Agenda and minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 13 December 2016 (herewith).

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 13 December 2016 were confirmed and signed.

The Mayor to report apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Carole Cockburn, Jill Hargreaves, Stephen Hill, Carole King, Kika Mirylees, Stephen Mulliner, Jeanette Stennett and John Williamson.

To receive from Members, declarations of interest in relation to any items included on the agenda for this meeting in accordance with the Waverley Code of Local Government Conduct.

Cllr Stefan Reynolds declared a non-pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 8a (General Fund budget) as a member of the Godalming and District Chamber of Commerce.

Cllr Mary Foryszewski declared a non-pecuniary interest in (Exempt) Minute 146 from the Executive meeting held on 7 February 2017.  Had there been any speakers registering to speak on this item, Cllr Foryszewski would have withdrawn from the Chamber, but this was not necessary.

The Mayor informed members that he had the pleasure of cutting the ribbon for 4 new homes built off Middlefield in Farnham, along with 2 new homes in Haslemere.  He informed members that there was a very interesting exhibition at the Museum of Farnham of paintings by W. Allen who was a former Headmaster of the Farnham School of Arts who painted copies of the works of Italian Masters.

The Mayor thanked those who had attended his Quiz in January, and thanked Cllr Foryszewski who had donated half of the proceeds raised by cutting her hair to his charity.  All members were invited to support and attend the Mayor’s barn dance on 18 March, for which there were still tickets available.

To answer any questions from members of the public, received in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

The deadline for receipt of questions for this meeting is 5pm on Tuesday 14 February 2017.

The following question was received from Mr Kuszel of Godalming in accordance with Procedure Rule 10:

“Why has Godalming once again received a disproportionally lower allocation of capital spending compared to Haslemere and Farnham in the proposed budget for 2017/18 when Waverley Borough Council seems to spend vast sums in other towns within the borough and ignore the needs of residents and visitors to Godalming?”

Response:

“Thank you for your question Mr Kuszel. Waverley’s capital programme has to balance the need to maintain existing assets with the need to spend on invest-to-save opportunities. The Council has to stretch its limited resources across a huge geographical area and receiving the news just before Christmas that we will lose £3.5m of New Homes Bonus over the next 3 years was a major blow to our investment plans.  The priorities across the different locations within the Borough change from year to year and heads of service bid for funding based on need. I don’t know how you have arrived at your view about the allocation of the 17/18 capital budget but I can assure you that this Council does not ignore the needs of residents and visitors to Godalming.”

To receive the reports of the Executive in respect of the 2017/2018 budget.

The Chairman of the Executive delivered a Budget Statement to the Council, a copy of which is attached as Annexe 1 to these minutes, following which the Portfolio Holder for Finance presented the reports at Agenda Item 8a-8c.  Cllr John Ward also delivered a budget speech on behalf of the Leader of the Farnham Residents’ Group.

General Fund Budget 2017/18 (Agenda Item 8a)

The Portfolio Holder for Finance made the following corrections to the papers:-

i.          Annexe 4 (page 31) – the garden waste subscription should be increased to £55 and not £60 as specified in the papers;

ii.         Annexe 4 (car parking charges (Page 35)) – Mint Street 4 hours to be £4.40 and not £4.70; Crown Court 5 hours to be £5.00 and not £6.00.

It was then proposed by the Leader, seconded and agreed that, following an open debate on the report, recommendations 1- 11 in the report would be voted upon en bloc.

During the debate, it was moved and seconded that Recommendation 2 relating to the proposed car parking charges be amended to add an additional charge band in one premium site in each settlement, as follows:

50p for 30 minutes at Village Way, Cranleigh; Central, Farnham; Crown Court, Godalming and High Street, Haslemere.

Upon being put to the vote, the amendment was LOST.

The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 make it mandatory for Councils to conduct a recorded vote a budget-setting Council meetings.  A recorded vote was therefore taken on recommendations 1-11, with the voting as follows:-

Voting for (40)

Cllr Brian Adams, Mike Band, Andrew Bolton, Maurice Byham, Kevin Deanus, Jim Edwards, David Else, Jenny Else, Mary Foryszewski, Pat Frost, Michael Goodridge, Tony Gordon-Smith, John Gray, Ged Hall, Val Henry, Christiaan Hesse, Mike Hodge, Nicholas Holder, David Hunter, Simon Inchbald, Peter Isherwood, Anna James, Denise Le Gal, Martin Lear, Denis Leigh, Peter Martin, Tom Martin, Nabeel Nasir, Julia Potts, Wyatt Ramsdale, Stefan Reynolds, Richard Seaborne, Stewart Stennett, Chris Storey, Simon Thornton, Liz Townsend, Bob Upton, Ross Welland, Liz Wheatley and Nick Williams.

Voting against (5)

Cllrs John Fraser, Jerry Hyman, Andy MacLeod, David Round and John Ward.

Abstentions (3)

Cllrs Patricia Ellis, Robert Knowles and Libby Piper

It was moved by the Chairman of the Executive, duly seconded and

RESOLVED  that the report of the Executive at Agenda Item 8a be approved and recommendations 1-11 contained therein be adopted.

[NB Cllr Pat Frost left the meeting at this point]

Housing Revenue Account Business Plan, Revenue Budget and Capital Programme 2017/18 (Agenda Item 8b)

It was moved by the Chairman of the Executive, duly seconded and

RESOLVED that the report of the Executive at Agenda Item 8b be approved and recommendations 1-8 contained therein adopted.

Council Tax Setting 2017/18 and Pay Award (Agenda Item 8c)

It was moved by the Chairman of the Executive, duly seconded and

RESOLVED  that

1.1       The following amounts have been calculated for the Council for 2017/2018 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56/16

To receive the minutes of the meetings of the Executive (coloured grey), held on:-

It was moved by the Chairman of the Committee, duly seconded and

RESOLVED  that the Minutes of the Executive meetings held on 10 January and 7 February 2017 be approved and the recommendations contained therein adopted.

To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee (coloured bright green), held on 26 January 2017.

It was moved by the Chairman of the Committee, duly seconded and

RESOLVED  that the Minutes of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held on 26 January 2017 be approved.

To consider the allocation of seats on principal Committees following the recent changes to the political composition of the Council, as attached.

RESOLVED  that

1.         the political proportions and allocation of seats to the principal Committees for the remainder of the current Council year be agreed, as set out at in the report; and

2.         Cllr Liz Townsend be appointed to the Eastern Area Planning Committee with effect from 22 February 2017.