Agenda and minutes

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

Contact: Lewis South, Democratic Services Manager or Debbie Bacon, Senior Democratic Services Officer 

Items
No. Item

44.

Mayor for the Day

Minutes:

The Mayor was pleased to welcome Anna Taylor, the “Mayor for the Day” to the Council Meeting. Anna, aged eleven years and a pupil at Wath Comprehensive School gave a short speech on her day’s experiences.  She formally opened the meeting.

45.

Presentation of Award

Minutes:

The Mayor and the “Mayor for the Day” were pleased to announce the excellent news that the that the Parking Services Team, led by Martin Beard, had been announced as the winner of the Effective Enforcement Award from Disabled Motoring U.K.

 

Congratulations were offered to all those involved in these achievements and for their hard work and dedication in preventing blue badge fraud.

46.

Council Minutes

Minutes:

Resolved:- That the minutes of the meetings of the Council held on 14th September, 2011 be approved for signature by the Mayor.

 

Mover:-  Councillor Stone                               Seconder:-  Councillor Akhtar

47.

Communications

Minutes:

(1) The Chief Executive submitted the following petitions which had been referred to the appropriate Directorate for consideration:-

 

·              From sixty-three residents of Broom Avenue, Rotherham requesting traffic calming on Broom Avenue.

·              From seventy-one residents of Dinnington supporting development on brownfield land, but objecting to building on Green Belt land whilst any brownfield sites remain undeveloped.

 

(2) The Chief Executive submitted apologies for absence from Councillors Beaumont, Dalton, Hodgkiss, Hussain, Swift and Tweed.

48.

Questions from the Public

Minutes:

A member of the public referred to the public having viewed the new “Town Hall” upgrading which had a £2.7 million cost modification.  Councillors and staff only were allowed to view the new “Riverside” municipal offices before occupancy and asked why, when the public were expected to pay £3.2 million per year for thirty-five years, were they excluded?

 

The Leader reported that the rent for Riverside House was £2.93 million per annum, not £3.2 million.

 

The building was a construction site with public areas not handed over to the Council until the end of January, 2012 so it was not safe or practical for members of the public to visit.  Nobody was being excluded.

 

The whole ground floor would be commissioned and opened to the public in stages from February to April, 2012 for access on a day to day basis. These facilities including a service centre, which was a one stop shop for the provision of many Council services and enquiries, a new library, including arts and performance space, a café, the registrars’ service and social care conferencing.

 

An open day of some kind for members of the public to view one of the working wings would be arranged; the details of which would be forwarded to the member of the public.

 

In a supplementary question the member of the public expressed his wish to view what he described as “penthouse” offices.

 

The Leader believed that the member of the public had been misinformed as no such facility existed.

49.

Standards Committee

Minutes:

Resolved:- That the reports and minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee (Section B) (pages 8B to 11B) be adopted.

 

Mover:- Councillor Buckley                             Seconder:- Councillor Gilding

50.

Cabinet Minutes

 

Delegation of Statutory Powers to the Director of Housing and Neighbourhood Services (Minute No. C59) (Pages 43C and 44C)

 

Review of Polling Places 2011 (Minute No. C79) (Pages56C and 57C)

 

Minutes:

Resolved:- That the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Cabinet (Section C) (pages 40C to 62C) be adopted.

 

Mover:- Councillor Stone                                Seconder:- Councillor Akhtar

51.

Delegated Powers Meetings

 

Safeguarding Children and Adults – Pages 91D to 23D (Section D)

 

Community Development,  Equality and Young Peoples Issues – Pages 19E to 29E (Section E)

 

Lifelong Learning and Culture – Pages 14F to 20F (Section F)

 

Town Centres, Economic Growth and Prosperity – Pages 32G to 47G (Section G)

 

Adult Social Care – Pages 25H to 31H (Section H)

 

Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods – Pages 17J to 27J (Section J)

 

Health and Wellbeing – Pages 16K to 26K (Section K)

 

Waste and Emergency Planning– Pages 7L to 10L (Section L)

 

Deputy Leader and Organisational Change and Governance – Pages 6N to 7N (Section N)

 

 

Minutes:

Resolved:- That the reports and minutes of the meetings Cabinet Members as listed below be adopted:-

 

·              Safeguarding Children and Adults – Pages 19D to 23D (Section D).

