To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings held on 29 January 2024, 8 March 2024, 18 March 2024, 17 May 2024 and the two meetings held on 24 June 2024, as a correct record.

The minutes of the meetings held on 29 January 2024, 8 March 2024, 18 March 2024, 17 May 2024 and the two meetings held on 24 June 2024 were agreed as a correct record.

The following declarations of interest were made by councillors in accordance with the code of conduct in respect of items under consideration at the meeting -

(A general dispensation was offered to all members in respect to item 15- Independent Remuneration Panel)

The Monitoring Officer will submit a schedule of vacancies on committees, outside bodies etc and of changes notified to us.  

The Council agreed to note the changes to committees and outside bodies for September 2024.

To receive questions from and provide answers to the public in relation to matters which are about something the council is responsible for or something that directly affects people in the city, in accordance with Part B, paragraph 11 of the Constitution.

Questions, of no longer than 50 words, can be submitted to the Democratic Support Unit, Plymouth City Council, Ballard House, West Hoe Road, Plymouth, PL1 3BJ, or email to democraticsupport@plymouth.gov.uk. Any questions must be received at least five complete working days before the meeting.

There were 17 questions from the public.

(a)        To receive announcements from the Lord Mayor, Chief Executive, Service Director for Finance or Head of Legal Services;

(b)        To receive announcements from the Leader, Cabinet Members or Committee Chairs.

The Lord Mayor made the following announcements:

a)     Plymouth City Council had been shortlisted for several Public Service Excellence Awards including Council of the Year, Best Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, Best Community and Neighbourhood Initiative, Best Climate Action Initiative, Best Service Team: Parks, Grounds and Horticultural Service.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) made the following announcements:

b)    Welcomed to the Plymouth City Council Karime Hassan (Interim Strategic Director for Growth), Temilola Salimon (Service Director for Children, Young People and Families)and Gary Wallbridge (Strategic Director Adults, Health and Communities, Adult SocialCare Retained Functions);

c)     Wished a happy retirement and bid farewell to Anthony Payne and GilesPerritt;

d)    Plymouth had been recognised as the most liveable city in the UK according to a recent study published in the Daily Telegraph;

e)     The £25 million Community Diagnostic centre at Colin Campbell Court had now started development and construction;

f)      The Derriford District Centre had initiated a “hand-over” of units to respective businesses including Aldi and Costa,

g)     £750,000 of “Shared Prosperity Projects” had been completed across the City;

h)    The largest ever contract granted in the city for Beaumont Way as part of the Free Port development had been granted;

i)      2,000 free sessions had been offered and the Mount Batton Centre had been selected to support the National Marine Park;

j)      The Brickfields Investment Case would be initiated at Christmas providing a £25 million investment into sports facilities in the City;

k)     Enhancements at Tinside Lido were currently underway;

l)      The ‘Innovation Centre’ at Oceans Gate and hotel work on Embankment Road would commence shortly;

m)   Demolition work around Tavistock place was to start, in order to facilitate development work during the forthcoming year;

n)    Centre-city housing discussions were to start taking place regarding the low quantity and density of residential use of the area.

Councillor Briars-Delve (Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change) made the following announcements:

o)    A new delivery approach for major heat networks had been signed off, this long term project was expected to attract £350 million of external green funding, 400 green jobs and save 30,000 tons of carbon annually;

Councillor Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) made the following announcements:

p)    The International Day of Older People was to take place on 1October, which would provide opportunities for older people to meet new friends and acquaintances through way of various sports and activities;

q)    Caring Plymouth, the skills based project launched in the previous municipal year, would be having a relaunch and open days on 19  September and 4 October.

Councillor Cresswell (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships) made the following announcement:

r)     Launchpad Live was to host a two-day careers event showcasing a range of opportunities on the 26^th and 27^th of September;

s)     The launch of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library had taken place;

t)     A grant of £1.246 million over a three year period to deliver  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

The report was introduced by Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) and seconded by Councillor Stephens (Chair of Scrutiny Management Board).

The Council agreed to note the report.

The report was introduced by Councillor Lowry (Cabinet member for Finance) and seconded by Councillor Allen (Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee).

The Council agreed to:

1.     Approve the Treasury Management Annual Report 2023/2024.

For (47)

Councillors Allen, Allison, Aspinall, Bannerman, Mrs Beer, Blight, Briars-Delve, Mrs Bridgeman, Coker, Cuddihee, Dann, Darcy, Dingle, Evans OBE, Freeman, Gilmour, Goslin, Hendy, Holloway, Laing, Lawson, Loveridge, Lowry, Lugger, McCarty, McLay, McNamara, Moore, Morton, Murphy, Ney, Noble, Penberthy, Penrose, Poyser, Raynsford, Reilly, Ricketts, Simpson, M. Smith, R. Smith, Sproston, Steel, Stephens, Stevens, Tippetts, Ms Watkin and Wood.

