Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes as a correct record.

To receive such announcements as may be made by the Mayor.

1.             The Mayor reported that his first duty was a very sad one regarding the recent tragic air crash in Kathmandu, Nepal, in which 19 people were killed, including 7 from the United Kingdom.  It was with regret that he had to inform Members that two of those killed had links to Cheshire East. Raymond Eagle worked for the Council; based in Macclesfield. Ray was part of our Care4CE service where he provided support to enable people with disabilities to live in their own homes. The second person with links to the Borough was Timothy Oakes, who until 2001 had been Head teacher of Ryles Park High School in Macclesfield. At the time of his death he was employed as a secondary school advisor by Lancashire County Council. In these tragic circumstances books of condolences had been opened here at Macclesfield Town Hall.

The Mayor also referred to the recent death of former Councillor John Jones. The Mayor had represented the Council at his funeral in the previous week.

Members stood for a minute’s silent tribute.

2.             The Mayor invited the Leader of the Council to speak and the Leader introduced Kim Ryley,Interim Chief Executive to the Council.

3.             The Mayor referred to the recent Olympic and Paralympic Games and was delighted to be able to inform Council that athletes from Cheshire East had won a total of ten medals. He felt it appropriate that Council should mark the achievement of the medal winning athletes by offering them the Freedom of the Borough. From the Olympic Games, medal winners were Victoria Pendleton, who lived in Wilmslow, who had won gold and silver medals in cycling and Beth Tweddle from Bunbury, who had won a bronze in gymnastics. Four residents of the Borough had won medals in the Paralympic Games. Sarah Storey, from Disley, had won four cycling gold medals and her husband, Barney, had also won a gold medal, again in cycling. Craig McLean from Wilmslow had won a gold medal in cycling and Niki Birrell from Knutsford had won a bronze in sailing.

Council agreed that a special meeting of the Council should take place immediately before the Council meeting, scheduled for Thursday 13^th December, in order to bestow Freedom of the Borough on the Olympic and Paralympic.

4.   The Mayor reported that, since Council had last met, he and the Deputy Mayor had attended almost seventy events. These had included school visits, civic services in Knutsford, Wilmslow, Bolliington and Rainow, a graduation ceremony at Reasesheath College and a considerable number of community based events. These events, be they flower shows, sports days, concerts or theatrical presentations always impressed and demonstrated the real community spirit across the Borough. 

5     The Mayor referred to the Notice of Motion submitted to Council in the previous year, by Cllrs Flude and Thorley, relating to the proposal to erect a memorial to six Royal Engineers who were killed near Nantwich in 1940. He was delighted to be able to inform Members that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

Cllr Hogben declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in item 7, relating to the Crewe Community Governance Review, by virtue of being a Cheshire East Allotment Holder and would leave the room during consideration of this matter.

Cllr Cartlidge also declared an interest in the above item, by virtue of being a Cheshire East Allotment Holder.

Cllr Brickhill declared an interest in item 15, relating to Standards Issues and  Planning Protocol, by virtue of being a member of the Cheshire Fire Authority.

Declarations of interest are also recorded for Cllrs Livesley, Merry, Simon, Topping, Thorley and Weatherill, who were present at the meeting, by virtue of being a member of the Cheshire Fire Authority.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 35 and Appendix 7 to the rules, a total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to speak at Council meetings. 

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes, but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned, where there are a number of speakers.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide at least three clear working days’ notice in writing and should include the question with that notice. This will enable an informed answer to be given. It is not a requirement to give notice of the intention to make use of public speaking provision. However, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours notice is encouraged.

There were no Members of the public present, wishing to use the public speaking facility.

To consider any Notices of Motion that have been received in accordance with Procedure Rule 12.

Consideration was given to the following Notices of Motion :-

1 Proposed by Cllr P Edwards and Seconded by Cllr M Jones

Vote of Thanks

2012 has seen two very intensive periods of severe flooding across Cheshire East. The first was in June and the second in September. During both events, Council employees responded quickly to the rapidly changing conditions and worked effectively together along with external partners to minimise the disruption caused to road users whilst protecting both domestic and business properties within the area. Areas most severely affected in the recent storm included:-

·        River Bollin at Little Bollington

·        The River Dane at Middlewich

·        Wrinehill Road, Nantwich

·        Whitehaven Lane, Faddiley

·        Maw Green Lane, Crewe

·        Warford Lane, Great Warford

·        Tabley Hill Lane, Tabley

• A50 Dog Lane, Brereton
• Wilmslow Road, Alderley Edge
• A50 King Edward Road, Knutsford
• Bradfield Green, Crewe
• Trent and Mersey Canal, Middlewich

Teams worked relentlessly throughout the flooding 24 hours a day until the flood risk had diminished. Although the majority of floods have now been removed or have subsided naturally, there are still many locations where follow-up work is required.