 

·              Community Development, Equality and Young Peoples Issues – Pages 19E to 29E (Section E).

 

·              Lifelong Learning and Culture – Pages 14F to 20F (Section F).

 

·              Town Centres, Economic Growth and Prosperity – Pages 32G to 47G (Section G).

 

·              Adult Social Care – Pages 25H to 31H (Section H).

 

·              Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods – Pages 17J to 27J (Section J).

 

·              Health and Wellbeing – Pages 16K to 26K (Section K).

 

·              Waste and Emergency Planning– Pages 7L to 10L (Section L).

 

·              Deputy Leader and Organisational Change and Governance – Pages 6N to 7N .(Section N)

 

Mover:- Councillor Stone                                Seconder:- Councillor Akhtar

52.

Audit Committee

Minutes:

Resolved:- That the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Audit Committee (Section P) (pages 15P to 17P) be adopted.

 

Mover:- Councillor Kaye                                  Seconder:- Councillor Sangster

53.

Licensing Board

Minutes:

Resolved:- That the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Licensing Board (Section Q) (pages 9Q to 15Q) be adopted.

 

Mover:- Councillor Wootton                           Seconder:- Councillor Barron

54.

Health and Wellbeing Board

Minutes:

Resolved:- That the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board (Section S) (pages 1S to 6S) be adopted.

 

Mover:- Councillor Wyatt                                Seconder:- Councillor Akhtar

55.

Planning Board

Minutes:

Resolved:- That the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Planning Board (Section T) (pages 36T to 51T) be adopted.

 

Mover:- Councillor Pickering                           Seconder:- Councillor Dodson

56.

Questions and Cabinet Members and Chairmen

Minutes:

(1)  Councillor Turner asked had a deal finally been done with Tesco, what was the deal, when did the demolition start, when would the project be completed and would there be any plans for free parking availability?

 

Councillor Smith confirmed that terms have been agreed and these were being documented by Solicitors.  The legal deed of variation necessary to document this deal had not formally been completed, but was expected to be signed in the next few weeks, in any event by the end of November.

 

The deal was conditional upon various items being secured, the main one being planning permission.  Once planning permission was granted and the other conditions (eg. site surveys, road closures etc.) have been satisfied, the deal would become unconditional.  At this point, TCN would pay the land price and they would be granted the pre-agreed long lease to enable them to go onto the site to start building.

 

The price was set at £6,556,622 (plus an additional payment of £500,000 for the petrol filling station consent).  This price may be reduced depending on the value of the Section 106 works which were required as part of the planning process.  If the Section106 works cost more that £847,607, the price would be reduced by the amount over that sum up to a maximum of £1m.

 

The new superstore would be built and, after completion, there was a further calculation of any overage in which would be shared 50:50.  It was unlikely, however, that there would be much in the way of overage in this transaction as the values and costs have been carefully calculated.

 

It was not possible to give an exact date for completion, as the date for demolition was linked to the deal becoming unconditional, which was when TCN have an implementable planning permission. The planning application would be submitted within the next month and it was anticipated would be considered by the Council’s Planning Board by the end of March, 2012.  Once planning permission was granted, it was anticipated that the construction period would be 12-18 months. This would depend on no Judicial Review of the permission, or no “call in” of the application by the Secretary of State. A detailed work programme would be developed, once planning permission had been granted.

 

Accommodation of town centre parking would be negotiated as part of the planning application and formal pre-application process was expected to start in November.

 

(2)  Councillor Gilding asked with limited parking available at the new Rotherham United stadium, where were the majority of football fans expected to park their cars?

