Apologies were received from Councillor Johnson, Councillor Sam Leaves, Councillor Lowry, Councillor Downie, Councillor Corvid and Councillor Wigens.           

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2019  as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 September were agreed as true and accurate record.

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda. A flowchart providing guidance on interests is attached to assist councillors.

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 -

The Assistant Chief Executive will submit a schedule of vacancies on committees, outside bodies etc and of changes notified to us.  

Council noted the following appointments to Outside Bodies

 Council also noted the following changes to Chairs/Vice-Chairs of committees:

·         Councillor Winter has replaced Councillor Morris as Chair of the Brexit, Infrastructure and Legislative Change Overview and Scrutiny Committee

·         Councillor Kelly has replaced Councillor Carson as Vice-Chair of Audit and Governance Committee

·         Councillor Johnson has been appointed Vice-Chair of Corporate Parenting Group,

Council is also asked to note the appointment by the Leader of two Assistant Cabinet Members: Councillor Pam Buchan and Councillor Jeremy Goslin

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 no 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:

Adult Social Worker of the Year

·         A Plymouth social worker who has dedicated more than 40 years of her life to the profession has been named as Adult Social Worker of the Year at a prestigious awards ceremony. Teresa Barrett, adult social worker at Livewell Southwest, won the accolade at the annual Social Worker of the Year awards.

Cities of Service Engaged Cities Award

·         The Lord Mayor presented an award to colleagues for the Council’s City Change Fund which has been recognised globally for its ground breaking approach to genuine citizen engagement when it was crowned a winner of the Engaged Cities Award at a recent ceremony in Washington. Cities of Service received over 100 applications from across the Americas and Europe.

The Lord Mayor then led a Minutes Silence in memory of Alderman Coleman and two former Lady Mayoresses, Mrs Finnigan and Mrs Stark.

Councillor Evans OBE, Leader of the Council made the following announcements:

·         Paul Barnard, the Service Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure has been awarded the Royal Town Planning Institute Gold Medal in recognition of exceptional achievement in the field of town and country planning.

·         2019 saw £100m of completed projects, with £200m of projects on-going at present, and another £900m to come. Highlights include:

o   The Range Head Office bringing 500 jobs;

o   The Barcode, the UK’s 3rd largest IMAX cinema;

o   Oceansgate, fully let phase one and now starting on phase two;

o   Securing the future of Barden;

o   Mayflower 400 and Illuminate;

o   The Box figureheads – the biggest refurbishment of its kind in the UK;

o   Millbay hotel, committed to forward fund the next stage of regeneration of Millbay;

o   Brunel plaza anchor tenant in the University of Plymouth;

o   British Land investment into Old Town Street and New George Street;

o    Receiving Government recognition as the UK’s first National Marine Park;

o    Plymouth featured as a top 10 location to visit in the wold in Condé Nast Travel Magazine.

Projects underway include:

o      Mayflower 400 festival;

o      The Box – building due for completion early in 2020 and gallery fit out to be completed by April;

o      Completion of all legal requirements to start the new concourse on Brunel Plaza;

o      Three new developments including Broadley park to create 70,000 sq. ft. of new industrial units;

o      The former Derry’s Building and BHS have been repurposed and works will be completed in 2020;

o      Next phase of development due at the Derriford District Centre;

o      Public Realm - £9m transformation of Old Town Street, connecting the City Centre to the Barcode;

o      The Mount Batten Centre – consultants to be appointed to take forward the next phase of development;

o      A Plan for Fishing will be developed to protect and grow the sector; 

o      New Visitor Plan due to be adopted with a cultural strategy refresh;

o      12 Cruise ships will be welcomed in 2020 including the iconic Disney Princess;

o      Phoenix Wharf regeneration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

As per Rule of Debate 4.2, Council agreed to extend the speech time by five minutes for the introduction of the Climate Emergency Action Plan and the Corporate Carbon Reduction Plan. These plans were requested following the Motion on Notice approved by Full Council in March 2019.

Councillor Dann, Cabinet Member for Environment and Street Scene introduced the report on the Climate Emergency Action Plan and the Corporate Carbon Reduction Plan. This was seconded by Councillor Coker, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure.

Councillor Bowyer, Leader of the Opposition, highlighted that there had been less than 48 hours to consider the report since publication and that it was not clear as to what the impact of the proposals of the plan would be. A Select Committee was requested prior to agreement of the plans in order to give them greater consideration.

A Point of Order was raised given that this matter is already scheduled for a scrutiny committee in January.

The meeting was briefly adjourned.

On resumption, Councillor Nicholson proposed an amendment to the Declaration on Climate Emergency report and this was seconded by Councillor Darcy.