Notice of Motion

“This Council places on record its thanks and appreciation to our local communities, our employees, our partners in Fire, Police, Environment Agency, Town and Parish Councils, and other agencies, who worked tirelessly and effectively during the recent storms and delivered a truly coordinated and effective response”.

RESOLVED

That the motion is approved.

(The Mayor added his thanks).

2 Proposed by Cllr D Brickhill and Seconded by Cllr A Moran

Highways Contract

“That the Environment and Scrutiny Committee conduct an examination of the performance of the highways contract and its contractor Ringway Jacobs placing particular emphasis on improving response times to maintenance and gateway white lining calls. It should report back to council before Christmas 2012.”

RESOLVED

That the motion stand referred to Cabinet for consideration.

3 Proposed by Cllr D Brickhill and Seconded by Cllr A Moran

Start Time of Council Public Meetings

“That in view of the increasingly bad traffic congestion in the morning rush hours all this councils’ public meetings, which cause additional traffic to travel in these periods, should never start before 10 am if held in Sandbach and not before 10.30 am if held elsewhere.”

RESOLVED

That the motion stand referred to the Constitution Committee for consideration.

4 Proposed by Cllrs S Wilkinson and Seconded by Cllr Rachel Bailey

Bovine TB

“That Cheshire East endorses measures to halt the current high incidence of Bovine TB with the ultimate aim of both healthy wildlife and cattle population, never mind vital protection of the economic social wealth, health and wellbeing or our rural community.

In so doing Cheshire East supports early liaison with both EU and DEFRA to ensure infected areas within the Borough are tackled speedily”.

RESOLVED

That the motion is approved.

5 Notice of Motion - Statutory Allotments

It was reported that the Notice of Motion submitted by Cllr Keegan, relating to the re-location of Statutory Allotments had been withdrawn.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

To consider the recommendation of the Constitution Committee.

To consider the recommendation of the Constitution Committee.

Consideration was given to the recommendation from Constitution Committee regarding the Notice of Motion concerning the location of Strategic Planning Board Meetings.

RESOLVED

That the Capesthorne Room, Macclesfield Town Hall and the Council Chamber, Municipal Buildings, Crewe be reserved in advance for every scheduled meeting of the Strategic Planning Board, with the room that is not required for a particular meeting being released at the appropriate time, the choice of venue to be at the discretion of the Chairman of the Strategic Planning Board in consultation with officers.

To consider the recommendation of the Constitution Committee.

To consider the recommendation of the Constitution Committee.

(Note: the contract procedure rules will be amended to incorporate the additional amendments agreed by the Constitution Committee and any further changes agreed by the Vice-Chairman of the Committee in consultation with the Director of Finance and Business Services. They will then be circulated to Members as an Addendum to this item).

RESOLVED

That this item be deferred for consideration at the next meeting of the Council.

To consider the recommendation of the Constitution Committee.

To consider the recommendation of the Constitution Committee.

Consideration was given to the recommendation of the Constitution Committee regarding the awarding of a Special Responsibility Allowance to the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of the Local Service Delivery Committees for Crewe and Macclesfield.         

Following debate, Council resolved that this matter should be referred back to the Independent Remuneration Panel for further consideration and that Member comments reported to the Panel.

RESOLVED

That this matter be referred back to the Independent Remuneration Panel for further consideration.

To consider the recommendation of the Constitution Committee

The recommendations of the Constitution Committee regarding proposed amendments to the Council’s Petitions Scheme were submitted.

RESOLVED

That this item be referred back to the Constitution Committee for further consideration.

To consider the recommendation of the Constitution relating to the review of the Planning Protocol of Conduct and the Planning Public Speaking Protocol, together with the recommendations of the Strategic Planning Board and the

Audit and Governance Committee.

To consider the recommendation of the Audit and Governance Committee relating to the appeals procedure in relation to complaints under the Member Code of Conduct.

Consideration was given to the recommendation of the Audit and Governance Committee relating to the appeals procedure for complaints under the Member Code of Conduct.

RESOLVED

That the appeals procedure in relation to complaints under the Member Code of Conduct take the form of an oral hearing, the appeals body to comprise three Councillors from the pool of 15 and an independent person none of whom have previously been involved in a particular case.

To receive the Audit and Governance Committee Annual Report 2011/12.

The requirement to submit an Audit and Governance Committee Annual report to Council was now included within Cheshire East Council’s Constitution. The first Audit and Governance Committee Annual Report was, therefore, submitted.

