Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Civic Centre, Doncaster Road, Selby, YO8 9FT

Contact: Victoria Foreman  Email: vforeman@selby.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

60.

Apologies for Absence

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors M Crane, K Franks, J Shaw-Wright and P Welch.

61.

Disclosures of Interest

A copy of the Register of Interest for each Selby District Councillor is available for inspection at www.selby.gov.uk.

 

Councillors should declare to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest in any item of business on this agenda which is not already entered in their Register of Interests.

 

Councillors should leave the meeting and take no part in the consideration, discussion or vote on any matter in which they have a disclosable pecuniary interest.

 

Councillors should also declare any other interests. Having made the declaration, provided the other interest is not a disclosable pecuniary interest, the Councillor may stay in the meeting, speak and vote on that item of business.

 

If in doubt, Councillors are advised to seek advice from the Monitoring Officer.

Minutes:

Councillor Arthur declared a personal interest in agenda item 9 – ‘Reports from the Executive’ , specifically to the mention of the Selby Gateway Project in Councillor Buckle’s report, as he was employed by Network Rail.

 

62.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 548 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 24 February 2022.

Minutes:

The Council considered the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 24 February 2022.

 

Members were informed that there were two proposed amendments; firstly, the wording of the second resolution at minute number 48, relating to the Low Carbon Strategy item, should be amended as follows:

 

‘To support and select the first option of offsetting scope 1 and 2 emissions with regards to carbon offsetting from 2018 to 2023 as outlined in section 4.2.’

 

Secondly, that the attendance details for the meeting mistakenly omitted Councillor G Ashton, who had been present. Councillor Ashton would be added to the amended version.

 

The two amendments were proposed, seconded and a vote taken.

 

RESOLVED:

To approve the minutes of the Council meeting held on Tuesday 24 February 2022 for signing by the Chairman, subject to the amendments detailed above.

 

 

63.

Communications

The Chairman, Leader of the Council or the Chief Executive will deal with any communications which need to be reported to the Council.

Minutes:

There were no communications.

64.

Announcements

To receive any announcements from the Chairman, Leader or Members of the Executive.

Minutes:

There were no announcements.

65.

Petitions

To receive any petitions.

Minutes:

There were no petitions.

66.

Public Questions

To receive and answer questions, notice of which has been given in accordance with rule 10.1 of the Constitution.

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

67.

Councillors' Questions

To receive and answer questions submitted by councillors in accordance with rule 11.2 of the Constitution.

 

Minutes:

There were no Councillors’ questions.

68.

Reports from the Executive pdf icon PDF 214 KB

The Leader of the Council, and other members of the Executive, will report on their work since the last meeting of the Council and will respond to questions from Councillors on that work.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Mark Crane, Leader of the Council – presented by Councillor Richard Musgrave, Deputy Leader, in Councillor Crane’s absence

 

The Deputy Leader presented the Leader’s update on the work he had undertaken recently, as outlined in the report.

 

The Leader of the Opposition asked for further clarification on the section about Devolution. The Deputy Leader explained that the proposals had been agreed by the Executive in August 2020 and the other Councils in the area around the same time. An update from the LEP would be provided soon and a further meeting held after the elections.

 

Members asked for more information so that were also aware of what was being proposed. The Deputy Leader stated that the Executive report in question was a public document and could be viewed on the Council’s website.

 

The Member for Tadcaster thanked the Leader for approval of the emergency grant to assist with the recent flooding in the town; the Deputy Leader would pass on his thanks.

 

Members asked for an update on the Afghan refugee scheme so that the refugees could be made welcome. The Deputy Leader confirmed that this information would be shared with Members.

 

Councillor Richard Musgrave, Deputy Leader and Lead Executive Member or Place Shaping

 

The Deputy Leader gave an overview of his report and informed Members that the figures for the Development Management supplied in the update were only up to February 2022; updated figures would be sent out in due course.

 

Planning applications were up 30% more than usual and as such, fee income had increased, which reflected the number of applications that had been submitted. He thanked the Development Management Team for their work and gave details of the new interim Head of Development Management.

 

Councillor Cliff Lunn, Lead Executive Member for Finance and Resources

 

Councillor Lunn gave an overview of his report and asked if Members had any further questions.

 

The Leader of the Opposition stated that a question raised at a previous meeting, about the spending of the P4G funding, had not yet been answered; £1m had been spent but there was an estimated £5.4m left to spend. Members wanted to know when the rest would be spent.

 

A further question was also asked about the energy rebate and how those customers without bank accounts or access to the internet would receive the payment.

 

The Executive Member explained that the accounts for the P4G were still being finalised. There were several ongoing projects but there had been some delays, and the scheme could continue into the 2022-23 year. If the schemes were not finished by the end of 2022-23, the money would transfer to the new North Yorkshire unitary authority. The total spend would be £5.5m, £2m of which would be community investment, as well as staff costs.

 

Regarding the payment of the energy rebate, the team who were administering the payments were waiting for the software to enable them to make direct debit payments. Letters would be sent to all those who would receive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

69.

Reports from Committees pdf icon PDF 121 KB

To receive reports from the Council’s committees which need to be brought to the attention of Council. To receive questions and provide answers on any of those reports.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Karl Arthur – Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee

 

Councillor Arthur commended his report to the Council. There were no questions from Members.

 

Councillor Chris Pearson – Chair of the Policy Review Committee

 

Councillor Pearson presented his report to Council. There were no questions from Members.

 

Councillor Steve Shaw-Wright – Chair of Scrutiny Committee

 

Councillor Pearson presented his report to Council. There were no questions from Members.

