To elect the Chairman of the Council for the 2010-11 civic year.

Following the appointment, the Chairman will make the Declaration of Acceptance of Office and address the Council.

Councillor Marrilyn Smart OBE was nominated for the office of Chairman of

the Council.

RESOLVED that Councillor Marrilyn Smart OBE be appointed to the office of

Chairman of the Council for the 2010-11 civic year.

Cllr Smart thanked members, saying that it remained a privilege to serve the Council. It was the most stimulating, rewarding and at times emotionally exhausting role. She thanked her vice chairman for his support.

She then mentioned a few highlights from the previous year. It had been an honour and privilege to host the Freedom Parade for the local battalion 1 Rifles, paying tribute to the eight soldiers who had lost their lives in Afghanistan.

She had opened the new reception area in October, delivering on the Council’s commitment to provide a better service to its customers. 

She had welcomed a large number of school pupils to the Council and had taken part in a mock trial

In November the Council had held the third Pride of the Forest Awards ceremony linked to the Civic Dinner, where she heard about and met some of the great everyday champions in the district.

She had been proud to showcase the Council and the Forest by hosting a civic reception for the Coalfields Alliance national meeting. 

She was also really pleased that the Council’s overall improvement journey had continued to gain momentum, even when set against a backdrop of delivering more than a million pounds of efficiency savings.

Finally, she hoped that what united all members was the desire to achieve as much as possible for the people of the Forest of Dean.  She looked forward to working with all members over the coming year to achieve this goal.

To elect the Vice Chairman of the Council for the 2010-11 civic year.

Following the appointment, the Vice Chairman will make the Declaration of Acceptance of Office and address the Council.

Councillor Dr Richard Long was nominated for the office of Vice-chairman of

the Council.

RESOLVED that Councillor Dr Richard Long be appointed to the office of

Vice-chairman of the Council for the 2010-11 civic year.

Cllr Long was delighted and honoured to be elected for a fourth year. He looked forward to meeting the newly elected representatives from other councils and he vowed to do his best for the Council in the coming year.

To elect the Leader of the Council for the 2010-11 civic year.

It is proposed that the Leader will represent the council on the following bodies:

Forest of Dean Local Strategic Partnership

Gloucestershire Accountable Bodies Group

Gloucestershire Joint Improvement Board

LGA South West

LGA General Assembly

South West Councils

Improvement Board

RESOLVED that Councillor Peter Amos be appointed to the office of

Leader of the Council for the 2010-11 civic year.He will represent the council on the following bodies:

Forest of Dean Local Strategic Partnership

Gloucestershire Accountable Bodies Group

Gloucestershire Joint Improvement Board

LGA South West

LGA General Assembly

South West Councils

Improvement Board

To receive apologies for absence.

Cllrs James Bevan, Clive Brain, David Easton, Peter Ede, Sue Henchley and Di Martin

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 1 April 2010.

The chairman announced one correction on page 13 to replace the word hospital with the words magistrates’ court in paragraph two.

Cllr Sterry proposed and Cllr Hogan seconded the following amendment to page eight paragraph two:

To add at the end the words and thought that did not include the Labour Group, because it only represented poor people

Cllr Horne stated that she would not be voting, as she had not attended the previous Full Council meeting.

When put to the vote the motion was unsuccessful.

The voting was as follows:

For (10) –Nikki Goodlad, Philip Burford, Maria Edey, Des Saunders, Roy Birch, David Thomson, Bruce Hogan, Lynn Sterry, Max Coborn, Graham Morgan,

Against (21) – Marrilyn Smart, Frankie Evans, Carole Allaway Martin, Roger Yeates, Keith Aburrow, Gabriella Kirkpatrick, Marion Winship, Len Lawton, Alastair Fraser, Arthur Thomas, Alan Preest, Terry Glastonbury, Terry Hale, Venk Shenoi, Denis Riley, Patrick Molyneux, Brian Robinson, Peter Amos, Diana Edwards, Martin Quaile, Richard Long

Abstained (2) - Derek Biddle, Heather Dalziel

The minutes were then confirmed and signed as an accurate record

The chairman to identify any items of urgent business.

The Chairman identified no items of urgent business.

To receive any declarations of interest in any matter to be discussed at the meeting, Members and officers are requested to identify the nature of the interest and indicate whether it is personal or prejudicial.

There were none on this occasion.

The Chairman to thank members for attending the Civic Service at St Mary’s Church, English Bicknor on Sunday 16 May 2010.

