Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R Pritchard and J Oates.

The Chair changes the order of business to accommodate public present.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2013 were approved and signed as a correct record.

(Moved by Councillor M Greatorex and seconded by Councillor S Doyle)

To receive any declarations of Members’ interests (pecuniary and non-pecuniary) in any matters which are to be considered at this meeting.

When Members are declaring a pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest in respect of which they have dispensation, they should specify the nature of such interest.  Members should leave the room if they have a pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest in respect of which they do not have a dispensation. 

Councillor M Greatorex Declared an Interest in Item 13 and Item 14 as he sits on the Stoke and Staffordshire Fire Authority. The interest did not prevent him taking part in the agenda items.

To answer questions from members of the public pursuant to Executive Procedure Rule No. 13

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC                NO.1

Under Schedule 4, 13, Mr P Hill, 55 Strode House, Lichfield Street, Tamworth asked the Portfolio Holder for Public Housing and Vulnerable People, Councillor M Greatorex, the following question:-

"Firstly could I thank you for solving the parking problems regarding staff on the car parks of Strode, Weymouth and Peel House.

However, I wish to question the Riverside contract permits which do not state the vehicle registration number. The reason why I question this is because I have noticed cars parked in the car parks of the flats with contractors permits displayed, however, no work is being carried out. For example, I recently saw a lady park her car and take her child shopping, whilst displaying a contractors permit on her windscreen."

The Portfolio Holder for Public Housing and Vulnerable People gave the following response:-

Thank you for your question; this is the first question to a Portfolio Holder at Cabinet.

The Council issues parking permits to essential repair, building and maintenance contractors for use at Riverside, generally by our Housing Team for the multitude of Contractor who deliver services on our behalf.

Because of the generic nature of the work some of these permits tend to be non vehicle specific, and as such do not have a registration number attached to them.

Contractor passes are also issued on occasion to short term office staff (generally based from Marmion House), who require the use of a car as part of their work. These do tend to be for a specific vehicle

Contractors may park in the permitted area for a length of time suitable for the work undertaken.

The Community Payback Team, who arrange valuable work in the community with offenders also have a Contractor pass to enable their work to continue.

It has been recognised that there may be some passes in circulation that may not have been returned and appear to Civil Enforcement Staff to be still valid. To reduce this all of our enforcement officers now have a full list of all cancelled permits to ease the concern.

Persons found to be using fraudulent badges will be issued with penalties and the permits where possible will be destroyed.

It is not possible to prevent employees or contractors with valid badges maybe dropping children off at nursery/going shopping on way to or from work, so long as the purpose for them parking is to carry out their work duties.

Work is ongoing with the teams who issue permits to ensure where practicable registration numbers are allocated to permits when they are issued.

All Residents are encouraged to supply pass details and vehicle registrations of any cars/vans they have concerns about for checking.

Supplementary question:

I’m not disputing Riverside Contractors permits. Permit offers no idea whether week or day permit. Surely if a day permit it should state this. Believe Contractor permit valid unless aware invalid.

The Portfolio Holder for Public Housing and Vulnerable People gave the following response:-

The situation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88.

(Report of the Leader of the Council)

The Report of the Leader of the Council seeking endorsement of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to potential shared services with Lichfield District Council was considered.

(Report of the Leader of the Council)

The Report of the Leader of the Council seeking approval for the draft package of budget proposals, to consult with the Joint Scrutiny Committee (Budget) on 28 January 2014 and receive their feedback on General Services Revenue Budget and Council Tax for 2014/15, Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget for 2014/15, Capital Programme and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) was considered.

(Report for the Portfolio Holder for Economy and Education)

The Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer advised the meeting of documents received at 12noon today which are to be treated as a petition.

The Chief Executive asked Cabinet to note the objection of the petition and for consideration to be given to the objection.

The Leader of the Council asked this meeting to consider the petition that had been received and note it. He advised that all meetings in relation to the Golf Course have been in public and will continue to be.

The Report of the Portfolio Holder for Economy and Education providing Members with a report detailing the options appraisal of the short listed future options for Tamworth Golf Course from which Members will select their preferred option for implementation was discussed.

Options B and G were ruled out as they are options of high risk and uncertainty. Option I is the lowest risk.

Councillor S Claymore was appointed as Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

(Moved by Councillor D Cook and seconded by Councillor M Greatorex)

Councillor D Cook left the room.

(Update from the Chair of Healthier and Safer Scrutiny following the meeting of 21 November 2013)

The Chair of Healthier and Safer Scrutiny proposed the following recommendations to Cabinet following the meeting of 21 November 2013:

“The Healthier and Safer Scrutiny Committee discussed violence and domestic violence at its last meeting held on 21st November; following that discussion the committee would like to ask the Cabinet to liaise directly with the relevant County Council portfolio holder in order to understand what services are currently available to tackle alcohol misuse in Tamworth and what services are currently being commissioned.  This will support and enhance the recent request made by Borough Council officers to the County Council following the committee meeting

The latest health data for Tamworth supports this request from the Healthier & Safer scrutiny committee in respect of

• alcohol specific hospital stays for under 18’s is at 74.8% compared with the England average of 61.8%

and

• increasing and higher risk drinking is at 22.7% in Tamworth, which slightly higher than the England average of 22.3%

I would just like to add that the health data for Tamworth is not all negative towards this issue as hospital stays for alcohol related harm is at 1660 in Tamworth which is lower than the England average of 1895.”

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Operations and Assets)

The Report of the Portfolio Holder for Operations and Assets seeking endorsement from Members on the Business Rates income forecast for 2014/15 was presented by the Executive Director (Corporate Services) for consideration.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Operations and Assets)

The Report of the Portfolio Holder for Operations and Assets seeking Members approval for the introduction of an 18 month no cost trail for a cashless parking and virtual permit system in all Council car parks, and a new Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) initiative parking trial was presented by the Director (Assets and Environment) for consideration.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for  Operations and Assets)

The Report of the Portfolio Holder for Operations and Assets to comply with the Local Government Act 2000 and the Localism Act 2011 and any subordinate legislation which provides good governance for Local Authorities was presented by the Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer for consideration.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Economy and Education)

The Report of the Portfolio Holder for Economy and Education briefing the Cabinet on the Governments High Speed Rail 2 proposals and the potential impacts for Tamworth and seeking Cabinets views on the principle of the proposal, and to agree a response to the High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) Phase 2 route consultation was considered.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Public Housing and Vulnerable People)

The Report of the Portfolio Holder for Public Housing and Vulnerable People setting out the Council’s response to the Coroners recommendations issued in 2013 concerning the retro-fitting of sprinkler systems to high rise flats, namely the 6 high rise blocks in Tamworth’s Town Centre and setting out the options available and estimated costs, noting that the subsequent expenditure will be built into the capital budget setting process as appropriate for 2014/15 was considered.

RESOLVED:   That members of the press and public be now excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the grounds that the business involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3, of Part 1 to Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Public Housing and Vulnerable People)

The Report of the Portfolio Holder for Public Housing and Vulnerable People setting out the procurement arrangements and requirements for obtaining a partner to deliver fire related services currently provided by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFARS) was considered.