Agenda and minutes

City Council
Monday, 8th December, 2014 2.00 pm

Venue: Council Chamber - at the Council House. View directions

Contact: Rav Kalsi, Constitutional Services, Tel: 0115 8763759  Email: rav.kalsi@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

66.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Councillor Alex Ball – non Council business

Councillor Merlita Bryan

Councillor Georgina Culley – non Council business

Councillor Emma Dewinton – non Council business

Councillor Pat Ferguson – non Council business

Councillor Alex Norris – leave

Councillor Jeannie Packer – other Council business

Councillor Brian Parbutt – non Council business

Councillor Sarah Piper – non Council business

Councillor Mohammed Saghir – non Council business

Councillor Wendy Smith – non Council business

Councillor Marcia Watson

 

67.

Declarations of interests

Minutes:

No declarations of interests were made.

68a

questions from citizens;

Minutes:

No questions from citizens were received.

68b

petitions from Councillors on behalf of citizens.

Please note that questions to Council are received after the agenda has been published. Questions will be uploaded to this agenda by 5pm on Friday 5 December 2014

Minutes:

Councillor Chris Gibson submitted a petition on behalf of 226 signatories requesting that the Council take legal measures to secure the repair of the Old Rectory in Clifton Village.

 

Councillor Gul Khan submitted a petition on behalf of 64 signatories objecting to planning permission for houses to be built opposite Colwick Park Estate.

69.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 114 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 October and the extraordinary meeting held on 16 October 2014 were confirmed as correct records and signed by the Lord Mayor.

70.

To receive official communications and announcements from the Leader of the Council and/or the Chief Executive

Minutes:

The Chief Executive reported the following:

 

Britain’s Cleanest City

 

Nottingham has been officially declared Britain’s Cleanest City. At the Chartered Institute of Waste Management Clean Britain Awards in Birmingham on the 26 November, the City Council was announced the winner of the Cleanest City Award and winner of the Gold Standard Award. This reflects the Council’s priority of a Clean City and thanks go to the dedicated staff who work to ensure we that deliver the very best service in the City Centre and in our neighbourhoods of Nottingham.

 

Care Awards

 

We are also proud to announce that the hard work of 2 of our Social Care teams has been recognised on a national level. The Indian Community Centre on Hucknall Road, which offers a day care service for older people to encourage independence, won the top prize in the National Care Awards 2014. It was nominated for 2 awards and scooped the Best Care Team accolade in London last week.

 

At the same time the Children’s Social Care Duty Team was short listed for the Children’s Services Team of the Year in the Social Worker of the Year Awards, so congratulations go to both teams.

 

71.

Questions pdf icon PDF 10 KB

Minutes:

Devolution away from Whitehall

 

Councillor Toby Neal asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:

 

Does the Leader agree with me that figures demonstrating an imbalance between infrastructure spending in London and elsewhere show that the government takes a London-centric approach to politics and demonstrate the need for greater devolution away from Whitehall?

 

Councillor Jon Collins replied as follows:

 

Thank you, Lord Mayor, and can I thank Councillor Neal for his question.

 

Yes, I agree. Major infrastructure projects show that the South and South East dominate with 60% of funding allocated to them. In 2013 London got 32% of the total spend and the East Midlands got 6%, so there is a massive imbalance.

 

The government does take a London-centric view as MPs spend a lot of time there and the vast majority of advisors and staff live there. London is a fantastic City but costs are escalating beyond affordability and it is not in its interests to keep growing when the rest of the country isn’t.

 

Devolution is necessary to achieve local powers for transport, planning, health and social care, etc. It is important to make a case for a Combined Authority to enable local powers which can be secured through negotiation with the government and the Chancellor.

 

I would argue that those kind of powers should be available to any group of authorities  that can get together to work as a Combined Authority, that can make a case for devolution, make a case in the context of value for money and ability to deliver good governance but are available locally so that local people can have a greater say in what happens in their communities, in their towns, in their cities, in their counties, rather than the kind of say that they currently get through the one size fits all approach to service delivery championed by Westminster, championed by Whitehall and supported by, I’m afraid,  political parties of all kinds and, of course, backed up by very centralised and centralising Civil Service.

 

But the Manchester model, from my perspective, is only a starting point and I think some of the work that one of our own MPs, Graham Allen, has done whilst chairing the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, actually highlights the way forward on this. Some of us will have seen the document Graham Allen’s committee has produced, and I won’t summarise all of it, but what I would say is that essentially what he’s arguing for is summed up by saying that other parts of the country should get a little bit of what Scotland’s been offered. I think specifically he argues for a constitutional position for local government with independence from central government guaranteed in law, a guaranteed proportion of the national income tax taken topped up to address local need, with the discretion for local authorities to spend that funding on an agreed and enhanced list of responsibilities, and a timetable for the introduction of tax varying powers, although I think that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

72.

To consider a report of the Leader on decisions taken under urgency procedures pdf icon PDF 195 KB

Minutes:

The Leader submitted a report on decisions taken under the urgency procedures, as set out on pages 23 to 28 of the agenda.

 

RESOLVED to note the urgent decisions taken, as follows:

 

(1)  urgent decisions (exempt from call-in)

 

Ref

 

Date of decision

Subject

Value of decision

Reasons for urgency

1680

06/10/2014

Creative Catalyst (Dakeyne Street) European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Project

Exempt

To allow a contract to be placed with a contractor as soon as possible to mitigate the risk of having to return unused grant funding.

 

1681

06/10/2014

Supporting the recruitment and retention of homecare workers

£250,000 over six months

The decision is intended to address the demand for homecare over the winter period and ensure a strong supply of well-trained care workers in Nottingham to meet the needs of vulnerable citizens over this period.