The chairman thanked members and officers for attending the Civic Service on Sunday at St. Mary’s Church, English Bicknor. She gave particular thanks to David Phillips, the Head teacher and the children of English Bicknor School and to Karen Williams and Anna Baglin from this Council. She announced that the collection at the Service raised £266 for the  Bicknor Bears Nursery.

She was particularly delighted to welcome the new Commanding Officer of 1 Rifles Lt. Col. James De Labilliere DSO. MBE who attended the service.

On the Chairman’s invitation, Cllr Gardiner added his support for the brilliant tradition of the civic service. It was a wonderful forum to meet such people as the Colonel of 1 Battalion the Rifles, who represented the brave people who risked their lives for the country. He praised English Bicknor primary school’s children and the wonderful education they received. He believed that such Church of England schools were under pressure and some might not survive. He admired the Chairman for her continued support of the civic service.

The chairman to announce that Armed Forces Day will be on 26 June 2010. The Council will once again be flying the Armed Services Day flag and the chairman will invite members to join her for the flag raising ceremony on Monday 21 June at 10.30am.

Armed Forces Day would be on the 26 June when the Council would once again be flying the Armed Services Day flag.  The Chairman invited members and staff to join her for the flag raising ceremony on Monday 21 June at 10.30am.

The Chairman reminded members of the presentation to be given by the Chief Constable Tony Melville in the chamber on Thursday 17 June at 6.00pm

The Chairman informed members that she had written to Mark Harper on behalf of the Council congratulating him on his re-election as the Member of Parliament for the Forest of Dean and was sure that all members wished him well. 

All candidates had worked extremely hard in what was a long and gruelling campaign and she hoped that Cllr Hogan had the opportunity since the election to indulge in some well earned relaxation.

On behalf of the Council she thanked the Monitoring Officer for the excellent and professional organisation of the Election and for being the first in Gloucestershire to declare in the early hours of the 7^th May in record time. She asked the Monitoring Officer to convey members’ thanks to staff and everyone concerned.

Cllr Hogan added his thanks to all staff involved in the elections. He had been impressed that all boxes and the overall count had reconciled first time and that the Forest of Dean had declared its result before any of the other Gloucestershire constituencies for the first time. He was very grateful for all the support received as a candidate.

The Council’s service plans for 2010-11 were all in place and together they set out how service groups would deliver against the Council’s corporate priorities over the current financial year.  A summary of the service plans had been provided for all members. The full service plans were available in the members’ room and on the performance pages of the intranet.  There would be an opportunity for members to ask officers questions about the service plans at the roundtable meeting scheduled for Wednesday 9 June at 6.pm.

The Chairman expressed was delighted to inform members that the Council’s Children and Young People’s Officer Kate Wyatt had been chosen as a finalist in the National Council Worker of the Year Awards as a result of all the hard work she had undertaken with young people in the district.

The Winner of the Award would be the finalist who received the most votes by 12 noon on the 8 July.  She was sure that all members wanted Kate to win so asked them to encourage family and friends to vote for her. Details of how to vote were included in the printed announcements tabled.

To answer questions asked by members of the public. The constitution requires that questions are received three working days before the meeting (deadline 4.00pm on Monday, 17 May 2010). To submit a question contact Democratic Services on 01594 812625 or email democratic.services@fdean.gov.uk

Question 1

The following question has been received from Dr Daphne Pearson, 27 Tinman’s Green, Redbrook, Nr Monmouth NP25 4NB

Will Full Council consider setting down a motion to request the Leader to widen the selection of Cabinet portfolio-holders to include members of other parties, thus following the Prime Minister’s example and making use of all available talent in the Council regardless of political affiliation for the benefit of Council taxpayers? 

Response from the Chairman of the Council

The Council's Constitution sets out that it is the Leader's responsibility to appoint at least two and not more than eight councillors to serve on the Cabinet.  The Constitution does not prevent the Leader of the Council from including councillors from different political groups in the Cabinet.

In addition to portfolio-holders within the Cabinet, the Council has other important roles that enable elected members from all the political groups to use their talents for the benefit of our local communities.

Supplementary question

Dr Pearson quoted the following comment by Cllr Robinson, Cabinet Member for an Efficient Council, made at the Corporate Scrutiny and Review Committee meeting on 18 January 2010

He explained that the cross-party Budget Working Group would begin work at the very beginning of the financial year to address immediately any funding decisions made by the new central government elected in mid-2010. It would be essential to get views from all political groups and to undertake wider consultation on any proposals.

She asked if this were still the situation.

Response from Cllr Robinson

He confirmed that the Budget Working Group had already begun work and that there would be a meeting on 9 June for all members to contribute to the work of the group.