The amendment proposed that:

In relation to agenda item 7 of in order to devote appropriate due diligence to the most substantive issue before the Council Recommendations 1-10 pages 2 and 3 should be deleted and replaced with:

“Plymouth City Council agree to establish a dedicated select scrutiny committee to urgently consider the Declaration on Climate Emergency plan”

Following a debate, Council voted on the amendment as follows:

For (20)

Councillors Mrs Beer, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Churchill, Darcy, Deacon, Drean, James, Jordan, Kelly, Michael Leaves,  Nicholson, Mrs Pengelly, Mrs Bridgeman, Carson, Mrs Loveridge, Cook, Rebecca Smith, Riley, Ms Watkin

Against (30)

Councillors MrsAspinall, Laing, Haydon, Coker, Dann, Winter, Davey, Buchan, Derrick, Neil, Mavin, Evans OBE, Hendy, Lowry, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Parker-Delaz-Ajete, Penberthy, Rennie, Singh, Pete Smith, Stevens, Jon Taylor, Kate Taylor, Tuffin, Tuohy, Vincent, Wheeler, Allen

Abstain (0)

The amendment was not carried.

Council then proceeded to debate the substantive item.

Following the debate, Council approved the recommendations as set out in the report to:

1.    Note the progress that has been made since the declaration on climate emergency. Reason: To acknowledge that action has already been taken by the City Council and its partners since the Motion on Notice agreed at the meeting held on 18 March 2019 (Minute 89 refers).

2.    Support and endorse the Corporate Carbon Reduction Action Plan 2019-2024. Reason: To set the direction of travel for the decarbonisation of City Council services and activities, encourage the submission of funding bids to deliver the commitments set out in the plan, and to facilitate stakeholder engagement for further revisions to the plan.

3.    Support and endorse the 2019 Climate Emergency Action Plan. Reason: To set the direction of travel for the decarbonisation of Plymouth, encourage the submission of funding bids to deliver the commitments set out in the plan, and to facilitate stakeholder engagement for further revisions to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Councillor Evans OBE, Leader of the Council introduced the Quarter 2 Financial Monitoring Report.

The report was seconded by Councillor Penberthy.

Councillor Nicholson requested the Cabinet Member for Finance provide a written answer as to how much of the £530m of income assumptions is to come from the sale of green open space. The Leader agreed to provide this.

Following a debate, Council

·         Approved the revised five year Capital Budget (2019-2024) as at 30 September 2019 from £810.545m to £845.354m.

For (50)

Councillors Mrs Aspinall, Haydon, Coker, Dann, Davey, Evans OBE, Hendy, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Parker-Delaz-Ajete, Penberthy, Rennie, Singh, Pete Smith, Stevens, Jon Taylor, Kate Taylor, Tuffin, Tuohy, Vincent, Wheeler, Mrs Beer, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Churchill, Darcy, Deacon, Downie, Drean, Mrs Johnson, James, Jordan, Kelly, Goslin, Michael Leaves, Mrs Leaves, Nicholson, Mrs Pengelly, Mrs Bridgeman, Buchan, Derrick, Neil, Mavin Carson, Winter, Mrs Loveridge, Cook, Rebecca Smith, Laing, Riley, Allen, Ms Watkin

Against (0)

Abstain (0)

Councillor Evans OBE, Leader of the Council introduced the report on Heart of the South West Joint Committee Governance Review.

This report was seconded by Councillor Smith.

Following a discussion, Council agreed:

That Council:

a) As a constituent member, approves the amendments to the Heart of the South West Joint Committee’s list of functions in the Arrangements document (highlighted in bold italics in Appendix A of the document pack), and notes the updated budget position for 2019/20;

b) As a constituent member, approves the recommendation from the Joint Committee on 27th September 2019, to re-appoint Somerset County Council as the Administering Authority for the Joint Committee for a further 2 years until January 2022;

c) Makes provision of £8,000 as the Council’s contribution to the administration and work programme of the Joint Committee for the 2020/21 financial year, subject to all other Constituent Members making financial contributions based on the methodology recommended by the Joint Committee at their meeting on 27th September 2019.

For (49)

Councillors Mrs Aspinall, Haydon, Coker, Dann, Davey, Evans OBE, Hendy, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Parker-Delaz-Ajete, Rennie, Singh, Pete Smith, Stevens, Jon Taylor, Kate Taylor, Tuffin, Tuohy, Vincent, Wheeler, Mrs Beer, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Churchill, Darcy, Deacon, Downie, Drean, Mrs Johnson, James, Jordan, Kelly, Goslin, Michael Leaves, Mrs Leaves, Nicholson, Mrs Pengelly, Mrs Bridgeman, Buchan, Derrick, Neil, Mavin Carson, Winter, Mrs Loveridge, Cook, Rebecca Smith, Laing, Riley, Allen, Ms Watkin

Against (0)

Abstain (0)

Councillor Parker Delaz-Ajete introduced the Planning Committee Code of Good Practice and Terms of Reference.

