Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence, if any.

Apologies had been received from Cllr G Hayman, Cllr E Vardy and Cllr A Yiasimi.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 5^th October 2022.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5^th October were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To determine any other items of business which the Chairman decides should be considered as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B (4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

None received.

Members are asked at this stage to declare any interests that they may have in any of the following items on the agenda.  The Code of Conduct for Members requires that declarations include the nature of the interest and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (see attached guidance and flowchart)

Cllr Dr V Holliday declared a pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 9: Council Tax Discount Determination 2023/2024. She informed members that she had received a dispensation from the Standards Committee to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

To receive the Chairman’s communications, if any.

The Chairman spoke about civic vents that she had attended since the last meeting of Full Council:

6^th October – Royal British Legion President’s Reception, Birbeck Hall, Norwich

9^th October – High Sheriff of Norfolk’s Justice Service, Norwich Cathedral

16^th October – Chairman of Broadland DC’s Civic Service, Thorpe St Andrew Parish Church

30^th October – Mayor of Dereham’s Civic Service, St Nicholas Parish Church, Dereham

11^th November – NNDC Armistice Day, laying of wreaths

13^th November – Remembrance Service, St Mary’s Parish Church, Stalham

The Chairman finished by reminding members that she was holding a quiz night to raise funds for her charities on 26^th November at the Poppy Centre, Stalham.

To receive announcements from the Leader.

The Leader, Cllr T Adams, began by speaking of his sadness to learn of the death of Peter Farley, founder of the drug and alcohol abuse charity, The Matthew Project, in 1984. The project originally went out to secondary schools in the county and had an in-person counselling service in Central Norwich. Cllr Adams said that his legacy would have a lasting impact and he would be sorely missed.

The Leader then outlined spoke about the imminent launch of the Council’s precept consultation. Adding that the Local Government sector cautiously awaited the outcome of the Government’s autumn budget statement, which was due on 17^th November. He said that the national financial situation was very fluid currently and it was hard to anticipate the effect of inflationary increases on the Council’s finances.

He then spoke about the Council’s recent Cost of Living Summit which had been well attended. Speakers included representatives from the Council’s statutory services and voluntary organisations, and they spoke about the challenges facing residents across the District. He informed members that there was a recording of the session available. He added that there would be some additional pressure on the Council’s Benefits team who were assisting with the rollout of support under the Household Energy Support scheme.

Regarding the Levelling up Bids, the Leader said that an announcement was now expected at some point over the winter. The position on County Deals was currently very uncertain and he was not able to provide an update at this time.

He then spoke about the impact of Avian Flu and an increase in the removal of wild bird carcasses across the District.

The Leader concluded by saying that the Council had been successful at appeal against a fine given to a landlord for the very poor condition in a rental property. He thanked officers for their work and said it was really important, in the light of recent news, that the Council continued to tackle such issues.

To consider any questions or statements received from members of the public.

None received.

To receive reports from Cabinet Members on their portfolios.

Members are reminded that they may ask questions of the Cabinet Member on their reports and portfolio areas but should note that it is not a debate.

No member may ask more than one question plus a supplementary question, unless the time taken by members’ questions does not exceed 30 minutes in total, in which case, second questions will be taken in the order that they are received (Constitution, Chapter 2, part 2, section 12.2)

Cabinet members (listed alphabetically):

Cllr T Adams (Leader / Executive Support)

Cllr A Brown –  Planning & Enforcement

Cllr A Fitch-Tillett – Coast

Cllr W Fredericks – Housing & Benefits

Cllr V Gay – Leisure, Culture & Wellbeing

Cllr R Kershaw – Sustainable Growth

Cllr N Lloyd – Environment & Climate Change

Cllr E Seward - Finance, Assets & Legal

Cllr L Shires – Organisational Resources

Cllr G Perry-Warnes raised the matter of prayers at Full Council meetings. She wondered whether these could recommence now that the pandemic was over. The Chairman asked members to indicate whether they supported this and several raised their hands. The Democratic Services Manager agreed to look into reinstating prayers in the future.

The Chairman then asked Cabinet members if they wished to provide an oral update to their written reports.

Cllr W Fredericks advised Members that the Poverty Dashboard was now up and running. She explained that this facilitated the collation of information for people receiving benefits and identify areas where they may be able to receive more support, such as free school dinners, energy support, or access to foodbanks. Currently there were 1300 children in the District who were currently not receiving free school meals but were eligible for them. She highlighted a website called ‘Entitled to’ which had a useful calculator for anyone wanting to access additional support or resources.

