Meeting documents

Council
Wednesday, 22nd February, 2006 7.00 pm

Date:
Wednesday, 22nd February, 2006
Time:
7.00pm
Place:
The Council Chamber, Town Hall, Bury
 

Attendance Details

Present:
The Worshipful the Mayor (Councillor S J Treadgold) in the Chair;
Councillors K Audin, R A Bibby, D Boden, R C A Brown, E B Briggs, K S Briggs, J Byrne, L E Campbell, W A Campbell, D M Cassidy, T P Chamberlain, S Cohen, M Connolly, J P Costello, S Costello, Y Creswell, A J Cummings, V D D’Albert, W J Davison, W Flood, A J Garner, A S Garner, I B Gartside, M A Gibb, E K Grime, J Grimshaw, D L Gunther, D M Higgin, T Holt, K Hussain, A Isherwood, S P Magnall, A K Matthews, R H J Nuttall, S R Perkins, T D Pickstone, H Redstone, K Rothwell, J Smith, S J Southworth, J W H Taylor, B Theckston, B Vincent, R E Walker, J F Walton, M J Wiseman and Y S Wright
Co-opted:
28 members of the public attended the meeting.
Apologies for absence:
D B Bigg, G Campbell and G Sharkey
Buttons
Item Description Decision
Open
C.1114 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Preamble for item C.1114
 
C.1115 MAYORAL COMMUNICATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Preamble for item C.1115
 
C.1116 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Preamble for item C.1116
 
C.1117 RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE AND COUNCIL COMMITTEES
Preamble for item C.1117
RESOLVED:

That the recommendations contained in Minute EX.974 of the meeting of the Executive held on 15 February 2006 concerning the Housing Revenue Account for 2006/2007 be approved and adopted.

(b) Minute EX.975 of the Executive held on 15 February 2006 - Budget 2006/2007

Councillor Connolly, Executive Member for Quality Council (Resource and Performance), made a Statement on the Capital Programme and Revenue Budget for 2006/2007.

It was moved by Councillor W A Campbell and seconded by Councillor Connolly that the recommendation contained in Minute EX.975 of the Executive held on 15 February 2006 concerning the Capital Programme, Revenue Budget and the level of Council Tax for 2006/2007, be approved and adopted subject to the following amendments:-

(a) The deletion of the following:-

1. That the report be noted and the Council be requested to consider and determine all matters relating to the Budget, the Capital Programme and the level of Council Tax for 2006/2007 at its special meeting on 22 February 2006.

(b) The addition of the following:-

“Capital Programme

1. That the Capital Programme for 2006/2007 and future years, shown in Appendix B be approved;

2. That the allowance for slippage in the Programme of £0.555M be noted;

3. That the shortfall of resources identified in paragraph 4.11 of the report be met by the use of additional borrowing totalling £1.175M;

4. That the proposed financing of the Capital Programme set out in paragraph 3.8 of the report be approved subject to the amendments in 3 above;

5. That the use of £3.991M of capital receipts to support the Programme be noted;

6. That the risk assessment set out in section 6 of the report be noted and the risk mitigation actions be approved.

Revenue Budget

7. That the details of the final revenue Support Grant Settlement for 2006/2007 be noted;

8. That the forecast Collection Fund position as at 31 March 2006 be noted;

9. That the minimum level of balances to be retained is confirmed at £3,100,000;

10. That the level of repayment of principal on General Fund debt at the minimum of 4% be approved;

11. That it be noted that under delegated powers the Director of Finance and E-Government calculated the amount of 58,958.98 as the Council Tax Base for the year 2006/2007 in accordance with the Local Government Act 2003 and with Regulations made under Section 33(5) of the Local Government and Finance Act 1992;

12. That the forecast outturn position for 2005/2006 be noted;

13. That the ‘Golden Rules’ set out in paragraph 4.3 of the report be adopted;

14. That the recommendations of the Schools’ Forum around education funding issues be noted;

15. That the statements by the Director of Finance and E-Government on the robustness of budget assumptions and on the minimum level of balances be noted and endorsed;

16. That the Revenue Budget for 2006/2007 as set out in paragraph 4.6.1 of the report, be approved subject to the following amendments

ADD Contribution to balances to cover overspend from 2005/2006 £3,000,000
Provision to meet on-going pressures from 2005/2006 £2,910,000

LESS
Income from Council Tax£2,910,000
Savings identified in paragraph 7.6 and Appendix C of the report £9,716,000

17. That the following recommendations in relation to the Revenue Budget and Council Tax for 2006/2007 be approved:

1. That £3,000,000 be contributed to General Fund Balances to compensate for the projected overspending on the 2005/2006 Revenue Budget.