RESOLVED

That the Audit and Governance Committee Annual Report 2011/12 be received.

To consider the recommendation of the Independent Remuneration Panel.

Consideration was given to the recommendation from the Independent Remuneration Panel regarding a Notice of Motion concerning Member Mileage Rates.

The Independent Remuneration Panel recommended :-

           That the payment of travel expenses by way of an increase to elected Members’ Basic Allowance is not considered by the Independent Remuneration Panel to be a viable option for Cheshire East Council at this point in time; given that: -

i)          It goes against the principle of Members being reimbursed for actual expenditure incurred in the performance of their duties; and

ii)      It would have a detriment impact on Members due to the travel element of the basic allowance being liable for tax.                         

RESOLVED

That the recommendation of the Independent Remuneration Panel, as set out above be approved.

To consider the recommendation of Cabinet.

Consideration was given to the recommendation from Cabinet in respect of the Middlewich Eastern Bypass & Midpoint 18. Following the Government’s proposed allocation of £4m from its Regional Growth Funding to Pochin Developments Ltd to support the development of the Middlewich Eastern Bypass, Cheshire East Council had been requested to act as the grant recipient and accountable body to receive and manage the grant.

RESOLVED

1. That Council approves the request for the Council to act as the grant recipient for this project and accepts the terms of a conditional grant offer letter from the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS),  subject to the satisfactory advice of the Borough Solicitor.

2. That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director (Places & Organisational Capacity), in conjunction with the Portfolio Holder, to accept the final grant offer letter, subject to the satisfactory advice of the Borough Solicitor and independent Due Diligence advice.

In accordance with Procedure Rule 11, opportunity is provided for Members of the Council to ask the Mayor, the appropriate Cabinet Member or the Chairman of a Committee any question about a matter which the Council, the Cabinet or the Committee has powers, duties or responsibilities. Questions must be sent in writing to the Monitoring Officer at least 3 clear working days before the meeting.

At Council meetings, there will be a maximum question time period of 30 minutes. Questions will be selected by the Mayor, using the criteria agreed by Council. Any questions which are accepted, but which cannot be dealt with during the allotted period will be answered in writing. Questions must be brief, clear and focussed.

The following questions had been submitted:-

QUESTION 1

From Councillor D Brickhill

Parking at the rear of the Municipal Buildings, Crewe

On Monday 17 September, on the occasion of a Cabinet meeting at the Municipal Buildings, Crewe, the only properly marked disabled spot, was occupied by a cone with a notice marked “Reserved for Councillor Michael Jones”. I am glad to say he is not disabled.  However this contravened both the disabled space regulations and the notice that Councillors (and he is just one of 82) are not permitted to use ANY of the car parking spaces behind the Municipal building. He was not expected at the meeting and had given his apologies. Will you please explain this?

Will you please detail the steps you are taking to ensure that disabled spots are only used by disabled people displaying their disabled badge and the way you will deal with offenders to prevent them using these spots again, preferably with some kind of penalty.

If you are not able to produce such evidence, I would like to hear who gave the authority to issue the notice saying “Members be aware that they are not permitted to park at the rear of the Municipal Buildings, as parking is very restricted and they need to keep this for visitors and deliveries as well as disabled parking.”

Response from Cllr Macrae

As Members will be aware, there is minimal parking at the Municipal Buildings, in Crewe, however, there are currently three clearly marked disabled spaces.  The Asset Management Service is currently reviewing this provision, with the aim of creating one further disabled parking space and improving the area as a whole.

Unfortunately, the note sent to Members was badly worded and an apology has been offered.

The Building Support Officers monitor this car park throughout the day and issue notices to offenders, this will continue in the future. Can I also encourage Members to sign in when visiting so that illegal parking can be monitored.

QUESTION 2

From Councillor S Hogben

Crewe Heritage Centre

The Council is planning to grant a 125 year lease on the Crewe Heritage Centre site for a peppercorn rent. This effectively gives away an asset valued at £1m. 

Could we have an assurance that there will be adequate safeguards within the lease agreement that

1)     the site will be used for the benefit of the people of Crewe and that the site will be subject always to the objective that it shall be used for railway heritage and that any other use must be ancillary to this purpose, and

2)     the existing rights of the Crewe Heritage Centre Trust will be fully protected, and

3)     the new lease holders shall be prevented from extracting profits derived from the rent free site by paying high salaries, management charges or by raising loans secured on the lease?

Response from Cllr Macrae

Following on from the Notice of Motion of 13/10/ 11, I would respectfully remind Councillor Hogben that the matter  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.