Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor S Gillard.

Members are reminded that any declaration of interest should be made having regard to the code of conduct.  In particular, members must make clear the nature of the interest and whether it is 'pecuniary' or ‘non pecuniary'.

Councillors A V Smith and N Smith declared a conflict of interest relating to item 6, Questions from Councillors, as residents of the village and being acquainted with the owners.

Councillor M B Wyatt declared a non pecuniary interest in item 10, Council Delivery Plan 2017/20, as an owner of two local businesses in Coalville.

Councillor J Legrys declared a non pecuniary interest in item 10, Council Delivery Plan 2017/20, as a volunteer at Hermitage FM.

Councillor S Sheahan declared a non pecuniary interest in item 10, Council Delivery Plan 2017/20, as a member of Leicestershire County Council.

Councillor T Eynon declared a non pecuniary interest in item 10, Council Delivery Plan 2017/20, as a member of two heritage groups in Coalville, a volunteer at Hermitage FM and a member of Leicestershire County Council.

The Chairman highlighted the numerous events he had attended since the last meeting of the Council, in particular the Celebration of Volunteers event on Sunday, 19 March at the Radisson Blu hotel.

Members are reminded that under paragraph 11.1 of part 4 of the Constitution, questions can be asked of the Leader and Cabinet Members without notice about any matter contained in any address.  Questions shall be limited to five minutes in total for each announcement.

Councillor R Blunt announced that the redevelopment of the former Pick and Shovel site in Coalville, known as Royal Oak Court, had been shortlisted for a major award.  The site had been recognised in the residential and regeneration categories of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors East Midlands awards.  He reminded members that the council had worked closely with East Midlands Homes and the scheme would not have gone ahead without this support.  He highlighted the major positive impact on Memorial Square and on the town centre, adding that the scheme had transformed a derelict site, created needed affordable housing in the town and set the highest possible benchmark for a quality new building on a very difficult site.  He advised members that the awards ceremony would take place on 28 April and regardless of whether the site won an award, simply being shortlisted was a very useful reminder of the difference that was beginning to be made in Coalville.

Councillor R Blunt referred to the announcement he had made at the last full Council meeting that Christine Fisher had decided to stand down from the post she had held since 2004.  He advised members that tonight would be Christine’s last full Council meeting before she left the council on 12 May. He felt it was fair to say that Christine would be a hard act to follow and that her leadership had turned the district council from what he considered to be one of the poorest performing district councils into the very best.  He added that whenever there was a difficult issue, Christine was the ‘go to’ person, no more so than with the government planning agenda; she went from knowing nothing about planning to leading the agenda on behalf of all seven district councils in Leicestershire in a very short time.  He said that during his ten years as Leader it had been a real pleasure to work with her, not least because of her enthusiasm and strong work ethic.  He referred to the trust they had in each other, which had made the impossible achievable; nowhere was this more evident than with the Coalville project.  He added that without her 100% commitment, the progress made so far would not have been possible. 

Councillor R Blunt acknowledged that Christine would not have wanted a big fuss at tonight’s Council meeting; however he could not allow the occasion to pass without marking it in some way.  He stated that one of Christine’s greatest legacies at the council was the work she had done to develop our staff.  She had introduced the Best Employee Experience programme to help all employees reach their full potential.  He added that she had encouraged all staff and many employees would remember her simply as the person who gave them a chance.  He added that he knew Christine had always been proud to embrace the green agenda and was especially proud to support the Green Footprints awards and the National Forest.  He announced that with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

To receive questions from members of the public under procedure rule no.10.  The procedure rule provides that members of the public may ask members of the Cabinet any question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the District, provided that three clear days’ notice in writing has been given to the Head of Legal and Support Services.

There were no questions received.

To receive members’ questions under procedure rule no.11.  The procedure rule provides that any member may ask the chairman of a board or group any question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the District, provided that three clear days’ notice in writing has been given to the Head of Legal and Support Services.

Councillor J Geary put the following question to Councillor A V Smith:

“At the meeting of this Council held on 24 February 2015 I asked you a question regarding the strong smells and odours coming from these lagoons on land at Piper Lane, Ravenstone and pointed out the complaints received from residents in the Snibston, Hugglescote, Ravenstone/Packington and Valley wards.  As an affected resident, I asked you what this council was doing to insist the land owner took steps to mitigate and eradicate the smell from these lagoons. 

