Democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber

Contact: Bernie Carr 

Items
No. Item

21/57

Declarations of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

21/58

Minutes - Council - 22 September 2021 pdf icon PDF 387 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the Council meeting held on 22 September 2021 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

 

21/59

Announcements/Communications

To receive and consider any communications from the Chair, Mayor, Executive Members or Chief Executive (if any).

 

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed members back into the Council Chamber.

 

The Chair requested that members join him in a minutes silence to remember Sir David Amess MP who was tragically murdered on 15 October 2021, whilst carrying out his constituency surgery.

 

All those present stood in silence to remember Sir David Amess MP.

21/60

Questions from Members of the Public (if any).

Minutes:

There were no valid questions submitted from members of the public for this meeting.

21/61

Mayor's Statement and Report

Minutes:

The Mayor stated that he wished to speak about the following issues:

 

Covid

 

The Mayor stated that there had been an increase in the rate of Covid infections, and he reminded everyone that Covid was lethal to some people. He urged people not to panic, but to be sensible and to continue to wear face masks. Middlesbrough was currently about 80th position in the table of rates of Covid cases, but as the town suffered from high unemployment and had a dense population; compared to other towns with the same issues, Middlesbrough had a lower rate of infections. The Mayor stated that this was largely down to work of the Council’s Public Health Team. He encouraged people to take up the offer of having a vaccination or booster.

 

Hemlington Ward

 

The Mayor referred to a small group of people in the Hemlington area that were carrying out anti-social behaviour and intimidating residents. Some residents that lived in the Hemlington area were afraid to report any instances of anti-social behaviour to the police or the council. The groups carrying out the anti-social behaviour were aged between 12 – 16 years of age and they were committing serious crimes. He stated that he was pleased to see that some people had been arrested and that action would be taken against the perpetrators. The same groups had been throwing bottles at the police and the fire brigade.

 

The Mayor urged people living in the Hemlington Ward to report any instances of anti-social behaviour to the police or crime stoppers. He stated that the Council also needed to put pressure on those involved in the sentencing process.

 

Wardens had been under attack along with the police and the fire brigade. The Wardens had been involved in numerous different tasks whilst performing their role as a Warden, including saving 13 lives, reuniting dementia sufferers and lost children or pets with their families and assisting the homeless by signposting them to the correct services in order for them to be re-housed. The Mayor also referred to the work of the Fly-Tipping Enforcement Team.

 

Standards Complaints

 

The Mayor referred to the amount of money and time being spent on investigating complaints against councillors. He urged councilors to think whether a complaint was necessary, before submitting a Standards complaint against another councillor.

 

The Mayor stated that if any person felt lonely, isolated or intimidated, the Council was available to help improve their life. He urged residents to get in touch with the Council and they would do what they could to assist.

 

Councillor Mawston referred to the good response to attending for vaccinations at the mobile vaccination centre in Newport. He stated that only a few members were involved in submitting complaints against other councillors.

 

The Mayor stated that there was currently a culture in the Council of councillors using the Standards complaints process to bully other councilors. This was causing a strain on the department responsible for dealing with the complaints in terms  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/61

21/62

Executive Member reports pdf icon PDF 92 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair invited Members to raise items for general discussion arising from the Information Booklet of Executive Member reports which detailed activities carried out within the respective Executive Member portfolios (Section 1), Executive decisions taken (Section 2) or to be taken where known, prior to and following the meeting (Sections 3 and 4).

 

Question on the Mayor’s Executive Member report

 

Councillor Uddin in relation to Looked After Children

 

Councillor Uddin queried whether foster carers had been invited to take part in the Life-story work and the Berri training that had recently been delivered to staff? He thanked the foster carers for their commitment with regard to looking after children. He also congratulated the fostering/adoption team on securing three Adoption Orders this month.

 

Councillor Uddin also referred to the Adoption Tees Valley Annual Report 2020-2021 which reported that, in total 17 children had been placed on a fostering for adoption basis, prior to the Court authorisation to place for adoption, and he congratulated the teams involved in the fostering/adoption process on their efforts.

 

The Mayor stated that he joined Councillor Uddin in congratulating the foster carers for assisting in looking after children in care. Children thrived better in a stable family unit. The Mayor advised that he was not sure if foster carers did receive the same training as staff, but he would look into it and report back to Councillor Uddin.

 

Questions on the Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Culture and Communities report

 

Councillor Thompson in relation to Events

 

Councillor Thompson referred to the details of various events that had been held in the town that had been included in the Executive Member’s report. Councillor Thompson queried why there was no reference in the report to the ‘Walk and Talk’ event held at the Dorman Museum to celebrate Black History month. Councillor Thompson also queried whether there had been any training on black history issues.

 

The Executive Member advised that she had been aware of the event held at the Dorman Museum but had been unable to attend due to a prior engagement. The Executive Member stated that it was important to celebrate different cultures and she advised that she would encourage people from all different cultures or political persuasion to become a councillor.

 

The Black History Youth Awards were due to be held on Friday to honour exceptional achievement of black youths in the Tees Valley. There were a number of different events and initiatives that had been organised to celebrate black history month in the libraries and community hubs and the libraries were promoting black literature. In response to why the event at the Dorman Museum had not been referenced in the report, the Executive Member advised that there was so many different events taking place in the town, it would be difficult to include them all in the report. The Executive Member advised that she would ensure that it was included in next year’s report.

