Meeting documents

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 21 February 2019.

RESOLVED:  The minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2019 were AGREED as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

There were none.

Apologies were received from:  Mr Appleyard, Mr Bendyshe-Brown,  Mr Etholen, Mr Peter Martin, Mr Shakespeare, Mr Reed and Mr Whyte and Hon Aldermen Mr Ross,  Mrs Letheren and Mrs Davies

The Chairman highlighted the recent Buckinghamshire County Council Workplace Hero Awards.  The Chairman’s update and winners appended to the minutes.

The Chairman also reported on a number of events since the last meeting and highlighted the following in particular:

• The Chairman thanked all colleagues involved in the Christmas present appeal.
• The recent Chesham Community Event
• The opening of The Exchange in Aylesbury town centre which was well attended.
• The British Legion Cadets Awards held at the Oculus, The Gateway.

There were none.

The Chairman introduced the Annual Report of the Select Committees and asked the Chairman of each committee if they had anything to add to the report.

Health and Adult Social Care

Mr B Roberts thanked the committee for their hard work and colleagues in Democratic Services for their support.  Mr Roberts stated that he wanted to ensure that the excellent scrutiny work carried out by the County Council was carried forward into the new authority.

In response to how the public could be more involved in the HASC Select Committee, Mr Roberts stated that a number of approaches had been tested and he welcomed ideas from Members on how this could be improved.

Children’s Social Care and Learning

Mr D Dhillon thanked Members of the committee, Democratic Services and officers for their support.  He also mentioned the complex areas within the committee’s remit that would need to be highlighted moving forward into the new authority.  Mr Dhillon highlighted that there were now two primary school governors on the committee.

Transport, Environment and Communities

Mr D Carroll thanked the team for their work and highlighted the volume of work the committee had got through and looked to future work which included HS2 attending to discuss community engagement.

Finance, Performance and Resources

Mr D Watson thanked members for their continued commitment and support.  Mr Watson highlighted recent progress on recommendations made by the committee which included how the public could have an increased view on how money was spent.  Mr Watson also highlighted the unique opportunity ahead in becoming a unitary authority.

Mrs Clarke thanked colleagues in Democratic Services for their administration of all four select committees.

RESOLVED:  Council NOTED the Annual Report of the Select Committees.

The Chairman advised that a revised report had been published as a supplement.

Council considered the report and recommendations.

RESOLVED:  Council CONFIRMED the political balance in the distribution of seats across Committees be as set out in Tables 1 and 2 in the supplement report, to accord with the rules on proportionality.

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.

A Leader of the Council

B Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transportation

C Cabinet Member for Planning & Environment

D Cabinet Member for Community Engagement & Public Health

E Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

F Cabinet Member for Resources

G Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing

H Cabinet Member for Education & Skills

Leader

Mr M Tett highlighted the following updates:

• The Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) bid was essential to provide infrastructure upfront to accommodate housing growth. 
• The bid was submitted in February/ March 2019 and a result was expected by summer. An evaluation of the report would now not be given until June which would result in a delay in announcement. 
• Mr Tett had written to Homes England to draw attention to the fact that the funding was essential.

In response to Member questions, the Leader highlighted the following:

·         A formal welcome was given to Ms Julia Upton, MBE as the new High Sherriff for Buckinghamshire.

• The structural change order for the unitary council had been laid but not yet made as it still had to be debated and agreed by the House of Commons and House of Lords. 
• The councils had entered into an agreement collectively for a proposal that all Members would work within the parameters set down by government  in the structural change order. Two meetings had taken place, one of which agreed a spend protocol around new expenditure.
• Mr Tett expressed concerns that the authority was about to enter into a 10 year+ waste contract just before the formation of the unitary organisation.
• Although concerns were expressed over financial pressures due to the high figure of elected Members in the new authority, it was hoped that this would encourage diversity in  the election of new Members.
• The Shadow Authority would come into effect when it was passed through parliament.
• Buckinghamshire County Council(BCC) recognised the need for a bypass for the Ivers and the Aylesbury area to provide for a link around Aylesbury to accommodate the high levels of traffic caused by high housing growth.  This supported the argument for the importance of HIF.  BCC would champion that the bypass be dualled from the beginning as opposed to a single carriage way.

