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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Zoom Meeting. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services Team 

Media

Items
No. Item

52.

Chairman's Remarks

The Chairman to report on functions attended since the last meeting and other matters of interest to Members.

Minutes:

The Chairman announced that the number of events had been reduced this year due to the Covid pandemic but a few events had taken place via Zoom which included:

·         Community Santa and Giving Tree – these events had been well supported.

·         Annual Recognition Event – The Chairman said that was extremely proud of all the staff who had managed to keep services functioning during this difficult time. He specifically mentioned the Waste Services Team who had ensured that there was very little impact on waste collections during the year.

·         Community Champion – The Chairman stated that this had been the best year for this award with over 90 people commended. All those people who had been nominated were winners in his view and he thanked all those who had helped out in their communities at this difficult time. The ceremony had been live streamed on YouTube so more people could see the event as it happened.

The Chairman also informed Members that the annual related party forms had been posted today. The forms would have written guidance attached to assist in completing the form which would relate to the period 1 April 2020 to the 31 March 2021 and need to be returned by the 12 April 2021.

53.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 455 KB

The Chairman to sign as a correct record the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 3 December 2020.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 3 December 2020 were approved as a true and correct record and the Chairman gave his authority for his electronic signature to be attached to these Minutes.

54.

Declarations of Interest

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer announced that in respect of items 17 and 18 (Capital Strategy and Programme 2021/22 to 2023/24 and Revenue Budget 2021/22): all Members had completed an Application for a Grant of a Dispensation in relation to “any beneficial interest in land within the Authority’s area.” The Monitoring Officer had previously granted the dispensation to allow all Members to speak and vote on this item.

There were also a number of personal interests declared in relation to agenda items and these were set out below and would be published on the Council’s website.

Councillor

Description

Abbs, Adrian

·         Greenham Parish Councillor

·         Trustee of  Stroke Care Newbury & West Berkshire (Stroke Care get a grant from the Council and Councillor Abbs was appointed in a personal capacity)

Ardagh-Walter, Steve

·         Thatcham Town Councillor

·         Member of the Kennet Leisure Centre Joint Advisory Committee (Council appointee)

·         Member of Henwick Worthy Joint Management Committee (Council appointee)

Argyle

·         Member of Willink Joint Advisory Committee (Council appointee)

Beck, Jeff

·         WBC’s Representative on the Board of ReadiBus

·         WBC’s Representative on the Board of Volunteer Centre West Berkshire

·         Trustee of the Corn Exchange Newbury Ltd

·         WBC appointed Member of the Henwick Worthy Joint Management Committee Board

·         WBC appointed to the Kennet Leisure Centre Committee

Benneyworth, Dennis

·         Member of Royal Berkshire Fire Authority

Brooks, Jeff

·         Member of Royal Berkshire Fire Authority

Bridgman, Graham

·         Stratfield Mortimer Parish Councillor

·         Investment in Abundance (Community Municipal Investment)

Culver, Carolyne

·         Investments in Abundance and had bought some of the WBC Community Municipal Investment bonds

Doherty, Lynne

·         Investment in Abundance (Community Municipal Investment)

Hurley, Gareth

·         Pangbourne Parish Councillor

Jeffery, Owen

·         Thatcham Town Councillor

·         Substitute on Henwick Worthy Joint Management Committee (appointed by Thatcham Town Council)

·         Member of  Kennet Leisure Centre Joint Advisory Committee (Thatcham Town Council appointment)

·         In receipt of a pension from the Royal Berks Pension fund

Jones, Rick

·         Purley on Thames Parish Councillor

Law, Alan

·         Berkshire Pension Fund Advisory Panel (Council appointee)

Linden, Tony

·         Member of Royal Berkshire Fire Authority

Longton, Royce

·         Burghfield Parish Councillor

Mackinnon, Ross

·         Member of Willink Joint Advisory Committee (Council appointee)

Marino, Tom

·         Tilehurst Parish Councillor

Marsh, David

·         Investments in Abundance and had bought some of the WBC Community Municipal Investment bonds

Masters, Steve

·         Trustee for the Donnington Hospital Trust (West Berkshire council Appointment)

·         Trustee of Eight Bells

·         Trustee Mobile Phone Museum

Rowles, Claire

·         Trustee on the Board of the Citizens Advice Bureau (Council appointed)

Simpson, Garth

·         Member of Royal Berkshire Fire Authority

Somner, Richard

·         Holybrook Parish Councillor

·         Employed by The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

Vickers, Tony

·         Greenham Parish Councillor

·         Newbury Town Councillor

·         Investment  in WBC Abundance bonds

 

55.

