Members will be asked to make declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

The following declarations of interest were made by Members in accordance with the Code of Conduct in relation to Minute 67, Plymouth CityBus Limited Shareholding, Minute 68 Plymouth Children and Young People’s Plan 2008-2011 (Refresh 2009), and Minute 70, Business Improvement District (BID) Veto, under consideration at this meeting –

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 12 October 2009, 26 October 2009, 23 November at 12 noon (to follow) and 23 November at 2.30pm (to follow).

The minutes of the meetings held on 26 October 2009, 23 November 2009 (12.00pm) and 23 November 2009 (2.30pm) were signed as a correct record.

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 October 2009 be submitted to the next meeting further to a members query as to the accuracy of the minutes.

(a)       To receive announcements from the Lord Mayor or the Chief Executive;

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

The Leader thanked everyone involved in the Housing Stock Transfer process and confirmed that the process was signed off on 20 November 2009. Members of the Project Board were also thanked for their hard work regarding the CityBus Limited Shareholding project.

Councillor Monahan confirmed the successful bid for ‘Building Schools for the Future’.

To receive questions from and provide answers to the public in relation to matters which, in the opinion of the Lord Mayor, are relevant to the business of the meeting in accordance with paragraph 10 of the Constitution.

There were no questions from the public for this meeting.

There were no items of business outstanding for this meeting.

Councillor MrsPengelly submitted the recommendations of Cabinet minute 92 for approval and the proposal was seconded by Councillor Fry.

An amendment was subsequently moved by Councillor Coker and seconded by Councillor Wheeler as set out below –

“Sale procedure of CityBus noting that -

(i) as pointed out in the report to Council (paragraph 20, Corporate Plan 2009-2012, Legal Implications), Section 75 (2) of the Transport Act 1985 states that any authority owning shares in a public transport company has the power to dispose of shares in such manner as they think fit

and

(ii) the procedure adopted involved expenditure of some £900,000 upon consultants and predictably invited competitive action which can only have reduced the receipt to the council

the Council resolves to submit the process followed to scrutiny to learn lessons and to dispel any exaggerated estimates of the cost to the Council of following this procedure.”

Following a request by 10 Members for a recorded vote on the amendment, there voted –

For the motion (17)

Councillors Mrs Aspinall, Bowie, Coker, Dann, Evans, Gordon, Kerswell, Lowry, McDonald, Miller, Purnell, Rennie, Smith, Stevens, Tuohy, Wheeler and Wildy.

Against the motion (25)

Councillors Ball, Mrs Beer, Berrow, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Mrs Bragg, Brookshaw, Browne, Delbridge, Mrs Foster, Fox, Fry, James, Jordan, Lock, Monahan, Mrs Pengelly, Reynolds, Ricketts, Roberts, Dr Salter,  Mrs Stephens, Thompson, Mrs Watkins and Wigens.

Abstentions (0)

Not Voting (1)

The Lord Mayor.

The Lord Mayor declared the amendment lost.

A further amendment was subsequently moved by Councillor Wheeler and seconded by Councillor Smith as set out below –

“Pension liability -

The Council regrets the proposal to treat the pension contribution as a capital receipt, with the repayments to be made over a period of time from revenue income but with no identified income stream to cover them.

This treatment represents un-prudential borrowing, using the contribution for current spending purposes but requiring future Councils to meet the payments for a large number of years from current budgets.

The Council resolves that an escrow account be set up to cover anticipated Local Government pension scheme costs for an appropriate period of time. The account is to hold an appropriate sum from the capital receipt to cover the transferred deficit and a best guess of actuarial increases. The account is only to be used to make payments in respect of these costs.”

Following a request by 10 Members for a recorded vote on the amendment, there voted –

For the motion (17)

Councillors Mrs Aspinall, Bowie, Coker, Dann, Evans, Gordon, Kerswell, Lowry, McDonald, Miller, Purnell, Rennie, Smith, Stevens, Tuohy, Wheeler and Wildy.

Against the motion (25)

Councillors Ball, Mrs Beer, Berrow, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Mrs Bragg, Brookshaw, Browne, Delbridge, Mrs Foster, Fox, Fry, James, Jordan, Lock, Monahan, Mrs Pengelly, Reynolds, Ricketts, Roberts, Dr Salter,  Mrs Stephens, Thompson, Mrs Watkins and Wigens.

Abstentions (0)

Not Voting (1)

The Lord Mayor.

The Lord Mayor declared the amendment lost.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

This item was considered under minute 67.

Councillor Monahan submitted the recommendation in Cabinet minute 85 for approval. The proposal was seconded by Councillor Fry.

Resolved that the Cabinet minute 85is approved as follows –

Councillor Brookshaw submitted the recommendation in Cabinet minute 87 for approval. The proposal was seconded by Councillor Jordan.

Resolved that the recommendation in Cabinet minute 87 is approved as follows –

Councillor James submitted the recommendation (3) of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board minute 46 for approval. The proposal was seconded by Councillor Viney.

Resolved that with regard to Growth and Prosperity Overview and Scrutiny Panel minute 25, ‘Business Improvement District (BID) Veto’ the resolution is agreed to be amended as follows –

‘in view of the excellent results achieved by the BID to date, the City Council be recommended not to exercise the power of veto with regard to the renewed BID.’

Councillor James submitted resolution (4) of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board minute 46 for approval. The proposal was seconded by Councillor Mrs Watkins.

Resolved that it is agreed that with regard to Safer and Stronger Overview and Scrutiny Panel minute 5, ‘terms of reference’, resolution (2), which required that the Overview and Scrutiny Panels’ terms of reference are amended to read:

‘to monitor the budget and performance of the Cabinet Members, Department(s) and partners to oversee delivery of the priorities of the area and with regard to better value for money’.

To consider motions from Members in accordance with paragraph 13 of the Constitution.

There were no motions on notice.

There were no items to consider.

Questions to the Leader, Cabinet Members and Committee Chairs covering aspects for their areas of responsibility or concern by Members in accordance with paragraph 12 of the Constitution;

In accordance with paragraph 12 of the Constitution, the following questions were asked of the Leader, Cabinet Members and Committee Chairs covering aspects of their areas of responsibility –

The Leader will introduce the Forward Plan as now submitted.

Members may ask questions specific to the Forward Plan of the Leader/Cabinet Members.

Following the introduction of the Forward Plan by the Leaders, questions were asked of the Leader and Cabinet Members as follows –

The Lord Mayor wished to thank the Head of Legal Services for his support to City Council as this would be his last meeting.

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  

There were no items of exempt.