Agenda and minutes

Members of the Council are requested to declare any interests which they have in any items or issues before the Council for determination.

1.   Councillor Connolly declared a personal interest in any item which related to staffing as his partner is an employee of the Local Authority Trading Company, Persona. Councillor Connolly also declared a personal interest in respect of the Police Funding Notice of Motion, as the Combined Authority Lead on the Police and Crime Panel

2.   Councillor Jones declared a personal interest in any item which related to staffing as his wife is an employee of Bury Council. Councillor Jones also declared a personal interest in respect of the Police Funding Notice of Motion as an ex Police Officer

3.   Councillor Bevan declared a personal interest in any item which related to staffing as his wife is an employee within a Bury School.

4.   Councillor Mallon declared a personal interest in any item which related to staffing as his wife is an employee within a Bury High School.

5.   Councillor Tariq declared a personal interest in respect of the Police Funding Notice of Motion as the Council’s Lead Member for Community Safety

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the last meeting of the Council held on 9 September 2015.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the Meeting of Council held on 9 September 2015 be signed by the Mayor as a true and correct record, subject to the inclusion of a personal declaration of interest on the Magistrates Notice of Motion from Councillor Bevan as a practising solicitor appearing at the Courts.

To receive communications from the Mayor and any announcements by the Leader of the Council or the Chief Executive on matters of interest to the Council.

1.   The Mayor offered birthday congratulations to Councillor Cassidy and presented her with a bouquet of flowers.

2.   The Mayor informed Members of the Council of two upcoming events, namely, Remembrance Sunday on 8th November and the Civic Ball on 4th December. 

3.   The Mayor informed Members of the recent death of ex-Mayor of the Borough, Mr Paul Nesbit. Members of the Council stood in silent tribute to Mr Nesbit. 

To answer questions from members of the public, notice of which has been given, on any matter relevant to the Council or its services to the community. Up to 30 minutes will be set aside for this purpose. If time permits, further questions will be invited from members of the public present.

The Mayor reported the receipt of one written question as set out below:

On inviting questions from members of the public present, the following issues were raised:-

1.   Minute LSP.267 of the meeting of the Licensing and Safety Panel held on 2 September 2015 – Review of Statement of Licensing Policy 

It was moved by Councillor Jones and seconded by Councillor Holt and it was:-

RESOLVED:

                That Council agree to adopt the Licensing Policy as outlined in the report.

2.   Minute CA.378 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 14 October 2015 – Health and Wellbeing Board Annual report and Refreshed Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2014/15

It was moved by Councillor Connolly and seconded by Councillor Shori and it was:-

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Health and Wellbeing Annual Report and Refreshed Health and Wellbeing Strategy be approved.

 That the membership of the Health and Wellbeing Board be amended to include a representative of the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

To receive a Statement from the Leader of the Council on the work of the Cabinet and to answer written questions from Members of the Council to the Leader and Cabinet Members on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Borough, provided the necessary written notice has been given.

Verbal questions on the work of the Cabinet since the last Council meeting will be allowed subject to a limit of one question per Councillor.

A)Written question (Notice given)

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Connolly, made a statement on the work undertaken by him since the date of the last Council meeting.

Prior to the commencement of Cabinet Question Time, Councillor Gartside reported that 3 written questions from the Conservative Group had been ruled out of order in advance of the meeting by the Mayor following legal advice provided by the Monitoring Officer. Councillor Gartside indicated that as a result of this the Conservative Group would take no further part in the meeting.

(Nb: At this point in the meeting Councillors Bevan, Caserta, Gartside, Gunther, Hankey, Harris, Nuttall, R E Walker and Wright left the Chamber.) 

The Leader of the Council formally placed on record his acknowledgement of the Mayor’s ruling and expressed disappointment that the Conservative Group had chosen to leave the meeting.

The Leader and the relevant Cabinet Members answered questions raised by Councillors on the following issues:

Due to the lack of time to answer questions 14 to 27 inclusive, the Leader gave an undertaking that copies of those questions and responses will be circulated to all              

Councillors. The Leader also gave an undertaking to make these available on the Council Web Site.

B)Oral questions on Leader’s Speech and the work of the Cabinet since the last Council meeting (without Notice)

(A)        A report from the Council’s representative on the work of Greater Manchester Police, Councillor Connolly

(B)        Questions (if any) on the work of the Joint Authorities to be asked by Members of the Council for which the necessary notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.2

a)  Councillor Connolly, the Council’s representative on the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Panel gave a verbal report on the work of the Panel to all Members of the Council.

b)  The following questions had been received in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.2.

The following Notices of Motion have been received:-

          Plastic Bag Levy

          This Council notes:

-  That in the last year where figures are available (2013) shops in the UK handed out  8.3 billion plastic carrier bags

-  That plastic bags contribute to highly visible litter on our streets and countryside, pose a threat to wildlife and their disposal contributes significantly to green house gas emissions, taking 500 to 1,000 years to degrade.

    This Council therefore welcomes:

 -  The introduction of the Plastic Bag levy introduced by the previous Government which came into force on 5 October 2015.

 -  That the levy will be distributed to charitable good causes, and the expected     reduction in clean-up and waste disposal costs.

