Minutes for Council meeting, Apr 22 2010, 7.00PM official page

The meeting was opened by prayers by the Lord Mayor’s Chaplain Reverend Canon Norman Woods.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Dixey, Linfield and Parry.

TO RECEIVE any declarations by Members regarding prejudicial or personal interest in any items on the agenda for this meeting.

Councillors Gilbey, A Perkins and Seath each made a statement on behalf of the Members of their respective groups that any interests, which had been declared by their Members, as set out in previous meetings in so far as they related to the business for this meeting, were deemed to be declared again for this meeting.

Councillor Thomas declared a prejudicial interest in the item relating to the Herne Bay Area Action Plan - Inspector’s Report and Adoption, and indicated that he would leave the meeting during the consideration of that item.

Councillor Hando also declared a personal interest in that item because of his membership of the Herne Bay Regeneration Working Party and the Development Control Committee.

These additional declarations for the meeting are recorded in the relevant item below.

The Lord Mayor reminded the council that the Lord Mayor Award is a civic award to say thank you to local people for their efforts in helping others in the community.

The city council had created the Lord Mayor’s Award to acknowledge publicly people who quietly work “behind the scenes” to help others, and who were often overlooked as they did not seek publicity or thanks for their efforts.

The Awards were given to people from all manner of backgrounds living in the district in recognition of selfless acts for the benefit of others.

The Lord Award was pleased to report that the Awards this year were being made to

Mr Frank Harris - for his work on the publication of The Canterbury and District Recorder weekly talking newspaper for the blind, a charity run entirely by volunteers. His official title of Treasurer belied the true extent of his outstanding dedication to this charity. He is also responsible, with his wife, for the administration of the postal tapes ensuring no recipient is missed in any week and if necessary, delivering a tape to a listener personally.

Mr Edwin Warn – who had been a member of Whitstable & Herne Bay Lions Club for 35 years and had raised thousands of pounds for charity and had helped countless people and good causes in that time. He was always there to help those in need in the Canterbury, Whitstable & Herne Bay area. He had organised Whitstable Regatta for many years and many of the other fund raising events both large and small. He is also District Governor which involved supervising / helping and advising the 77 clubs within the District.

Mr Ferdinando Chiaramello – who for the past six years had selflessly devoted his life to helping less able people with disabilities and mobility problems to have much more independent and enhanced quality of life.

Although in his eighties, he has tirelessly and unconditionally given his time as a volunteer with Canterbury Shopmobility, often working out of hours, opening the unit early and staying late and working bank holidays in order to accommodate people’s requests.

The Lord Mayor presented to each Award Winner a gift of a crystal glass bowl and framed certificate.

The council applauded the Award Winners and they each responded by expressing their thanks the council for their Award.

(At this point the Lord Mayor adjourned the meeting for a period of 10 minutes to allow photographs to be taken in the Westgate Gardens with the Award Winners. The Lord Mayor remarked how well the gardens are looking and indicated that he had invited the garden staff to join him for coffee at Tower House next week.

The meeting was adjourned and reconvened accordingly).

To date the Chief Executive has not received notice of any petitions to be presented at the meeting. Any notifications received within the prescribed time limit will be reported to the meeting.

There were no petitions for the meeting.

TO RECEIVE any announcements from the Lord Mayor, the Leader, members of the Executive or the Chief Executive.

(a)               The Lord Mayor congratulated Councillor Flanagan and his wife on the birth of their daughter, Evi.

(b)               The Leader congratulated Councillor Ellis on becoming a car driver for the first time.

(c)               The Leader reported that at the end of March we had received £258,794.65 from Heritable Bank, which meant that we had now recovered £1,461,675 of the £4 million deposit at risk.

(d)               The Leader reported that according to the new Chief Executive of Royal St Georges Golf Club,

“East Kent will be presented with a gold-plated opportunity in a little over 18 months time to market itself as a favoured destination for higher-spending tourist“

“The Open (Golf) Championship was last held at Sandwich in 2003 and drew 183,000 visitors, which boosted the East Kent economy to the tune of nearly £18 million.”

“For one week, millions of people around the world will be watching the Championship on television. Focusing on East Kent”.

The Leader said that he was sure Canterbury had its fair share of tourism and related spend and that he was hoping for even better in 2011.

(e)               The Leader reported that Canterbury City Council had been awarded Customer Service Excellence and this might be unique amongst English Councils. He added that it was as significant as the previous award under CPA of the council’s excellent status and a brilliant achievement. He thanked the staff for all their hard work on the achievement.

(f)                 The Chief Executive reported that an audit report had identified some concerns on various matters and that an essential element related to the wearing of ID badges by Members and Officers.

(g)               The Chief Executive reported that Grenville Hancox was running in the London Marathon on Sunday 25 April 2010 who welcomed sponsorship for his participation in the event. The Chief Executive had available a contact website for anyone who wished to offer sponsorship.

