Meeting documents

To confirm the minutes of the Council meeting held on Thursday 16 February 2017.

The Minutes of the Council meeting held on 16 February 2017 were agreed as a correct record.

Mr B Roberts presented a petition on behalf of residents for protection markings at the junction of Blenheim Place with Mandeville Road.

Mr P Gomm presented a petition on behalf of the residents of Limes Avenue and Regent Road, Bedgrove for traffic calming and HGV weight restriction measures.

Apologies were received from Sir H Aubrey-Fletcher, Mr P Kara, Mr C Adams, Mr D Hayday, Julia Wassell and Mr K Ross MBE DL.

The Chairman reported on events since the last Council meeting, highlighting in particular:

·         Citizenship Ceremonies;

·         The High Sheriff handover ceremony;

·         A memorial service for Alderman Francis Robinson on Friday 28^th April at 2.30pm in Great Missenden;

·         Congratulations to Sara Turnbull, Head of Member Services on the birth of Rowan.

The Chairman thanked Mr D Johnston, Director of Children’s Services for his contribution and hard work.

The Chairman thanked all the County Councillors for their support, particularly those who were not seeking re-election. 

Mr D Dhillon declared a pecuniary interest in item 9 as he was currently employed by Heathrow Airport.

Mr R Reed declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 9 as he was a past employee of Heathrow Airport.

Mr S Lambert declared an interest in item 9 as he had represented the County Council at the Heathrow Advisory Group meetings.

For Council to note the Annual Report from the Armed Forces Covenant.

Mr B Bendyshe-Brown, in his role as the County Council’s Armed Forces Champion, presented the report to Council.

Mr Bendyshe-Brown explained that the Covenant was a promise from the nation that those who serve or have served in the armed forces, and their families were treated fairly. Council was informed that Buckinghamshire was well represented by Armed Forces with over 4,000 regular military personnel serving at the stations and over 100 reservists.  In July 2012, the County Council signed an agreement to honour the Community Covenant.

Mr Bendyshe-Brown encouraged Councillors to obtain a wreath from the Civic and Ceremonial team on Remembrance Sunday.

Mr Bendyshe-Brown reported on the following events:

·         Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Armed Forces Day on Saturday 17 June 2017 between 12 noon and 7pm at Aylesbury Rugby Club to coincide with the Queen’s event in London. 

·         A service at St. Mary’s Church in Chesham at 3pm to mark the 100^th year of the Royal Air Force.

·         Various events would be planned to commemorate 100 years since the end of World War 1.

In response to Members’ questions, Mr Bendyshe-Brown made the following comments:

·         The County Council works closely with the District Councils and held an event earlier in the year for the Business Community to encourage businesses to recognise the role of reservists and promoting opportunities for those leaving the service.

·         Members were encouraged to show their support for the following organisations - the British Legion, RAF Benevolent Fund and SSAFA.

·         Support was provided to families who had a family member serving abroad.

RESOLVED

Council NOTED the Annual Report on the Armed Forces Covenant.

For Council to note the Annual Report and Recommendations Monitoring Report of the Select Committees 2016/17.

The Chairmen of the Select Committees presented their report to Council.

Mr B Chapple reported that the Finance, Performance and Resources Select Committee had continued to have a busy and successful year.  Council was told that the recommendations made in the Income Generation Inquiry report had been agreed by Cabinet and many of the recommendations had already been implemented.  Mr Chapple thanked the Members on the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry and explained that the public had been actively encouraged to participate this year and all their questions had received a response.

Mr D Dhillon, Chairman of the Children’s Social Care & Learning Select Committee, reported that the Committee had been busy and the Committee meetings had been well attended by the Members.  Mr Dhillon gave thanks to Mrs V Letheren for her support and work as the past Chairman of the Select Committee.

Mr D Carroll, Chairman of the Transport, Environment and Communities Select Committee, reported that the recommendations made in the Committee’s latest Inquiry report on Sustainable School Travel in Buckinghamshire had all been agreed by Cabinet and the progress would be monitored.

