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.

 

 

A further amendment was subsequently moved by Councillor Evans and seconded by Councillor Wildy as set out below –

 

“This council notes –

 

That the details of the deal to sell the Council’s shareholding in CityBus, contained in the part 2 report published on Friday 20 November 2009 has not been scrutinised by any O&S panel, nor the management board;

 

That the details of the deal were presented to the council’s cabinet immediately before the commencement of the meeting, allowing little opportunity to consider or evaluate alternatives to the proposals in the document;

 

That there has been no evidence produced to justify why 100% of the shares should be sold at this time;

 

That there has been no discussion in the paper of the current position of land and shares in the market, nor any speculation as their future worth;

 

That the evaluation of the depot at £3m represents poor value for the taxpayer on an asset that was valued between £15-20m;

 

That this valuation, of the depot site, has been deliberately concealed from councillors during this exercise, and that the paper it was contained in has been omitted from any list of background papers;

 

That the deal will result in an adverse revenue position for the council of at least £475,000 a year for the foreseeable future, without the effect of any fare rises on the concessionary fares budget that the new owners may wish to impose;

 

That although the part 2 report pointed to awards the new owners had won, there was no mention of the court cases that had been brought against them for service failure and poor performance;

 

That the Council’s auditor has not stated that this deal achieves Best Value for the Council;

 

In the light of these reservations, the decision is delayed by one month to allow proper scrutiny of the deal and to establish if it represents Best Value for the taxpayer.”

 

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.

 

 

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

 

For the motion (24)

 

Councillors Ball, Mrs Beer, 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.

 

Against the motion (17)

 

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

 

Abstentions (0)

 

Not Voting (1)

 

The Lord Mayor.

 

The Lord Mayor declared the substantive motion carried and it was Resolved that the recommendations were approved as follows –

 

The Council –

 

1a)      approves the sale of 100% of the shares in Plymouth CityBus Limited held by Plymouth City Council and Barry Keel on Trust for the Council to Go-Ahead Holdings Ltd on the terms set out in the Conditional Sale and Purchase Agreement (the SPA) entered into between (1) the Council and (2) the Preferred Bidder (the recommended terms of sale) subject to the satisfaction of the condition in the SPA;

 

1b)      authorises the Director for Corporate Support (or any other officer authorised by him) to make any drafting or other amendments required to the recommended terms of sale to address any issues arising prior to completion, provided that such amendments do not affect the core terms of sale and provided that such amendments are made following consultation with the Project Board;

 

1c)       authorises the Director for Corporate Support (or any other officer authorised by him) to take all necessary steps for and on behalf of the Council that may be required in the SPA or in any of the documents referred to in the SPA or relate to the wider transaction contemplated by the SPA which shall include the documents listed in the Annex to this part I and part II report (transaction documents);

 

1d)      authorises the Head of Legal Services (or any other officer authorised by him) to agree and execute all documents required to effect the sale;

 

1e)      authorises the Director for Corporate Support (or any other officer authorised by him) to act as Authorised officer for the purposes of Article 7 of the Articles of Association of Plymouth CityBus Limited;

 

1f)        instructs all Council-nominated Non Executive Directors of Plymouth CityBus Limited to resign at the next meeting of the Board of Plymouth CityBus Limited or at such time as required by the Director for Corporate Support and instructs Barry Keel to transfer the share held by him in Trust for the Council as directed by the Director of Corporate Support.

 

(Councillors Viney, Stark, Drean, Mrs Dolan, Michael leaves, Sam Leaves, Martin Leaves, M Foster and Vincent left the meeting during the consideration of the above item.)