Agenda and minutes

Venue: Town Hall, Moorgate Street, Rotherham. S60 2TH

Contact: James McLaughlin, Democratic Services Manager 

Items
No. Item

42.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

To consider any announcements by the Mayor or the Leader.

Minutes:

The Mayor reported that she had attended a high number of engagements since the previous Council meeting and made specific reference to the Yorkshire Day celebrations on 1 August and promoted the forthcoming Rotherham Show on 10 and 11 September 2016

43.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

 

To receive the apologies of any Member who is unable to attend the meeting.

Minutes:

The Chief Executive submitted apologies for absence from Councillors Beaumont, Finnie, Jepson, Jones, Marles, McNeely, Roddison, Senior and Julie Turner.

44.

PETITIONS

 

To report on any petitions received by the Council.

Minutes:

The Chief Executive reported that there were no petitions had been received since the previous Council meeting in July 2016.

45.

COMMUNICATIONS

 

Any communication received by the Mayor or Chief Executive which relates to a recommendation of the Cabinet or a committee which was received after the relevant meeting.

Minutes:

No communications were received.

46.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

 

To invite Councillors to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests or personal interests they may have in any matter which is to be considered at this meeting, to confirm the nature of those interests and whether they intend to leave the meeting for the consideration of the item.

Minutes:

The Mayor, Councillor Pitchley, declared a personal interest in the Motion at item 10 on the agenda in respect of the Government White Paper ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’ on the basis of being a governor at a school which sought to become an Academy.

 

Councillor Buckley declared a personal interest in the Motion at item 10 on the agenda in respect of the Government White Paper ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’ on the basis of being a governor at a school which sought to become an Academy.

 

Councillor Albiston declared a personal interest in the Motion at item 10 on the agenda in respect of the HS2 rail project route in the Borough on the basis of a family member potentially being effected by the re-routing proposal.

 

Councillor Wyatt declared a personal interest in item 8 on the agenda in respect of the minutes of the Cabinet and Commissioners’ Decision Making Meeting held on 11 July 2016 which considered the transfer of trusteeship of Swinton Recreation Ground. Councillor Wyatt indicated that he had attended other meetings in respect of the matter.

47.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS COUNCIL MEETING pdf icon PDF 110 KB

 

To receive the record of proceedings of the ordinary meeting of the Council held on 13 July 2016 and to approve the accuracy thereof.

Minutes:

Resolved:-

 

That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 13 July 2016, be approved as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

48.

PUBLIC QUESTIONS

 

To receive questions from members of the public who may wish to ask a general question of the Mayor, Cabinet Member or the Chairman of a Committee.

Minutes:

Before receiving questions from members of the public, the Mayor invited the Chief Executive to address the meeting in respect of a procedural matter concerning public questions at the previous meeting of the full Council. The Chief Executive advised that the Mayor had been provided with inaccurate information regarding the submission of public questions and apologised to the Mayor, Members of the Council and the member of the public who had been advised that their question could not be put. The procedural flaws that had led to the inaccurate advice being supplied had been reviewed and the Chief Executive reported that she was assured that such an error could not happen in future.

 

The following public questions were received:

 

Mrs. M. Watson – “Air Quality Monitors – is there a list and can it be supplied?”

 

In response, Councillor Hoddinott, Cabinet Member for Waste, Roads and Community Safey stated that there were six air quality monitoring stations, located around the borough. These were located as follows:

 

Number

Location

Grid Reference

1

School Road, Wales

447377, 382895

2

Blackburn Primary School, Baring Road

438702, 392815

3

Wortley Road, Bradgate (near Effingham Arms)

440991, 393321

4

St Ann’s School, Fitzwilliam Road, Town centre

443300, 393350

5

Highfield Springs, Orgreave (near Advance Manufacturing Park)

None available

6

Brinsworth Howarth School

442506, 389120

 

In response to a supplementary question from Mrs Watson, Councillor Hoddinott undertook to provide Mrs Watson with a written response detailing who was responsible for monitoring the air quality stations.

 

Mr. M. Eyre asked: “What does this Council think is on the mind of residents and road users when they think of Brampton Road, Sandy Lane and Doncaster Road?”

 

In response, the Leader of the Council indicated that he did not wish to speculate as to the opinion of those using those roads.

 

In making his supplementary question, Mr Eyre referred to pot holes being the issue of greatest concern to those road users and enquired whether the Council would commit to restoring the condition of those highways to a higher standard. In response, the Leader of the Council referenced the significant capital investment that the authority had committed to in improving estate roads around the borough.