The Chairman of the Health & Adult Social Care Select Committee, Mr B Roberts thanked the Members on the Committee for their hard work and support during the year.  Mr Roberts reported that the recommendations from the Hospital Discharge Inquiry were agreed by Cabinet (one recommendation was partially agreed) and went on to thank the officers in Member Services.

In response to a question around the procedure for Inquiry group recommendations, Mr Carroll stressed the openness and transparency of the process.  Mr Chapple explained that the recommendations were discussed and agreed by the Select Committee and a meeting took place with the relevant Cabinet Member as a matter of courtesy.  Mr Dhillon added that the progress on the recommendations was monitored by the Select Committee at 6 and 12 months.

Mr M Tett, as Leader of the Council, concluded that the Select Committees were cross-party and objective.  Mr Tett confirmed that recommendations were only discussed by the Cabinet Member as a matter of courtesy and that no vetting of the recommendations took place.

In response to a question around bringing the new Committee Members up to speed on the Select Committee issues, all Chairmen confirmed that this would be a priority for the new Council. 

RESOLVED

Council NOTED the Select Committee Annual Report & Recommendations Monitoring Report.

For Council to note the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy Refresh.

Mr M Appleyard, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing presented the report to Council and explained that the report had been discussed at the Health and Wellbeing Board in March.

In response to questions from Members, Mr Appleyard highlighted that partnership working with health partners had improved and confirmed that the strategy needed to be implemented quickly in order to help address the financial challenges facing the whole system.  Mr Appleyard explained that the Health and Wellbeing Board would monitor the progress and was introducing themed meetings to look at each strategic priority in turn.

RESOLVED

Council NOTED the refreshed Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

To note the written report of Cabinet Members, and any written questions & responses received.

To receive any additional verbal updates from Cabinet Members on their reports, as well as provide an opportunity for any oral questions from Members.

8a. Leader of the Council

8b. Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing

8c. Cabinet Member for Resources

8d. Cabinet Member for Transportation

8e. Cabinet Member for Planning & Environment

8f.  Cabinet Member for Community Engagement & Public Health

8g. Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

8h. Cabinet Member for Education & Skills

8a. Leader of the Council

In questions to the Leader, the following points were made:

·         The £625,000 match funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) would be used to help fund the bigger projects identified by the Strategic Alliance.  The DfT would be looking to the Strategic Alliance to provide strategic input into the next Road Investment Strategy and Rail Investment Strategy.

·         Phase 1 of the broadband roll-out project had been completed.  Phase 2 would be funded by both the LEP and the District Councils who were also responsibility for determining the timescales around when, and where this would be rolled out.  Discussions had commenced around further expanding coverage with a third Contract but no timescale had been agreed.

·         The officer support team working on HS2 would be happy to put residents in touch with the relevant organisations but it was outside of their remit to get involved in specific negotiations.

8b. Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing

In response to Members’ questions, Mr M Appleyard explained that all Members were briefed on Bucks Care and that the planned savings had been made.  Mr Appleyard confirmed that Bucks Care would continue to be monitored closely.

8c. Cabinet Member for Resources

Mr J Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources confirmed that there was nothing to add to the report and there were no further questions from Members.

8d. Cabinet Member for Transportation

In response to Members’ questions, the Cabinet Member for Transportation, Mr M Shaw made the following points:

·         Plans were currently being drawn up for gully clearing across the county.

·         In relation to concerns raised about the Transport for Buckinghamshire contract (TfB) and issues around how performance was awarded, Mr Shaw confirmed that the contract could be reviewed in the new Council.

·         Regarding the £1m underspend in the capital budget, Mr Shaw confirmed that £17.9m had been put into road repairs so the money had been used to improve the roads across the county.

·         Gratitude was expressed for school crossing patrol officers.  Mr Shaw encouraged Members to spend time with their relevant officers.