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transportation

Mr M Shaw highlighted the following updates:

• A new contracts manager for Ringway Jacobs had been recruited.  Ms Louise McCann would be joining the organisation from Northamptonshire County Council. 
• A Modern United Nations debate would take place at The Oculus the following day. This would include 150 young people and would be on the topic of extremism.

In response to Member questions, the Deputy Leader highlighted the following:

• Regular meetings were being held with HS2 who were being pushed to disclose information on HS2 traffic numbers.
• Mr Shaw had accepted an invitation to visit the south of the county and view the newly implemented parking sensors following Mr A Collingwood’s disappointment in the system.
• In response to concerns raised on damage to footways caused by utility companies, residents were encouraged to contact BCC to report damages so that licenses could be checked.
• Reassurance was given that outstanding road schemes from the previous year would be reinstated and delivered.
• Mr Shaw gave apologies to Mr Lambert and Ms Glover for distress caused to residents due to the rising bollards  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Chairman advised that a Motion to Council: "Enabling works for HS2 in Buckinghamshire" had been received from Mr Clare.

Mr Clare proposed the motion and highlighted his main points (appended to the minutes).

Mrs Macpherson seconded the motion and highlighted her main points to Council (appended to the minutes).

Mr Tett, Leader highlighted the following points:

• The long and proud record held by the Council in opposition to HS2.  The Council had been at the forefront of campaigning and had actively lobbied for mitigations since the bill had been passed.  Mr Tett stated that HS2 were woefully short with those mitigations
• The business case was flawed and the money could be better spent on improvements to existing commuter routes, high speed broadband and west to east connectivity.
• Mr Tett urged the Government to stop HS2 now and not to press ahead with a flawed business case. 
• Mr Tett looked forward in anticipation of the motion being passed and writing to the Secretaries of State on this dual strategy that impacted not only transport but also the environment.
• Dame Cheryl Gillan MP on the anticipated passing of the motion would also write to the Secretaries of State in support.
• Building on the success of the motion going through the district councils, Mr Tett stated that they spoke as one council to stop HS2 and urged Members to support the motion.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Lambert, highlighted the following points:

• Mr Lambert rose to support the motion.
• Following the announcement of HS2 in 2010 there had been immediate opposition due to the environmental impact.
• People’s property, the impact on local wildlife and the damage to historic woodland had not been taken into account.  Concerns were expressed over the effect on climate change and habitats.
• Dame C Gillan, MP had been a champion against  HS2 throughout the campaign and had spoken regularly in parliament. 
• Aylesbury MP, Mr David Lidington had formed a committee to vote against HS2 every step of the way, but had not followed through with this.
• Progression of transport lines needed to be made, but HS2 was not using modern technology to do this and was not the right approach,
• Birmingham would gain a lot of benefits from HS2 and had spent millions of pounds on upgrading the infrastructure of the city centre to accommodate the project.  It was suggested that the full environmental impact was not understood.
• Mr Lambert wanted the motion to be amended to include all MPs in Buckinghamshire and not just the government. 
• Mr Lambert thanked the HS2 BCC Officers for the work they had done.

The Chairman invited Members to debate the motion and the following main points were made:

• The business case for HS2 was not strong.
• The concerns of residents had not been taken into account by HS2.
• HS2 would have a serious impact on the environment, local wildlife and habitats.
• The project should be discontinued, and funding should be used to improve the existing railway lines.
• Money would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

RESOLVED: Cabinet NOTED the report.

23 May 2019 – AGM and Annual Debate

23 May 2019.