Meeting documents

Council
Wednesday, 26th February, 2003 7.00 pm

Date:
Wednesday, 26th February, 2003
Time:
07.00p.m.
Place:
Council Chamber, Town Hall, Bury
 

Attendance Details

Present:
The Worshipful the Mayor (Councillor J Smith) in the Chair;
Councillors K Audin, R A Bibby, D Boden, E B Briggs, J Byrne, G Campbell, W A Campbell, D M Cassidy, T P Chamberlain, FA Chaudhry, M Connolly, J P Costello, S Costello, Y Creswell, A J Cummings, V D D’Albert, W J Davison, C M Fitzgerald, E K Grime, J Grimshaw, D L Gunther, D M Higgin, T Holt, B M Hope, A Isherwood, W Johnson, S P Magnall, S Mason, P J Nesbit, S R Perkins, T D Pickstone, W Ramsey, G Sharkey, S M Smith, J W H Taylor, B Theckston, P Timperley, S J Treadgold, B Vincent, P Walker, R E Walker, J F Walton, R A Watts and Y S Wright
Co-opted:
20 members of the public attended the meeting.

The Worshipful the Mayor opened the meeting by welcoming on behalf of the Council, Natalie Boxall and cameraman Bob Young from BBC North West Television who were covering the Council Tax issue.
Apologies for absence:
Councillors K S Briggs, A P Hughes and A K Matthews
Buttons
Item Description Decision
Open
C.1157 MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL
 RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 29 January 2003 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.
C.1158 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Preamble for item C.1158
 
C.1159 MAYORAL COMMUNICATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS (IF ANY)
 Illness of Councillor J F Walton

The Worshipful the Mayor welcomed Councillor Jack Walton back to good health following his recent eye operation.
C.1160 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Preamble for item C.1160
 
C.1161 RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE AND COUNCIL COMMITTEES
To receive and approve or otherwise the recommendations to the Council contained in the Minutes of the Executive and Council Committees as set out below:-
 (a) Minute EX.1096 of the Executive Meeting on 12 February 2003 - Mayoralty 2003/2004

It was moved by Councillor Byrne, seconded by Councillor W A Campbell and:-

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations contained in Minute EX.1096 of the meeting of the Executive held on 12 February 2003 concerning the Mayoralty 2003/2004 and nominating Councillor W J Davison for the Office of Mayor for that Municipal Year be approved and adopted.

(b) Minute EX.1135 of the Executive Meeting on 19 February 2003 - Housing Revenue Account 2003/2004

(i) Councillor Watts, Executive Member for Regeneration and Housing, made a Statement on the Housing Revenue Account.

(ii) It was moved by Councillor Byrne and seconded by Councillor W A Campbell that the recommendations contained in Minute EX.1135 of the meeting of the Executive held on 19 February 2003 be approved and adopted.

(iii) An amendment was moved by Councillor Boden and seconded by Councillor J Costello that recommendation 7 be amended by the addition of the following:-
‘and a scheme of transitional protection be introduced for 2003/2004 at a cost of £53,000’

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

(iv) The substantive motion on being put, with 39 voting for and none against with 6 abstentions, was declared carried and it was then:-

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations contained in Minute EX.1135 of the meeting of the Executive held on 19 February 2003, as amended at (iii) above, regarding the Housing Revenue Account 2003/2004, be approved and adopted.

(c) Statement by the Executive Member for Resource

Councillor W A Campbell, the Executive Member for Resource, made a Statement in the form of a presentation to the Council on the Council’s Budget Proposals for 2003/2004.

(d) Minute EX.1136 of the Executive Meeting on 19 February 2003 - Capital Programme 2003/2004

(i) It was moved by Councillor Byrne and seconded by Councillor W A Campbell that the recommendations contained in Minute EX.1136 of the meeting of the Executive held on 19 February 2003 be approved and adopted subject to an amendment by the addition of the following:-

"1. That the Government Office for the North West assessment of the Council’s Asset Management Plan and Capital Strategy be noted with pleasure.

2. That the ‘policy led’ process for allocating discretionary capital funds be approved.

3. That the Capital Programme for 2003/2004 and future years as set out in Appendix C to the report be approved, subject to the following amendment:
ADD
Fully Funded Schemes - Vehicle and Plant Leasing - £870,000 to be funded from revenue

4. That the Capital Programme for 2003/2004 be funded by:

.........................£m
Basic and Supplementary
Credit Approvals........8.512
Capital Receipts........2.677
ExternalContributions...4.543
Revenue.................0.765
Grants..................8.209
Major Repairs Allowance.3.335
Total..................28.041

5. That the use of £2.677m of capital receipts to finance the Capital Programme be noted."

(ii) An amendment was moved by Councillor Magnall and seconded by Councillor Theckston that recommendation 3 in (i) above be amended by the addition of the following:-

‘That the scheme to make provision for Adult Education at Ramsbottom Library be included in the Programme for 2003/2004, with monies being borrowed from other projects, together with a grant from the Learning Skills Council’.

On being put, 12 voted for and 29 against with 4 abstentions, the amendment was declared lost

(iii) The substantive motion on being put, with 29 voting for and none against with 16 abstentions, was declared carried and it was then:-

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations contained in Minute EX.1136 of the meeting of the Executive held on 19 February 2003, amended as set out in (i) above, regarding the Capital Programme 2003/2004, be approved and adopted.