Petitions

Councillors may present any petition which they have received. These will normally be referred to the appropriate body without discussion.

Minutes:

There were no petitions presented to the meeting.

 

56.

Public Questions

Members of the Executive to answer the following questions submitted by members of the public in accordance with the Council’s Constitution. Please note that there were no questions submitted in relation to items not included on the agenda.

Minutes:

There were no public questions received.

57.

Membership of Committees

The Council to agree any changes to the membership of Committees.

Minutes:

There had been no changes to the membership of Committees since the previous Council meeting.

58.

Motions from Previous Meetings

To note the responses to Motions which have been presented to previous Council meetings.

 

a)    Response to the Motion from Councillor Jeff Brooks – Item 1 Delegated Officer Decision 6 January 2021

b)    Response to the Motion from Councillor Erik Pattenden – Item 9, Executive Agenda 17 December 2020

c)    Response to the Motion from Councillors Adrian Abbs and Steve Ardagh-Walter - Item 8, Executive Agenda 17 December 2020

d)    Response to the Motion from Councillor David Marsh - Item 10, Executive Agenda 17 December 2020

e)    Response to the Motion from Councillor Richard Somner – Item 21 on this agenda

f)     Response to the Motion from Councillor Martha Vickers – To be responded to as part of the 2021/22 budget papers on this agenda (Item 18).

Minutes:

Members were asked to note the responses to six Motions set out in the agenda which had been tabled at previous Council meetings.

As the motions had been discussed and responded to at either the Executive or via a Delegated Officer Decision it was not proposed to revisit the discussion on items (a) to (d) at this meeting.

Item (e) would be discussed as a separate agenda item and a response to item (f) had been included in the budget papers and could be discussed during that item.

Councillor Lee Dillon stated that in terms of the public being able to follow the documents it would have been useful to treat the Motions as had been the case with (e) which had been included on the agenda. He wanted to raise the issue that some of these Motion were lengthy and yet they had not been debated in the Chamber. Due to the referral process they had all been delegated to Part II meetings or meetings which were controlled by the Administration rather than the Council as a whole. He specifically referred to item (b) from Councillor Erik Pattenden in relation to the safer schools Motion. This had originally been tabled at the budget meeting in 2020 but it had taken until December 2020 for the Executive to respond to it and it was now being noted at Council. The Liberal Democrat group felt that the Council should be speedier in terms of a response and that debate should be had prior to Members making a decision.

Councillor Martha Vickers referred to her Motion (f) which it was proposed would be responded to as part of the budget papers where it could be seen that the Motion had been rejected. On the breaking news today it was stated that the Government had actually accepted the content of the Motion and that they would be making the £20 uplift in Universal Credit permanent. She felt that it was a shame that this Council had not been part of that lobbying process. She felt that it was disrespectful to the residents of West Berkshire, to herself as an elected Councillor and it was not democratic.

Councillor Jeff Brooks agreed with the comments already made. He himself had submitted a Motion which had been referred to the Executive but he now noted that it had been taken as a Delegated Officer Decision on 6 January 2021 with no debate. When a Motion had been submitted, and due to a political reason, was passed down to Officers to determine with no further debate, it was a disgrace.

Councillor Erik Pattenden confirmed that Motion (b) was the Safer Schools Motion and he was also disappointed that it had taken a whole year for the Council to hear the response to it. He felt that there were serious issues with the democratic processes of the Council.

Councillor Adrian Abbs referred to Motion (c) and stated that this Motion had been brought forward through cross party support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

59.

