Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the Annual Meeting held on 21 May 2015 were signed as a true record.

To be presented by the Lord Mayor and Judge Griffith-Jones, Honorary Recorder

On behalf of the Council, the Lord Mayor and Judge Griffith-Jones presented Mr Frank Beresford with the Coventry Good Citizen Award.  His citation read:

“Frank Beresford instigated the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme in Eastern Green over 15 years ago. During this time he has encouraged neighbours to become actively involved in improving the area and this pro-active approach to issues within the community has culminated in the reduction of anti-social behaviour.

Frank has worked with Councillors and the Police to improve the security of people’s homes with the use of light timers, personal alarms and window alarms. In recognition of the work he has carried out he was awarded ‘The Blue Lamp’ by West Midlands Police and also became a Regional Finalist in the National Neighbourhood and Home Watch Awards 2014.

Frank is a very caring and supportive neighbour and has helped many people in the past.  Most notable is the intervention Frank made when a neighbour was having a heart attack.  With his quick thinking he alerted Paramedics who were able to revive the gentleman. On another occasion he alerted neighbours to a lady who was an epileptic and asked them to keep a close eye on her.  He provided her with a personal alarm and ensured that her fire alarm was working.

These actions together with being an active member at Ward Forums, supporting and caring for his neighbours and having pride in the environment he lives in shows why Frank is a very much respected member of his community. He embodies the qualities a community needs – kindness, selflessness and a sense of responsibility and pride. All of these attributes demonstrate the reason why Frank is awarded the Good Citizen Award”.

The Lord Mayor referred to the awards made to the following people associated with the City in the recent Queen's Birthday Honours List:

-  CBE:  To Carol Burke, Managing Director of Unipart Manufacturing Group for her services to engineering.

-  BEM:  To Elaine Ferry, of Three Spires Dance School, for her services to dance.

-  MBE:  To Ian O’Donnell, chairman of Coventry & Warwickshire Federation of Small Businesses, for his services to the community.

-  MBE:  To Sandra Price a former netball coach in the city for her services to netball.

-  OBE:  To Brian Walsh who was awarded an OBE for his services to social care.

In addition, the Leader, Councillor Lucas referred to an honorary KBE awarded to Dr Ralf Speth for services to the British automative sector.

Members noted that letters of congratulations had been sent, on behalf of the City Council, to all recipients.

  On behalf of the City Council,the Lord Mayor congratulated the recipients of the following awards:

-  Queens Award for Enterprise (International Trade) to Coventry University

-  Queens Award for Enterprise (Sustainable Development) to Jaguar Land Rover

-  Queens Award for Voluntary Services to Coventry Samaritans

RESOLVED that the following petitions be referred to the appropriate City Council bodies or organisations:

(1)  Request for bus shelter at the corner of Uplands and Mercer Avenue – 79 signatures – Councillor Bains

(2)  Request for pedestrian crossing on Mercer Avenue, Coventry – 83 signatures – Councillor Bains

(3)  Request for public toilets around the Quinton Pool park area and Daventry Road shops – 278 signatures – Councillor Brown

(4)  Request for hardstanding on grass verges at the front of properties 168-190 Aldermans Green Road – 15 signatures – Councillor Bigham

(5)  Concerns in respect of potential building on the sports ground in Mitchell Avenue – 537 signatures – Councillor Lapsa

(6)  Request to resurface the pavement from 89 to 207 Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry – 51 signatures – Councillor N Akhtar

(7)  Request action is taken in respect of drinking on the street and drug taking in the Hillfields area – 121 signatures – Councillor O’Boyle.

Councillor McNicholas indicated that he is the Chair and Council appointed Member of the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority - Transport Delivery Committee. Although he had declared this on his register of disclosable pecuniary interests, he did not consider that the item of business detailed in Minute 32 below headed “Debates” related to his DPI.  He therefore remained in the meeting and took part in the discussion on the matter.

From the meeting of Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities held on 26 March 2015.

Further to Minute 93/15 of the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities meeting, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which sought approval to the proposed amendment to the Code of Conduct for Elected and Co-opted Members.

At its meeting on 29 August 2014, the Ethics Committee considered a report on the Code of Conduct during the course of which it decided that it should recommend to Council that the Code of Conduct should be amended to draw members’ attention to the requirement not to disclose confidential information. The report provided suggested wording for that amendment which was approved by the Ethics Committee at their meeting on 10 March 2015 (their Minute 22/14 refers) and had requested the Cabinet Member consider the wording and recommend Council to approve the additional wording.

RESOLVED that the City Council approves the additional wording to the Code of Conduct and that Part 4A of the Council’s constitution be amended accordingly.

From the Cabinet, 17 June 2015

Further to Minute 7/15 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director for Resources, which set out the final revenue and capital outturn position for 2014/15, reviewed the treasury management activity during the year and set out the final 2014/15 Prudential Indicators reported under the Prudential Code for Capital Finance.

The report was also to be considered by the Audit and Procurement Committee and the Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny Board (1).

The overall financial position included the following headline items:

·  Revenue overspending of £2.2m which will be balanced to nil after a planned contribution from the General Fund Balance.

