PDF 75 KBVenue: The Ballroom, Sandbach Town Hall, High Street, Sandbach, CW11 1AX. View directions
Contact: Julie North Senior Democratic Services Officer
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Prayers Minutes: In the absence of the Mayor’s Chaplain, Cllr Wilkinson said prayers, at the request of the Mayor. |
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Apologies for Absence To receive any apologies for absence |
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Declarations of Interest To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda. Minutes: Councillor W Fitzgerald declared a non pecuniary interest in respect of item 8 – Election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the 2013/14 Civic year and left the meeting during consideration of this matter.
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Minutes of Previous Meetings To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 27 February and 28 February 2014 Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED
That the minutes of the meetings held on 27 February and 28 February 2014 be approved as a correct record.
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Mayor's Announcements To receive such announcements as may be made by the Mayor. Minutes: The Mayor:-
1. Welcomed Councillor Kevin Hickson to his first Council meeting. Councillor Hickson had been elected to the Crewe West Ward on 13 March 2014, following the sad passing away of Councillor Peter Nurse.
2. Announced that since the last Council meeting she and the Deputy Mayor had attended over thirty events and these were detailed on a sheet which had been circulated around the Chamber.
3. As this was the first time that Council has met at Sandbach Town Hall she thanked the Town Council for their invitation for Council to meet in the wonderfully refurbished building.
4. As she was coming towards the end of her Mayoral year, she reflected on the organisations and individuals that she had met across the Borough and on how impressed she was with the energy, enthusiasm and commitment to the community that she had seen on an almost daily basis. She would continue on this theme in her speech at the Mayor Making in May.
5. Announced that, on 1st April, she had attended, as a guest of the Lord Lieutenant, a presentation ceremony for British Empire Medals which had been held in Chester. One of the recipients of this prestigious award had been Mrs Valetta Cranmer, a Sandbach resident, who had received her award for services to the community and charity. Mrs Cranmer was very closely associated with Sandbach Ladies Choir, which had, on many occasions, performed at Sandbach Town Hall and it had been very pleasing to see her contribution to society marked in such a public manner.
6. Announced that Denis Dunn, Pro-Vice-Chancellor responsible for international issues and Dean of the Cheshire campus at Manchester Metropolitan University, would be retiring shortly. Denis had been a very good friend to Cheshire East since the Council’s creation. She asked Members to join with her in sending him the Council’s best wishes. Denis had many other interests and she was delighted that he had been appointed as Chairman of the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
7. Announced that former Congleton Borough Councillor Steve Morris, who had represented the Alsager West Ward from 2004 to 2009, had passed away on Sunday 23rd March and that she had sent condolences to his family.
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Public Speaking Time/Open Session 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. Minutes: Mr Shaun Devaney, of Woodside Golf, Cranage, used public speaking time to ask a question relating to a planning application which had been registered on 8th February 2013. He queried why, when he had been advised by his design team that a planning application should take 8 to 12 weeks to determine, he was still waiting for this to be resolved.
The Leader of the Council undertook to look into this matter, along with the Housing, Planning, Economic Development and Regeneration Portfolio Holder, Cllr Stockton and to provide a written response to Mr Devaney. |
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To consider any Notices of Motion that have been received in accordance with Procedure Rule 12. Minutes: Consideration was given to the following Notices of Motion :-
1 Blacklisting of Workers
Proposed by Councillor R Cartlidge and Seconded by Councillor S Corcoran
The following Notice of Motion had been submitted by Councillor R Cartlidge, with support from by Councillor S Corcoran.
Cheshire East Council deplores the practice of blacklisting carried out by some building and construction companies, which have denied employment to workers who were carrying out legitimate trade union activities such as health & safety representatives. In noting the Prime Minister’s comments that blacklisting is ‘a completely unacceptable practice, and the previous government were right to bring in legislation to make it unlawful.’
Council resolves:
In moving the motion, Councillor Cartlidge amended it to delete the second bullet point, the motion to now read:-
Cheshire East Council deplores the practice of blacklisting carried out by some building and construction companies, which have denied employment to workers who were carrying out legitimate trade union activities such as health & safety representatives. In noting the Prime Minister’s comments that blacklisting is ‘a completely unacceptable practice, and the previous government were right to bring in legislation to make it unlawful.’
Council resolves:
To make clear to all construction companies bidding for Council contracts that any unlawful blacklisting of workers will not be tolerated.
RESOLVED
That the motion, as amended, stand referred to Cabinet.
2 Withdrawal of Reasons for Refusal
Proposed by Councillor D Brickhill and Seconded by Councillor A Moran
In view of the fact that planning officers have withdrawn reasons for refusal, given and voted upon by councillors at planning committees, without the consent of the members, before the matter comes to the relevant appeal hearing, Council instructs the Director to ensure that any future withdrawals are authorised before they are signed by the relevant planning committee in full session.
RESOLVED
That the motion stand referred to the Strategic Planning Board.
3 Council Tax Single Person Discount
Proposed by Councillor S Corcoran and Seconded by Councillor M Sherratt.
This Council supports the proposals of the Local Government Association for reforming the single person discount. Under the plans, councils would have the flexibility to adjust the discount for working people living alone in large homes – rated council tax band E and above. Discounts for single people in smaller homes and all pensioners would remain protected.
RESOLVED
That the motion stand referred to Cabinet.
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Election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the 2014-15 Civic Year To approve the designation of Councillor W Fitzgerald as the Mayor Elect and that a second Member be designated as the Deputy Mayor Elect, with a view to their formal election and appointment as Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Cheshire East for 2014-15, at the Mayor Making ceremony to be held on 14 May 2014. Minutes: (Councillor Wesley Fitzgerald, having declared a non pecuniary interest, left the meeting during consideration of this matter).