Against (0)

Abstain (0)

Absent/ Did Not Vote (2)

Councillors Tofan and Tuohy.

(Councillor Tofan left the meeting 3.00pm returning at 4.00pm)

The report was introduced by Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) and seconded by Councillor Mark Coker (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport).

The Council agreed to:

1.     Approve the revision to Capital Budget 2024-2029 to £360.488m, noting the removal of projects totalling £6.171m from the capital programme.

2.     Note Prudential Indicators Q1.

For (46)

Councillors Allen, Allison, Aspinall, Bannerman, Blight, Briars-Delve, Mrs Bridgeman, Coker, Cuddihee, Dann, Darcy, Dingle, Evans OBE, Freeman, Gilmour, Goslin, Hendy, Holloway, Laing, Lawson, Loveridge, Lowry, Lugger, McCarty, McLay, McNamara, Moore, Morton, Murphy, Ney, Noble, Penberthy, Penrose, Poyser, Raynsford, Reilly, Simpson, M. Smith, R. Smith, Sproston, Steel, Stephens, Stevens, Tippetts, Ms Watkin and Wood.

Against (0)

Abstain (2)

Councillors Mrs Beer and Ricketts.

Absent/Did Not Vote (2)

Councillors Tofan and Tuohy.

The report was introduced by Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) and seconded by Councillor Allen (Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee).

After contributions from Councillor Lugger, the Council agreed to note the report.

The report was introduced by Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) and Seconded by Councillor Allen (Chair of Scrutiny Management Board)

After contributions from Councillor Wood, the Council agreed to note the report.

The motion was introduced by Councillor Allen (Chair of Audit and Governance Committee) and seconded by Councillor Stevens.

For (42)

Councillors Allen, Allison, Aspinall, Bannerman, Blight, Briars-Delve, Coker, Cuddihee, Dann, Darcy, Dingle, Evans OBE, Freeman, Gilmour, Goslin, Hendy, Holloway, Laing, Lawson, Lowry, Lugger, McCarty, McNamara, Moore, Morton, Murphy, Ney, Noble, Penberthy, Penrose, Raynsford, Reilly, Simpson, M. Smith, R. Smith, Sproston, Steel, Stephens, Stevens, Tippetts, Ms Watkin and Wood.

Against (0)

Abstain (5)

Councillors Mrs Bridgeman, Loveridge, McLay, Poyser and Ricketts.

Absent/ Did Note Vote (3)

Councillors Mrs Beer, Tofan and Tuohy.

(Councillor Mrs Beer left the room at 15:21 and returned 15:25)

The report was introduced by Councillor Allen (Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee) and seconded by Councillor Stevens.

The Council agreed to note the report.

The report was introduced by Councillor Stephens (Chair of the Scrutiny Management Board) and seconded by Councillor Darcy (Vice-Chair of the Scrutiny Management Board).

The Council agreed to note the report.

The item was introduced by Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) and Seconded by Councillor Lugger (Leader of the Opposition).

After contributions from Councillor Mrs Beer the council agreed the following changes recommended by the Independent Remuneration Panel:

1.     The Chair of the Scrutiny Management Board should receive a Special Responsibility Allowance equal to that of the current Scrutiny Panel Chairs. This allowance will be backdated to May 2024, when the current Chair took on the role;

2.     No further changes to the Special Responsibility Allowance for Vice Chairs at this time;

3.     The Panel was to be convened to review allowances for scrutiny again in 12 months to gather more information on how the new structure is working;

4.     The Panel noted the cross-party approach to the review of the parental leave policy and observed that such a policy is already in place in many councils across the country. The Panel recommends that the council adopts the model scheme;

5.     That a provision to enable Councillors to forgo their allowances is added to the Members’ allowance scheme.

For (43)

Councillors Allen, Allison, Aspinall, Bannerman, Blight, Briars-Delve, Mrs Bridgeman, Coker, Cuddihee, Dann, Darcy, Dingle, Evans OBE, Freeman, Gilmour, Goslin, Hendy, Holloway, Laing, Lawson, Lowry, Lugger, McCarty, McLay, McNamara, Moore, Morton, Murphy, Ney, Noble, Penberthy, Poyser, Raynsford, Reilly, Simpson, M. Smith, R. Smith, Sproston, Steel, Stephens, Stevens, Tippetts and Wood.

Against (0)

Abstain (3)

Councillors Mrs Beer, Loveridge and Ricketts.

Absent/ Did Not Vote (4)

Councillors Penrose, Tofan, Tuohy and Ms Watkin.

The motion was introduced by Councillor Steel and seconded by Councillor Blight.