 

Mr. W. Newton asked “When you have closed all the Children’s Homes in Rotherham, where are you going to place our vulnerable young people that cannot be fostered?

 

In response the Deputy Leader of the Council stated “The decision to close Cherry Tree House and Silverwood Residential Care Homes has not yet been made by Cabinet. However, a proposal recommending closure will be considered by Cabinet and Commissioner for Social Care on 12 September. You may be aware that council-run Liberty House is not subject to consultation in relation to planned closure and is judged, ‘Good’ by Ofsted.

 

The Residential Care Homes for Children and Young People in Rotherham have historically failed to consistently provide good quality care and support which is evidenced by numerous Ofsted inspections. This is in spite of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

49.

MINUTES OF THE CABINET AND COMMISSIONERS' DECISION MAKING MEETING pdf icon PDF 128 KB

To receive and consider the reports, minutes and recommendations of the Cabinet and Commissioners’ Decision Making Meeting held on 11 July 2016.

Minutes:

Resolved:-

 

1.    That the minutes of the Cabinet and Commissioners’ Decision Making Meeting held on 11 July 2016 be received.

 

2.    That an increase in the Capital Programme by £291,977 for the implementation date of the Liquidlogic Social Care Case Management System be approved.

50.

WARD BOUNDARY REVIEW - PROPOSED COUNCIL SIZE SUBMISSION pdf icon PDF 70 KB

 

To consider the submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England in respect of the proposed size of the membership of Rotherham MBC, as part of the ward boundary review.  

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report which sought approval of a submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) which recommended that the future number of councillors in Rotherham be reduced from 63 to 59.

 

It was reported that the Constitution Working Group had met twice to consider the future size of the Council to inform the development of a submission to the LGBCE. Having reviewed a number of potential sizes and compared to similar authorities, the Working Group had recommended a future membership of 59 councillors. Subsequent to that, a draft submission had been prepared for the LGBCE’s consideration and had been presented to the meeting of the Council for deliberation. The final submission to the LGBCE had to be forwarded by 13 September 2016.

 

In discussing the report and the issue therein, the Leader of the Council proposed and the Leader of the Opposition seconded the following motion, along with the officer recommendations:

 

“That the Council Size Submission be amended to provide a more robust case justifying the proposed reduction from 63 to 59 councillors and acknowledging the intent of the Council to continue its commitment to open and transparent decision making, involving all members, as follows:

 

·         Increased use of digital technology has made it easier to be contacted and do work, but has also had the effect of increasing workload

·         Increased number of committee meetings in 2016-17, notwithstanding other formal commitments which are not detailed fully within the submission

·         Reflecting the need to ensure that there are sufficient councillors to lead the improvement of governance in the council

·         Increased detail in respect of the discharge of licensing decision making functions

·         Recognition of the various roles that councillors perform beyond attendance at formal committee meetings, such as partnership working or on external bodies

·         Reference to the ratio of committee/panel/board roles per councillor in order to discharge effective governance, oversight and decision-making”

 

Upon being put to the vote, it was resolved unanimously by the Council:

 

1.    That the Council Size Submission be amended to provide a more robust case justifying the proposed reduction from 63 to 59 councillors and acknowledging the intent of the Council to continue its commitment to open and transparent decision making, involving all members, as follows:

·         Increased use of digital technology has made it easier to be contacted and do work, but has also had the effect of increasing workload

·         Increased number of committee meetings in 2016-17, notwithstanding other formal commitments which are not detailed fully within the submission

·         Reflecting the need to ensure that there are sufficient councillors to lead the improvement of governance in the council

·         Increased detail in respect of the discharge of licensing decision making functions

·         Recognition of the various roles that councillors perform beyond attendance at formal committee meetings, such as partnership working or on external bodies

·         Reference to the ratio of committee/panel/board roles per councillor in order to discharge effective governance, oversight and decision-making

 

2.    That the Chief Executive be authorised to make any  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

51.

NOTICE OF MOTION

1.     GOVERNMENT WHITE PAPER ‘EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE EVERYWHERE’

 

That this Council notes:-

 

·         That despite the significant opposition to the proposals in the White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, published in March, the Government has reiterated that it wants all schools to become academies within multi-academy trusts (MATs) by 2022 and will force them to do so if they are in local authorities that it determines to be no longer ‘viable’ or to be ‘underperforming’.