·  £10.3m of costs due to early retirement and voluntary redundancy. This follows and is consistent with approval of the programme of staffing reductions agreed by Cabinet in August 2014.

·  Headline variations including an over-spend of £6.4m within the People Directorate and an under-spend of £5.7m within the Asset Management Revenue Account.

·  Capital Programme expenditure of £101m and capital spending of £22m rescheduled into 2015/16.

·  Overall reserve balances increasing from £81m to £84.5m

At their meeting on 17 June, Cabinet had approved:

a)  The final revenue outturn position of a £2.2m overspend, balanced to nil by a £2.2m contribution from the General Fund Balance.

b)  The final capital expenditure and resourcing position, incorporating expenditure of £101m against a final budget of £124m, borrowing to fund the programme of £0.3m and £22m expenditure rescheduled into 2015/16.

c)  The outturn Prudential Indicators position in section 2.4.4 and Appendix 3.

RESOLVED that the City Council approves £3m in-year funding of redundancy and retirement costs.

From the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities meeting, 18 June 2015.

Further to Minute 3/15 of the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which sought approval to amendments to the Petitions Scheme, which forms part of the Constitution, in order to provide flexibility and to streamline current practice.

RESOLVED that the City Council approve the proposed amendments to the Petitions Scheme, as detailed in the Appendix of the report, and that Part 3I of the City Council’s Constitution be amended accordingly.

From the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities meeting, 18 June 2015.

Further to Minute 2/15 of the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which informed of two new statutory instruments that came into force which require changes to be made to the Council’s Constitution. The report outlined the proposed changes to take account of the change in law and requested that the amendments be approved.

The changes arose because of a legal requirement to incorporate into the Council’s Standing Orders provisions relating to voting at budget or council tax setting meeting and provisions relating to the dismissal of the Head of Paid Service, the Chief Financial Officer and the Monitoring Officer.

RESOLVED that the City Council:

1.  Approve the draft changes to the Constitution

2.  Request the Ethics Committee to appoint an additional Independent Person under the Localism Act 2011 to ensure that the Council has two Independent Persons available to sit on any Panel.

The City Council noted the Scrutiny Boards' Annual report to the City Council for 2014/15 which highlighted examples of the wide-ranging scrutiny work undertaken during the year across all the Scrutiny Boards and the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee.

Report of the Leader.

The City Council noted the report of the Leader which reported on Key Decisions made in the previous year where the Special Urgency provisions were used.  This applied where it was not practicable to give notice at least 5 clear days in advance of a Key Decision being made.

Report of the Executive Director of Resources.

The City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources in respect of the Community Governance Review following receipt of a petition requesting the creation of a parish council.

The process for carrying out a Review was set out in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.  The views of electors and others in the area had been sought and a further report to Council in January 2015 made recommendations on community governance arrangements for the Finham area.  The report concluded the review and sought Council’s agreement to make the necessary arrangements to establish a Parish Council for Finham.

RESOLVED that the City Council agree the re-organisation order attached to Appendix 1 of the report, to establish a Parish and Parish Council for the Finham area of the City.

Report of the Executive Director of Resources.

The City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which sought approval to amend appointments made at the Annual Meeting of the City Council in May 2015 in relation to membership of the Audit and Procurement Committee and the Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny Board (1).

RESOLVED that the City Council:

(1)  Approves the appointment of Councillor David Welsh as a member of the Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny Board (1) in place of Councillor Bally Singh with immediate effect.

(2)  Approves the appointment of Councillor Bally Singh as a member of the Audit and Procurement Committee in place of Councillor David Welsh with immediate effect.

Councillor Maton provided written answers to the question set out in the Questions Booklet, together with oral responses to Supplementary Questions put to him at the meeting.

The following Members answered oral questions put to them by other Members as set out below, together with supplementary questions on the same matters:

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Ruane, made a statement in respect of the “Children’s Services Improvement Plan”.

Councillor Noonan responded to the statement.

The following motion was moved by Councillor Blundell and seconded by Councillor Crookes:

“Following the Queen's speech and the Government's statement on Devolution and Combined Authorities, Coventry City Council agrees to continue to explore the possibility of working together with our partners in the LEP to investigate the feasibility of a Combined Authority which may or may not be trans-regional in nature and based upon travel to work areas and economic geography to ensure Coventry's future economic security.”

Councillor Lucas proposed the following amendment, which was seconded by Councillor Maton and in accordance with Paragraph 15.17 of the Constitution, accepted by Councillor Blundell:

 “That after the word ‘our’ on the third line, delete the rest of the sentence and replace with “Local Authority partners to investigate the feasibility of a Combined Authority within the Government’s timescales which ensures Coventry’s future economic security.”

RESOLVED that the following amended motion be unanimously adopted:

“Following the Queen’s Speech and the Government’s statement on Devolution and Combined Authorities, Coventry City Council agrees to continue to explore the possibility of working together with our Local Authority partners to investigate the feasibility of a Combined Authority within the Government’s timescales which ensures Coventry’s future economic security.”