In your reply you said the council was aware of the problem and had received complaints of odour nuisance and had been in regular liaison with the Environment Agency.  You went on to say “The district council cannot exercise its power in relation to statutory nuisance without the approval of the Secretary of State”.

Two years and one month on, with the problem not going away, but getting worse as already this year there have been 12 days when we have needed to keep both doors and windows closed, can you please inform the council just what has been done in the past two years to try and control this nuisance and why, to date the problem has not been addressed”.

Councillor T J Pendleton gave the following response on behalf of Councillor A V Smith:

“Further to the question raised on this matter on 24 February 2015 I can update members as follows. 

During 2015 the spreading of the anaerobic digestate material was authorised under permission obtained from the Environment Agency and as such they were the primary authority for taking any formal action to prevent odour.

However, since 2016 the anaerobic digestate being brought to site for storage and then spreading was PAS110 certified which falls outside of the scope of permitting from the Environment Agency. As a consequence the responsibility for the investigation of odour complaints now lies with the district council to investigate under its powers of Statutory Nuisance. This also relates to farm slurry which on occasion has also been spread on the same land. 

The Environmental Protection Team have received evidence to confirm the anaerobic digestate being used is PAS110 certified. Attainment of this standard requires the product to be independently tested and certified by accredited laboratories, officers have received the contractor’s certification of the product and also samples of transfer station weighbridge tickets.

The Environmental Protection Team held a meeting in January 2016 with the farmer and contractor which resulted in the following points being noted/agreed for the spreading of digestate from the lagoons.

-       The farmer plans for three phases of spreading per annum, phase one in March, phase two in April/May and phase three in late August (all subject to weather conditions).

-       The farmer will create a 400m no spreading zone along the A447 from Hoo Ash Island to the junction of Church Lane, Ravenstone to reduce the odour impact for residents in this area and around Claremont Drive.

-       To  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

To consider any motions on notice under procedure rule no. 12.

No motions were received.

To receive petitions in accordance with the Council’s Petition Scheme. 

No petitions were received.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 23 February 2017.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 23 February 2017.

Councillor R Johnson requested that his statement on page 91 of the minutes be amended to read as follows:

“He referred to a white paper which revealed that local authorities will be able to increase fees from July this year if they commit to investing the additional fee income into their planning department”.

It was moved by Councillor J Cotterill, seconded by Councillor V Richichi and

RESOLVED THAT:

Subject to the above amendment, the minutes of the meeting held on 23 February 2017 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Report of the Chief Executive

Presented by the Leader

Councillor R Blunt presented the report to members, highlighting the change in format to a three year plan to align with the Medium Term Financial Strategy.  He explained that the plan would be refreshed annually to recognise achievements and to incorporate any new actions which needed to be accommodated as a result of external influences or policy changes.  He added that the design had also been updated to make the plan more engaging for readers. 

It was clarified that since the agenda had been prepared, some minor typographical errors had been identified and the updated version had been circulated. 

Councillor M B Wyatt stated that he would be voting against the Council Delivery Plan as it failed to address the real issues for local residents and businesses.

Councillor J Legrys expressed his dissatisfaction in the manner in which the updates to the Council Delivery Plan had been dealt with as no explanation had been provided.  He welcomed the proposal to increase repairs and maintenance work being undertaken in-house and he approved of the expenditure of £225,000 on brightening the town centre.  He expressed incredulity at the reference to harnessing the district’s excellent transport links and driving housing and infrastructure.  He felt that the Policy Development Group should have the opportunity to scrutinise this document in 6 months’ time and sought assurances that the administration would allow this.

Councillor M Specht highlighted an error in the recommendation.  He commented that North West Leicestershire was very well placed in terms of major trunk roads and businesses in particular did not utilise bus services. 

Councillor N Smith commended the report and stated that a capitalist approach was the only way to improve living standards. 