·         That the plans will be incredibly expensive with estimates on the cost to the taxpayer as high as £1.3 billion. Forced academisation will happen at a time when funding per pupil in real terms is set to fall by as much as 8 per cent or more, meaning that scarce funds that could otherwise be spent on children’s education will instead be wasted on an unnecessary top-down reorganisation of schools.

·         That the plans are not supported by any evidence that academy status in and of itself improves standards of education. Around 85% of local authority maintained schools are good or outstanding.

·         That the plans will remove from parents the right to elect representatives  to the governing body of their child’s school. There will be no requirement for academy governing bodies to have local authority representatives or for MATs to have elected staff governors.

·         That the plans entail the break-up of the national system of pay and conditions for teachers. Academy trusts or individual academies will have to make decisions at a school level. This will be a distraction from time that could be better spent on teaching and learning.

·         That the plans are indicative of a Government with the wrong priorities for education. The proposals in the white paper will do nothing to address - and may in fact worsen - teacher shortages, a lack of school places in many parts of the country, chaos over curriculum and assessment changes  and funding pressures in schools and colleges.

·         That the plans have attracted widespread opposition from parents, school staff, governors, heads and MPs and Councillors from across the political spectrum.

 

This Council therefore resolves to:

 

·         Oppose the Government’s proposals and undertakes to speak out against, and encourage campaigning against the plans.

·         Note that given the scale of the opposition these changes are by no means inevitable. School governing bodies should not therefore rush or feel pressurised into converting to academy status.

·         Reject the idea of forming protective or local MATs in advance of any proposals being enacted.

·         Call a meeting of school governors, trade unions and parents to highlight the Council’s position on the white paper.

·         Work with other councils, trade unions, parents and governor groups to oppose the provisions in the White Paper.

 

 

Proposed by:    Councillor Richard Price

Seconded by:    Councillor Wendy Cooksey

 

 

2.     PROPOSED HS2 ROUTE IN THE BOROUGH

 

That this Council notes:

 

·         the apparent intent of the government to create the new HS2 railway system

·         the present altered suggestion for the route to go through Aston and Bramley.

 

That this Council therefore resolves to

 

(a)    Oppose  ...  view the full agenda text for item 51.

Minutes:

GOVERNMENT WHITE PAPER ‘EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE EVERYWHERE’

 

Moved by Councillor Price and seconded by Councillor Cooksey:

 

That this Council notes:-

 

·         That despite the significant opposition to the proposals in the White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, published in March, the Government has reiterated that it wants all schools to become academies within multi-academy trusts (MATs) by 2022 and will force them to do so if they are in local authorities that it determines to be no longer ‘viable’ or to be ‘underperforming’.

·         That the plans will be incredibly expensive with estimates on the cost to the taxpayer as high as £1.3 billion. Forced academisation will happen at a time when funding per pupil in real terms is set to fall by as much as 8 per cent or more, meaning that scarce funds that could otherwise be spent on children’s education will instead be wasted on an unnecessary top-down reorganisation of schools.

·         That the plans are not supported by any evidence that academy status in and of itself improves standards of education. Around 85% of local authority maintained schools are good or outstanding.

·         That the plans will remove from parents the right to elect representatives  to the governing body of their child’s school. There will be no requirement for academy governing bodies to have local authority representatives or for MATs to have elected staff governors.

·         That the plans entail the break-up of the national system of pay and conditions for teachers. Academy trusts or individual academies will have to make decisions at a school level. This will be a distraction from time that could be better spent on teaching and learning.

·         That the plans are indicative of a Government with the wrong priorities for education. The proposals in the white paper will do nothing to address - and may in fact worsen - teacher shortages, a lack of school places in many parts of the country, chaos over curriculum and assessment changes  and funding pressures in schools and colleges.

·         That the plans have attracted widespread opposition from parents, school staff, governors, heads and MPs and Councillors from across the political spectrum.

 

This Council therefore resolves to:

 

·         Oppose the Government’s proposals and undertakes to speak out against, and encourage campaigning against the plans.

·         Note that given the scale of the opposition these changes are by no means inevitable. School governing bodies should not therefore rush or feel pressurised into converting to academy status.

·         Reject the idea of forming protective or local MATs in advance of any proposals being enacted.

·         Call a meeting of school governors, trade unions and parents to highlight the Council’s position on the white paper.

·         Work with other councils, trade unions, parents and governor groups to oppose the provisions in the White Paper.