1685

09/10/2014

Loan to Nottingham Playhouse

£236,844

The loan is required urgently in order to pay an outstanding invoice.

1692

13/10/2014

The Youth Engagement Fund (YEF) project in Nottingham North - Procurement of a Delivery Partner

Nil

Any delay would mean that the there would be insufficient time to select a deliver partner for the YEF initiative which would weaken the chances of the NCC tender to the cabinet office.

1696

10/10/2014

Approval of the costs of a placement for a child in care

Exempt

To allow for a timely implementation of the decision.

 

1712

30/10/2014

Prepayment of metering development

Exempt

To allow for a timely implementation of the decision.

1722

07/11/2014

Licensing implications arising from upgrade of Oracle hardware platform

£126,960

The purchase of Oracle licences is urgently required before the system goes live on 10 November 2014.

1730

17/11/2014

Creative Catalyst (Dakeyne Street) European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Project: Enabling Works Tranche 2

£650,000

To enable the immediate placing of an order so contractors remain on site and thereby help minimise the risk of ERDF grant

clawback.

 

(2)  key decisions (special urgency procedure)

 

Date of decision

Subject

Value of decision

Decision Taker

Reasons for special urgency

06/10/2014

Creative Catalyst (Dakeyne Street) European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Project

Exempt

Leader

To allow a contract to be placed with a contractor as soon as possible to mitigate the risk of having to return unused grant funding.

 

 

 

 

73.

To consider a report of the Chair of the Licensing Committee on the Review of the Statement of Licensing Policy pdf icon PDF 119 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair of the Licensing Committee submitted a report of the review of the Statement of Licensing Policy, as set out on pages 29 to 48 of the agenda.

 

RESOLVED to adopt the revisions, and authorise the publication of the revised Statement of Licensing Policy to take effect from 7 January 2015.

74.

To consider a motion in the name of Councillor Sam Webster

This Council recognises that young people in Nottingham have been hit hard by the coalition government's policies. There has been a sustained attack on the young. As a Council we have done a great deal to support young people despite this sustained attack including:

 

  • retaining the youth and play service providing positive activities for young people
  • developed the Nottingham apprenticeship hub to get young people into work and training
  • retaining face to face intervention for those young people at risk of becoming NEET

 

The Council calls on the government to end its attack on the young by implementing policies that will:

 

  • tackle child poverty in Nottingham
  • better and more appropriately prepare our young people for working life
  • protect and strengthen young people’s working rights

 

It further calls on this government and any future government to implement recommendations contained in the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s State of the Nation 2014 report, including:

 

  • ending long-term youth unemployment by 2020
  • higher pay to get the best teachers into schools in the most deprived parts of the country
  • unpaid internships to be ended – through legislation if necessary – by 2020

 

In addition this Council commits to:

 

  • working to ensure that every school age young person can access a work experience placement whilst in education despite current Government policy
  • continuing to recruit apprentices and place an expectation on Council suppliers and contractors that they employ apprentices where possible
  • promoting fair pay and fair employment contracts for young workers

 

Minutes:

Moved by Councillor Sam Webster, seconded by Councillor David Mellen:

 

"This Council recognises that young people in Nottingham have been hit hard by the coalition government's policies. There has been a sustained attack on the young. As a Council we have done a great deal to support young people despite this sustained attack including:

 

  • retaining the youth and play service providing positive activities for young people
  • developed the Nottingham apprenticeship hub to get young people into work and training
  • retaining face to face intervention for those young people at risk of becoming NEET

 

The Council calls on the government to end its attack on the young by implementing policies that will:

 

  • tackle child poverty in Nottingham
  • better and more appropriately prepare our young people for working life
  • protect and strengthen young people’s working rights

 

It further calls on this government and any future government to implement recommendations contained in the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s State of the Nation 2014 report, including:

 

  • ending long-term youth unemployment by 2020
  • higher pay to get the best teachers into schools in the most deprived parts of the country
  • unpaid internships to be ended – through legislation if necessary – by 2020

 

In addition this Council commits to:

 

  • working to ensure that every school age young person can access a work experience placement whilst in education despite current Government policy
  • continuing to recruit apprentices and place an expectation on Council suppliers and contractors that they employ apprentices where possible
  • promoting fair pay and fair employment contracts for young workers”

 

Moved by Councillor Eileen Morley by way of an amendment and seconded by Councillor Roger Steel to:

 

In paragraph 1

 

DELETE: “young people in Nottingham have been hit hard by the coalition government's policies. There has been a sustained attack on the young.”

 

INSERT “all young people in Nottingham deserve an education that gives them the best possible opportunities. In a global market it is not enough that Nottingham improves gradually against itself and this council recognises that rapidly improving Nottingham’s attainment in comparison to other authorities is vital to securing our children’s futures.”

 

AFTER “As a Council we have” INSERT “already”

 

DELETE: “despite this sustained attack”

 

In paragraph 1, bullet point 2:

 

INSERT “with help from Government funding”

 

In paragraph 2

 

DELETE: “end its attack on the young by implementing” INSERT “implement”

 

In paragraph 4, bullet point 1

 

DELETE: “despite current Government policy”

 

Amended Motion to read:

 

“This Council recognises that all young people in Nottingham deserve an education that gives them the best possible opportunities. In a global market it is not enough that Nottingham improves gradually against itself and this council recognises that rapidly improving Nottingham’s attainment in comparison to other authorities is vital to securing our children’s futures. As a Council we have already done a great deal to support young people including:

 

·  retaining the youth and play service providing positive activities for young people

·  with help from Government funding, developed the Nottingham apprenticeship hub to get  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.