Agenda and minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 19 July 2016 (herewith).

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 19 July 2016 were confirmed and signed.

The Mayor to report apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Kevin Deanus, Val Henry, Nicholas Holder, Carole King, Robert Knowles, Peter Martin, Kika Mirylees, Libby Piper, Stefan Reynolds, Simon Thornton and John Ward.  

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 Pat Frost declared a general non-pecuniary interest as a member of Farnham Town Council and Surrey County Council.

Cllr Martin Lear declared a non-pecuniary interest in Executive Minute No. 60 (meeting held on 27 September 2016) regarding the Bourne Recreation Ground as Chairman of the Bourne Asset Community Group.  He left the meeting during consideration of the item.

Cllrs John Williamson and Andy MacLeod declared disclosable pecuniary interests in Executive Minute No. 47 (relating to the Brightwells Judicial Review) from the meeting held on 6 September 2016 as named parties in the challenge.  They both left the Chamber during consideration of the item.

The Mayor spoke kindly about his working relationship with Cllr Brian Ellis and the advice and benefit of his experience that Cllr Ellis had shared with him when he became Vice-Chairman of Planning and also Deputy Mayor.  Cllr Ellis would be sadly missed by everyone.

The Mayor congratulated Cllr Ramsdale on his recent election to Surrey County Council and went on to read out a thank you letter that had been received from Her Majesty the Queen in response to the 90th birthday wishes that the Council had sent.

The Mayor had recently welcomed the Landrat from Mayen Koblenz and spent three days touring and learning about the Borough.  He had learnt from the Landrat that in their borough of Mayen Koblenz, they were trying to find accommodation for over 2,000 refugees.

Finally, the Mayor reminded members about the Volunteers’ reception at Charterhouse which would be taking place on 20 October, and encouraged members to support his Charity Masquerade Ball on 3rd December 2016 being held at Clock Barn Hall.

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

It was moved by the Chairman, and duly seconded that the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 6 September 2016 be approved and adopted.

i.          Budget Management Report (Minute No. 47)

            It was moved by Cllr Jerry Hyman and duly seconded by Cllr John Fraser that Recommendation 32 be amended to instead read:-

                        “Subject to officers obtaining a further opinion from leading Counsel (in accordance with Recommendation 4, Exempt Recommendation 1 and Exempt Financial Report paragraph 8.4 agreed by Council  on 24 May 2016), a further supplementary estimate of £30,000 be approved for external legal costs in defence of the Council’s position on the East Street Judicial Review.

After some discussion about its validity, Cllr Hyman WITHDREW his amendment.

It was then moved by the Leader and seconded by Cllr Tom Martin that the recommendation be amended by the replacement of the words at the end “brought by the Farnham Interest Group (FIG)” with the words “brought by a group of named individuals”.

It was further moved by Cllr Le Gal and seconded by Cllr Pat Frost that for simplicity, the recommendation be amended instead by the deletion of the words “brought by the Farnham Interest Group” but with no replacement wording.

This amendment was CARRIED.

NB. Cllrs Jerry Hyman and John Fraser abstained from the vote on the amended recommendation and asked that this be recorded in the minutes.

RESOLVED  that the Minutes of the Executive held on 6 September 2016 be approved and the recommendation contained therein adopted, as amended.

[Cllrs Williamson and MacLeod returned to the meeting]

It was moved by the Chairman of the Executive and duly seconded that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive held on 27 September 2016 be approved and adopted.

i.          Local Government Funding Update and Four Year Grant Settlement (Minute No. 57)

            It was clarified that the column headings for the figures in the table at paragraph 57.3 should read £000s and not £ms.

            Due to recommendation numbers not running consecutively between the two sets of Executive minutes, the recommendations for this minute were renumbered 33a, 33b and 34.

ii.         General Fund Property Investment Strategy (Minute No. 58)

            The Leader of the Council notified members that the Non-Executive member appointed to the Investment Advisory Board would be Cllr Mike Band.

RESOLVED  that the Minutes of the Executive held on 27 September 2016 be approved and the recommendations contained therein adopted.

To receive the minutes of the Audit Committee held on 13 September 2016 (coloured lilac).

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

RESOLVED    that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Audit Committee held on 13 September 2016 be approved and adopted.

To receive the minutes of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held on 22 September 2016 (coloured bright green).

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

RESOLVED    that the Minutes of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held on 22 September 2016 be approved.

To receive the minutes of the Standards Panel held on 10 October 2016 (coloured buff - To Follow).

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

RESOLVED  that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Standards Panel held on 10 October 2016 be approved and the recommendations contained therein adopted.

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

The Leader introduced the report setting out the allocation of seats on Committees and the revised memberships following the recent changes to the political composition of the Council after the two Farnham by-elections held in August.  She also updated the membership list for the Western Area Planning Committee to remove Cllr John Williamson and replace him with Cllr John Ward.

RESOLVED  that the Principal and Area Planning Committees, together with the Surrey County Council Local Committee, be reappointed with the revised memberships as set out in the Annexe to the report, as amended and to be further amended following the outcome of the upcoming by-election.