Licensing Committee

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of the Council, the Licensing Committee met on 8 February 2021.  Copies of the Minutes of this meeting can be obtained from Strategy and Governance or via the Council’s website.

Minutes:

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the Licensing Committee had met on 8 February 2021.

60.

Personnel Committee

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of the Council, the Personnel Committee met on 9 December 2020 and 12 February 2021.  Copies of the Minutes of these meetings can be obtained from Strategy and Governance or via the Council’s website.

Minutes:

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the Personnel Committee had met on 9 December 2020 and 12 February 2021.

61.

Governance and Ethics Committee

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of Council, the Governance and Ethics Committee met on 1 February 2021.  Copies of the Minutes of this meeting can be obtained from Strategy and Governance or via the Council’s website.

Minutes:

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the Governance and Ethics Committee had met on 1 February 2021.

62.

District Planning Committee

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of the Council, the District Planning Committee met on 10 February 2021.  Copies of the Minutes of this meeting can be obtained from Strategy and Governance or via the Council’s website.

Minutes:

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the District Planning Committee had met on 10 February 2021.

63.

Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of the Council, the Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission met on 26 January 2021 and 9 February 2021.  Copies of the Minutes of these meetings can be obtained from Strategy and Governance or via the Council’s website.

Minutes:

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee had met on 26 January 2021 and 9 February 2021.

64.

Joint Public Protection Committee

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of the Council, the Joint Public Protection Committee met on 15 December 2020.  Copies of the Minutes of this meeting can be obtained from Strategy and Governance or via the Council’s website.

Minutes:

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the Joint Public Protection Committee had met on 15 December 2020.

65.

Investment and Borrowing Strategy 2021/22 (C3980) pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Purpose: This report fulfils the Council’s legal obligation under the Local Government Act 2003 to have regard to the CIPFA Code and sets out the Council’s proposed Investment and Borrowing Strategy for 2021/22.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 15) concerning the Treasury Risk Management at the Council which was conducted within the framework of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s (CIPFA) Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice 2017 Edition (the CIPFA Code) which required the Council to approve a treasury management strategy before the start of each financial year. This report fulfilled the Council’s legal obligation under the Local Government Act 2003 to have regard to the CIPFA Code and set out the Council’s proposed Investment and Borrowing Strategy for 2021/22.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Ross Mackinnon and seconded by Councillor Howard Woollaston:

That the Council:

“Agree and adopt the proposed Investment and Borrowing Strategy for 2021/22; and

Agree and adopt the revised 2021 Property Investment Strategy”.

Councillor Ross Mackinnon stated that this strategy came in two parts – it dealt with investments and it also dealt with borrowing. The report laid out the approved deposit institutions for the Council’s treasury investments and also set prudential limits for those investments. It recommended borrowing limits for the next three years and together with a longer term forecast for the Council’s borrowing requirements. The Council’s external borrowing was kept under regular and close review to ensure that it was manageable and sustainable.

Councillor Mackinnon stated that one of the other organisations which had enabled local authority bond issues was Abundance Investments who facilitated enabling investors, both inside and outside of the district, to invest directly in the Council’s Environment Strategy. He was proud to have played a small part in such an innovative scheme.

Councillor Jeff Brooks agreed that there were good reasons to borrow for infrastructure etc. but he felt that the Council was overdoing it.

Councillor Lee Dillon felt that members of the public would be disconcerted to see the annual rent for 4 The Sector. It had a purchase price of £8m and with no annual rent as yet. Councillor Steve Masters understood that 4 The Sector had been let to a capacity of about 30% and he understood from a question he had asked previously that the Council would be able to manage about a year to 18 months without the income before it became a major issue. Perhaps it would have been better to invest in social housing whereby the Council would have been getting rent from much needed social tenants.

Councillor Erik Pattenden referred to paragraph 5.2 which stated that the impact of Coronavirus and Brexit would have a major influence on the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy but he asked what the impact of Brexit had been on businesses and residents in West Berkshire since 1 January 2021 as the national press had had a huge amount of coverage of how it had impacted on some sectors.

