Agenda and minutes

To receive a presentation on the work of Norfolk and Waveney MIND, one of the Chairman’s nominated charities.

The Chairman opened the meeting with the sad news of the death of the former elected member, Robin Combe. He asked the Leader to say a few words before commencing a minutes silence in memory of Mr Combe.

The Leader began by saying that Robin Combe had a huge heart. He stood up for what he believed in and cared passionately about his community. He was full of wisdom, advice and humour. He had served on the Council for 12 years as an elected member and was Chairman of the Liberal Democrat Group for several years. Duty had always been more important than his ego and he was extremely well respected by staff – particularly those in housing and planning. She concluded by saying that he had always been extremely supportive to her personally, always offering words of support and advice. The World would be a poorer place for his passing.

Members observed one minutes silence in memory of Mr Combe.

The Chairman then invited two representatives from his nominated charity, Norfolk & Waveney MIND, to speak about the charity and its work. Louise Jordan-Hall, Chairman of the Trustee Board began by thanking the Chairman for choosing to support MIND during his year in office. She said that he was looking forward to building a relationship with the Council. She then spoke about the work of the charity and how it focussed on the journey that individuals faced – not just the recovery, explaining that MIND was now busier than ever following the pandemic, with 60% of people seeking help, having no previous mental health issues. Calls to Norfolk & Waveney MIND had increased by 47% and requests for counselling by 203%.

Ms Jordan-Hall explained that the charity was working to the ‘super connector’ model – bringing services together and basing key services in the community. There were three main planks to their strategy – prevention, community resilience and crisis intervention.

Mr Jimi Matthews, Director of Performance & Assurance then outlined the services offered by MIND. He said that there were over 30 services, supporting the community as a whole. There was still a huge stigma around mental health. One in five people took time off work for stress but 90% of those people would cite a different reason on the sickness absence report. Very few managers had received support or training in how to deal with mental health issues at work, yet it was known that 1 in 7 people live with depression and 84% of people would experience a mental health issue during their lifetime. He said that Norfolk & Waveney MIND had supported 105 people in July 2021 alone.

Mr Matthews explained that recovery services were vital. There had been 89 suicides in Norfolk in the previous year and 5% of people were known to have had suicidal thoughts. He said that mental health affected everyone and he thanked members for their support and for helping to raise awareness for the people that needed it most.

To receive apologies for absence, if any.

Apologies were received from Cllrs T Adams, A Fitch-Tillett, V Holliday, R Kershaw, M Millership, L Shires and E Spagnola.

Cllr G Hayman referred to the attendance of two elected members at a Leadership course. He asked whether it had been paid for by the Council. The Chairman said that there was no opportunity to raise questions as this item was for the receipt of apologies only. He said any questions should be directed to the Monitoring Officer outside of the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 21^st July 2021.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21^st July were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to the following amendments:

Minute 69: Portfolio Holder Reports - Cllr G Hayman said that he did not regard attendance at parish council meetings as useful management information.

Cllr Hayman asked when the Administration would deliver on their election promises, as set out in the Corporate Plan.

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.

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)

To receive the Chairman’s communications, if any.

The Chairman spoke about recent civic events that he had attended:

3^rd September – Breckland District Council Civic Reception

4^th September – Norfolk County Council Summer Reception at How Hill

6^th September – High Sheriff’s Reception

9^th September – Royal British Legion President’s Reception at the Great Hospital, Norwich

15 September – Battle of Britain Remembrance Service

19 September – Royal British Legion centenary ceremony – parade of standards

The Chairman concluded by reminding Members that his civic reception was taking place on 6^th October at Fakenham race course.

Cllr G Perry- Warnes asked when prayers would be returning to Full Council meetings. The Chairman replied that the current situation with the pandemic meant that many religious leaders did not feel able to attend a busy, physical meeting at this time. It was hoped that prayers would resume soon.

The Leader updated members on the following issues:

Community Renewal Fund – Councils were still awaiting news on this. A response had been expected at the end of July. The Council had asked local MPs to pursue the matter.