This Council resolves:

-    To liaise with our large supermarkets, and make available information on their grant schemes to local charities to maximise the amount of the levy which is distributed to local good causes

-     Provide information to small businesses in the Borough who may wish to voluntarily charge for plastic bags  to maximise the take-up of the scheme within the Borough.

In the names of Councillors D’Albert and Pickstone

Police Funding

This Council notes that Policing, along with the wider public sector, has faced several years of major challenges due to central Government’s unrelenting cuts to funding. 

In Greater Manchester, the police have not shied away from these financial challenges, transforming local policing services and working more closely with local authorities and other partner agencies to tackle the issues that place most demand on police services. 

However, the latest proposed cuts in funding mean that GMP are now at crisis point. The changing nature and complexity of crime combined with a dwindling budget and the loss of thousands of officers pose extraordinary challenges.  Add to that the uncertainty of future police funding and the Police and Crime Commissioner is faced with extremely difficult decisions to ensure the communities of Greater Manchester are kept safe. 

We are currently looking at a situation where senior GMP Officers are due to slash another £157m from the Force’s Annual Budget by 2019.  This will mean hundreds of policing posts being cut.  In numbers terms, this means only 4000 Officers left by 2019, half its levels from just five years ago. 

Policing needs the necessary resources so that communities such as Bury can be kept as safe as possible. This is fundamental to secure communities, economic prosperity and a socially just society.

This council is very concerned about the outcome of the latest government consultation on police funding, and commits to work with others to further raise the funding issues being faced by GMP.

In the first instance, we will write to the Secretary of State outlining our concerns, as well as entreating both of our Members of Parliament to intercede with the government on behalf of our Borough.

We also ask for a delegation from Bury Council to meet with the Interim Mayor/Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner and his team to put forward  ...  view the full agenda text for item C. 407

Two Notices of Motion had been received and set out in the Summons.

Plastic Bag Levy

A motion had been received and set out in the summons in the names of Councillors M D’Albert and T Pickstone

It was moved by Councillor Pickstone and seconded by Councillor D’Albert:-

This Council notes:

·         That in the last year where figures are available (2013) shops in the UK handed out  8.3 billion plastic carrier bags

·         That plastic bags contribute to highly visible litter on our streets and countryside, pose a threat to wildlife and their disposal contributes significantly to green house gas emissions, taking 500 to 1,000 years to degrade.

This Council therefore welcomes:

·         The introduction of the Plastic Bag levy introduced by the previous Government which came into force on 5 October 2015.

·         That the levy will be distributed to charitable good causes, and the expected reduction in clean-up and waste disposal costs.

This Council resolves:

·         To liaise with our large supermarkets, and make available information on their grant schemes to local charities to maximise the amount of the levy which is distributed to local good causes

·         Provide information to small businesses in the Borough who may wish to voluntarily charge for plastic bags  to maximise the take-up of the scheme within the Borough.

On being put, with no-one voting against and no abstentions, the Mayor declared the motion carried.

2.  Police Funding

A motion had been received and set out in the summons in the names of

Councillors P Adams, N Bayley, J Black, S Briggs, , D Cassidy, M Connolly, E FitzGerald, L Fitzwalter, J Grimshaw, S Haroon, P Heneghan, T Holt, A Isherwood, M James, D Jones, J Kelly, S Kerrison, J Lewis, J Mallon,

A Matthews, E O’Brien, N Parnell, C Preston, A Quinn, R Shori, A Simpson, R Skillen, Sarah Southworth, Susan Southworth, T Tariq, J Walker, S Walmsley and M Whitby.

It was moved by Councillor Lewis and seconded by Councillor Jones:-

This Council notes that Policing, along with the wider public sector, has faced several years of major challenges due to central Government’s unrelenting cuts to funding. 

In Greater Manchester, the police have not shied away from these financial challenges, transforming local policing services and working more closely with local authorities and other partner agencies to tackle the issues that place most demand on police services. 

However, the latest proposed cuts in funding mean that GMP are now at crisis point. The changing nature and complexity of crime combined with a dwindling budget and the loss of thousands of officers pose extraordinary challenges.  Add to that the uncertainty of future police funding and the Police and Crime Commissioner is faced with extremely difficult decisions to ensure the communities of Greater Manchester are kept safe. 

We are currently looking at a situation where senior GMP Officers are due to slash another £157m from the Force’s Annual Budget by 2019.  This will mean hundreds of policing  ...  view the full minutes text for item C. 407

There were no Scrutiny Review Reports or specific items “called in” by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to be considered at this Council meeting.

Questions on the work of Outside Bodies or partnerships on which the Council is represented to be asked by Members of the Council (if any).

There were no questions received in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.2

Questions on the delegated decisions made by the Regulatory Committees and Scrutiny Committees contained in the Digest of Decision 3 (2015/16) published  since the last ordinary meeting of the Council, providing four clear working days’ notices has been given of the question.

Members are asked to bring to the meeting their copy of Digest 3 (2015/16).

There were no written questions asked on the delegated decisions of the Committees or Scrutiny Committee contained in the Digest of Decisions 3 (2015/16).