Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Nicholas Bennett JP, Peter Fookes, Ellie Harmer, Samaris Huntington-Thresher, Peter Morgan and Ian Payne. Apologies for late arrival were received from Councillor Julian Benington.

Councillor Angela Wilkins declared an interest in relation to the Statement of Licensing Policy (minute 122) as a personal alcohol license holder.

The minutes of the meeting held on 29^th June 2015 were confirmed.

Report CSD15119

A petition had been received from Ms Vicky Devaney headed “Save our Community Libraries” and asking the Council to continue to fund professionally staffed libraries at Burnt Ash, Mottingham, Shortlands, Southborough, Hayes and St Paul’s Cray.  The petition had more than 1,700 verified signatures on paper, plus over 1,200 signatures on an online petition.

Ms Devaney addressed the Council in support of her petition, beginning by stating that she now had over 3,000 signatures. She emphasised the importance of local libraries for children’s literacy and the need for professional staff in each library. She considered that using volunteers as cheap labour was not sustainable, would not maintain standards and would not provide the level of expertise needed to help children or support on-line services. She questioned whether any money could be saved using this approach.

Members discussed the petition, noting in particular the local concerns in Mottingham and other areas affected. In the context of the reductions in government grant faced by the Council, it was right to look for savings, but the Council had managed to avoid closing libraries, investing in new libraries in Biggin Hill, Orpington and Penge, and was determined to keep these small libraries open. No decisions had been a taken on community libraries, and the comments made would be taken into account.

A motion to take no further action was moved by Councillor Michael Rutherford, seconded by Cllr Stephen Carr and CARRIED.  

Questions must be received by 5pm on Tuesday 13^th October 2015.

Four questions for oral reply and one for written reply were received from members of the public. The questions and replies are set out in Appendix A to these minutes. 

Ten questions had been received from Members of the Council for oral reply. These are set out in Appendix B to these minutes.

Seventeen questions for written reply had been received from Members of the Council. These are set out in Appendix C to these minutes.

No statements were made.

Report CSD15122

A motion to note the Treasury Management Annual Report for 2014/15 and approve the actual prudential indicators in the report, and to approve an increase in the total investment limit for pooled investment vehicles from £25m to £40m, was moved by Councillor Graham Arthur, seconded by Councillor Stephen Carr and CARRIED.

Report CSD15123

A motion to agree a recommendation from the Executive to approve the inclusion of the £5.7m Housing Zone Bid into the Capital Programme was moved by Councillor Graham Arthur, seconded by Councillor Stephen Carr and CARRIED.

Report CSD15120

A motion to note the response to public consultation and adopt the Statement of Licensing Policy under the Licensing Act 2003 to have effect from 7^th January 2016, as recommended by General Purposes and Licensing Committee, was moved by Councillor Tim Stevens, seconded by Councillor Diane Smith and CARRIED.

Report CSD15121

A motion to note the response to public consultation and adopt the Statement of Gambling Policy under the Gambling Act 2005 to have effect from 31^st January 2016, as recommended by General Purposes and Licensing Committee, was moved by Councillor Tim Stevens, seconded by Councillor Diane Smith and CARRIED.

The following motion was moved by Cllr Angela Wilkins and seconded by Cllr Ian Dunn –

Commissioning

“This Council has made a commitment to commissioning as many services as possible. Whilst this policy does not have unanimous support, there is cross-party recognition that the way the Council operates and the way Members work will have to change. The work of the Contracts and Constitutional Improvement Working Groups should contribute to this, but that change can start immediately.

Commissioning has four key phases: strategic planning, procurement, monitoring/evaluation and review. Meetings that take place inside the civic centre focus primarily on the first two of these phases. In order to ensure our residents receive the services they are paying for, it is time to address this imbalance and to focus more on contract monitoring/evaluation and contract review.

This Council therefore resolves:

1.  To urge the Executive to provide all Members with easily accessible and concise information on service level agreements and KPIs for all contracts worth more than £50k per annum

2.  To request the amendment of the Executive and Resources PDS Committee workplan to include a review and to report back on the adequacy of staffing provision for client-monitoring of these contracts

3.  To urge the Executive to publish the agreed procedures and penalties should contractors not meet their contractual obligations

4.  To instruct the Executive and Resources PDS Committee to request the Contracts Working Party to conduct a full review of a recently concluded major contract

5.  To urge the Executive to make as much as possible of the information above available to the public

6.  To request all of the above by 30 April 2016”

An amendment so that the wording was as follows was moved by Councillor Graham Arthur and seconded by Cllr Simon Fawthrop -

Commissioning

“This Council has made a commitment to commissioning as many services as possible. Whilst this policy does not have unanimous support there is cross-party recognition that the way the Council operates, and the way Members work, will have to change. The work of the Contracts and Constitutional Improvement Working Groups should contribute to this. Commissioning has four key phases: Strategic Planning, Procurement, Monitoring/Evaluation and Review. Meetings that take place inside the Civic Centre focus primarily on the first two of these phases. However, in order to ensure our residents receive the services they are paying for, they should focus more on contract monitoring/evaluation and contract review.

This Council therefore resolves:

7.  To urge the Executive to provide all Members with easily accessible and concise information on Service Level Agreements and KPIs for all contracts worth more than £50k per annum.

8.  To urge the Executive to make as much as possible of the information above available to the public.”

On being put to the vote this amendment was CARRIED.

The motion as amended was CARRIED.

The Mayor informed Members about her visits to Yiyang in China and to Bromley’s twin town of Neuwied, and thanked Members who had attended her charity ball. She advised Members of the following forthcoming events –

·  Remembrance Sunday - wreaths and readings would be ready for collection a week or so before the event.

·  The Mayor’s Sci-Fi Show was being held on Saturday 14 November. This was an all-day expo in the Great Hall, followed by a Big Band Concert in the evening from a 30 plus strong band performing classic Sci-Fi soundtracks.

·  The Tamasha Restaurant in Widmore Road had agreed to host a charity dinner on Friday 11 December. Information for this event would be sent out in due course.