The Chairman invited members to ask questions:

Cllr M Taylor asked the Leader about the recent Cost of Living Summit and the decision to donate £10,000 to Cromer foodbank. He commended the generosity behind this but asked whether there was further scope to roll out support across the District. The Leader replied that the donation was to the North Norfolk food bank which covered the District, including Stalham. The donation was towards the energy bank too, as this was something which residents were increasingly seeking support for. In terms of planning for the cost of living crisis over the next few months, he said that there was still a lot of learning to do and information to take on board and he hoped that the Council could engage with other organisations to provide consistent and strong support across the District.

Cllr J Rest referred to page 24 of the agenda and asked the Leader if he could clarify the financial increase to the Council in percentage terms of the staff pay award. He also sought reassurance that this was the only pay award that would be offered to staff. The Leader said that as far as he was aware this was the only pay award. The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Cllr E Seward, said that he understood the award to equate to 5.9% in percentage terms. The Chief Executive said that he believed it was closer to 5.3%.

Cllr N Housden asked why some Portfolio Holders had not included a list of meetings attended in their reports. Cllr Fredericks said that this was an oversight and agreed to circulate a written update.

Cllr P Heinrich asked Cllr R Kershaw, Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth if he could confirm that monitoring in North Walsham Market Place had found no reduction in footfall and that it was likely therefore that any reduction in trade was due to inflationary pressures and not the work being undertaken for the Heritage Action Zone project. Cllr Kershaw replied that the market place had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80.

The following recommendations were made by Cabinet to Full Council at the meeting held on 3^rd October:

1.    Council Tax Discounts Determination 2023/2024

To recommend to Full Council that under Section 11A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Finance Act 2012 and other enabling powers that:

1)    The discounts for the year 2023-24 and beyond are set at the levels indicated in the table at paragraph 2.1

2)    The existing 100% council tax hardship discount and associated policy (see Appendix B) remains in place for 2023-24

3)    That an exception to the levy charges may be made by the Revenues Manager in the circumstances laid out in section 2.2 of this report

4)    The premiums for the year 2023-24 and beyond are set at the levels indicated in the table at paragraph 2.3

5)    A new second homes premium of 100% as detailed in paragraph 2.4 is applied from April 2024, subject to the necessary legislation.

6)    To continue to award a local discount of 100% for eligible cases of care leavers under Section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended)

7)    Those dwellings that are specifically identified under regulation 6 of the Council Tax (Prescribed Classes of Dwellings) (England) Regulations 2003 will retain the 50% discount as set out in paragraph 1.2 of this report.

8)    Those dwellings described or geographically defined at Appendix A which in the reasonable opinion of the Revenues Manager are judged not to be structurally capable of occupation all year round and were built before the restrictions of seasonal usage were introduced by the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, will be entitled to a 35% discount

To set appropriate council tax discounts and premiums which will apply in 2023-24 and to raise council tax revenue.

In accordance with the relevant legislation these determinations shall be published in at least one newspaper circulating in North Norfolk before the end of the period of 21 days beginning with the date of the determinations.

The following recommendations were made by Cabinet to Full Council at the meeting held on 7^th November:

1.    Budget Monitoring Report 2022/2023 – Period 6

To recommend to Council that any outturn deficit is funded from a contribution from the use of the General Reserve.

2.    Prudential Indicators 2021 – 2022

That the outturn position in respect of the 2021 – 2022 Prudential indicators is approved.

Cabinet 3^rd October 2022

1.    Council Tax Discounts Determination 2023 / 2024

Cllr E Seward, Portfolio Holder for Finance & Assets, introduced this item. He drew members’ attention to two of the recommendations.

Firstly, that any properties that could not be lived in but were undergoing repair, would receive a 50% council tax discount, as long as the repairs were completed within 9 months.

Secondly, that a second homes premium of 100% is applied from April 2024. Cllr Seward explained that the legislation allowing this was currently going through Parliament and it was anticipated that Royal Assent would be granted in 2023. Local Authorities were required to give 12 months’ notice ahead of introducing the premium, so it was coming to Full Council now for approval. He added that it was not certain that 100% could be applied until the legislation was passed, or whether there would be any flexibility around how it was managed. Cllr Seward reminded members that the District Council only received 9 pence in every pound raised in Council Tax. He said that if the premium was introduced as planned, the additional income would be ring-fenced for affordable housing, however, the Council would need to negotiate with Norfolk County Council and the Police for agreement on this.

