Democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Main Hall, in the Town Hall

Contact: Bernie Carr 

Items
No. Item

21/44

Declarations of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

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

21/45

Minutes - Council - 28 July 2021 pdf icon PDF 324 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the Council meeting held on 28 July 2021 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

 

21/46

Announcements/Communications

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

 

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Councillor Tony Grainge, who was elected as Ward Councillor for the Ladgate Ward on 16 September 2021, to his first meeting of the Council.

 

The Chair invited Councillor Grainge to address the meeting. Councillor Grainge thanked those electors that had voted for and supported him and for the kind welcome he had received from those present at the meeting. He stated that he hoped to make a difference for the people of Middlesbrough.

21/47

Questions from Members of the Public (if any).

Minutes:

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

 

21/48

Change to the Executive Scheme of Delegation

The Mayor has made the following change to his Executive Scheme of Delegation:

 

Marketing and Communications has been moved from the portfolio of the Mayor to the portfolio of the Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Culture and Communities.

 

In accordance with the Constitution, the change is required to be reported to Council.

Minutes:

The Mayor advised that he had made the following change to his Executive Scheme of Delegation:

 

Marketing and Communications had been moved from the portfolio of the Mayor to the portfolio of the Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Culture and Communities.

 

ORDERED that the change to the Executive Scheme of Delegation be noted.

 

21/49

Mayor's Statement and Report

Minutes:

The Mayor stated that the streets were getting busier and it was encouraging that things appeared to be getting back to normal.

 

Covid

 

The Covid rate of infections had fallen and Middlesbrough was about 40th in the country in terms of rates of infection. The Mayor stated that people should enjoy the added freedom, but that they should not get too complacent and they should continue to act responsibly. Infection rates compared to hospital admissions were low.

 

Fly-tipping

 

The Council was clamping down on fly-tipping. The new squad, as well as clearing the fly-tipping away, were carrying out investigations to find out who the perpetrators were, with the intention of prosecuting them.

 

Anti-social behaviour

 

The Council were closing down houses where drug dealing and other anti-social behaviour was taking place. The Mayor urged residents to get in touch and report any instances of anti-social behaviour.

 

Regeneration

 

The amount of people shopping in the town was rising and business and investment in the town was improving. The Northern School of Art had recently set up in the centre of the town and developments like this had assisted in regenerating the town, changing other peoples’ perception of the town and would assist in creating jobs. More initiatives involving education were due to be announced.

 

The Mayor stated that he wanted people to grow their own food and to get fit. A new communal growing area had been established in Coulby Newham and Councillors Branson and Smiles had attended the launch. The Mayor stated that initiatives like these were good for mental and physical health and nutrition.

 

Welcome – Councillor Grainge

 

The Mayor welcomed Councillor Grainge to his first meeting of full Council and he made reference to the work of the previous Ward Councillor - Councillor Goodchild. He encouraged people to get involved in local politics and commiserated with the candidates that had stood for election but did not get elected.

 

The Mayor advised the members of the public that he and the rest of the Councillors were there to help with any issues that they might have.

 

Hemlington

 

The Mayor made reference to issues in Hemlington, including anti-social behavior and crime and the practice of some people setting fires so that the Fire Brigade would be called, then throwing bricks at the officers of the Fire Brigade. He encouraged residents to report those responsible. More cameras were getting installed in the area to enable the perpetrators to be identified, so that appropriate action could be taken.

 

Councillor M Storey reiterated the welcome to Councillor Grainge and advised that the Council was a great place to work and he hoped that the new councillor would enjoy it. Councillor Storey stated that he was proud of the diversity in the town and this was reflected in the make-up of the Labour Group councillors.

 

Councillor Storey stated that he was pleased that more action was being taken in respect of fly-tipping and he queried with regard to the average waiting times to get  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/49

21/50

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).

Questions on the Mayor’s Executive Member report

 

Councillor Higgins in relation to Commissioner

 

Councillor Higgins stated that she was concerned with regard to the political situation with regard to Children’s Services. The Chair and the Vice Chair of the Children’s Social Care and Services Scrutiny Panel had resigned and the Mayor was currently the Lead Member for Children’s Services. Councillor Higgins stated that she was concerned that the political turmoil might lead to the Council being advised that it could no longer run Children’s Services, which would be devastating following the improvements that had been made to the service.

 

The Mayor advised that there had been a great improvement in Children’s Services. The Council had received a positive report from the Commissioner and he had recommended to the Government that the Council was ready to run and manage Children’s Services. The formal announcement was due to be made on 15 September, but following changes in the Government positions, the announcement had been delayed.

 

In response to the resignations of the Chair and Vice Chair of the scrutiny panel, the Mayor advised that he did not have any influence on scrutiny positions within the Council.

 

Councillor Uddin queried whether the Mayor could provide an update on the current position in respect of vaccinations and what the procedure was for obtaining a booster.

 

The Mayor advised that he did not have the latest figures to hand in respect of vaccinations, but he advised that he would forward them and details of the procedure for obtaining boosters, in due course.