(e) Minute EX.1137 of the Executive Meeting on 19 February 2003 - Revenue Budget 2003/2004

(i) It was moved by Councillor Byrne and seconded by Councillor W A Campbell that the recommendations contained in Minute EX.1137 of the meeting of the Executive held on 19 February 2003 be approved and adopted subject to an amendment by the addition of the following:-

"1. That the details of the Revenue Support Grant Settlement shown in section 6 of the report be noted;

2. That the minimum level of balances to be retained be confirmed at £2,630.000;

3. That the level of repayment of principal on outstanding debt at the minimum of 4% be approved.

4. That it be noted that at its meeting on 29 January 2003 the Council calculated the amount of 57752.73 as its Council Tax base for the year 2003/2004 in accordance with regulations made under section 33(5) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992;

5. That the forecast Collection Fund position at 31 March 2003 be noted;

6. That the revised Revenue Budget for 2002/2003 and the Revenue Budget for 2003/2004 as shown in the report be approved subject to the following amendments:

ADD

Waste Disposal Authority levy - amount in addition to existing provision £58,000
Youth Services £200,000
Community Care -
Independent Home
fees £200,000
Contribution to
balances £100,000

LESS

Savings identified in paragraph 8.6.1 £2,300,000
Provision for bed
blocking £500,000
Savings on mobile telephones, insurance
and bus escorts £119,000
7. That £1,000,000 be drawn from General Fund balances to support the 2003/2004 Revenue Budget.

8. That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the year 2003/2004 in accordance with Sections 32 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992:-

(a) £297,600,000 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) £114,467,000 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) £183,133,000 being the amount by which the aggregate at 8(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 8(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 32(4) of the Act, as its budget requirement for the year;

(d) £128,154,000 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 in accordance with Section 97(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 resulting from an increase in its Council Tax calculated in accordance with the Collection Fund (General) (England) Directions 2002 and the Local Authorities (Alteration of Requisite Calculations) (England) Regulations 2002;

(e) £951.98 being the amount at 8(c) above less the amount at 8(d) above, all divided by the Council Tax Base of 57752.73, 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 £634.65 B £740.43
C £846.20 D £951.98
E £1163.53 F £1375.08
G £1586.63 H £1903.96

being the amounts given by multiplying the amount at 8(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.

9. That it be noted that for the year 2003/2004 the Greater Manchester Police Authority and the Greater Manchester Fire and Civil Defence 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 Fire & Civil
Defence

A £61.10 £26.64
B £71.28 £31.08
C £81.47 £35.52
D £91.65 £39.96
E £112.02 £48.84
F £132.38 £57.72
G £152.75 £66.60
H £183.30 £79.92

10. That, having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at 8(f) and 9 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 2003/2004 for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:-

A £722.39 B £842.79
C £963.19 D £1083.59
E £1324.39 F £1565.18
G £1805.98 H £2167.18

11. That the results of the budget consultation process be noted.

12. That the budget position for 2004/2005 and future years, as outlined in section 12 of the report, be noted.

(ii) An amendment was moved by Councillor Davison and seconded by Councillor Pickstone that the relevant recommendations in (i) above be amended to provide for:-

£
Shortfall in Budget
(from Executive
Papers) 1,215,000
Remove Provision for
Bed Blocking Fines from “other cost
procedures” -500,000
Reduce provision for insurance costs -200,000
Increase “Other savings identified by Directors”
from £500,000 -235,000
Net Cost of Removing
all remaining charges
for home care
services 200,000
Addition of “Area
Board Initiatives
Budget” £5K per
board 30,000

New Shortfall 510,000

Council Tax Rise
(Bury Only) 7.2%
Plus Police/Fire
Precepts 10.4%

(iii) In accordance with Rule 9 of the Council Procedure Rules, at 10.15 pm the Mayor interrupted the meeting and called for a vote on the amendment.

(iv) On being put, 3 voted for and 40 against with one abstention and the amendment was declared lost.

(v) It was then moved by Councillor Byrne and seconded by Councillor W A Campbell:-

‘That the whole of the remaining business before the Council be approved.’

On being put, 28 voted for and one against with 15 abstentions. The motion was declared carried and it was therefore:-

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations contained in Minute EX.1137 of the meeting of the Executive held on 19 February 2003, amended as set out in (i) above, regarding the Revenue Budget 2003/2004 be approved and adopted.
C.1162 DELEGATED DECISIONS OF EXECUTIVE AND COUNCIL COMMITTEES
Preamble for item C.1162
 
7.00 pm to 10.15 pm

Preamble

Preamble
ItemPreamble
C.1158There were no interests declared by Members in relation to any matter considered at the meeting.
C.1160Questions were asked on the following issues during public question time:-

(a) from Mr K Rothwell concerning publicity for Council Tax reductions for people with disabilities.

(b) from Mr R Miles concerning the justification for the proposed above inflation increase in Council Tax and the increase in Members’ Allowances.

(c) from Mrs Bingham concerning the closure of Claremont Elderly Persons Home, the sale of the Claremont site, the use of capital receipts from the sale in Prestwich and the provision of day care facilities and sheltered accommodation in Prestwich.

(d) from Mr A Withington concerning the cost of the mayoralty

(e) from Mr T Miles concerning Council offices allegedly closing before the stated time.

(f) concerning the provision of day care and elderly persons’ homes in Prestwich
C.1162There were no written questions on delegated decisions made by the Executive, Resource Scrutiny Panel and the Economy, Environment and Transport Scrutiny Commission relating to the Housing Revenue Account, Capital Programme and Revenue Budget contained in the Digest of Decisions number 15.