Councillor Adrian Abbs stated that he would like to see an asset value against all of the commercial investment as commercial properties had not been increasing in value recently. He also noted that capital was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

66.

Medium Term Financial Strategy 2021/22 to 2024/25 (C3981) pdf icon PDF 223 KB

Purpose: To set out the financial planning assumptions for future years and align these with the Council Strategy to ensure that the Council Strategy will be delivered. The MTFS highlights the overarching key issues facing the Council’s finances as well as how there are many different scenarios and uncertainty concerning the future revenue streams for the Council in the future.

The document will enable the Council to commence the next four years of the MTFS from a strong financial base and this position and future projections are highlighted in the report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 16) which set out the financial planning assumptions for future years and aligned these with the Council Strategy to ensure that the Council Strategy was delivered. The MTFS highlighted the overarching key issues facing the Council’s finances as well as how there were many different scenarios and uncertainties that concerned the future revenue streams for the Council in the future.

The Council was able to commence the next four years of the MTFS from a strong financial base and this position and future projections were highlighted in the report.  The full MTFS was set out in Appendix A.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Ross Mackinnon and seconded by Councillor Lynne Doherty:

That the Council:

approves and adopts the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2021/22 to 2024/25”.

Councillor Mackinnon in introducing the report stated that the MTFS four year programme had been built to ensure that the Council had the financial resources to deliver the Council Strategy. A key element of financial planning was that the forecast included a number of assumptions and uncertainties around both income and expenditure. The Local Government settlement for 2021/22 was broadly similar to the previous year but there were uncertainties around a number of income elements going forward such as the Fair Funding review, Adult Social Care and the New Homes Bonus. There were also unknowns in terms of expenditure particularly in relation to demand led services such as Adult Social Care and Children’s Services.  With so many uncertainties any four year forecast was going to be wrong but it was a key element of effective financial planning. Based on the assumptions that had been made it would be necessary for the Council to bridge a funding gap of £13.2m over the next three years. These savings would have to be met by transformation, digitisation and commercialisation. However, the Council had an excellent track record of delivering required savings in recent years without any cuts to frontline services. The key point was that the Council needed to have adequate reserves in place to smooth what would undoubtedly be an irregular pattern of savings. If the authority did not do this exercise and it just budgeted on a one year basis it would be in a precarious position if unexpected events were to occur or required savings proved to be temporarily unachievable.

Councillor Jeff Brooks stated that he could remember a time when there was not MTFS and it had muddled along. It was a useful planning exercise but only if it was accurate or as accurate as possible and within fairly tight parameters. In that way it would be possible to review what it was said would be done against what had actually happened. It would have been useful therefore to see a paragraph included in the report of outcomes against the MTFS over the last three years.

Councillor Tony Vickers noted that when reading the papers it had become apparent that half of the income received was not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

67.

Capital Strategy and Programme 2021/22 - 2023/24 (C3982) pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Purpose: To outline the Capital Strategy covering financial years 2021/22 - 2023/24 and the supporting funding framework, providing a high-level overview of how capital expenditure, capital financing and treasury management activity contribute to the provision of local public services along with an overview of how associated risk is managed and the implications for future financial sustainability.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to outline the Capital Strategy covering financial years 2021/22 – 2023/24 and the supported funding framework, having provided a high-level overview of how capital expenditure, capital financing and treasury management activity contributed to the provision of local public services along with an overview of how associated risk is managed and the implications for future financial sustainability.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Ross Mackinnon and seconded by Councillor Dominic Boeck:

That the Council:

(a)       approve the Capital Strategy and supporting Capital Programme for the period 2021/22-2023/24.

(b)       approve the supporting Minimum Revenue Provision Policy (appendix C) for the period 2021/22 – 2023/24.

(c)       approve the supporting Asset Management Strategy (appendix D).

(d)       approve the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Policy (appendix E) for the period 2021/22.

(e)       approve the proposed CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) Bids for inclusion in the Capital programme 2021/22 (appendix F).

Councillor Ross Mackinnon introduced the Capital Strategy and Programme for the next three years. The administration was proposing an investment in infrastructure of £123m over the three year period which would ensure that West Berkshire remained a great place to live, work, learn and to be healthy. This was particularly important given the past year which had been challenging for all and it would enable the community to build back better from those unprecedented challenges.

The Capital Programme provided substantial investment across the Council’s six priorities as set out in the Council Strategy and he specifically highlighted the fact that £40m would be invested in the People Directorate, £36m of which would sit within Education Services to provide new schools for children as well as new facilities, extensions and refurbishments to existing schools. £12m of funding would be set aside for highway improvement schemes in order to keep West Berkshire residents and businesses moving smoothly when people returned to work. Improvements were also proposed for railway stations, cycle and walking path upgrades. £12.5m would be invested in initiatives linked to the Environment Strategy of which £1.6m of carbon reduction initiatives and £10.4m which would be focused on solar photovoltaic energy generation. £900k of capital funding would be used to introduce separate food waste collections across the district and £500k would be allocated directly to community groups from a pilot scheme to tops slice and accelerate CIL payments to fund infrastructure improvements.

This Capital Programme would not just maintain existing services but it would invest in new schemes across all of the Council Strategy priorities. It was essential that the Capital Programme was sustainable and affordable and £53m of the three year programme was funded from external sources e.g. central government grants and s106/ CIL payments. Councillor Mackinnon stated that capital financing costs were only 9% of the revenue budget and that would remain so across the four year period of the MTFS.

AMENDMENT: Proposed by Councillor Jeff Brooks and seconded by Councillor Lee Dillon:

·         Invest and open Faraday Road Football Ground so that it was available for Community Football until any re-provision  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

68.

Revenue Budget 2021/22 (C3983) pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Purpose: To consider and recommend to Council the 2021-22 Revenue Budget, which proposes a Council Tax requirement of £104.32m, requiring a Council Tax increase of 1.99%. The Council Tax increase will raise £2.04m. The Council is not proposing any use of the Adult Social Care precept and there will therefore not be any increase in the precept. The overall Council Tax increase is intended to balance the financial impact of the pandemic on residents, mitigating the financial pressures they face, as well as the cost pressures that the Council faces.

The budget details the investment for the year ahead to deliver the Council Strategy and support core Council Services. This includes investment in Adult Social Care, economic development and prevention work. The budget also allocates revenue funding to deliver the Capital Strategy (separate paper) that has a substantial amount of investment in infrastructure for the year ahead, including savings proposals, other income sources and £3.2m of support from Government for Covid-19 costs. The Council is proposing to support the budget with a £2.2m contribution from reserves; it is rare that the Council would use such a sizeable level of one-off support for the budget but the impact of the pandemic on the current year budget, allied to Government financial support, has led to an expected underspend in the current year that is being proposed to partially use to support the 2021-22 budget.

This report also proposes the Fees and Charges for 2021-22 as set out in Appendix F and the Parish Expenses as set out in Appendix G and recommends the level of General Reserves as set out in Appendix E.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(All Members had been granted a dispensation by the Monitoring Officer to speak and vote on this item).

(Councillor Claire Rowles declared a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other registrable interest in agenda item 18 by virtue of the fact that she had been appointed as a trustee Member on the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. She would therefore be made an attendee for the duration of the item and would not vote or take part in the debate on the item).

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 18) concerning the 2021/22 Revenue Budget, which proposed a Council Tax requirement of £104.32m, requiring a Council Tax increase of 1.99%. The Council Tax increase would raise £2.04m. The Council was not proposing any use of the Adult Social Care precept and there would therefore not be any increase in the precept. The overall Council Tax increase was intended to balance the financial impact of the pandemic on residents, mitigating the financial pressures they faced, as well as the cost pressures that the Council faced.