2. That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the year 2006/2007 in accordance with Sections 32 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992:-

(a) £364,100,000 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 32(2)(a) to (e) of the Act;

(b) £244,020,000 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 32(3)(a) to (c) of the Act;

(c) £120,080,000 being the amount by which the aggregate at 2(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 2(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 32(4) of the Act, as its budget requirement for the year;

(d) £56,906,000 being the aggregate of the sums which the Council estimates will be payable for the year into its General Fund in respect of redistributed Non-domestic Rates and Revenue Support Grant, increased by the amount of the sums which the Council estimates will be transferred in the year from its Collection Fund to its General Fund;

(e) £63,174,000 being the amount at 2(c) above less the amount at 2(d) above, all divided by the Council Tax Base of 58,958.98, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 33(1) of the Act as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year; and

(f) Valuation Bands

A £714.33
B £833.38
C £952.44
D £1071.49
E £1309.60
F £1547.71
G £1785.82
H £2142.98

being the amounts given by multiplying the amount at 2(e) above by the number which, in the proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the Act, is applicable to dwellings listed in a particular Valuation Band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed in Valuation Band D, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 36(1) of the Act, as the amounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different Valuation Bands.

3. That it be noted that for the year 2006/2007, the Greater Manchester Police Authority and the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority have stated the following amounts in precepts issued to the Council, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of the dwellings shown below:

Police

A £73.78
B £86.08
C £98.37
D £110.67
E £135.26
F £159.86
G £184.45
H £221.34

Fire

A £30.92
B £36.07
C £41.22
D £46.38
E £56.68
F £66.99
G £77.30
H £92.76

4. That, having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at 2(f) and 3 above, the Council, in accordance with Section 30(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the following amounts as the amounts of Council Tax for the year 2006/2007 for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

A £819.03
B £955.53
C £1092.03
D £1228.54
E £1501.54
F £1774.56
G £2047.57
H £2457.08

18. That, in making the necessary decisions, the Council has taken into account the results of the budget consultation process and the budget position for 2007/2008 and future years, as outlined in sections 10 and 11 of the report submitted.”

An amendment was moved by Councillor Bibby and seconded by Councillor Vincent by way of the addition of the following:-

“That this Council notes:

- the cumulative budget deficit, increased borrowing and debt service charges

- the continued cuts to essential services

- the increased charges for services to vulnerable people

- the rise in Council Tax for all Bury taxpayers.

Council believes this sustained record of failure and incompetence is directly attributable to the inability of the ruling Labour Group to manage the affairs of Bury in a fair and efficient manner.

Council therefore has no confidence in the current leadership.”

On being put and before the counting of votes, 8 Members requested that the voting on the amendment be recorded so as to show how each Member cast their vote. The result of the voting was as follows:-

For the amendment:

Councillors Bibby, Brown, Cohen, Creswell, Gartside, Gunther, Higgin, Hussain, Nuttall, Redstone, Taylor, Theckston, Vincent, Walker, Walton, Wiseman and Wright (17). (Councillor Magnall was absent from the Chamber.)

Against the amendment:

Councillors Audin, Boden, E B Briggs, K S Briggs, Byrne, L E Campbell, W A Campbell, Cassidy, Chamberlain, Connolly, J Costello, S Costello, Cummings, D’Albert, Davison, Flood, A J Garner, A S Garner, Gibb, Grime, Grimshaw, Holt, Isherwood, Matthews, Perkins, Pickstone, Rothwell, Smith, Southworth (29)

Abstaining from the vote:

The Worshipful the Mayor (1)

The amendment was declared lost.

A further amendment was moved by Councillor Pickstone and seconded by Councillor Davison as follows:-

“In Captial Budget:
Empty Property Strategy - reduce budget from £100,000 to £0
Opportunity Land Purchase - reduce budget from £100,000 to £0
Decrease capitalisation of maintenance from £1,000,000 to £960,000.
Change Play Area Strategy from being fully funded £240,000 from the Airport Dividend Reserve, to being funded by the above savings:

In Revenue Budget
One off savings
Capitalisation of maintenance decrease from £1,000,000 to £960,000
Use of reserves: Airport Dividend Reserve £240,000
Use of reserves: Airport Dividend Reserve £165,000

Savings Options (Appendix C)
In Environment and Development Services
Contribution to Energy Reserve reduce contribution to zero for one year (£50,000 to £100,000)

(total savings on revenue budget £415,000)

Increased charges for School Meals charges £30,000 to £0.