 

Councillor Thompson commented, that as an ambassador of ‘You’ve Got This’, she was pleased to see that it was included in the Executive Member reports and that the ‘Beat the Box’ initiative that was due to be launched on 26 September 2021 was being promoted.

 

Councillor Smiles stated that she was looking forward to ‘Beat the Box’. Little boxes would be placed across the whole town and all of the schools were involved. Young people would be set a town-wide exercise to locate the boxes either by cycling or walking, to improve fitness. The children would then tag the boxes with little key chains. It was a positive initiative for the whole town. Up to 13% of residents were involved, but Councillor Smiles urged councillors to encourage their residents to become involved. 

 

The Mayor stated that he wished to pay tribute to Hugh and Emma Alberti from the Green Party, who had alerted the Mayor to the initiative over a year ago. The Director of Public Health had sourced funding to bring it to Middlesbrough. He stated that it would be lots of fun and a good way to get  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/50

21/51

Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Board pdf icon PDF 257 KB

Minutes:

The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Board submitted 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.

 

21/52

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.

21/53

Members' Question Time pdf icon PDF 221 KB

Minutes:

The Chair announced that there were four questions from Members of the Council. The details of the specific questions were included at Agenda Item 11.

 

Question 4/21 - Councillor M Storey to the Mayor with regard to when the recently adjourned meeting to discuss the Stainsby Masterplan would be reconvened and whether a decision would be taken that both addressed the concerns of residents and safeguarded the Council from any legal action from developers?

 

The Mayor advised that this was an issue where the Council would need to look closely at the evidence, and they would not rush into making a decision on it. There was more work to be done before the Council could make a decision on this issue, and they were looking now at how they would do that. The Mayor advised that he would not put any definitive timescales on when the decision would be taken, at this stage.

 

Question 5/21 - Councillor Cooke to the Mayor with regard to Middlesbrough Council offering a pest control service.

 

The Mayor stated that it was the case that other Councils offered a subsidised pest control service to private properties. He advised that whilst he could not promise anything at this point, he would request that the provision of a pest control service be explored as part of the Council’s budget setting process.

 

Question 6/21 – Councillor Furness to the Executive Member for Regeneration regarding Selective Landlord Licensing with regard to how many houses were under license throughout Middlesbrough? In the likes of Gresham ward where only half were under licence, whether there was a difference in housing from the licensed areas to the unlicensed areas?

 

The Executive Member for Regeneration advised that the Newport Selective Landlord Licensing Scheme had been in place since June 2019.  To date 845 licences had been issued with 107 still outstanding. It was too early to conduct a formal evaluation of the scheme because of the interruptions to some of the elements caused by COVID - there had been a delay to housing inspections but actions in response to anti-social behaviour, such as housing Closure Orders, had been able to be progressed. 

 

Evaluation would be re-programmed and would take place in due course.  A full evaluation was carried out in respect of the first North Ormesby Selective Landlord Licensing Scheme (2016-2021) and this demonstrated positive outcomes in terms of house prices; reduction in tenant turnover; improvements in the condition of properties and a reduction in some aspects of anti-social behaviour. 

 

The second North Ormesby Scheme was introduced in June 2021 to continue to progress this work and it was estimated that 878 properties would be licensed.

 

Councillor Furness stated that he would like to see the difference in the two areas. He stated that he had experienced issues in the past with bad landlords and tenants and he hoped that the scheme would be rolled out across the whole of Newport Ward and eventually the rest of the town, although he acknowledged  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/53

21/54

Notice of Motions

Minutes:

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

 

21/55

Notice of Urgent Motions (if any)

Minutes:

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

21/56

Council Committees and Outside Body Vacancies pdf icon PDF 220 KB

Minutes:

Council received a report which sought Members’ approval to nominations for appointment, arising from vacancies deferred at the Annual Meeting of Council and resignations from Committees.

 

The report included a list of current vacancies on various committees and Outside Bodies and nominations were put forward at the meeting by individual members.

 

ORDERED that the following vacancies allocated in accordance with the wishes of the political groups and other councillors be approved by Council:

 

Live Well South Tees Board

Councillor Hellaoui appointed

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Ad Hoc Scrutiny Panel

Councillor Mawston appointed

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Children and Young People’s Social Care and Services Scrutiny Panel

Councillor Hellaoui appointed

 

Chair of Children and Young People’s Social Care and Services Scrutiny Panel:

Councillor Davison appointed

 

Vice-Chair of Children and Young People’s Social Care and Services Scrutiny Panel:

Councillor Mawston appointed

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Corporate Parenting Board

No nominations – 1 Vacancy

 

Chair of Corporate Parenting Board

Councillor C Hobson appointed

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Corporate Health and Safety Steering Group

No nominations - 1 Vacancy – Open to all Councillors

___________________________________________________________________

 

Outside Bodies

 

(ANEC) Resources Task and Finish Group

No nominations received – 1 Vacancy – Open to all Councillors

 

North East Regional Employers’ Organisation (NEREO)

No nominations received – 1 Vacancy – Open to all Councillors

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Tees Valley Arts Board

Councillor Mieka Smiles appointed