Agenda and minutes

Councillor Eunice Campbell – other Council business

Councillor Jon Collins – other Council business

Councillor Sue Johnson – illness

Councillor Ginny Klein – other business

Councillor Nick McDonald – other business

Councillor Alex Norris – other business

Councillor Chris Tansley – other business

Councillor Marcia Watson – personal reasons

Councillor Mick Wildgust – other business

Glen O’Connell, Acting Corporate Director for Resources and Andy Vaughan, Interim Corporate Director for Communities, both declared interests in agenda item 12, the Appointment of Corporate Directors and left the chamber for consideration of this item.

Mr M N asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture, to receive a written response:

Would the Executive member for Leisure and Culture inform the Council and the public of the plans for Nottingham Castle? How many bids have been submitted and what is the status of these bids and future works? Would the executive member agree in the interests of transparency to be guided by a genuine Scrutiny process throughout the implementation of present and future funding, and alongside future works.

Councillor Jim Armstrong presented a petition signed by 36 residents of Oakfield Close, Oakfield Road and Hilary Close in Wollaton, requesting repairs and maintenance of the pavement on Oakfield Road and Oakfield Close in Wollaton.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 July 2015 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Lord Mayor.

In the absence of both the Chief Executive and the Deputy Chief Executive, the Acting Corporate Director for Resources reported the following official communications:

Four out of seven Nottingham City Council Ofsted Registered Children’s homes were inspected during July and August 2015 under new much more robust and stringent frameworks, and all four homes received the overall judgment of GOOD. Ofsted comments included: that young people are settled and feel they belong; young people’s safety and welfare is a top priority; staff monitor young people’s physical health and emotional wellbeing very effectively; young people are fully respected for their own attributes and personality; care delivered is very person centred and individualised; young people with complex disabilities are well protected in the home; homes are managed well.

Nottingham City Council’s high profile frontline services have won the APSE Award for Best Service Team for Street Cleansing and Streetscene Services. Nottingham City Council’s Streetscene Teams were recognised for “developing innovative street cleansing services to increase citizen satisfaction whilst tackling budget pressures.”

Former County Councillor Florence Price sadly passed away on 19 August 2015. She represented St Ann’s ward from 1981 to 1985 and Aspley ward from 1985 to 1993.

Councillor Chris Gibson spoke in tribute to former Nottinghamshire County Councillor Florence Price.

A minute’s silence was held.

Fuel Poverty

Councillor Sally Longford asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Energy and Sustainability:

Can the Portfolio Holder for Energy and Sustainability please outline the impacts of proposed cuts in relation to feed-in tariffs on the City of Nottingham and its consequential impact upon fuel poverty in the city?

Councillor Alan Clark replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord Mayor, and I thank Councillor Longford for her question. The level of reduction in relation to feed-in tariffs is not known at this stage. The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) consultation period ends on the 23^rd October after which the Government will publish its proposed changes and this is likely to apply from January 2016. It seems likely that since the introduction of feed-in tariffs in 2010, when the income was 42p per unit, to the current rate of about 12p a unit, that the new rate is likely to be about 2p a unit with a view to phasing out any funding by 2019.

Let’s bear in mind the purpose of a feed-in tariff. It is to compensate owners of solar panels (in this case) for generating their own electricity and, therefore, reducing demand on the grid. The grid was never really designed to accept an inflow of electricity within our communities, though I have to say Western Power Distribution has coped very well with that challenge. The need to reduce demand through the grid has not changed that dramatically since 2010. Thankfully, the government has so far honoured contracts, once set up, so that solar panel owners know their income, once they sign up for a, now, 20 year period.

With dramatic cuts in the pipeline, the City Council, with NCH is, once more, gearing up to accelerate its PV installation programme. 1000 properties are initially being targeted across the priority areas through to the end of December 2015 (subject to review on the final outcome of the consultation) to benefit from the current feed-in tariff. After that, we will test the financial wisdom of expanding the programme to other areas of the City when new rates are clear.

It is disappointing that the government wants to reduce these incentives and it is our aim to help as many residents as possible to have solar PV installed within timescales, the true impact and available period for installations is yet to be determined. Many people in our city are in fuel poverty. I won’t fiddle with the definition like the government does. I want our communities to be warm and healthy in a manner that they can afford.

European Union

Councillor Carole Jones asked the following question of the Deputy Leader:

Will the deputy leader inform this council as to the level of monies that has come into Nottingham over the last 10 years as a result of the UK’s membership of the European Union?

Councillor Graham Chapman replied as follows:

Can I thank the councillor for the question, for the decade between 2006/7 and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

The Deputy Leader submitted a report on decisions taken under urgency procedures, as set on pages 21 to 29 of the agenda.

RESOLVED to note the urgent decisions taken as follows:

1)  urgent decisions (exempt from call-in)

The Deputy Leader submitted a report on the Crime and Drugs Partnership Plan 2015 to 2020, as set out on pages 31 to 43 of the agenda.

RESOLVED to approve the Crime and Drugs Partnership Plan 2015 to 2020

The Deputy Leader submitted a report on the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee, as set out on pages 45 to 51 of the agenda. The membership of the Committee was circulated as an addendum prior to the meeting.

RESOLVED to

(1)  establish the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee;

(2)  agree the terms of reference and first meeting date of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee, as detailed in appendix 1 of the report;

(3)  agree the membership of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee as detailed below:

Councillor Dave Liversidge submitted a report on the appointment of Corporate Directors, as set out on pages 9 to 12 of the supplementary agenda.

RESOLVED to

(1)  accept the ACOS recommendation and confirm Andrew Vaughan as Corporate Director of Commercial and Operations;

(2)  to accept the ACOS recommendation and delegate the statutory duties of Director of Adult Social Services pursuant  to Section 6 of the Local Authorities Social Services Act 1970 (as amended by the Children Act 2004) to Helen Jones;

(3)  to accept the ACOS recommendation and confirm the appointment of Glen O’Connell as Corporate Director of Resilience with statutory responsibilities under Section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 as Monitoring Officer;

(4)  to accept and confirm the appointment of Geoff Walker as Chief Finance Officer pursuant to Section 151 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.