Cllr E Withington reiterated the impact of second homes on local communities. She said that the Council needed additional income to address the housing crisis in the District, reminding members that there were currently 2,700 households on the housing waiting list. Funding to purchase land for the building of homes was crucial.

It was proposed by Cllr E Seward, seconded by Cllr R Kershaw and

RESOLVED that

Under Section 11A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Finance Act 2012 and other enabling powers that:

1)    The discounts for the year 2023-24 and beyond are set at the levels indicated in the table at paragraph 2.1

2)    The existing 100% council tax hardship discount and associated policy (see Appendix B) remains in place for 2023-24

3)    That an exception to the levy charges may be made by the Revenues Manager in the circumstances laid out in section 2.2 of this report

4)    The premiums for the year 2023-24 and beyond are set at the levels indicated in the table at paragraph 2.3

5)    A new second homes premium of 100% as detailed in paragraph 2.4 is applied from April 2024, subject to the necessary legislation.

6)    To continue to award a local discount of 100% for eligible cases of care leavers under Section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended)

7)    Those dwellings that are specifically identified under regulation 6 of the Council Tax (Prescribed Classes of Dwellings) (England) Regulations 2003 will retain the 50% discount.

8)    Those dwellings described or geographically defined at Appendix A which in the reasonable opinion of the Head of Finance and Asset Management are judged not to be structurally capable  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

To consider any recommendations from the Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 9^th November 2022.

Please note that this meeting took place after the Full Council agenda was published. The Chairman of the Committee will provide an oral update at the meeting.

Cllr N Dixon, Chairman of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee said that the two recommendations by the Committee had already been covered by in the previous item.

The following recommendation was made by the Governance, Risk & Audit Committee at the meeting held on 27^th September 2022:

1.    Governance, Risk & Audit Committee Annual Report 2021/2022

That Council notes the report, affirms the work of the Governance, Risk & Audit Committee, and considers any concerns raised within the report.

Cllr J Rest, Chairman of the Governance, Risk & Audit Committee, introduced this item. He drew members’ attention to page 126 of the agenda and said that he wished to make Members aware of a substantial increase of 150% in the fee paid by the Council for services provided by External Audit.

The Chief Executive said that the contract had been procured through the Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) process via a consortium and PSAA had advised that there was an average increase of 150% across the tender prices for the current 5 year contract. There was concern across the sector at the rise in costs but it did reflect the tightness of the labour market in the audit sector.

Cllr V Gay sought clarification as to whether this was the same External Audit provider that had caused considerable delays in recent years. Cllr Rest confirmed that it was.

Cllr S Penfold asked whether the costs were for the whole of the 5 year contract or whether the increase would be applied annually. The Chief Executive confirmed it was for the full 5 year contract.

It was proposed by Cllr J Rest, seconded by Cllr J Punchard and

RESOLVED

To receive the Governance, Risk & Audit Committee Annual Report for 2021/2022

The following recommendations were made to Full Council at the meeting of the Constitution Working Party held on 25^th October 2022:

(The draft minutes of the meeting are provided for information)

1.    Review of Working Parties & Groups

RESOLVED to recommend to Full Council

a)    That the Protocol for Working Parties is approved, subject to the inclusion of the following:

·         The different roles of a working party and a working group will be set out

·         The nomenclature of the body will reflect this, depending on its role.  

·         The names of existing working parties or groups will be changed in accordance with the above

b)    That the Constitution is updated to reflect any consequential changes.

2.    Review of Public Speaking Arrangements

RESOLVED To recommend to Full Council

That public questions and statements are submitted two days in advance of a meeting, with the deadlines for each committee to be clearly set out on the Council’s website and that the Constitution and accompanying guidance is amended to reflect this.

3.    Contract Procedure Rules

RESOLVED to recommend to Full Council:

To update the Contract Procedure Rules to reflect UK legislation, removing reference to EU law and increase expenditure thresholds to include VAT and an additional amount which takes into account inflation (as set out in Appendix 1)

That for contracts under £5k, a single quotation will be required and that three written quotations will be requested for contracts between £5k and £10k.