8e. Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment

Mr W Whyte, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment, referred Members to the successful outcomes in tackling waste crime in the County as outlined in the report. 

In response to Members’ questions, the Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment made the following points:

·         Mr Whyte confirmed that he would pass on the Council’s thanks to the enforcement team. 

·         Members were encouraged to report incidents of fly tipping as soon as possible.

·         In response to a question about how the savings would be achieved, Mr Whyte explained that the £150m was a mixture of savings and missed costs.

·         The Development Control Committee and Planning Officers were thanked for their hard work over the year.

8f. Cabinet Member for Community Engagement & Public Health

Mrs M Aston, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement & Public Health, highlighted the success of Active Bucks with a significant number of people taking up  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Motion 1: The Expansion of Heathrow Airport

Mr M Tett proposed the Motion for the Council to support the Government’s preferred option of a third runway at Heathrow.  This support was conditional upon adequate measures to mitigate the impact on residents.  Mr M Shaw seconded the Motion.

In debate, the following points were made:

·         As seconder of the proposal, Mr M Shaw commented that many businesses in Buckinghamshire benefit from Heathrow and the County would continue to benefit from more jobs and economic prosperity if a third runway went ahead.

·         There was an understanding about the detrimental impact on the residents in South Bucks, particularly in the Iver area.

·         Support for a third runway would need to be accompanied by heavy lobbying to mitigate the impact on residents.

·         A third runway would provide the County with additional jobs and economic prosperity and mitigation should focus around increasing road and rail capacity for the County.

·         Information about the proposal had been extensively reviewed ad briefings had been sent to all Members.

·         That there were two consultations: one was dealing with the expansion of Heathrow and the one was around the proposed changes of the flights paths.  Mr Tett made it clear that the County needed to respond to both consultations and stressed the importance of mandating officers to the consultations.

·         That the congestion in the south of the County needed to be looked at and improvements needed to be made to the rail links but the economic benefits would be advantageous for the County.

·         That the development provided an opportunity to improve the infrastructure.

Concerns were expressed around:

·         Increased air pollution and the importance of monitoring.

·         The impact on the environment from emissions.

·         The detrimental impact on Buckinghamshire, with inadequate mitigation to deal with a potential increase in child asthma and additional traffic on the M25.

·         The lack of supporting information. 

·         The appropriateness of the Motion being raised during Purdah.

A recorded vote was proposed, supported and taken as follows:

Members for: Mr M Appleyard, Mrs M Aston, Mr B Bendyshe-Brown, Mrs P Birchley, Mrs J Blake, Mr N Brown, Mr A Busby, Mr T Butcher, Mr D Carroll, Mr B Chapple, Mr J Chilver, Mrs L Clarke, Mr T Egleton, Mrs N Glover, Ms L Hazell, Mr P Irwin, Mrs V Letheren, Mrs A Macpherson, Mrs W Mallen, Mr D Martin, Mr Z Mohammed, Mr R Reed, Mr B Roberts, Mr D Schofield, Mr R Scott, Mr D Shakespeare, Mr M Shaw, Mr A Stevens, Mrs J Teesdale, Mr M Tett, Mr D Watson, Mr W Whyte and Ms K Wood

Members against: Mrs A Davies, Mr C Ditta, Mr R Khan, Mr S Lambert

Members abstained: Mr B Adams, Mr A Huxley, Mr R Stuchbury

The motion was carried with 33 in favour, 4 against and 3 abstentions.

RESOLVED

The Council NOTED the Department for Transport’s consultation on a National Policy Statement for runway capacity in the south east of England.  As a result of the economic benefits  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

 The information was noted.

The information was noted.

The next meeting of Council will be on Thursday 18 May at 9.30am in the Oculus, Aylesbury.

Thursday 18 May 2017 at 9.30am in The Oculus, AVDC, Gatehouse Way, Aylesbury.