(h)               Councillor Vickery-Jones invited Members to join him for a drink at the First and Last Public House at Herne tomorrow to celebrate St George’s Day.

(By virtue of Article 19.03 of the Council Procedure Rules, reports from the Executive containing recommendations shall be submitted for adoption by the Council, and shall formally be moved by the Leader or member of the Executive.

There are a number of references referred to in the following items that relate to background reports considered by the Executive. Members are requested to bring to the meeting their copy of the appropriate reports to the meeting. If required a copy of the reports can be made available to Members upon request to Democratic Services prior to the Council meeting. A limited number of additional copies will also be available at the Council meeting).

TO CONSIDER the following recommendations of the Executive to Full Council:-

It was proposed by Councillor Gilbey, seconded by Councillor Mrs Law, and

RESOLVED - That the council approve the following recommendations at Minute No. E246 of the Executive meeting on 15 April 2010 -

(a)       That the recommendations in the Inspectors report be incorporated into the Plan and that the Herne Bay Area Action Plan be adopted by the Council as part of the Local Development Framework.

(b)       That the development briefs which are now to be published separately to the Area Action Plan on the recommendation of the Inspector, be adopted as Supplementary Planning Documents.

(At the commencement of the meeting, Councillor Thomas had declared a prejudicial interest in this item and he therefore left the meeting during the consideration of the item..

Councillor Hando had declared a personal interest in the item because of his membership of the Herne Bay Regeneration Working Party and the Development Control Committee).

It was proposed by Councillor Gilbey, seconded by Councillor Mrs Law, and

RESOLVED - That the council approve the recommendation at Minute No. E251 of the Executive meeting on 15 April 2010 that the revised Allotments Strategy for the Canterbury District 2010 - 2014 be adopted.

It was proposed by Councillor Gilbey, seconded by Councillor Mrs Law, and

RESOLVED - That the council approve the recommendation at Minute No. E255 of the Executive meeting on 15 April 2010 that the windfall income in respect of the VAT claim be put into the Restructure Reserve to be applied to meeting the one off costs of the staffing restructures.

The council received the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 4 March 2010.

(An errata item was required to Minute No. E220 (m) (Announcements) to change the word “complaint” where it appears in the third line to “compliant”.

The council received the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 15 April 2010.

A Member referred to the announcement at Minute No.E241 (ii) regarding the portfolio holder’s visit in the town with the Licensing Team which included an opportunity to see what the Rampage people were doing. It was intended to hold another visit and stay out later and the Member asked that the visit went on to the early hours of the morning.

Some Members commented on issues relating to Carnage events.

To answer any questions from Members under Rule 11 of the Council Procedure Rules.

Details of any questions received will be reported at the meeting.

(Note: There is a time limit of one minute for asking a question and three minutes for its answer, with supplementary questions being allowed, with a total of 20 minutes for all questions).

There were no questions for the meeting.

TO CONFIRM as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 18 February and the adjourned meeting held on 25 February 2010.

The minutes of the meetings of the Council held on 18 and 25 February 2010 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Lord Mayor.

It was proposed by Councillor A Perkins, seconded by Councillor MacCaul, and

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 17 March 2010 be received.

It was proposed by Councillor Samper, seconded by Councillor McCabe, and

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meetings of the Development Control Committee held on 2 February, 2 and 30 March 2010 be received.

(An errata item was required to the minutes of the meeting of the Development Control Committee held on 2 March 2010 to include Councillor Reuby (as a substitute for Councillor Anderson) in the list of Members present at the meeting and to amend Minute No. 643 accordingly).

(A)              It was proposed by Councillor Sharp and seconded by Councillor H Taylor that the minutes of the meetings of the General Purposes Committee held on 4 and 25 March 2010 be received and that the recommendations in Minute No. 736 (Food Service Plan for 2009-11) be approved.

WHEREUPON

(B)              Some Members commented on issues regarding the Food Service Plan for 2009-11.

(C)             The original proposal at (A) above was then put and it was RESOLVED accordingly.

It was proposed by Councillor Samper, seconded by Councillor Berridge, and

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 22 March 2010 be received and that the recommendation at Minute No. 717 regarding the adoption of the local corporate governance code be approved.

It was proposed by Councillor Sonnex, seconded by Councillor Hando, and

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting of the Housing Appeals and Benefits Committee  held on 19 February  2010  be received.

It was proposed by Councillor Harrison, seconded by Councillor J Perkins, and

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 4 February 2010 be received.

It was proposed by Councillor Windsor, seconded by Councillor J Perkins, and

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting of the Whitstable Harbour Board held on 5 March 2010 be received.

It was proposed by Councillor Gilbey, seconded by Councillor Mrs Law, and

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting of the Appointments Sub-Committee held on 18 March 2010 be received.