4.    Review of the Constitution

That a review of the Constitution is undertaken and that the preferred provider for undertaking this work is the Local Government Association in partnership with the Centre for Governance & Scrutiny

5.    Updates to the Constitution

RESOLVED to recommend to Full Council

That Chapter 5, section 13.1 of the constitution is amended to state:

A Member who is not a Member of the particular Committee or Sub-Committee may attend all meetings of any Committee or Sub-Committee, save for where the Chairman of the Committee considers an item to be particularly sensitive, including, but not limited to where such item involves the personal information of a specific employee. Where the Chairman considers the item to be particularly sensitive, he/she shall require Members who are not Members of that Committee to withdraw from any part of a meeting from which the Committee or Sub-Committee excludes press and public, unless specifically invited to remain by the Chairman because of the special contribution which that Member can bring to the issue under consideration.

Cllr A Varley, Chairman of the Constitution Working Party, introduced this item. He referred Members to the draft minutes of the meeting, which were included to provide context to the recommendations. He said that recommendations 1,2,3 and 5 were intended to strengthen and clarify the Constitution, whilst the fourth recommendation proposed that a full review of was undertaken. The current constitution had been in place for 12 years now and had never undergone a full review. The preferred provider for this work was the Local Government Association, in conjunction with the Centre for Public Governance. It was anticipated that the review would be completed by May 2023.

It was proposed by Cllr A Varley, seconded by Cllr V Gay and

RESOLVED

1.    Review of Working Parties & Groups

a)    That the Protocol for Working Parties is approved, subject to the inclusion of the following:

·         The different roles of a working party and a working group will be set out

·         The nomenclature of the body will reflect this, depending on its role.  

·         The names of existing working parties or groups will be changed in accordance with the above

b)    That the Constitution is updated to reflect any consequential changes.

2.    Review of Public Speaking Arrangements

RESOLVED

That public questions and statements are submitted two days in advance of a meeting, with the deadlines for each committee to be clearly set out on the Council’s website and that the Constitution and accompanying guidance is amended to reflect this.

3.    Contract Procedure Rules

RESOLVED

To update the Contract Procedure Rules to reflect UK legislation, removing reference to EU law and increase expenditure thresholds to include VAT and an additional amount which takes into account inflation (as set out in Appendix 1)

That for contracts under £5k, a single quotation will be required and that three written quotations will be requested for contracts between £5k and £10k.

4.    Review of the Constitution

RESOLVED

That a review of the Constitution is undertaken and that the preferred provider for undertaking this work is the Local Government Association in partnership with the Centre for Governance & Scrutiny

5.    Updates to the Constitution

RESOLVED

That Chapter 5, section 13.1 of the constitution is amended to state:

‘A Member who is not a Member of the particular Committee or Sub-Committee may attend all meetings of any Committee or Sub-Committee, save for where the Chairman of the Committee considers an item to be particularly sensitive, including, but not limited to where such item involves the personal information of a specific employee. Where the Chairman considers the item to be particularly sensitive, he/she shall require Members who are not Members of that Committee to withdraw from any part of a meeting from which the Committee or Sub-Committee excludes press and public, unless specifically invited to remain by the Chairman because of the special contribution which that Member can bring to the issue under consideration.’

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW

(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information, and which are not published elsewhere)

The Chief Executive introduced this item. He explained that the Employment & Appeals Committee met on 20^th October 2022 and resolved to recommend to Full Council that Tina Stankley be appointed as Director of Resources and the Council’s designated Section 151 Officer.

The Chairman invited members to speak:

Cllr J Rest asked how many people had applied for the role and how many were interviewed.

The Chief Executive replied that 4 applications had been received. The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) had been engaged to provide support through the recruitment process and they had advised that two of the applications had not met the required threshold. Two candidates were invited for interview, with one withdrawing. This left one candidate who was invited and then attended an interview.

It was proposed by Cllr T Adams, seconded by Cllr P Heinrich and

RESOLVED

To confirm the appointment of Tina Stankley as the Director of Resources and designated Section 151 Officer.

Summary:

Further to the decision of Full Council at the meeting held on 5^th October 2022 for the authority to commence consultation on a Community Governance Review proposing a reduction in the number of councillors to serve on Trunch Parish Council the Elections Team have undertaken a period of consultation to establish whether there was support for a reduction in the number of seats on the Parish Council to nine from eleven.

Conclusion:

At the close of consultation on 4^th November 2022 there had been a total of 181 responses, with 177 being in support of and four being against the proposals. This includes support from both District and County Council members for the Parish.