 

An amendment to the motion was proposed by the Deputy Leader of the Council and seconded by Councillor Hoddinott to delete the words “Reject the idea of forming protective or local MATs in advance of any proposals being enacted.”

 

Upon being put to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

52.

AUDIT COMMITTEE pdf icon PDF 80 KB

To receive and consider reports, minutes and recommendations of the Audit Committee.

 

To confirm the minutes as a true record.

Minutes:

Resolved:-

 

That the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Audit Committee be adopted.

53.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING BOARD pdf icon PDF 36 KB

 

To receive and consider reports, minutes and recommendations of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

 

To confirm the minutes as a true record.

Minutes:

Resolved:-

 

That the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board be adopted.

54.

PLANNNG BOARD pdf icon PDF 25 KB

 

To receive and consider reports, minutes and recommendations of the Planning Board.

 

To confirm the minutes as a true record.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:-

 

That the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Planning Board be adopted.

55.

MEMBERS' QUESTIONS TO DESIGNATED SPOKESPERSONS

 

To put questions, if any, to the designated Members on the discharge of functions of the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield Combined Authority and South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, in accordance with Standing Order No. 7(5).

Minutes:

It was reported that no questions had been submitted.

56.

MEMBERS' QUESTIONS TO CABINET MEMBERS AND CHAIRMEN

 

To put questions, if any, to Cabinet Members and Chairmen (or their representatives) under Standing Order No. 7(1) and 7(3).

Minutes:

Councillor Napper asked “Can the Leader explain why ratepayers cannot ring Streetpride to report a complaint? Does the Council think every ratepayer has a computer?”

 

In response, Councillor Hoddinott, Cabinet Member for Waste, Roads and Community Safety, stated “The Council’s telephone Contact Centre will handle any Streetpride enquiry, including complaints, on telephone number 01709 336003.  They operate a full service from 8 o’clock in the morning until 8 o’clock in the evening and an emergency telephone service 24 hours a day. Council Customers can also report a complaint in person via any of our Customer Service Centres or on-line using a computer or their mobile phone.”

 

Councillor Napper asked “Can the Leader tell me how many Rotherham Council houses have been given to non-Rotherham residents over the last two years?”

 

In response, Councillor Beck, Cabinet Member for Housing, stated “An analysis of lettings data over 2014/15 and 2015/16 shows a reduction in the percentage of properties let to people from outside Rotherham. In 2014/15 only 7% (113) of the total lettings (1565) were to made to people who previously lived outside Rotherham. In 2015/16 only 5% (101) of the total lettings (2047) were to people who previously lived outside Rotherham. Reductions are due to the changes to the Allocations Policy which applied a local connection criteria. This came into effect in October 2014.The Local Connection Policy for Rotherham is that a person has a local connection where:

 

·         They have lived for the last 3 years in Rotherham through their own choice.

·         They are currently employed in Rotherham and have been for the last 3 years

·         They have direct family who live in Rotherham and they have done so for the last three years. Direct family members include spouses, civil partners, parents, sons, daughters, brother and sisters.

 

Councillor Napper asked “What are the aims of the Council with regards to community cohesion? What results have we had? Will the budget still be the same?”

 

In response, the Leader of the Council stated “The aims of the Council with regards to community cohesion have been incorporated into our new Council Vision, part of which states:

 

“Rotherham is our home, where we come together as a community, where we seek to draw on our proud history to build a future we can all share. We value decency and dignity and seek to build a town where opportunity is extended to everyone, where people can grow, flourish and prosper, and where no one is left behind. ‘’

 

The council has no specific budget for community cohesion but working towards more cohesive local communities is everyone’s business at the council and responsibility does not rest with one team or service. Indeed, most of what the council does contributes to this vision of cohesion, with expenditure on it part of mainstream spending.

 

Together with our statutory and voluntary sector partners we support a range of initiatives that promote community cohesion. Forthcoming high profile events include Rotherham Show and Rotherham Community Carnival.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

57.

URGENT ITEMS

 

Any other public items which the Mayor determines are urgent.

Minutes:

It was reported that there were no urgent items requiring the consideration of the Council.

58.

EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

 

Should it be necessary, in the opinion of the Mayor, to consider excluding the press and public from the meeting in relation to any items of urgent business on the grounds that private information is likely to be divulged.

 

There are no such items at the time of preparing this agenda.

Minutes:

As there were no remaining items on the agenda, there were no matters that would require the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting.