Agenda and minutes

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.

There were no declarations of interest received.

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to approve the withdrawal of the West Berkshire Local Plan Review 2022-2039 (LPR) which was submitted to the Secretary of State on 31 March 2023.

The report outlines the current Administration’s concerns about the strategic approach of the LPR in planning for new development in the District. These concerns were submitted by the Liberal Democrat Group (in opposition) through the Regulation 19 consultation. The report explains these concerns which cannot be addressed within the context of the current LPR and therefore, the need for the Council to develop a new local plan with an alternative spatial strategy to deliver new development.

The implications and risks associated with the withdrawal of the Local Plan Review in respect of appeals and unplanned development and the associated costs are addressed in the report. This also outlines the process and financial cost of delivering an alternative new local plan.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 3) concerning the proposed withdrawal of the West Berkshire Local Plan Review 2022-2039 (LPR) which was submitted to the Secretary of State on 31 March 2023.

The report outlined the current Administration’s concerns about the strategic approach of the LPR in planning for new development in the District. These concerns were submitted by the Liberal Democrat Group (in Opposition) through the Regulation 19 consultation. The report explained these concerns which could not be addressed within the context of the current LPR and therefore, the need for the Council to develop a new local plan with an alternative spatial strategy to deliver new development. 

The implications and risks associated with the withdrawal of the Local Plan Review in respect of appeals and unplanned development and the associated costs were addressed in the report. The report also outlined the process and financial cost of delivering an alternative new local plan.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Tony Vickers and seconded by Councillor Christopher Read:

That the Council “withdraw the submitted Local Plan Review 2022-2039; and begin preparations for developing a new Local Plan for West Berkshire that reflects the aspirations of the Administration to plan positively for new development in the District”.

Councillor Jeremy Cottam, Chairman of Council, advised that before a vote was taken on the item, he would be asking the Council’s Monitoring Officer to provide advice regarding correspondence received today from Central Government relating to this item. However, debate would first be permitted on the item in accordance with the proposal that had been moved.

The Chairman then proposed a procedural motion to extend the speaking rights for Councillor Tony Vickers and Councillor Ross Mackinnon to a period of five minutes each (procedural motion 10.6 applied). This was seconded by Councillor Mackinnon.

The procedural motion was put to the vote and declared carried.

The Chairman confirmed that an extended speaking right was not afforded to the Minority Group as the time was allocated on a pro-rata basis.

Councillor Tony Vickers then introduced the report. The implementation of the LPR was one of the most important decisions the Council would take. However, the LPR submitted by the previous Conservative Administration was not an appropriate plan for the District and was objected to by the Liberal Democrat Group at the time. While the LPR did contain many good policies, far too much development was proposed for one site. He felt the submission of the LPR was an irresponsible action of the previous Administration which was taken prior to the May 2023 elections. It lacked serious political input.

Post the elections, the new Administration had explored ways to amend the LPR and avoid its withdrawal, but unfortunately this proved impossible. The withdrawal of the document was the only route available by which to make amendments.

The proposed action showed that the Liberal Democrat Administration was willing to make difficult decisions, but only after considering all available options. Concerns were recognised such as potential cost implications and risks,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

Purpose: It is crucial that the Council has sufficient capacity at senior level to continue the operations of the organisation and can fulfil statutory responsibilities and respond to challenges that face the Council. The changes to our services, expectations of our customers & partners, and the workings of the Council have all changed significantly in recent years. The increasing level of demand and complexity of need, pace of change, accessibility and availability of current and potential services, and latest inspection frameworks place new and increasing demands from children and families on the Council.

The senior management structure of the Council has been subject to a variety of reviews over recent years. This report’s purpose is to set out the proposed senior management structure across the Council, and focussing on children’s services, with greater resilience in Children’s Services (People Directorate) to respond to the challenges facing Social Care, SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities) and Education. As part of the SMR 2019 report, a decision on the Heads of Service posts in Education and Children’s Services was to be made in the future, as the original report had a single joint Service Director for Children and Young People.

The proposed structure will bring Children’s services in line with the wider council senior directorate structures, and appendix B(i) has the latest Council senior management structure appended.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 4). The report explained that it was crucial for the Council to have sufficient capacity at senior level to continue the operations of the organisation, fulfil statutory responsibilities and respond to challenges that faced the Council. The changes to our services, expectations of our customers and partners, and the workings of the Council had all changed significantly in recent years. The increasing level of demand and complexity of need, pace of change, accessibility and availability of current and potential services, and latest inspection frameworks placed new and increasing demands from children and families on the Council.

The senior management structure of the Council had been subject to a variety of reviews over recent years. This report set out the proposed senior management structure across the Council, focussing on the need for greater resilience in Children’s Services (People Directorate) to respond to the challenges facing Social Care, SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities) and Education. As part of the SMR 2019 report, a decision on the Head of Service posts in Education and Children’s Services was to be made in the future, as the original report had a single joint Service Director for Children and Young People.

The proposed structure would bring Children’s Services in line with the wider Council senior directorate structures. The latest Council senior management structure was appended to the report.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Heather Codling and seconded by Councillor Martha Vickers:

That Council:

“Approve the creation of two Service Director (SD) posts in the Children’s (People) Directorate; a Service Director Children’s Social Care and a Service Director Education and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Subject to the above recommendation, approve the latest senior management structure shown at Appendix B(ii).

Note the deletion of the existing Head of Children and Family Services and Head of Education posts.”

Councillor Codling introduced the report. In October 2022, an independent review was conducted into the structure and delivery of education services in West Berkshire. A recommendation from that review was the creation of two Service Director posts, one for Children’s Social Care and the other for Education and SEND. These would replace the interim Heads of Service.

The financial and operational challenges being faced in these areas clearly demonstrated the need for greater strategic capacity to assist the Executive Director. The Service Directors would manage the increasingly complex demands and challenges being faced by the Directorate. These were high cost services with many areas of strategic responsibility and were subject to inspection regimes.

Approval to create these posts would bring the Council’s senior management structure for these services in line with comparative local authorities. The posts would be advertised internally and externally simultaneously. They would be widely advertised via a number of different mechanisms.

The Service Directors and Executive Director would be undertaking a full strategic review of the structure of Children’s Services which would include a zero based budgeting exercise. This would ensure services were fit for purpose and able to meet  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

Purpose: At the Annual Meeting of Council which took place on the 25^th May 2023, Council considered and approved a report detailing the allocation and appointment of seats on Committees.

The Council has a duty under section 15 of the Local Government Housing Act 1989, to review the allocation of seats as soon as practicable following any change to the groups.  Following the formation of a new political group, known as the Minority Group, this report proposes a number of changes to the allocation of seats and appointments to Committees.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 5) concerning the Council’s duty, under section 15 of the Local Government Housing Act 1989, to review the allocation of seats as soon as practicable following any change to the groups. Following the formation of a new political group, known as the Minority Group, the report proposed a number of changes to the allocation of seats and appointments to Committees.

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

That the Council:

“Notes that under paragraph 8 of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990, notice has been received that the Members set out in paragraph 5.2 are to be regarded as Members of the Liberal Democrat, Conservative, and Minority Groups respectively.

Approves the allocation of seats to the Political Groups in accordance with section 15(5) of the Local Government Act 1989, as set out in Table A at paragraph 5.8 of the report.

Approves the changes to the membership of Committees detailed in Appendix A to this report.”

Councillor Dillon explained that the report was brought to this meeting of Council to give the Minority Group the opportunity to make amendments to their allocation of seats on Committees. This was the earliest opportunity to do so following discussion at the last Council meeting.

The amendments were detailed in Appendix A and included Councillor Adrian Abbs becoming a Member of District Planning Committee and the Western Area Planning Committee, with Councillor Carolyne Culver’s role changing to that of Substitute for both Committees.

At the last meeting of Western Area Planning Committee, Councillor Culver explained that she had decided to cease being a full Member of the Committee in order to give full focus to her role as Chairman of the Scrutiny Commission. She received a warm send off from fellow Western Area Members for her work to date.

Councillor Abbs, till recently Chairman of the Western Area Planning Committee, added his thanks to Councillor Culver for all her hard work on the Committee. He looked forward to returning to the Committee.

He noted that Councillor Patrick Clark was elected the new Chairman of Western Area Planning Committee at the special meeting held earlier in the evening. He congratulated Councillor Clark on his election. Councillor Abbs did however question the need to hold the special meeting when the membership was due for change.

Councillor Culver stated that she was very sorry to be stepping down from the Planning Committee. In her four and a half years on the Committee she had not missed a single meeting. She had learned much from her time on the Committee and enjoyed being a part of it. She thanked her fellow Committee Members and gave thanks to officers for all their hard work in what was a difficult area. However, she wanted to give full focus to her role as Scrutiny Chairman in order to perform it to the best of her ability.

Councillor Brooks had nothing to add as seconder to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.