The report was seconded by Councillor Coker.

Following a debate, Council agreed:

1.    To approve the changes to the Planning Committee Terms of Reference as outlined in Appendix 1 of the report and to note the changes to the Code of Good Practice for Planning Committee made at the Audit and Governance Committee on 23rd September 2019 as outlined in Appendix 2 of the report.

For (29)

Councillors Mrs Aspinall, Haydon, Coker, Dann, Davey, Evans OBE, Hendy, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Parker-Delaz-Ajete, Penberthy, Rennie, Pete Smith, Stevens, Jon Taylor, Kate Taylor, Tuffin, Tuohy, Vincent, Wheeler, Goslin, Buchan, Cllr Derrick, Neil, Mavin, Winter, Laing, Allen

Abstain (1)

Councillor Singh

Against (20)

Councillors Mrs Beer, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Churchill, Darcy, Deacon, Drean, James, Jordan, Kelly, Michael Leaves, Nicholson, Mrs Pengelly, Mrs Bridgeman, Carson, Mrs Loveridge, Cook, Rebecca Smith, Riley, Ms Watkin,

Councillor Buchan introduced the Motion on Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority. This was seconded by the Leader, Councillor Evans OBE.

Following a debate, Council resolved that:

1. The Leader of the Council will write to the Secretary of State requesting:

a. A reassessment of the IFCA funding formula to take into account previous assessments of required officers; in addition to sea area, coastal length, and number of conservation designations; and to allocate Financial Administrative Penalties back to the IFCA

b. That New Burden Funding be provided to Councils with enforceable environmental designations including Special Area of Conservation, Special Protected Area and Marine Conservation Zone.

c. Local government funding is restored to 2010 levels to enable Councils to deliver public services and contribute to adequate IFCA budgets.

For (29)

Councillors Mrs Aspinall, Haydon, Coker, Dann, Davey, Evans OBE, Hendy, Lowry, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Parker-Delaz-Ajete, Penberthy, Rennie, Pete Smith, Stevens, Jon Taylor, Kate Taylor, Tuffin, Tuohy, Vincent, Wheeler, Goslin, Buchan, Derrick, Neil, Mavin, Winter, Laing, Allen

Abstain (21)

Councillors Singh, Mrs Beer, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Churchill, Darcy, Deacon, Drean, James, Jordan, Kelly, Michael Leaves, Nicholson, Mrs Pengelly, Mrs Bridgeman, Carson, Mrs Loveridge, Cook, Rebecca Smith, Riley, Ms Watkin

Councillor Kate Taylor introduced the motion on Dementia Fund. This was seconded by Councillor Mrs Aspinall.

Following a debate Council resolved to:

·         call on the government to address this unfairness by asking the Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care to write to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, asking him to ensure that dementia is funded by the NHS like any other health condition through a dedicated Dementia Fund worth £2.4bn;

·         consider any response to this request through the Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Council extended its thanks to all of those people in the city who support those living with dementia.

For (49)

Councillors Mrs Aspinall, Haydon, Coker, Dann, Davey, Evans OBE, Hendy, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Parker-Delaz-Ajete, Penberthy, Rennie, Singh, Pete Smith, Stevens, Jon Taylor, Kate Taylor, Tuffin, Tuohy, Vincent, Wheeler, Mrs Beer, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Churchill, Darcy, Deacon, Drean, James, Jordan, Kelly, Goslin, Michael Leaves, Nicholson, Mrs Pengelly, Mrs Bridgeman, Buchan, Derrick, Neil, Mavin, Carson, Winter, Mrs Loveridge, Cook, Rebecca Smith, Laing, Riley, Allen, Ms Watkin

Abstain (0)

Against (0)

Councillor Kelly introduced the motion on Community Grants. This was seconded by Councillor Churchill.

Following a debate, Council resolved to:

·         Request the Cabinet Member for Finance to consider increasing the Community Grant for each Councillor from £3,500 to £5,000 in the 2020/21 Budget.

For (49)

Councillors Mrs Aspinall, Haydon, Coker, Dann, Davey, Evans OBE, Hendy, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Parker-Delaz-Ajete, Penberthy, Rennie, Singh, Pete Smith, Stevens, Jon Taylor, Kate Taylor, Tuffin, Tuohy, Vincent, Wheeler, Mrs Beer, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Churchill, Darcy, Deacon, Drean, James, Jordan, Kelly, Goslin, Michael Leaves, Nicholson, Mrs Pengelly, Mrs Bridgeman, Buchan, Derrick, Neil, Mavin, Carson, Winter, Mrs Loveridge, Cook, Rebecca Smith, Laing, Riley, Allen, Ms Watkin

Abstain (0)

Against (0)

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.