Following contributions from Councillors Reilly, Lawson, Stevens and Penberthy, the Council agreed that:

1.     The Leader writes to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, to call for a more robust counter–extremism strategy to identify and address the drivers of violence. This should encompass digital literacy, social cohesion and resilience building and also ensure that local authorities have dedicated resourcing to drive more localised responses to extremism and viral mis- and disinformation.  

2.     The Chief Executive writes to the Home Office requesting direct annual funding for Plymouth’s Community Safety Partnership from their Prevent Fund. This would enable the Partnership to have dedicated resources to roll out the annual recommendations set out in the Counter Terrorism Local Profile. It would also enable them to work within targeted communities to identify those susceptible to radicalisation and provide early interventions to identify vulnerable groups.  

3.     The Leader and Chief Executive continue their proactive engagement with the government to request support for the Council and our partners through the ongoing recovery work needed as a result of the events of the 5^th August 2024 and to make clear to government that this is done with the full backing of the Council.

4.     The Democratic Support Team ensures that all members are provided with a link to the online LGA Equalities and Diversity Training module. Further to this, that Group Leaders/Whips provide the Democratic Support Team with a list of members who have undertaken this training in order that the Chief Executive can report back on members undertaking this training to the next meeting of the Council. 

5.     The Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships writes to all Plymouth schools stressing the importance of the new Plymouth Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education being used in all local schools as a foundation to promote knowledge and understanding of different communities and encourage the values of respect, tolerance, and the willingness to learn from others. 

For (49)

Councillors Allen, Allison, Aspinall, Bannerman, Mrs Beer, Blight, Briars-Delve, Mrs Bridgeman, Coker, Cuddihee, Dann, Darcy, Dingle, Evans OBE, Freeman, Gilmour, Goslin, Hendy, Holloway, Laing, Lawson, Loveridge, Lowry, Lugger, McCarty, McLay, McNamara, Moore, Morton, Murphy, Ney, Noble, Penberthy, Penrose, Poyser, Raynsford, Reilly, Ricketts, Simpson, M. Smith, R. Smith, Sproston, Steel, Stephens, Stevens, Tippetts, Tofan, Ms Watkin and Wood.

Against (0)

Abstain (0)

Absent/ Did Not Vote (1)

Councillor Tuohy.

The motion was introduced by Councillor Lugger (Leader of the Opposition) and seconded by Councillor Darcy.

Councillor Penberthy proposed an amendment to the motion, seconded by Councillor Evans OBE.

After contributions speaking to the amendment from Councillors Lugger, Mrs Beer, Wood and Smith, the amendment was passed.

For (43)

Councillors Allen, Allison, Aspinall, Bannerman, Blight, Briars-Delve, Coker, Cuddihee, Dann, Darcy, Dingle, Evans OBE, Freeman, Gilmour, Goslin, Hendy, Holloway, Laing, Lawson, Lowry, Lugger, McCarty, McLay, McNamara, Moore, Morton, Murphy, Ney, Noble, Penberthy, Penrose, Raynsford, Reilly, Simpson, M. Smith, R. Smith, Sproston, Steel, Stephens, Stevens, Tippetts, Tofan, Ms Watkin and Wood.

Against (3)

Councillors Mrs Beer, McLay, Poyser

Abstain (3)

Councillors Mrs Bridgeman, Loveridge, Ricketts.

Absent/Did Not Vote (1)

Councillors Tuohy.

Following contributions from Councillors Smith, Darcy, Evans OBE and Loveridge, the Council agreed that-

1.      The Cabinet Member for Housing, Co-operative Development and Communities was to consider the impact of changes to the Winter Fuel Allowance when designing the recently announced Household Support Fund October 2024-March 2025. 

2.      The Cabinet Member for Housing Co-operative Development and Communities was to consider the issue of pensioner poverty as he develops the detail of Building Bridges to Opportunity. 

3.      The Chief Executive would write to theDepartment of Work and Pensions to investigate alternative ways of alleviating fuel poverty for those Plymouth pensioners so affected. 

For (48)

Councillors Allen, Allison, Aspinall, Bannerman, Mrs Beer, Blight, Briars-Delve, Mrs Bridgeman, Coker, Cuddihee, Dann, Darcy, Dingle, Evans OBE, Freeman, Gilmour, Goslin, Hendy, Holloway, Laing, Lawson, Loveridge, Lowry, Lugger, McCarty, McLay, McNamara, Moore, Morton, Murphy, Ney, Noble, Penberthy, Poyser, Raynsford, Reilly, Ricketts, Simpson, M. Smith, R. Smith, Sproston, Steel, Stephens, Stevens, Tippetts, Tofan, Ms Watkin and Wood.

Against

Abstain

Absent/ Did Not Vote (2)

Councillors Penrose and Tuohy

Questions to the Leader, Cabinet Members and Committee Chairs covering aspects for their areas of responsibility or concern by councillors in accordance with Part B, paragraph 12 of the constitution.