To consider report LD.242 to determine appointments to committees.

The Head of Paid Service asked members to consider report LD.242, which included information providing details of the committee seat nominations by the political groups.

Political group leaders announced changes and additions as detailed in

appendix A to these minutes.

Cllr Amos proposed and Cllr Hale seconded the motion:

RESOLVED to approve the appointments to committees detailed at appendix

A to the minutes for the 2010-11 civic year.

RESOLVED that the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Audit Committee,

Community Scrutiny Committee, Corporate Scrutiny Committee, Development

Control Committee and Licensing Committee be appointed as detailed in

appendix A to the minutes for the 2010-11 civic year.

Voting was as follows:

For(35) - Frankie Evans, Carole Allaway Martin, Roger Yeates, Keith Aburrow, Dennis Dormer, Len Lawton, Georgina Bensted, Alastair Fraser, Nikki Goodlad, Derek Biddle, Grace Bensted, Philip Burford, Dave East, Norman Stephens, Arthur Thomas, Maria Edey, Alan Preest, Heather Dalziel, Roy Birch, Paul Hiett, David Thomson, Bruce Hogan, Lynn Sterry, Max Coborn, Graham Morgan, Terry Glastonbury, Terry Hale, Venk Shenoi, Denis Riley, Patrick Molyneux, Brian Robinson, Peter Amos, Diana Edwards, Martin Quaile, Richard Long

Against (0)

Abstained (0)

To consider report LD.243 to determine appointments to community organisations, partnerships and local authority bodies.

Members considered report LD.243. Appointments were made as detailed at appendix B to these minutes.

Councillor Amos proposed and Councillor Quaile seconded the motion.

RESOLVED to approve the appointments to outside bodies detailed at

appendix B to the minutes for the 2010-11 civic year.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Peter Amos to present report LD.244 relating to a local petitions scheme.

Cllr Amos presented report LD.244, commenting that the scheme was ‘fallout’ from the last government and had to be in place by 15 June 2010. To meet the second deadline of 15 December 2010 for e-petitions would require significant work.

He welcomed the scheme, which would enable the community to better present its concerns and call the Council to account.

He asked members to note a change in the proposed minimum signatures required to trigger action as follows:

Senior officers to give evidence in public to a scrutiny and review committee: proposed change from 750 to 400 required.

Debate at a meeting of the Full Council: proposed change from 1500 to 800.

He explained that the proposed reductions in required minimum number of signatures reflected the nature and needs of the district.

Cllr Hogan welcomed the Leader’s amendment, which was in line with the Labour group’s thinking regarding the rural nature of the district, which had somewhat fragmented population centres and issues that were sometimes highly localised. He suggested a friendly amendment to reduce the first minimum number further to 200.

Cllr Amos replied that he had listened to all viewpoints and was not ruling out Cllr Hogan’s suggestion. However the impact of reducing the figure to 200 was unknown, and he suggested putting the scheme in place and calling a meeting of the Constitution Working Group as soon as possible to examine the issue.

Cllr Stephens, who was also a member of the Constitution Working Group, also welcomed the scheme. He had not given too much thought to the minimum numbers required for petitions, because he had understood that the numbers had been set in stone nationally according to a formula.

Cllr Gardiner agreed with previous speakers, commenting that issues could affect a hamlet with even fewer than 200 residents. He suggested a two stage approach, reflecting urban and rural needs.

Cllr Hogan accepted the Leader’s suggestion and was pleased that the Leader was open to possibly reducing numbers in the light of future examination and experience.

Cllr Amos looked forward to examining the issues and establishing dialogue to address the urban and rural differences to achieve the best for the community.

Cllr Aburrow asked how the Council would respond to smaller petitions or representations.

Cllr Amos replied that the ward members were key in this respect and that there was nothing stopping any member requesting that scrutiny and review committees address systemic issues that affected only some residents.

RESOLVED –

1. To approve the draft Petition Scheme at Appendix A to report LD.244  amended to replace the thresholds for council debate and calling officers to account to 800 and 400 respectively for implementation by 15 June 2010.

2. To authorise the Group Manager (Legal and Democratic Services) to publicise the Scheme and update the Constitution to include the new Petition Scheme

3. To note the requirement to implement an e-petitioning facility by 15 December 2010 and request the Constitution Working group to examine the best way of doing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

None have been received.

None have been received.

Is it the policy of the Council to provide refreshments for members attending non-approved duties such as group meetings? If not, will the Leader undertake, on behalf of the Conservative Group, to repay the Council the cost of the refreshments consumed by members of his group which were intended for members attending a meeting of the Internal Drainage Board?

