Meeting documents

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 23 May 2019.

A minutes silence was held in memory of former County Councillors Mr Roger Parker-Jervis and Mr Mike O’Sullivan who had recently passed away.

RESOLVED: The minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd May 2019 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

There were none.

Apologies were received from Mr Appleyard, Mr Bagge, Mrs Blake, Mr N Hussain, Mr Khan, Mrs Teesdale and Julia Wassell and from the High Sheriff, and Honorary Aldermen, Mr Allen, Mrs Miscampbell and Mr Ross.

The Chairman reported on a number of events he has attended since the last Council meeting in May.  He particularly highlighted the success of the recent Armed Forces Day which was held at Booker Airfield in High Wycombe.  He paid tribute to Mr Joe Bradshaw and his team for all their hard work in planning this event and also thanked all the volunteers on the day who helped to make it such a success.

The Chairman advised members that Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, Buckinghamshire’s Lord Lieutenant had recently been appointed Royal Knight Commander (KCBO) in recognition of his service to the Queen and her family. The Chairman was joined by local Air Cadets to present the Lord Lieutenant with a magnum of champagne in recognition of this achievement.  Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher thanked the Chairman for this gift and thanked the County Council for helping him to learn a lot about local democracy over the past 14 years.

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To be presented by Mr B Bendyshe-Brown.

The Chairman invited Mr W Bendyshe-Brown as the County Council’s representative on the Police and Crime Panel and Chiltern Conservation Board and the lead member for the Armed Forces Covenant to present his report.

During the presentation and in answer to subsequent member questions, the following main points were noted:

Police and Crime Panel

·         The Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel (TVPCP) scrutinises the work of the Police and Crime Commissioner. 

·         The Thames Valley Police (TVP) area covered 18 local authorities.

·         An increase in the Police precept had been agreed

·         It was noted that County Lines and knife crime was spreading out of London.

·         A member noted the increased police precept and hoped it would lead to the police being more responsive when travellers moved into an area, as had happened recently in High Wycombe.

·         A member asked what the PCC’s office was doing with regards to apprenticeships and asked for some figures on this.  Also there was concern about the numbers of PCSOs being reduced and an increase in crimes being reported. Mr Bendyshe-Brown was asked for a written response to clarify numbers. Mr Bendyshe-Brown did comment that many PCSOs in the area had gone on to become fully fledged Police Officers

·         It was noted that the new Prime Minister had promised to provide an additional 20,000 police officers nationally and members hoped that the PCC would lobby to ensure that TVP benefitted from this extra resource.

Chilterns Conservation Board

·         The Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is one of the most visited areas in the country.

·         The Chilterns Conservation Board has 27 members with four fifths of its funding coming from Government and the remaining fifth from local authorities. In addition, the Board can bid for other sources of funding.

·         The management plan for Chilterns AONB was updated in Feb this year.  

·         In June 2018 the Board reviewed the possibility of becoming a National Park but this would take many years to come about. 

·         It was reported that Sue Holden was retiring as Chief Executive Officer and would be replaced by Dr Elaine King.

Armed Forces Covenant

·         In 2012 the County Council had signed the Armed Forces Covenant, which had gone from strength to strength with a recent meeting being attended by 48 different organisations.

·         In the past year there had been three significant events – 100 years of the RAF which was marked by a celebration in Chesham, 100 years of cessation of World War 1, with many celebrations held across the County and in June, 12,000 people attended Armed Forces Day.

·         Mr Bendyshe-Brown thanked Joe Bradshaw’s team for their work in organising these events and thanked the Lord Lieutenant for his time in attending the celebrations and contributing to the working groups which planned them.

Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources presented the Treasury Management Annual Report.  During the presentation and in response to subsequent member questions the following main points were noted:

·         It was a statutory duty to present a report to Council on the previous year’s Treasury Management activity. The Council was fully compliant with the CIPFA code of practice and had reduced treasury risk through the repayment of three LOBO loans with a projected net saving of £10.4m.

·         Mr Chilver thanked the Treasury Management team for their prudent approach and the Regulatory and Audit Committee for their valuable contribution.

·         A member paid tribute to members of the Risk Management Group chaired by Mr David Martin for their careful scrutiny of this activity and thanked the officers who supported their work.