The Ministry of Communities, Housing & Local Government (MCHLG) had been replaced by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities. She said that she was disappointed that local government was no longer reflected in the title. She added that she was currently involved in the early stages of discussions with other Leaders regarding a future County deal.

The Leader then spoke about the concern felt by many regarding support for Afghan refugees. She said that the Council had pledged support but that a resettlement programme must be done collaboratively. She outlined the lengthy and frustrating attempts by the Council to provide support and accommodation, resulting in the Home Office rejecting the proposal the previous week. She said that Afghans deserved better and she wanted to work with colleagues across the political groups to provide a solution to an obvious and immediate need. She invited the other group leaders to sign a joint letter to the Government.

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

None received.

The Chairman explained that this was a statutory report that was required following a change in the Council’s political balance. He said that the report had been shared with Group Leaders prior to publication.

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

RESOLVED

1. That Council approves the revised political balance calculation as per section 2.6of this report
2. That Council approves the allocation of seats to political groups as shown at Appendix A, taking into consideration any arrangements agreed by the Group Leaders
3. That delegation is given to the Group Leaders to make any appointments to committees, sub-committees, working parties & panels.

_{To approve any appointments to committees, sub-committees, working parties, panels} and outside bodies as notified by the Group Leader.

The Chairman asked the Group Leaders in turn whether they wished to announce any appointments (noting that that they had delegation from Council to make appointments at any time). No appointments were made.

Cllr S Penfold asked whether the full title of the North Norfolk Sustainable Communities Fund could be reflected in future reports.

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, during this session 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)

The Chairman invite Portfolio Holders to present their reports:

Cllr W Fredericks, Portfolio Holder for Housing & Benefits, referenced residents’ concerns regarding rising energy costs and the upcoming winter and said that the Customer Services team would be able to provide advice and signpost to support and assistance. She asked Members to consider donating to the Cromer Food Bank as they also had a fuel bank that could assist with top ups of oil and electricity tokens.

Cllr C Heinink thanked officers for the new format of the report, saying that the housing needs section in particular was very helpful. He asked whether there was a way to feed this information to Town & Parish Councils to help them better understand the need for community-led housing. Cllr Fredericks replied that she was working with Cllr Toye, Portfolio Holder for Planning, on preparing a presentation for town and parish councils.to show the opportunities for accommodating affordable housing in their communities. She added that the Community Liaison Officer within the Housing Team was happy to go out with the Local Member and talk to town and parish councils about the opportunities and funding options.

Cllr V Gay, Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture & Wellbeing, said that she wanted to update Members on the new Reef Leisure Centre in Sheringham. She said that huge progress was being made (slides were displayed). Several members had visited the site on 7^th September and at that time the signage was installed, thermal panels had just been tested and it was clear that a lot had happened since the previous visit in July. Cllr Gay said that she had visited again on 22 September and the skate park was now complete, the car park was finished and a fully equipped spinning studio was in place as well as a changing places bathroom. In conclusion she said that she was particularly pleased to see the swimming pool filled with water.

She said that there had been some issues with the supply chain but that the final stages of the project were nearing and it would soon be complete. She thanked the officers for their continued hard work in pushing the project forward.

Cllr Gay then spoke about the introduction of beach wheelchairs during the summer season. They had been received very positively indeed and several people had been in contact to thank the Council for introducing them.

Cllr A Varley referenced the beach wheelchairs and asked whether they would be rolled out further across the District – including Bacton. Cllr Gay replied that this was being explored as there had been expressions of interest from several places.

Cllr N Housden asked whether the Reef would be open in time for the half-term holidays. Cllr Gay said that she could not commit to that as it was fast approaching.

Cllr G Hayman commented on the steep fall in ticket sales for the theatre at Cromer Pier. He asked what the Council was doing regarding provision of support and what would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.