Is it the policy of the Council to provide refreshments for members attending non-approved duties such as group meetings? If not, will the Leader undertake, on behalf of the Conservative Group, to repay the Council the cost of the refreshments consumed by members of his group, which were intended for members attending a meeting of the Internal Drainage Board?

Response from the Leader of the Conservative Group:

As Cllr Hogan well knows, it is not the policy of the Council to provide refreshments for members attending non-approved duties such as group meetings. 

To address the second question, the Drainage Board Meeting was attended by the following 13 Councillors which I have broken down by political group:

I was not present at the Drainage Meeting as I was concurrently chairing a meeting of the Conservative Group and I notice from the attendance register that Cllr Hogan was not present either.  It may be reasonably assumed then, that neither of us have first-hand knowledge of who ate what.  It may also be reasonably assumed that those members of the Conservative Group who did attend the Drainage Board meeting consumed a proportionate amount of refreshments. 

Short of holding a Board of Inquiry I cannot see how we can identify who ate what and in any case Conservative policy is that we all must accept responsibility for our own actions; I therefore will not be paying for any of the refreshments consumed at the Drainage Board meeting.

Supplementary question

Cllr Hogan thanked the Leader for his response, commenting that all members were aware that it had been the Conservative members who had ‘scoffed the tuck’.

A more serious point was that the Leader had been chairing a meeting of the Conservative group during an election campaign. It was highly questionable if the cost of that meeting should be declared as an election expense for the Conservative candidate. If it were not, it could appear that this authority was making a donation in kind to the Conservative Party, which could be open to challenge. He asked if the Leader would take advice on the issue.

Response from Cllr Amos

He replied that he would.

The Leader of the Council and the chairmen of the scrutiny committees to report on recent activities, followed by questions from members. Depending on time the Chairman will rule and only take one question per member relating to reports.

a) Leader’s Annual report

b) Cabinet report – Councillor Amos

c) The Scrutiny 2009/10 Annual report will be available at the meting

d) Member Development Group 2009/10 Annual report – Councillor Quaile  

The Chairman invited questions from members regarding any of the reports.

Referring to the Leader’s report at agenda page 46, Cllr Hiett asked for an update on the marketing ands sale of Lawnstone House. He also asked if its sale would cover the cost of the new reception.

Cllr Robinson answered that since its complete vacation in October 2009 the Council had been working with Welsh water to ascertain drainage issues relating to possible development of the site. Officers had been given the job of bringing to the Cabinet a range of options for optimising development of the site. He believed that a solution would return the investment made on the reception area, but the Council would not know until the implementation of any decision.

Cllr Amos added that the Council needed to maximise its estate, and the reception work had been undertaken to improve service to customers, which had been recognised by customers. The move had also led to annual savings of £60,000.

Cllr Shenoi asked if the production of a colour annual scrutiny report were not profligate and questioned the quality of the content. He asked how member development sessions had made councillors perform better. He stated that member engagement was crucial to empower all councillors, particularly within a Cabinet structure. He asked why such a low sum of money had been allocated and still over £2000 remained unspent.

Cllr Burford, previous Chairman of the Corporate Scrutiny and Review Committee explained that printing costs had been closely scrutinised. The annual report would remain as a permanent record and would be distributed to parish councils, other local councils, the Audit Commission and other bodies. It represented a concise report of the two scrutiny committees’ activities. In contrast to some Cabinet agendas running to 400 pages of colour, which were only used for one meeting, the annual scrutiny report represented very good value for money.

Answering Cllr Shenoi’s member development questions, Cllr Quaile replied that many items on agenda page 53 had been directly relevant to member’s committee training. He re-emphasised that the Member Development Group was always open to suggestions from members and had responded to them in the past. He was satisfied that the group was doing the best for the needs of members. He was pleased that savings had been made in the training budget by using internal trainers as much as possible, in direct response to members’ wishes and evaluation of the induction training in 2007, which had saturated members. For the next induction the Member Development Group had set priorities. The programme was not yet perfect, and he welcomed comments.

Cllr Hale, Chairman of the Community Scrutiny and Review Committee, confirmed that the cost of printing the annual scrutiny report had been less than the previous year. He commented that the council chamber had been full for the Time and Place event, but had been disappointed that only eight district councillors had attended this important session on road safety.

Cllr Quaile commented that attendance and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Thursday 15 July 2010 at 7pm

Thursday 30 September 2010 at 7pm

Thursday 2 December 2010 at 7pm

Thursday 15 July 2010 at 7pm

Thursday 30 September 2010 at 7pm

Thursday 2 December 2010 at 7pm