 

Councillor Smith explained that in addition to the 500 spaces which would be provided on site for use by the stadium, the Council intended to open a new car park off Sheffield Road (at the rear of the existing Sheffield Road car park on the former swimming baths site). This car park was currently the subject of an application for change of use. The car park would have capacity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

57.

Standards Committee Annual Report pdf icon PDF 116 KB

Minutes:

Mr. M. Andrew, Chairman of the Standards Committee, introduced the Standards Committee Annual Report for 2011.

 

Resolved:- That the report be received and the Committee be thanked for their hard work.

 

Mover:-   Councillor Stone                              Seconder:-  Councillor Akhtar

58.

Absence from Council due to illness pdf icon PDF 25 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Stone introduced the report proposing approval of the absence of Councillor Blair from meetings of the Council as a result of illness.

 

Councillor Blair, having completed his treatment, was now back in circulation and fully intended resuming his Council duties where possible.

 

Resolved:-  That the failure of Councillor Blair to attend Council meetings be noted due to long-term illness and, for the purposes of Section 85 (1) of the Local Government Act, 1972, his absence from Council meetings be approved should he become unfit to attend.

 

Mover:- Councillor Stone                                Seconder:- Councillor Akhtar

59.

Scrutiny Update

Minutes:

Councillor Whelbourn, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board, welcomed the opportunity to give an update on activity and introduced Councillor Jack, Chairman of the Health Select Commission, to give a short overview of progress from a health perspective.

 

By way of a work programme progress summary, the Health Select Commission had looked at the areas concerning:-

 

·              The K.W.I.L.L.T Programme.

·              Park Rehabilitation Centre Review.

·              Centre for Public Scrutiny Development Areas.

·              Scrutiny and the Health Reforms.

·              Scrutiny Review of Health Inequalities.

·              Scrutiny Review of Continuing Health Care.

 

Resolved:-  That the update on the work of the Health Select Commission be noted.

60.

Support for the Local Government Pension Scheme

Minutes:

Moved by Councillor Steele and seconded by Councillor License:-

 

“Council notes that the Local Government Pension Scheme is a sustainable, good quality pension scheme that benefits from being funded and locally managed. It is valuable to employers and employees alike.

 

Council is concerned by proposals announced by the Chancellor in the last Comprehensive Spending Review to impose an extra 3.2% contribution tax on scheme members, increasing scheme average contributions from 6.6% to 9.8% and notes that none of the additional revenue will go towards improving the financial security of the scheme and that in addition, research indicates that 40-50 per cent of affected members may opt out of the scheme as a result of this policy, thereby undermining the viability of the largest pension scheme in the UK. Current Government proposals are not a genuine attempt to make the schemes more sustainable, they are a cash grab by the Treasury, imposing an additional tax on workers.

 

Council notes that public service workers have suffered an ongoing pay freeze, widespread redundancies and cuts and closures of many vital services on which our communities rely.

 

Council further notes that the Local Government Association wrote to the Chancellor on 16th February, 2011 to express concerns that mass opt-outs would be both undesirable and damaging to the scheme – Council shares these concerns.

 

Council is disappointed that the Government has failed to negotiate fully and openly with the Trade Unions and regrets that the Government’s intransigence has increased the possibility of industrial action. Council notes that the trades unions and community groups have agreed to organise local and national protects in support of public services, jobs and pensions Council agrees to support the work of the Trade Unions in raising awareness of this issue and local employees in defending their pension scheme.

 

Council resolves to ask the Leader to write to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury within the next month to express Council’s concerns and urge the Government to rethink their proposals.”

 

The motion was put and carried and adopted by the Council.

 

(The Mayor (Councillor Wright) and Councillors Atkin, Barron, Beck, Buckley, Currie, Donaldson, Ellis, Gilding, Johnston, Lakin, License, McNeely, Parker, Pickering, Read, P. A. Russell, R. S. Russell, Sharman, Sims, Steele, Stone, Turner, Walker, Whelbourn and Wyatt declared personal interests in this motion on grounds that they were contributors to the Local Government Pension Scheme)