 

It was proposed, seconded and a vote taken that the reports from Committees be noted.

 

RESOLVED:

                        To note the reports from Committees.

 

 

70.

Motions

To consider any motions.

Minutes:

There were no motions.

71.

Gambling Policy 2022 (C/21/19) pdf icon PDF 185 KB

Report C/21/19 asks the Council to adopt the proposed Gambling Policy 2022 as set out at Appendix A.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor A Lee declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the item as he owned an establishment that held a gambling licence. As such he left the room during the item’s consideration.

 

The Lead Executive Member for Health and Culture introduced the report which asked the Council to adopt the proposed Gambling Policy 2022 as set out at Appendix A of the report.

 

It was proposed, seconded and a vote taken that the Gambling Policy 2022 be adopted.

 

RESOLVED:

                        That the Gambling Policy 2022 be adopted.

72.

Calendar of Meetings for the 2022-23 Municipal Year (C/21/20) pdf icon PDF 125 KB

Report C/21/20 provides, for approval by Members, the proposed calendar of meetings for the 2022-23 municipal year.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor A Lee re-joined the meeting.

 

The Deputy Leader introduced the report that asked Members to approve the calendar of meetings for the 2022-23 municipal year, as outlined at Appendix A to the report.

 

Members noted that there was a minor amendment; Policy Review Committee would now be meeting on 12 July 2022, and Council on 19 July 2022.

 

Some Members were disappointed that a few meeting dates were amended regularly and suggested that District Council meetings be planned in conjunction with County Council meetings.

 

It was proposed, seconded and a vote taken to approve the calendar of meetings for the 2022-23 municipal year, as outlined at Appendix A.

 

RESOLVED:

To approve the calendar of meetings for the 2022-23 municipal year.

 

 

 

 

73.

Reporting of Urgent Decision: Tadcaster Business Flood Grant Scheme pdf icon PDF 351 KB

Report C/21/21 sets out the reasons for the urgent decision taken by the Chief Executive to vire Programme For Growth budget to deliver flood recovery fund grants through a scheme to provide financial assistance to Tadcaster town centre businesses suffering hardship due to the flooding caused by Storm Franklin in February 2022.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chief Executive presented the report which set out the reasons for the urgent decision taken, by the Chief Executive, to vire Programme for Growth budget to deliver flood recovery fund grants through a scheme to provide financial assistance to Tadcaster town centre businesses suffering hardship following the flooding caused by Storm Franklin in February 2022.

 

Tadcaster Ward Members thanked the Council for the funding which would benefit several businesses, some of which were unable to acquire insurance for flooding. There were some concerns that the turnover of the business should be over £100k to qualify for the funding, for which smaller businesses could be excluded. The Chief Executive confirmed that the grant was for small businesses and there could be some flexibility.

 

Members thanked Officers for their work on the scheme, and in particular those present during the flooding who helped as soon as possible.

 

Following a query about assistance for private householders, Members were informed that a link on the Council’s website had gone live that day which set out how residents could obtain the appropriate support.

 

Some minor errors in the financial details of the report were raised. Members asked that if there were similar flooding in other areas of the district the same approach would be taken. The Chief Executive explained that Tadcaster was a one-off due to the promised £12m flood alleviation scheme not being forthcoming.

 

The deadline for applications was by the end of April 2022; a press release would be published shortly to advertise this. Members asked if there would be a way to write directly to businesses to inform them about the scheme; the Chief Executive explained that as Two Ridings Community Foundation were administering the scheme on behalf of the Council, it would need to be raised with them. The matter would be taken up by Officers and further details sent to the Tadcaster Ward Members.

 

It was proposed, seconded and a vote taken to agree the recommendations as set out in the report.

 

RESOLVED:

To note the urgent decision of the Chief Executive:

 

1.            that £100,000 unallocated Programme for Growth funding and £22,500 of ‘Growing Enterprise’ Programme for Growth Funding be vired to establish a Tadcaster Business Flood Grant Scheme;

 

2.            that authority be delegated to the Director of Corporate Services and Commissioning to enter into an agreement with an external provider to deliver the grant scheme, subject to appropriate conditions.

74.

Urgent Item - Recalculation of Political Proportionality of the Council and Subsequent Changes to the Membership of Committees for the remainder of the 2021-22 Municipal Year pdf icon PDF 237 KB

This report provides details of the recalculation of political proportionality of the Council following recent changes to political group(s), and the subsequent amendments to the number of places on, and membership of, the Council’s committees for the remainder of the 2021-22 municipal year.

Minutes:

The Deputy Leader introduced the report which provided details of the recalculation of political proportionality of the Council following recent changes to political groups, and the subsequent amendments to the number of places on, and membership of, the Council’s committees for the remainder of the 2021-22 municipal year.

 

Members noted that at point 1.4 of the report there was an error; Councillor Charles Richardson was still a member of the Planning Committee.

 

It was proposed, seconded and a vote taken that Councillor Mark Topping be appointed as Chair of the Planning Committee.

 

RESOLVED:

1.    To note the changes to the membership of political groups on the Council and the subsequent recalculation of political proportionality on the Council’s Committees.

 

2.    To agree, as a result of these changes, the places on the Planning Committee for the remainder of the 2021-22 municipal year.

 

3.    That the position of Chairman of the Planning Committee be given to Councillor Mark Topping.

75.

Urgent Action

The Chief Executive will report on any instances where she has acted in urgent or emergency situations under the functions delegated to her in the Constitution.

Minutes:

There were no urgent actions to report.