The budget detailed the investment for the year ahead to deliver the Council Strategy and support core Council Services. This included investment in Adult Social Care, economic development and prevention work. The budget also allocated revenue funding to deliver the Capital Strategy (separate paper) that had a substantial amount of investment in infrastructure for the year ahead, including savings proposals, other income sources and £3.2m of support from Government for Covid-19 costs. The Council was proposing to support the budget with a £2.2m contribution from reserves; it was rare that the Council would use such a sizeable level of one-off support for the budget but the impact of the pandemic on the current year budget, allied to Government financial support, had led to an expected underspend in the current year that was being partially used to support the 2021/22 budget.

The report also proposed the Fees and Charges for 2020/21 as set out in Appendix F, the Parish Expenses as set out in Appendix G and recommended the level of General Reserves as set out in Appendix E.

Councillor Mackinnon introduced a minor alteration to the proposal for the revenue budget (recommendations at pages 123-125 of the agenda), and clarified that the recommendation at paragraph (10) was that Council: “Consider and reject the motion presented at the Council meeting of 3rd December 2020 regarding the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.”

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Ross Mackinnon and seconded by Councillor Lynne Doherty:

“That the Council:

(1)       approves the 2021-22 Council Tax requirement of £104.32 million, requiring a Council Tax increase of 1.99% with a 0% increase in the Council Tax Precept ring-fenced for adult social care;

(2)       the Fees and Charges are approved as set out in Appendix F and the appropriate statutory notices be placed where required;

(3)       the Parish Expenses of £6,410 are approved as set out in Appendix G;

(4)       provide a £150 reduction to Council Tax for claimants receiving Council Tax Reduction falling within a working  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

69.

Statutory Pay Policy 2021 (C3984) pdf icon PDF 421 KB

Purpose: To seek Council’s approval of the Statutory Pay Policy Statement for publication from 1 April 2021.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 19) concerning the approval of the Statutory Pay Policy Statement for publication from 1 April 2021.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Jo Stewart and seconded by Councillor Garth Simpson:

That the Council:

approve the Statutory Pay Policy Statement for publication from 1 April 2021”.

Councillor Jo Stewart referred to the amendment to this item in respect of paragraph 3.1.23 and 3.1.24 of the policy. Exit Pay Cap Regulations 2020 had been revoked with effect from 12 February 2021 and paragraph 3.1.23 would therefore be deleted and paragraph 3.1.24 would be amended to state sums up to £99,999 as per the Statutory Pay Policy for 2020.

It was noted that this report had been reviewed through Corporate Board, Operations Board and Personnel Committee which was a cross party committee. This item had been debated and amendments had been made to the policy as a result of that discussion. One of the amendments related to the tightening up of the process around additional payments.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.

70.

Member Development Programme 2021/2022 (C3991) pdf icon PDF 448 KB

Purpose: To give consideration to and agree the proposed Member Development Programme for 2021/22 (attached at Appendix C).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 20) concerning the proposed Member Development Programme for 2021/22. The programme was considered and endorsed previously, by the Member Development Group on 19 January 2021 and at Corporate Board on 12 and 26 January 2021.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Jo Stewart and seconded by Councillor Clive Hooker:

That the Council:

“consider the proposed draft Member Development Programme and ensuing resource implications for approval of the Programme for the 2021 Municipal Year”.

Councillor Jo Stewart confirmed that the programme had been developed as part of the cross party Member Development Group and had been approved by Corporate Board. It was one of those programmes that was ever changing but it included some training sessions which were mandatory for Members. There needed to be some flexibility in order that it could adapt and include sessions as necessary. It was also proposed that £5,000 should be set aside from the Corporate Training budget to fund any external training required by Members.

Councillor Stewart commended the teams involved in delivering the training sessions during 2020 as they had had to make use of new technology to deliver the sessions. It was a testament to those members of staff who had risen to the challenge and had found a way to deliver the programme in difficult times.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.

71.

Response to Proposed Fireworks Motion (C3972) pdf icon PDF 258 KB

Purpose: To inform Full Council on how West Berkshire Council can support any aspects of the Motion.

To share the report which was presented to the Licensing Committee on 8 February 2021.  The report outlines some information for Council concerning the legal provisions the PPP have with respect to fireworks such as storage, point of sale, intelligence led promotional campaigns and the use of appropriate licensing conditions and noise management plans to minimise the impact.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 21) concerning the response to the Proposed Fireworks Motion which had been submitted to Full Council on 10 September 2020 by Councillor Richard Somner. 

