Agenda and minutes

The Mayor was pleased to present the following three Awards:-

·              To Strategic Human Resources for the Municipal Journal Award for “Pay and Workforce Achievement of the Year 2007”.

·              To RBT for the 4Ps Award for Excellence in its efficiency for e-procurement.

·              To Jean Tracey and Arshad Rehman, the two winners of the Council’s Employee Suggestion Scheme, who had put forward their ideas to improve the services provided for their Directorates between April to June, 2007.

The Mayor also announced that the Council had been a finalist in the Municipal Journal Awards in the categories of:-

·              Best Achieving Council of the Year.

·              Councillor Development Achievement of the Year.

·              Effective Top Team Leadership of the Year.

The Leader also offered thanks and appreciation to the Emergency services, Council employees, the people of the Salvation Army, voluntary services and all the volunteers for the magnificent job they undertook and the assistance they provided during the evacuation of residents during the recent flood disasters.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 13^th June, 2007, be approved for signature by the Mayor and a warm welcome be extended to newly elected Councillor Simon Currie.

Mover:-  Councillor Stone                               Seconder:-  Councillor Sharman

(1)  The Mayor was in receipt of various letters expressing their support with regard to the flooding in Rotherham.

Resolved:-  That a reply be sent to all the letters thanking them for their concern.

(2)  The Chief Executive submitted the following petitions:-

·              From 58 residents of Warren Road, Wickersley registering their concern at the level of vandalism, intimidation, anti-social behaviour and foul language practised by groups of youths in the vicinity of the village hall and adjacent recreation area.

·              From 83 residents of the Pasture Rise, Rawmarsh development requesting upgrading of the present drainage system to prevent further flooding.

Resolved:-  That the petitions be referred to the appropriate Cabinet Member for consideration.

Mover:-  Councillor Stone                               Seconder:-  Councillor Sharman

(3)  The Chief Executive submitted apologies for absence from Councillors Boyes, Foden, Goulty, J. Hamilton, Johnston, Sangster, Sharp, Stonebridge and Whelbourn.

Resolved:- That the reports and minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet (Section B) (pages 1B to 32B) be adopted.

Mover:- Councillor Stone                                Seconder:- Councillor Sharman

Resolved:-  That the reports and minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee (Section C) (pages 1C to 5C) be adopted.

Mover:-  Councillor Hodgkiss                          Seconder:-  Councillor Clarke

(1)  Councillor Turner reported that at a meeting of the Adult Services and Health Scrutiny Panel he became aware that in the previous year a £2.37 million injection of funds had to be made.

The report concluded that a £236,000 underspend had been achieved. He asked for an explanation of this accountancy mechanism and confirmation where the £2.37 million was derived from? 

Councillor Kirk explained that the 2006/07 outturn identified that Adult Services had a projected overspend of nearly £3 million and a request was made to fund this.  The £2.36 million was funded from the Corporate Contingency and the directorate was charged with finding the other £1m+.  Management actions were put in place to achieve the £1m+ required.  This was overachieved by £236,000, hence the underspend. 

(2)   Councillor Turner pointed out that shortly after becoming a Councillor he became aware that the education staff budget had increased significantly.   He asked what was the salary and wages bill for all Council Departments in May, 2000 and what did it become in May, 2005 before the separation of 2010 (The ALMO)? 

The Leader explained that the Council's Statement of Accounts for 1999/2000 showed a salary and wages budget of £192 million. In 2004/5 the level was shown at £278 million. The increase over this period was down to a number of factors including annual pay rises, increased pension contributions and additional monies provided from a range of funding regimes for support, particularly in the schools’ environment.

(3)   Councillor Turner pointed out that when a Chief Executive took over a large public limited company, his brief was always to increase profits for the shareholders.  Almost every approach was to make across the board, staff reductions.   In the light of the projected significant reductions in funding the vital voluntary and charitable services in Rotherham, should not this type of initiative be explored? 

The Leader reported that clearly a Local Authority did not work to the same brief as a public limited company in respect of seeking to increase its profits for the shareholders.  However, the Council does work to a brief which expects value for money in everything we do. We consistently perform beyond our brief in terms of Gershon savings and work to the principle of reducing our back office costs in order to support front line services. Our success this year in being recognised nationally as the “Most Improved Council” stands testament to our achievements on a number of fronts, including cost effectiveness, efficiency and value for money.

(4)   Councillor Turner understood that the Company that was to substantially effect our renaissance in Rotherham would also negotiate the acquisition and relocation of Tesco’s.  Considering the unfortunate relationship that had been developed with Tesco’s and that Tesco’s understood the importance of Forge Island to our masterplan, were we in a position to negate or dictate anything? 

Councillor Smith was unaware of any misunderstanding.  The only direct control the Council would have over Tesco would be as Local Planning Authority, giving  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

Councillor Gilding referred to Councillor Littleboy’s answer at last month’s Council Meeting, when he asked about the patrolling of Rotherham Town Centre by regular Police Officers.

Councillor Gilding asked Councillor Littleboy what was his reply to the debate in the local press, which clearly did not reflect the rosy picture painted about two Sergeants and ten Constables patrolling the Town Centre between 7.00 a.m. and midnight?

Councillor Littleboy explained that in his answer last month he made a number of comments about the Police Officers available to police Rotherham Town Centre.

This referred to Police Officers from the Tutor Unit, Police Community Support Officers, and, in addition to this policing, the availability of a team consisting of a minimum of a Sergeant plus ten Officers.  Also there were patrol cars in the area.   

It would not be accurate to say that all these Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers were only available until midnight, although some of them were.

So that we were clear what resources were available Councillor Littleboy clarified that the deployment of policing resources was mainly handled by the Chief Constable and his Officers on the ground. They were responsible for deploying these resources in response to incidents as they occurred. For this purpose they have available to them a variety of Officers.

The Response Teams provided coverage twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and would typically consist of an Inspector, a Sergeant, ten constables and one Dog Handler.

As of the 2nd July the policing of Rotherham had undergone a re-organisation which had the effect of concentrating former district wide resources more into the Town Centre. The result was a newly formed Town Centre Team comprising one Inspector, two Sergeants, eight Constables full time with an average of eight Student Officers assigned to them, although this number would vary from time to time.  In addition there would typically be four Police Community Support Officers with the role of problem solving in the town centre exclusion zone.

There were plans to expand this team with staff from partner agencies.

The Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Democratic Services submitted the new Code of Conduct for Members and Co-opted Members.

Resolved:-  That the Code of Conduct, as now submitted, be approved in place of the existing Code of Conduct for implementation from 1st October, 2007.

Mover:- Councillor Stone                                Seconder:- Councillor Sharman

The Returning Officer reported that the person, indicated below, had been elected a Member of the Council at the election held on 12^th July, 2007

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received.

(2) That Councillor Currie be appointed to the Licensing Board and the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel.

Mover:- Councillor Stone                                Seconder:- Councillor Sharman