Agenda Item 11: Outturn report 2020/21 (Period 12 Budget Monitoring report)

Resolved to recommend the following to Full Council:

a)  The provisional outturn position for the General Fund revenue account for 2020/21;

b)  The transfers to and from reserves as detailed within the report (and appendix C) along with the corresponding updates to the 2021/22 budget;

c) Allocate the surplus of £752,223 to the Delivery Plan Reserve;

d)  The financing of the 2020/21 capital programme as detailed within the report and at Appendix D;

e) The balance on the General Reserve of £2.326 million;

f)  The updated capital programme for 2021/22 to 2024/25 and scheme financing as outlined within the report and detailed at Appendix E;

g)  The outturn position in respect of the Prudential Indicators for 2020/21 as detailed in Appendix F and;

h) The roll-forward requests as outline in Appendix H are approved.

Agenda Item 12: Treasury Management Annual Report 2020/21

Resolved to recommend to Council:

To approve the Treasury Management Annual Report and Prudential Indicators for 2020/21

Agenda Item 13: Debt Recovery 2020-2021

Resolved to recommend to Full Council:

To approve the Debt Recovery Annual report for 2020-2021

1. Outturn Report 2020/21 (Period 12 Budget Monitoring report)

It was proposed by Cllr E Seward, seconded by Cllr S Butikofer and

RESOLVED to approve

a)  The provisional outturn position for the General Fund revenue account for 2020/21;

b)  The transfers to and from reserves as detailed within the report (and appendix C) along with the corresponding updates to the 2021/22 budget;

c) Allocate the surplus of £752,223 to the Delivery Plan Reserve;

d)  The financing of the 2020/21 capital programme as detailed within the report and at Appendix D;

e) The balance on the General Reserve of £2.326 million;

f)  The updated capital programme for 2021/22 to 2024/25 and scheme financing as outlined within the report and detailed at Appendix E;

g)  The outturn position in respect of the Prudential Indicators for 2020/21 as detailed in Appendix F and;

h) The roll-forward requests as outline in Appendix H are approved.

2. Treasury Management Annual Report and Prudential Indicators for 2020/21

It was proposed by Cllr E Seward, seconded by Cllr S Butikofer and

RESOLVED to approve

The Treasury Management Annual report and Prudential Indicators for 2020/21.

3. Debt Recovery 2020/2021

It was proposed by Cllr E Seward, seconded by Cllr S Butikofer and

RESOLVED to approve

The Debt Recovery Annual Report 2020/2021

To consider any recommendations arising from the Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 15^th September 2021.

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

The Chairman of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Cllr N Dixon, said that the committee had no further recommendations to Council.

The Chairman invited the Chief Executive to introduce this item. He began by saying that the report set out how the Council’s governance arrangements regarding the appointment and discipline of statutory officers would be strengthened. He explained that the Employment & Appeals Committee was a formal committee that reported direct to Council. Guidance regarding new procedures had been issued in 2019 and the Chief Executive had reviewed the Council’s arrangements with the HR Manager and the Monitoring Officer to ensure that they were fully compliant. He said that he wished to propose a slight change to recommendation 2 – in that the reference to ‘pool’ would be replaced with ‘substitutes’. He emphasised that by appointing additional substitutes, any issues regarding conflicts of interest and the need to establish a separate appeals panel, would be addressed.

Cllr T FitzPatrick referred to the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Committee as set out in Appendix 2. He queried what would happen if the Chairman or Vice-Chairman were not present at a meeting of the Employment & Appeals Committee what would happen. The Chief Executive replied that Cllr Seward was appointed as Chairman of the Committee at the Annual meeting of Council on 26^th May. There was not a Vice-Chairman at present. He said that he would address the issue raised by Cllr FitzPatrick, suggesting if the Chairman was not present or had a conflict of interest then the Vice-Chairman could chair the meeting. If they were not present then the committee could elect from the floor.

It was proposed by Cllr S Butikofer, seconded by Cllr P Heinrich and

RESOLVED  

1. To agree the revised terms of reference for the Employment & Appeals Committee

2. To nominate 5 members to be appointed to the committee and 10 substitute members, and all those appointed to undertake appropriate training.

None Received.

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.”