for developing life skills and aspirations for young people across North Somerset.  She encouraged all members to get in touch with any opportunities for making the work of the council more accessible for young people.

Motion: moved by Councillor Gibbons and seconded by Councillor Bell

Resolved: that the Council:

• Continues its commitment to the role of corporate parent to our children in care and care experienced young people, and
• Considers how the voices and experiences of children in care and care leavers are considered when making all key decisions

These have to be received by the Assistant Director Legal & Governance and Monitoring Officer by 12.00 noon on the day of the meeting. 

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Questions must relate to issues relevant to the work of the Executive, the Planning and Regulatory Committee, Employment, Licensing, Audit or Standards Sub-Committee.

Members are requested to supply the Democratic Services Officer with a note of each question at, or just after, the meeting.  A summary note of each question will be included in an appendix to the minutes.

Oral questions were directed to members concerned and the summary notes and topics involved are contained in Appendix 1.

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(attached)

The Leader presented the Forward Plan

Resolved: that the Forward Plan be noted.

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(1) Avon Fire Authority

(2) Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Panel

Report of Councillors Crew and Davies (attached)

(3) West of England Combined Authority Joint Scrutiny Committee

(1)  Avon Fire Authority

Councillor Payne provided an oral update to the meeting.  The Fire Authority had met yesterday to agree a budget, increasing the precept to 2.99% which was the maximum permitted.  Fuller detail would be referred to next month’s meeting.  The authority was looking at ways to defer the inevitable cuts in funding and remained frustrated with the central government funding model.

(2)  Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Panel

Councillor Crew presented the report, observing that events had subsequently overtaken the report.  There was discussion of the process for the voted increase in the precept, and also of the definition of the police now being at full strength.  The new CCTV system was now fully operational.

(3)  West of England Combined Authority (WECA) Joint Scrutiny Committee

Councillor Ashton informed members that there had not been a recent meeting, the previous two being inquorate and then cancelled.  He was not aware of any future meeting dates but undertook to pursue this with WECA.

For a matter to be considered as an urgent item, the following question must be addressed:  “What harm to the public interest would flow from leaving it until the next meeting?” If harm can be demonstrated, then it is open to the Chairperson to rule that it be considered as urgent. Otherwise the matter cannot be considered urgent within the statutory provisions.

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