Recommendation:

That Full Council agrees that from 1^st December 2022 Trunch Parish Council be made up of nine parish councillors

Contact Officer, telephone number and email:

Rob Henry. X6327, robert.henry@north-norfolk.gov.uk

The Chief Executive introduced this item. He explained that at the last meeting of Full Council on 5^th October, Members had agreed to commence consultation on a community governance review proposing a reduction in the number of councillors serving on Trunch Parish Council, from 11 to 9. There had been a strong level of local support for the change, including from both the County and District members for the Parish.

It was proposed by Cllr P Grove-Jones, seconded by Cllr R Kershaw and

RESOLVED

That from 1^st December 2022, Trunch Parish Council be made up of nine councillors.

None Received.

None received.

The following item of Opposition Business is proposed by Cllr C Cushing, seconded by Cllr N Dixon:

New Council Waste and Recycling Collection Timetable:

At the start of September a new waste and recycling collection timetable was implemented. This Council profoundly regrets the multitude of problems experienced by residents across North Norfolk with missed collections and for the confusion over which day to put the bins out and which day they are actually collected. While the task of reorganising the waste and recycling collection rounds is both complex and prone to errors there’s clearly been significant failures in planning, staff training at operator and call centre levels, vehicle and driver resourcing and anticipating contingencies problems. 

This is the most visible of the public services NNDC provides and, although it contracts the delivery of the service to Serco, it retains responsibility for it. While Serco must accept blame for its failures in delivering the collection service, NNDC must accept responsibility for ensuring the collection round transition project was properly planned, adequately resourced (in terms of staff, vehicles, familiarisation training and call centre capacity) and had contingency arrangements in place to cope with missed collections. It had a duty to work very closely with Serco to ensure all those were confidently covered before agreeing the project start; clearly that has not gone well with some areas and rounds being more affected than others. 

For its part, NNDC must hold its hands up and this motion calls on this Council to publicly apologise to residents and businesses for its part in those service delivery failures and to redouble its efforts to work with Serco to restore the expected service delivery standards across the District.

The Chairman invited Cllr C Cushing to introduce the motion. He began by saying that the Council’s waste contractor, Serco, had introduced a new collection timetable at the start of September 2022, which affected 90% of households in the District. Given the scale of the changes, it was to be expected that there would be some issues for a couple of weeks. However, the disruption was much worse than expected, with 2000 missed bin collections. This compared to an average of 250 prior to the timetable changes. Cllr Cushing said that the local MP had been inundated with complaints from residents and he was aware of one resident in his own ward who had not had a bin collection for 4 weeks. They had spoken to the Council and contacted Serco but had not seen any results. He went onto say that all residents knew that NNDC was the authority responsible for bin collections, and although Serco’s management team must accept the blame for what had happened, the Council must also accept that it was responsible for working with them to minimise the disruption. Cllr Cushing said that there was no blame on Serco operatives at all but he wondered what oversight the Portfolio Holder for Environment had of the situation. He concluded by saying that the Council must apologise to residents and redouble efforts to work with Serco to resolve the problems.

Cllr N Dixon seconded the motion. He reserved his right to speak.

The Chairman invited Cllr N Lloyd, Portfolio Holder for Environment, to respond. He began by saying that if residents ever received less than good service then it was of great concern. The Leader, Cllr Adams, had apologised in the latest edition of the Council’s magazine, Outlook. Cllr Lloyd added that he had also apologised when he had attended the Overview & Scrutiny Committee recently. He said that he would like to apologise once again and reassure residents that the number of missed collections was now back to pre-timetable change levels. Cllr Lloyd explained that the collection rounds needed to be reorganised because housing stock across the District had increased in recent years and there had also been a significant rise in the amount of trade waste that needed to be collected. He added that the contract also included two Conservative controlled councils and changes to collection rounds had been implemented in Breckland and Kings Lynn and West Norfolk before being introduced in North Norfolk. Six additional vehicles had been hired to support the changes and practice runs had been carried out in advance. In addition, leaflets advising residents of the changes had been distributed. He said that he resented the suggestion that officers did not work with Serco to address any problems.

Cllr Lloyd said that Serco had fallen below expected standards. It should be remembered, however, that since Brexit there had been a shortage of HGV drivers and it had taken some time to recruit drivers for waste vehicles. They had then had to work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88.

None Received.

None received.

To pass the following resolution – if necessary:

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) _ of Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) to the Act.”

None.