Venue: Council Chamber, Bury Town Hall
Contact: Julie Gallagher Democratic Services
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST Members of the Council are requested to declare any interests which they have in any items or issues before the Council for determination. Minutes: Councillor Mike Smith declared a personal interest in agenda item Notice of Motion (ii) as a post office shareholder and he left the meeting for consideration of this item. |
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MAYORAL COMMUNICATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 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. Minutes: The Mayor as Bury first citizen updated Members of the Council on work undertaken since the last meeting. As this the first meeting since the passing of former Councillor and Mayor, John Smith, Members of the Council took time to place on record their condolences for him and also Mr Ken Holden a council employee of 54 years. |
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Minutes attached. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 13th November be approved as correct record and signed by the Mayor. |
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PUBLIC QUESTION TIME 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. Minutes: No questions were received in advance of the Council deadline. Members of the public attended and the following questions were raised, no supplementary questions were allowed: Steve Middleton – Township Forums Fawad Sabir – Muslim Burials Jill Budgen – Section 106 monies Andy Hay – Prestwich Regeneration Reg Dixon – Guttering on Rochdale Road
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RECOMMENDATIONS OF CABINET AND COUNCIL COMMITTEES
Additional documents: Minutes: (I) Audit Committee – APPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT MEMBERS
It was moved by Councillor Moss and seconded by Councillor O’Brien and it was agreed that Ben Thomas and David Webster would be appointed as Co-opted Independent Members of the Audit Committee for a two year term, with immediate effect.
(ii) Audit committee – COUNCIL'S RESPONSE TO THE STATUTORY RECOMMENDATIONS UNDER SCHEDULE 7 OF THE LOCAL AUDIT AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT 2014
It was moved by Councillor O’Brien and seconded by Councillor Moss and it was agreed that Council: Notes the issues raised by the external auditors and progress made since 2021 to mitigate highlighted risks. Accepts the auditors statutory recommendation and to deliver an organisational improvement plan. Endorse the proposed action plan, with the addition of reference to the Member Assurance Group and revised implementation date for the plan of February 2026 and recommend adoption to Council.
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LEADER' STATEMENT AND CABINET QUESTION TIME
A member may ask a verbal question of the Leader, any Member of the Cabinet or Chair of a Committee about any matter on the Council agenda and which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the Borough. Only one verbal question per Councillor. (20 minutes)
Additional documents:
Minutes: (a) Written question (Notice given)
The Leader of the Council, Councillor E O’Brien, made a statement on the work undertaken by him since the date of the last Council meeting.
The Leader and the relevant Cabinet Members answered questions raised by Councillors on the following issues:
b) Verbal Questions
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(A) A combined authority update report is attached, for information. The focus of this update will be Transport For Greater Manchester (TfGM) (B) The TfGM representative, Councillor Alan Quinn will then be invited to present a verbal update on the work of the Authority (5 minutes). (C) Members will be allowed to ask verbal questions on the verbal update (5 minutes). (D) Questions (if any) on the work of the Combined Authority to be asked by Members of the Council for which the necessary notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rules. (10 minutes)
Additional documents: Minutes: The Council received a report on the work of the Combined Authorities and a verbal update from Cabinet Member, Councillor A Quinn on the work of the Transport For Greater Manchester. The following questions had been received in accordance with Council Procedure Rules:
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NOTICES OF MOTION (i) Re-introduction of township forums
Members are asked to consider a notice of motion in the names of Councillors Carol Birchmore, Cllr Donald Berry, Cllr Andrea Booth, Cllr Des Duncalfe, Cllr Glyn Marsden, Cllr Ken Simpson, Cllr Mike Smith and Cllr Mary Walsh
Township forums would allow local people to have a say and raise issues such as regeneration, bin collections, road maintenance, invasive weeds, crime and disorder, the environment, health and fly-tipping. Potential benefits of township forums are:
Up until 2017 Bury Council had township forums but they were replaced by “a new Neighbourhood Engagement Framework’”. It was claimed that the new framework would offer a flexible approach to community engagement across Team Bury partners and support and facilitate the new relationship between public services and citizens, communities and businesses that is required to support wider neighbourhood working. However, despite good intentions it has been found that often residents and sometimes councillors have felt they have been in the dark about important decisions being made about their towns. Residents have often objected to decisions made by the Council stating that they believe they have not been fully consulted. The replacement for the township forums concentrated a lot on the provision of online feedback but this can sometimes provide a barrier to residents who might struggle with written feedback or possibly the use of the technology to provide the feedback in the required format. It has been claimed that attendance at forums was poor, but this was potentially down to the fact that there were no significant projects taking place in the townships at the time. With activity taking place with regards to regeneration plans for our towns it is likely that there will be far more information to report to residents with regards to changes in their towns and a greater opportunity for residents’ feedback to make a difference. It has previously been claimed that grouping wards together was not always the best option since what is an issue in one ward is not necessarily an issue in another ward in the same township area. However, the counter to that is that if you take the example of Prestwich or Radcliffe just considering issues for a single ward boundary is more constricting when you consider groupings of similar area demographics cross the ward boundaries e.g. looking at Radcliffe town centre MSOA. What should be avoided is grouping non similar wards together e.g. the demography of Radcliffe is different to Bury West. Although some parties/groups or individual councillors have good social media presence the transfer of important information or proposals relies on full and open communication and online discussion might not benefit from the challenge of direct public questioning from residents. This proposed motion ... view the full agenda text for item C. 41 Minutes: (i) Re-introduction of township forums
Council considered a motion in the names of Councillors Birchmore, Berry, Booth, Duncalfe, Marsden, M Smith, K Simpson and Cllr Mary Walsh.
The motion was moved by Councillor Birchmore and seconded by Councillor M Smith and on being put with the majority of members voting against the Motion, the Mayor declared the motion lost.
(ii) Save Prestwich Crown Post Office
Council considered a notice of motion received in the names of Councillors: A Arif, Bayley, Boles, Cummins, Farooq, Fitzgerald, Frith, Gold, Green, Grimshaw, Haroon, Hayes, Hook, Ibrahim, McGill, Morris, Moss, O'Brien, Pilkington, Quinn Alan, Quinn Deborah, Rafiq, Rizvi, Rahimov, Rubinstein, Ryder, Smith Lucy, John Southworth, Staples-Jones Gareth, Tariq, Thorpe, Walmsley. The Motion was moved by Councillor D Green and seconded by Councillor Gold and on being put with the majority of Members voting in favour, Council agreed to: 1) Fully support the campaign to keep Prestwich Crown Post Office open. 2) Write to Gareth Thomas MP, the Minister responsible for the Post Office, and Nigel Railton, the Post Office interim Chair, setting out our opposition to any closure and demanding an immediate halt to the proposals.
(iii) Consultation regarding moving Council Local Elections to a 4- year cycle Council considered a motion in the names of Councillors S. Arif, Bernstein, Brown, Gartside, Harris, Hussain, Lancaster, McBriar, Rydeheard, Vernon.
The motion was moved by Councillor Vernon and seconded by Councillor Lancaster and on being put with the majority of members voting against the Motion, the Mayor declared the motion lost.
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For information only - COUNCIL MOTION TRACKER A report setting out progress in respect of Motions passed at the last meeting of Council is attached for information. |
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SCRUTINY REVIEW REPORTS AND SPECIFIC ITEMS "CALLED IN" BY SCRUTINY COMMITTEES None. Minutes: There were no scrutiny reports or specific items called by scrutiny committees. |
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QUESTIONS ON THE WORK OF OUTSIDE BODIES OR PARTNERSHIPS 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). Minutes: There were no questions on the work on the outside bodies. |