 

Councillor J Thompson queried with regard to progress made in relation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/62

21/63

Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Board pdf icon PDF 255 KB

Minutes:

The Vice-Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Board presented a report, the purpose of which was to provide an update on the current position regarding progress made by the Overview and Scrutiny Board and each of the individual Scrutiny Panels.

 

ORDERED that the report be noted.

 

21/64

Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy pdf icon PDF 417 KB

Minutes:

The Executive Member for Environment. Finance and Governance presented a report which sought the approval of a proposed Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy.

 

Under the Statutory Guidance on the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts, full Council was required to approve the Council’s Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy.

 

Details of the individual projects which were planned to be funded from the flexible use of capital receipts, in accordance with the Guidance, were included within the report.

 

Councillor Rooney requested clarification with regard to what members were being asked to approve.

 

The Director of Finance advised that the flexible use of capital receipts was a back-up plan to increase reserves by £5.1m. It provided an extra buffer for the Council however, if the reserves proved not to be required in the future then the process could be reversed.

 

Councillor Hellaoui queried with regard to the impact on the Capital Funding Budget. The Director of Finance advised that instead of funding projects with capital receipts, it would be funded by borrowing at a cost of interest of £200k per year.

 

The Mayor advised that the flexible use of capital receipts would give the Council some flexibility by boosting reserves and although the Council might not be required to use the reserves, it provided a safety net, should it be required.

 

The Director of Finance advised that the current figures did not indicate that the Council would need to use the flexibility but future costs and income had become more uncertain. The increase in the revenue reserves held by the Council would provide insulation against any future unexpected financial pressures.

 

Councillor Hellaoui queried with regard to how the Council could be certain that they were getting value for money.

 

The Director of Finance advised that whenever the Council was required to borrow money, it always made full use of the market to ensure that it secured the best rates available. In order to achieve this the finance was usually borrowed using a mixture of short term and long term loans.

 

Councillor S Walker stated that he was in favour of the principle of the flexible use of capital receipts. He stated that he fully appreciated that Children’s Services were in need of funding, but was concerned that capital receipts were being used to fund a service that continually required additional funding.

 

The Director of Finance advised that the reason why the majority of spending was in relation to Children’s Services was because it would help support the significant and continued transformation work currently taking place within the Council which commenced as a result of the Ofsted Improvement Plan. The transformation work would assist in delivering improvement and efficiencies to the service.

 

Following a vote, it was ORDERED as follows:

 

That the proposed Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy be approved.

21/65

Adoption of the Marton West Neighbourhood Plan - 2021-2029 pdf icon PDF 375 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Executive Member for Regeneration, Councillor Polano presented a report, the purpose of which was that the Council adopt the Marton West Neighbourhood Plan 2021-2029, as part of the Council’s Policy Framework, so that the Plan could be used in the determination of future planning applications within the designated Marton West Neighbourhood Area.

 

Following a vote, it was ORDERED as follows:

 

That the Marton West Neighbourhood Plan 2021-2029 be adopted, as part of the Council’s Policy Framework, so that the Plan could be used in the determination of future planning applications within the designated Marton West Neighbourhood Area.

21/66

Urgent Items

To consider and Deal with any urgent business brought before the Council by the Proper Officer (if any).

 

Minutes:

There were no urgent items submitted within the specified deadlines for this meeting.

21/67

Members' Question Time pdf icon PDF 175 KB

Minutes:

The Chair announced that one question had been received from a member of the Council. The detail of the specific question was included at Agenda Item 12.

 

Question 8/21 - Councillor Thompson to the Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Culture and Communities regarding progress to date of the Middlesbrough Lottery with regard to the uptake, ticket sales and the benefits that the organisations that had signed up had received?

 

The Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Culture and Communities advised that the first weekly draw of the Middlesbrough Lottery took place on September 4th.As of October 15th the lottery had 635 players purchasing a total of 1,264 tickets each week.

 

Based on the current uptake, the lottery was on track to raise almost £40k for good causes around Middlesbrough per year. 50p from every £1 ticket was donated to the good cause of the player’s choice, with 10p from every £1 ticket coming to the council to support cultural activity.

 

Players could choose to donate the full 60p proceeds to the council’s fund and 225 players were choosing to do so. The council had received a payment of over £1k for the past month.

 

In terms of other good causes, 43 organisations had signed up so far. The three most popular with players so far, were My Sister’s Place, Marton Community Centre Group and Bloodrun EVS.

 

Each organisation was required to set their own funding target. A tracker was

available on the Council website for people to log on to see the progress of each organisation in terms of achieving their funding target.  

 

 

21/68

Notice of Motions pdf icon PDF 200 KB

Minutes:

The Chair advised that he had received a request for Motion 150 to be withdrawn, as the proposer and seconder of the Motion were unable to attend the meeting. The Chair advised that he had consented to the withdrawal of the Motion, due to the absence of the proposer and seconder.

21/69

Notice of Urgent Motions (if any)

Minutes:

There were no Notice of Urgent Motions submitted within the specified deadlines for this meeting.