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 an interest in any item which related to staffing as his partner is an employee of Persona.

2.   Councillor Bevan declared a personal interest in any item which related to staffing in schools as his wife is employed by a school in the Borough.

3.   Councillor Mallon declared a personal interest in any item relating to staffing as his partner is an employee within a Bury High school.

4.   Councillors Fitzwalter, Gunther, Sarah Southworth and Susan Southworth declared personal interests in respect of MinuteC. (i), Housing Revenue Account 2016/17, as Board Members of Six Town Housing.

5.   Councillor Wiseman declared a personal interest in Minute C.728(ii), Budget 2016/17, in so far as it related to Day Care Services as she is an employee of an organisation which receives funding from Bury Council to provide day care to some residents of the Borough.

6.   Councillor Fitzgerald declared personal interests in respect of Minute C.728(ii), Budget 2016/2017 as a Director of Persona (relating to adult social care precept) and as an employee of Manchester College (relating to apprentice wage levels).

7.   Councillors P Adams, N Bayley, J Black, S Briggs,  D M Cassidy, M Connolly, E FitzGerald, L Fitzwalter,  J Grimshaw, S Haroon, P Heneghan, T Holt, A Isherwood, M A James, D Jones, J Kelly, S Kerrison, J Lewis, J Mallon, 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 declared personal interests in respect of the amendment set out in (B) of Minute C.728 (i)Budget 2016/17, as Trade Union Members.

To receive and approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 3 February 2016 (Copy attached).

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 3 February 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

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.

The Mayor paid tribute to Mrs Brenda Headley who had recently passed away

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.

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

To receive and consider the recommendations to the Council contained in the following Minutes of the Cabinet:-

(i)          Housing Revenue Account 2016/2017

At the invitation of the Mayor, Councillor Shori, Cabinet Member Health and Wellbeing, made a statement on the Housing Revenue Account 2016/2017.

It was moved by Councillor Shori and seconded by Councillor Connolly that the recommendations contained in Minute CA.722 of the Cabinet meeting held on 24 February 2016 be approved subject to the following amendments:

DELETE

That the report be noted and the Council be requested to consider all matters relating to the Housing Revenue Account 2016/17, the increase in council house and garage rents and changes to other charges.

ADD

1.   Approve the Housing Revenue Account estimates set out in Appendix 1 subject to potential amendment to reflect the agreed Management Fee payable to Six Town Housing.

2.  Decrease the Rents for dwellings other than Sheltered and Extra Care by 1% from the first rent week in April.

3.  Increase the Rents for Sheltered and Extra Care dwellings by 0.9% from the first rent week in April.

4.     Adopt the policy of re-letting dwellings at Target rents with effect from the first rent week in April.                                                           

5.  Increase Garage rents by 0.9% from the first rent week in April.

6.  Increase Sheltered Management and Amenity Charges by 0.9% from the first rent week in April.

7.  Reduce Sheltered heating charges by 10% from the first rent week in April.

8.  Approve that Sheltered support and Furnished Tenancy charges remain unchanged from the first rent week in April.

9.  Increase tenancy charges at the Fernhill Caravan Site by 0.9% from the first rent week in April.

On being put, and with no Member voting against and the Mayor abstaining, it was:

Resolved:

That the recommendations set out in respect of the Housing Revenue Account for 2016/2017 be approved.

(ii)         Budget 2016/2017

At the invitation of the Mayor, Councillor Shori, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Housing, made a statement on the Budget for 2016/2017.

(A) It was moved by Councillor Shori and seconded by Councillor Connolly that the recommendations contained in Minute CA.721 of the Cabinet meeting held on 24 February 2016 be approved subject to the following amendments:

            DELETE

That the report is 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 2016/17 at its meeting on 24th February 2016.

            ADD

Section A – Capital Programme

1.        Approve the Capital Programme for 2016/17 and future years, as shown in Appendix 1.

2.        Approve the proposed financing of the Capital Programme;

Section B – Revenue Budget

3.        Note the details of the Settlement Funding Allocation (SFA) for 2016/17;

4.        Note the recently approved level of repayment of principal on General Fund debt at the minimum of 2% in line with the current Minimum Revenue Provision policy;

5.        Note that under delegated powers the Interim Executive Director of Resources & Regulation calculated the amount of 51,900 as the Council Tax base for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item C. 728

Questions on the delegated decisions on the Budget 2016/2017 made at the following meetings:-

There were no questions asked on the delegated decisions of the Cabinet, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Joint Consultative Committee (Corporate) and Joint Consultative Committee (Teachers).