Consideration was given to the nominations for the office of Mayor and Deputy Mayor for 2014/15.
It was moved and seconded that Councillor Wesley Fitzgerald be designated as the Mayor elect and that Councillor Hilda Gaddum be designated as Deputy Mayor elect, with a view to their formal election as Mayor and appointment as Deputy Mayor respectively, for the Borough of Cheshire East for the 2014-15 civic year, at the Mayor making ceremony on 14 May 2014.
(Following her nomination, Councillor Hilda Gaddum, declared a non pecuniary interest and left the meeting during consideration of this matter).
RESOLVED
That Councillor Wesley Fitzgerald be designated as Mayor Elect and that Councillor Hilda Gaddum be designated as Deputy Mayor Elect, with a view to their formal election as Mayor and appointment as Deputy Mayor for Cheshire East for 2014-2015 civic year, at the Mayor Making ceremony to be held on 14 May 2014.
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Corporate Leadership Board Appraisals To approve the establishment of an Appraisal Board for Corporate Leadership Board members and designate the arrangements for establishing and running the Board to the Staffing Committee. Minutes:
Consideration was given to a report requesting Council to approve the establishment of an appraisal board for Corporate Leadership Board (CLB) members and delegate the arrangements for establishing and running the appraisal board to the Council’s Staffing Committee.
The establishment of an Appraisal Board would ensure that Members were fully engaged with and able to lead on future appraisals for all CLB members which would, in turn, link to any performance related pay awarded to each CLB member, in line with the Council’s Pay Policy Statement 2014/15.
AMENDMENT
An amendment to the wording of the recommendation to read “To agree to the establishment of an appraisal board for CLB members, from the whole of the Council, and delegate the running of the appraisal board to the Staffing Committee” was proposed and seconded and declared lost.
RESOLVED
That the establishment of an appraisal board for Corporate Leadership Board members and the delegation of the arrangements for establishing and running the board to the Council’s Staffing Committee be approved.
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Designation of Deputy Electoral Registration Officer To approve the designation of the Head of Governance and Democratic Services as the Deputy Electoral Registration Officer. Minutes: Consideration was given to a report seeking Council’s approval to the designation of the Head of Governance and Democratic Services as the Council’s Deputy Electoral Registration Officer (DERO).
It was reported that, unless local authorities required their Electoral Registration Officers to personally discharge formal electoral registration duties, it was a requirement that they had a DERO, and Section 52(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1983 made provision for the appointment of a DERO.
Council was recommended to formally designate the Head of Governance and Democratic Services as the Council’s Deputy Electoral Registration Officer. Under the designation, the designated officer would be responsible for deputising for the Electoral Registration Officer (the Chief Executive) in respect of all electoral registration matters, including the maintaining of the register of parliamentary and local government electors.
RESOLVED
That the Head of Governance and Democratic Services be designated as its Deputy Electoral Registration Officer, with the full powers of the Electoral Registration Officer.
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Leader's Announcements To receive such announcements at may be made by the Leader. Minutes: The Leader of the Council :-
1. Referred to the Council’s new ways of working in the form of Alternative Service Delivery Vehicles. The Council was one of the few Authorities in the country to work in this way. The process was both transitionary and evolutionary and the Leader invited all Members to be a part of this process. He hoped that all Members would support the proposals put forward at the recent all Member briefing in respect of the ambition for the Authority to become a commissioning Council .
2. Announced that he was pleased that the Transport Minister had supported the HS2 transport hub for Crewe. The Secretary of State for Transport had not yet made his decision in respect of this matter, but he was confident that that the proposals would be approved.
3. Reported that he had asked the Monitoring Officer to look into changing the Council’s IT policy to ensure that it was made clear that all Members and officers should take care to abide by the rules regarding the use of Council IT facilities and not to use them for their personal gain.
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Questions 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.
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. Minutes: The following Members asked Questions :-
Cllr Marren, in respect of which Town Councils supported the new arrangements for CCTV monitoring - Cllr Michael Jones, the Leader of the Council responded.
Cllr Kolker, in respect of progress on HS2 and Stoke-on-Trent - Cllr Michael Jones, the Leader of the Council responded.
Cllr Corcoran in respect of the holding company CE Ltd - Cllr Michael Jones, the Leader of the Council responded.
Cllr Weatherill, in respect of the Leader of the Council’s comments made on local radio regarding Crewe Town Council - Cllr Michael Jones, the Leader of the Council responded.
Cllr Cartlidge in respect of the plans for the location of Crewe Station, if the HS2 hub did not go ahead - Cllr Michael Jones, the Leader of the Council responded.
Cllr A Moran in respect of delays in the determination of a planning application for housing in Stapeley - Cllr Michael Jones, the Leader of the Council responded. Cllr Thorley in respect of the delay in repairing the automatic doors at Crewe market - Cllr Topping, the Environment Portfolio Holder responded.
Cllr Brickhill in respect of the start date for the building of the Crewe Green Link Road - Cllr Michael Jones, the Leader of the Council responded.
Cllr Smetham, in respect of the current position regarding the Council’s 5 year housing supply - Cllr Michael Jones, the Leader of the Council responded. Cllr Hickson in respect of the Leader of the Council’s comments regarding Crewe Town Council - Cllr Michael Jones, the Leader of the Council responded.
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Thanks Minutes: As this was her last full Council meeting, the Mayor thanked Members and officers for their support during her term of office. |