Agenda and minutes

The Chairman noted that although Chairman’s Remarks were not usually included on an Extraordinary Council agenda he would be exercising the Chairman’s prerogative to make an announcement.

It was with regret that he needed to announce that George McGeachie, a former Conservative councillor from Burghfield had recently passed away. Mr McGeachie  had represented Burghfield from 1983 to  1995, when he did not stand.  He was Chairman of Newbury District Council in 1988/89 and had also served as a Governor at Willink School. The Chairman asked all those present to observe a minute’s silence.

Councillors Adrian Edwards, David Goff, Jeff Beck, James Fredrickson, Lynne Doherty, Jeanette Clifford, Mike Johnston and Alan Macro declared an interest in Agenda Item 4, and reported that, as their interest was personal and prejudicial they would be leaving the meeting during the course of consideration of the matter.

By way of explanation the Deputy Monitoring Officer explained that in relation to Item 4 authority was being sought to delegate to the Head of Legal Services the authority to make a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) in respect of the land identified in the report, for the purpose of creating a new junction from the A339 onto Fleming Road in Newbury.  The land affected included land which was leased to Newbury Town Council (NTC).

Members who were both Members of West Berkshire Council and NTC would therefore  have a personal interest (see paragraph 4.2.2 of West Berkshire Council’s Code of Conduct) in this item. In addition  as the proposal could affect the financial position of NTC these Members with a personal interest could also be deemed to have an ‘Other Interest’ (Para 4.5.1 of the Code of Conduct).

Where a Member had an ‘Other Interest’, they were only permitted to make representations to the extent that the public would be able to do so.  As the public were not entitled to speak at meetings of Council, they were therefore required to leave the room while the item was being considered (Para 4.5.3).

To advise the Council of the Communities Directorate's response to Ofsted's judgement of our Children's Services to be "inadequate", and of the improvement plans to make sure the service becomes "good" in line with the Council's Strategy.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 3) concerning the response from the Communities Directorate to Ofsted’s judgement of the Council’s Children’s Services as being ‘inadequate’. The report also provided the Council with the draft Ofsted Improvement Plan that included the resources that were immediately required to move the service out of inadequate and to start the journey to ‘good’.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Lynne Doherty and seconded by Councillor Gordon Lundie:

That the Council:

“approve the Improvement Plan to ensure Children’s Services were no longer inadequate”.

Councillor Doherty drew Members’ attention to the revised table replacing the one on page 66 in the agenda that had been tabled at the meeting. The table included some minor amendments to the figures.

Councillor Doherty in introducing the item noted that in March 2015, Ofsted had carried out an inspection of West Berkshire’s Children and Families Services. The outcome of the inspection was that the Council’s ‘services for children in need of help and protection’ were judged to be ‘inadequate’ and therefore the local authority’s overall effectiveness in delivering children and family services was judged to be inadequate too. The Leader had confirmed at the 19^th May 2015 Council meeting that a full response would be brought to a Full Council meeting.

The Ofsted report contained 17 recommendations which had to be implemented effectively and of those 1,7 four were for ‘Priority and Immediate Action and a further 13 were ‘Areas for Improvement’. The Council was also publicly committed to achieving ‘good’ standards of safeguarding, which was delivered through its children and family services. 

Councillor Doherty noted that the Council was required to submit a response to the Department for Education (DfE) by the 24^th August 2015. This Improvement Plan would be the core document against which improvement in the service would be monitored and evaluated. The Improvement Plan was a required mandatory response to an Ofsted ‘inadequate’ judgement and the Council was recommended to approve it and to monitor its implementation.

The focus at this particular time was on taking the necessary remedial actions to bring the service out of ‘inadequate’. In January 2016 firm proposals to carry forward the next phase of service improvement would be brought to the Council’s Executive for consideration and agreement. Councillor Doherty noted that initial feedback suggested that the Improvement Plan was being well received by the DfE and the relevant Minister.

Councillor Mollie Lock noted that the Ofsted inspection had highlighted that much of the Children’s Services work was not inadequate. She was however concerned that Members had only had a short time to consider the report. She commented that representatives from the DfE would be visiting the Council the following day which would not give Officers much time to make any post Council adjustment to the report.

One of the most significant issues that would need to be resolved was the shortage of social workers. Councillor Lock stated that 33% of the workforce were agency workers which resulted in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

(1)          To obtain authority from Full Council to purchase private land by agreement or by using compulsory purchase powers under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 to enable a new junction to be built from the A339 onto Fleming Road in Newbury.

(2)          To appropriate the land within the scheme for planning purposes.

(Councillors Jeff Beck, Jeanette Clifford, Lynne Doherty, Adrian Edwards, James Fredrickson, Dave Goff and Mike Johnston declared a personal and prejudicial  interest in Agenda Item 4 by virtue of the fact that they were all Members of Newbury Town Council. As their interest was a personal and a prejudicial interest they left the meeting at 7.30pm and took no part in the debate or voting on the matter)

(Councillor Alan Macro declared a personal and prejudicial interest in Agenda Item 4 by virtue of the fact that he was an Officer in a negotiation with another company on the site. As his interest was a personal and a prejudicial interest he left the meeting at 7.30pm and took no part in the debate or voting on the matter)

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 4) concerning the purchase of private land by agreement or by using compulsory purchase powers under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 to enable a new junction to be built from the A339 onto Fleming Road in Newbury and to appropriate the land within the Scheme for planning purposes.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Garth Simpson and seconded by Councillor Graham Pask:

That the Council:

“having given consideration to all the provisions of this report including the impact on Human Rights and Equalities resolves to delegate authority to the Head of Legal Services to make a Compulsory Purchase Order(s) and other such powers as detailed in section 11 of this report.”

Councillor Simpson in introducing the item noted that the re-development of the London Road Industrial Estate was identified as a priority in the Local Plan (West Berkshire Core Strategy, Area Delivery Plan Policy 2).  The site was home to mainly industrial uses, predominantly relating to the motor trade. The London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE)  had remained largely untouched in the last 40 years as the generally poor condition of the building stock conveyed.  Providing access to the LRIE from the A339 would facilitate the regeneration of the LRIE which would deliver economic growth, creating additional jobs and would regenerate and integrate this part of the town.

Councillor Simpson explained that the provision of a new junction directly onto the A339 would assist with unlocking this site. Whilst planning permission had been sought and granted in the past for the delivery of the new junction onto the A339 by a private developer, such planning permission lapsed without implementation and the market had not been able to bring forward the access road to date.  It was the Council's view that the cost of delivering the access road meant that the road would not be delivered by a private developer alone and would need the intervention of the Council supported by public funds.

Councillor Simpson noted that the Council had successfully bid for grant funding from the Local Enterprise Partnership Local Growth Fund towards the provision of this junction, which would connect Fleming  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.