Councillor T Eynon stated that in many ways this was an excellent document showing the excellent work being done in North West Leicestershire.  She expressed concerns in respect of scrutiny of the document, in particular the drive to move all services online which had not been considered by the Disability Action Group.  She questioned whether there was a problem with the lack of scrutiny of the document and the lack of cross party working. 

Councillor D Everitt stated that recycling was very close to his heart and he felt that an opportunity had been missed to send a message that recycling saved money for residents. 

Councillor T Gillard commended the report and good news in respect of investment in businesses and the enterprise scheme.

Councillor M Specht reassured members that as Chairman of the Policy Development Group he would be happy to scrutinise any major issues arising from the Council Delivery Plan.

Councillor A V Smith agreed that the report was excellent and commended the work in her portfolio in respect of recycling, the dogwatch campaign and the free trees scheme.

Councillor R Blunt accepted that members should have been notified of the changes to the document.  He clarified the recommendation in the report. 

It was moved by Councillor R Blunt, seconded by Councillor A V Smith and

RESOLVED  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

Report of the Chief Executive

Presented by the Leader

Councillor N J Rushton presented the report to members.

Councillor N Clarke commented that the pay multiples had increased slightly from the previous year despite the introduction of the living wage.

In response to a question from Councillor N Clarke, Councillor N J Rushton confirmed that it was usual practice to include overtime payments in the calculation of the pay multiples. 

It was moved by Councillor N J Rushton, seconded by Councillor R Blunt and

RESOLVED THAT:

The Council’s Pay Policy Statement 2017/18 be approved.

The officers consider that the press and public should be excluded during consideration of the following items in accordance with Section 100(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 as publicity would be likely to result in disclosure of exempt or confidential information.

It was moved by Councillor J Cotterill, seconded by Councillor A V Smith and

RESOLVED THAT:

In pursuance of Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that the business to be transacted involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph2 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and that the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of the Chief Executive

Presented by the Leader

Councillor R Blunt presented the report to members.  He highlighted that it was the responsibility of the full Council to appoint a new Chief Executive and the report put forward the recommendation of the Appointments Committee to appoint Beverley Smith to be the next Chief Executive of the Council from 1 June 2017.  He added that the recommendation was made following a rigorous assessment process involving professional support to the Appointments Committee from an external independent company and the internal Human Resources team.  He stated that all candidates had been tested and assessed using a variety of discussions, presentations, psychological profiling, referencing and interviews, and the Appointments Committee sought and considered the views of a wider canvass of members, stakeholders and partners to arrive at their unanimous conclusion that Beverley Smith would be the best person for the role.  He added that the Appointments Committee completely understood the critical importance of making the right appointment and were delighted to recommend the appointment to the full Council without reservation. 

Councillor M B Wyatt stated that he would be voting against the recommendation to install a new Chief Executive as he believed the leadership had failed to show that this was the right candidate. He expressed disgust that members were expected to vote for a candidate whom they had not had the opportunity to meet.  He urged members to vote against the recommendation.

Councillor J Legrys stated that he was privileged to have been part of the Appointments Committee.  He thanked the Human Resources Manager and David Slatter from Penna for the help and assistance they had provided to the Committee.  He was thoroughly assured that the right decision had been made.   

Councillor K Merrie stated that he had not been personally involved in the selection but had to give his confidence to the Appointments Committee as the process would be too onerous if all members were involved. 

Councillor D J Stevenson stated that he would like to disassociate himself with the comments made by Councillor M B Wyatt.  He added that since he had been a member of the Council he had been involved in the appointment of every Chief Executive and he commented that more people had been involved in this appointment than ever before. 

Councillor M B Wyatt sought to raise a point of order and Councillor D J Stevenson withdrew his comment. 

Councillor R Blunt referred to the comments made which seemed to imply that this decision had been made by the leadership or the administration.  He clarified that the process was written in the Constitution.  He added that the same process which had been undertaken for the previous appointment had been followed as closely as possible. 

It was moved by Councillor R Blunt, seconded by Councillor J Legrys and

RESOLVED THAT:

a)   Council approves the recommendation of the Appointments Committee to appoint to the post of chief executive.

b)   Council confirms the designation of the post of Chief Executive as the Head of Paid Service, Returning Officer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.