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Hilary Cole and seconded by Councillor Richard Somner:

That the Council:

“(1)    note the report which was taken to the Licensing Committee on 8 February 2021 which considered the PPP response to the proposed motion;

(2)     approve the recommendations of the Licensing Committee and agree the amended Motion;

(3)     recommend a West Berkshire Fireworks Policy be presented to the next Licensing Committee for their approval.”

The Chairman of the Council proposed that due to a shortage of time this item should be deferred to the Council meeting on 8 July 2021. This proposal was moved and seconded by Councillors Hilary Cole and Richard Somner.

The amended Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.

72.

Notices of Motion - Public Funds for Public Access

The following Motion has been submitted in the name of Councillor Tony Vickers:

“Council notes:

1.         How the pandemic has highlighted the importance of outdoor exercise for our mental and physical health and wellbeing and our understanding of the interconnections between farming, biodiversity and food production;

2.         That the Environment Agency accepts that the benefits of outdoor exercise could be worth billions to the NHS and care services;

3.         That the Environment Bill includes provision for “public funds for public goods”;

4.         That the Agriculture Act contains powers to provide financial assistance to support public access to the countryside, through replacing the EU funding system known as the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP);

5.         The excellent work done by this Council’s Rights of Way Team and many volunteers from bodies represented on the Mid & West Berkshire Local Access Forum to maintain and improve public access to our beautiful countryside, and

6.         The emphasis in our local planning and transport policies towards more ’active travel’ opportunities, as part of combating Climate Change.

Council therefore supports the campaign of the Outdoor Access Alliance of organisations that represent countryside access groups to enable this “BREXIT Bonus” for funding to be channelled through local government to help improve our rights of way network;

And calls on this Council to work with local and national organisations to improve the relationship between urban communities, landowners and farmers as the rural environment and economy is transformed by BREXIT and climate change, so that all our residents better understand the connections between food production, biodiversity, landscape and public health.”

Minutes:

The Council considered the under-mentioned Motion (Agenda item 22 refers) submitted in the name of Councillor Tony Vickers relating to Public Funds for Public Access.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Tony Vickers and seconded by Councillor Howard Woollaston.

The Chairman noted that the mover of the Motion had left the meeting and it was therefore proposed that it would be deferred to the Council meeting on 8 July 2021.

The proposal to defer the Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.

73.

Members' Questions

Members of the Executive to answer the following questions submitted by Councillors in accordance with the Council’s Constitution:

(a)          Question to be answered by the Executive Member for Environment submitted by Councillor Adrian Abbs:

Why did West Berkshire choose to use a potential percentage of carbon saved on the councils own carbon contribution rather than the percentage of West Berkshire given the climate emergency declaration was to reach a district level carbon zero by 2030. 30% rather than the reality which is close to 3%?

(b)          Question to be answered by the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education submitted by Councillor Martha Vickers:

In view of expert reports that our children will need opportunities to play and socialise in the coming months rather than extended school hours, what is this Council planning to do to meet this need?

(c)          Question to be answered by the Executive Member for Internal Governance submitted by Councillor Phil Barnett:

How many redundancies have taken place during the past five years?”

Minutes:

A full transcription of the Member question and answer session is available from the following link: (link to pdf on website)

(a)           A question standing in the name of Councillor Adrian Abbs on the subject of carbon contribution would receive a written response from the Executive Member for Environment.

(b)           A question standing in the name of Councillor Martha Vickers on the subject of meeting the need of children for opportunities to play and socialise in the coming months would receive a written response from the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education.

(c)           A question standing in the name of Councillor Phil Barnett on the subject of the number of redundancies in the last five years would receive a written response from the Executive Member for Internal Governance.

A full transcription of the public and Member question and answer sessions are available from the following link: Transcription of Q&As. (right click on link and ‘Edit Hyperlink’. Insert URL to pdf on website in ‘address’ field)