·         In response to a member’s question regarding the consolidated borrowing position of the new Unitary Council, Mr Chilver reported that the County Council had gross borrowing of £296million and £286million net borrowing.  The new Unitary Council would have circa £300million gross borrowing and £210 net borrowing.

·         A member asked how much of the County Council’s debt was related to investment properties and it was agreed that Mr Chilver would provide this figure after the meeting.

RESOLVED: Council AGREED the Treasury Management Annual Report and the actual Prudential Indicators for 2018/19.

Mr Martin Tett, Chairman of the Senior Appointments and Bucks Pay Award Committeeintroduced the report.

RESOLVED: Council AGREED the Council’s Annual Pay Policy Statement 2019/20, as recommended by the Senior Appointments and Bucks Pay Award Committee.

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment introduced the Buckinghamshire Minerals and Waste Plan, explaining that it was a statutory requirement for Council to agree the up to date plan.  The plan had taken many years to develop and the Cabinet Member paid tribute to all the officers and previous Cabinet Members who had contributed to it, particularly highlighting the work of Ismail Mohammed who had led this work.  Ismail had recently left the County Council having taken up a new post on St Helena.

A number of members echoed the Cabinet Members thanks to the officers as they appreciated the significant work which had gone into the Plan.  A member also noted that officers had been very supportive of a local brick making company in her division, assisting with procedures around clay extraction.

A member raised particular concerns about the Ouse Valley, asking if mitigation for flooding and access had been included in the Plan. In response, the Cabinet Member explained that a site assessment had been undertaken and the Strategic Flood Management team and the Environment Agency had not identified any issues at this time.

RESOLVED: Council AGREED the adoption and publication of the Buckinghamshire Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2016-2036

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 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 Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing

H Cabinet Member for Education & Skills

Leader

Mr M Tett highlighted the following points:

·         The consultation on a potential third runway at Heathrow was open and the Leader urged all members to look at the consultation document, as this would have a dramatic effect on the whole of the County. The possible introduction of significant fees for dropping off passengers at the terminals could lead to offsite parking issues in the Iver area.

·         To date, three formal meetings of the Shadow Executive had been held and there had been a real sense of collaboration and joint working from representatives of all five existing councils, which was very positive for the creation of the new Unitary.

·         It was noted that the new Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government was Robert Jenrick and the new Minister for Housing was Esther McVey.

In response to Members’ questions the following main points were noted:

·         The Armed Forces Community Covenant was included in one of the workstreams for the new Unitary Council.

·         Following a disappointing response from Chris Grayling in response to the Council’s notice of motion on HS2, a member asked if the Leader would be pressing for a meeting with the new Secretary of State for Transport.  The Leader confirmed that he would want to have early discussions about HS2 and also the routing of the Cambridge to Oxford Expressway.

·         The Council’s position would remain steadfast – the Leader had always opposed HS2 and the Council gave qualified support to the expansion of Heathrow, always pressing for mitigation for areas such as Iver which would be impacted most, in partnership with South Bucks District Council.

·         In response to a Member’s concern about inappropriate content on Social Media, the Leader commented that he always encouraged members to conduct themselves with dignity and courtesy and this should also apply online.  Often there was a motivation to make social media posts interesting to stimulate debate, but they should remain respectful and discrimination of any kind was not appropriate.  Another member noted that any discriminatory or offensive posts on social media should be reported to the relevant monitoring officer.

·         It was noted that the new Prime Minister had promised to ‘fix the crisis in social care once and for all’. The Leader agreed that he would continue to press Government on resolving the funding issues for Social Care.  The Green Paper had been delayed five times and a resolution was vital for both local government funding and the dignity of older people and adults with learning difficulties.

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transportation

Mr M Shaw highlighted the following:

·         The Cabinet Member apologised for the recent traffic issues on the A41, which were caused when a developer removed traffic lights earlier than planned. Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB) had worked well with the developers to rectify the issues as quickly as possible.

In response to Members’ questions, the following main points were noted:

·         TfB had already completed their first round of weed spraying and had resources to undertake further sprays.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

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26 September 2019.

The next meeting would be held on Thursday 26^th September 2019 at 9.30am in The Oculus.