In Adult Care Services
Increased charges for home care: £150,000 to £0
Increased charges for Meals on Wheels £50,000 to £0
Charges for Disabled Parking Badges £5,000 to £0

New Expenditure

Environment and Development Services General Expenditure delegated to Area Boards (with advice from Officer)
£30,000 per Area Board £180,000”

Following a short adjournment and on being put, 5 voted for, 24 voted against with 17 abstentions. The amendment was declared lost.

The substantive motion on being put and before the counting of votes, 8 Members requested that the voting be recorded so as to show how each member cast their vote.

The result of the voting was as follows:-

For the substantive motion:

Councillors Audin, Boden, E B Briggs, K S Briggs, Byrne, L E Campbell, W A Campbell, Cassidy, Chamberlain, Connolly, J Costello, S Costello, Cummings, Flood, Gibb, Grime, Grimshaw, Holt, Isherwood, Matthews, Perkins, Rothwell, Smith and Southworth (24)

Against the substantive motion:

None

Abstaining from the vote:

The Worshipful the Mayor and Councillors Bibby, Brown, Cohen, Cresswell, D’Albert, Davison, A J Garner, A S Garner, Gartside, Gunther, Higgin, Hussain, Nuttall, Pickstone, Redstone, Taylor, Theckston, Vincent, Walker, Walton, Wiseman and Wright (23) (Councillor Magnall was absent from the Chamber)

The substantive motion was declared carried.

(c) Minute EX.973 of the Executive held on 15 February 2006 - Treasury Management Strategy and Prudential Indicators 2006/2007

It was moved by Councillor W A Campbell and seconded by Councillor Connolly that the recommendation contained in Minute EX.973 of the Executive held on 15 February 2006 concerning the Treasury Management Strategy and Prudential Indicators 2006/2007, be approved and adopted.

On being put, with none dissenting, the motion was declared carried.

(d) Recommendations of the Executive held on 15 February 2006 - Role Specifications for Executive Members

It was moved by Councillor W A Campbell and seconded by Councillor Connolly that the recommendations of the Executive contained in Minute EX.976 of the Executive held on 15 February 2006 concerning the Role Specifications subject to the inclusion of a delegation to the Chief Executive after consultation with the Leader of the Council, to make any further amendments to the Role Specifications subject to reporting any amendments to the Executive.

On being put, with none dissenting, the motion was declared carried and it was:-

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations of the Executive contained in Minutes EX.973, EX.974, EX.975 and EX.976, as amended above, be approved and adopted.
C.1118 DELEGATED DECISIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE AND COUNCIL COMMITTEES
Preamble for item C.1118
 
The meeting started at 7.00 pm and ended at 9.45 pm

Preamble

Preamble
ItemPreamble
C.1114(a) Councillor Perkins declared a personal interest in Minute C1117 below in respect of all matters relating to the Home Care Service and savings on the mainframe leasing costs.

(b) Councillors J and S Costello both declared personal interests in Minute C.1117 below in respect of the proposed review of the method of calculating home care client contributions and proposed increased contact time for Home Care Services.

(c) Councillors Cassidy, Isherwood, Davison and Gunther all declared personal interests in Minute C.1117 below as the Council’s representatives on the Board of Six Town Housing Limited.

(d) Councillor Smith declared a prejudicial interest in Minute C.1117 below as the Chair of the Board of Six Town Housing Limited and he left the Chamber during the consideration of the Housing Revenue Account.

(e) Councillor Rothwell declared a personal interest in Minute C.1117 below in respect of residential care for the elderly and as the tenant of a Council property.
C.1115The Worshipful the Mayor informed the Council of the recent death of former Councillor Brian Makin. Mr Makin was the Leader of the Council during the 1983/1984 Municipal Year and a former Mayor of the Borough of Prestwich in 1972.

The Council stood in silence for one minute as a mark of respect and in memory of Mr Makin.
C.1116There were no questions raised by any of the members of the public present at the meeting.
C.1117(a) Minute EX.974 of the Executive held on 15 February 2006 - Housing Revenue Account 2006/2007.

Councillor Byrne, Executive Member for Environment and Transport, made a Statement on the Housing Revenue Account.

It was moved by Councillor Byrne and seconded by Councillor Connolly and:-
C.1118There were no questions asked on the delegated decisions of the Executive or Council Committees contained in Digests of Decisions 11 (2005/2006).