Agenda for City Council on Monday, 20th May, 2019, 2.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council House, Old Market Square

Contact: Jane Garrard, Senior Governance Officer  Email: jane.garrard@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Councillor Cheryl Barnard – leave

Councillor Kevin Clarke - leave

Councillor Sue Johnson – medical appointment

Councillor Carole McCulloch - leave

2.

Declarations of interests

Minutes:

None.

3.

To elect a Lord Mayor and appoint a Sheriff for the ensuing year

Minutes:

RESOLVED to

 

(1)  elect Councillor Rosemary Healy as the Lord Mayor until the next annual meeting of Council, as nominated by Councillor Leslie Ayoola and seconded by Councillor Sajid Mohammed; and

 

(2)  appoint Councillor Patience Ifediora as the Sheriff until the next annual meeting of Council, as nominated by Councillor Graham Chapman and seconded by Councillor Neghat Khan.

4.

To note the appointment of the Lord Mayor's Chaplain

Minutes:

The Lord Mayor will notify Council of her appointment of Lord Mayor’s Chaplain at the Council meeting on 8 July 2019.

5.

Election of councillors - 2 May 2019 pdf icon PDF 199 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED to note the election of councillors to their wards as follows:

 

  Aspley Ward    Councillor Graham Chapman

        Councillor Patience Ifediora

        Councillor Carole McCulloch

 

  Basford Ward      Councillor Salma Mumtaz

      Councillor Nick Raine

      Councillor Linda Woodings

 

  Berridge Ward      Councillor Angela Kandola

      Councillor Toby Neal

      Councillor Shuguftah Quddoos

 

  Bestwood Ward     Councillor Jay Hayes

      Councillor Georgia Power

      Councillor Audra Wynter

 

  Bilborough Ward      Councillor Phil Jackson

      Councillor Rebecca Langton

      Councillor Wendy Smith

 

  Bulwell Ward      Councillor Maria Joannou

      Councillor Jane Lakey

      Councillor Ethan Radford

 

  Bulwell Forest Ward    Councillor Cheryl Barnard

    Councillor Eunice Campbell-Clark

    Councillor Samuel Gardiner

 

  Castle Ward    Councillor Angharad Roberts

    Councillor Sam Webster

 

  Clifton East Ward    Councillor Kevin Clarke

    Councillor Kirsty Jones

      Councillor Maria Watson

 

  Clifton West Ward    Councillor Andrew Rule

    Councillor Roger Steel

 

  Dales Ward    Councillor Gul Khan

    Councillor Neghat Khan

    Councillor David Mellen

 

  Hyson Green and Arboretum Ward  Councillor Merlita Bryan

  Councillor Azad Choudhry

  Councillor Jawaid Khalil

 

  Leen Valley Ward  Councillor Audrey Dinnall

  Councillor Mohammed Saghir

 

  Lenton and Wollaton East Ward  Councillor Pavlos Kotsonis

  Councillor Sally Longford

  Councillor David Trimble

 

  Mapperley Ward  Councillor Leslie Ayoola

  Councillor Rosemary Healy

  Councillor Sajid Mohammed

 

  Meadows Ward  Councillor Michael Edwards

  Councillor Nicola Heaton

 

  Radford Ward    Councillor Hassan Ahmed

  Councillor Anne Peach

 

  Sherwood Ward  Councillor AJ Matsiko

  Councillor Lauren O’Grady

  Councillor Adele Williams

 

  St Anns Ward  Councillor Sue Johnson

  Councillor Chantal Lee

  Councillor Dave Liversidge

 

  Wollaton West Ward  Councillor Steve Battlemuch

  Councillor Zafran Khan

  Councillor Cate Woodward

 

 

6.

To elect a Leader of the Council for a 4 year term

Minutes:

RESOLVED to elect Councillor David Mellen as Leader of the Council for a 4 year term ending in May 2023, as nominated by Councillor Sam Webster and seconded by Councillor Wendy Smith.

7.

Executive Appointments, Remits and First Meetings 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 193 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council presented a report setting out his appointment of Deputy Leader, Portfolio Holders and Executive Assistants; and details of Executive committees and their terms of reference and first meeting dates.

 

RESOLVED to note

 

(1)  the appointment of Councillor Sally Longford as Deputy Leader

 

(2)  the appointment of Portfolio Holders and Executive Assistants, and their roles and responsibilities as detailed below and in Appendix 2 of the report:

 

Portfolio Holder Appointments

 

Portfolio Holder name

Portfolio

Councillor David Mellen

Regeneration, Safety and Communications

Councillor Sally Longford

Energy, Environment and Democratic Services

Councillor Cheryl Barnard

Children and Young People

Councillor Eunice Campbell-Clark

Health, HR and Equalities

Councillor Neghat Nawaz Khan

Early Years, Education and Employment

Councillor Rebecca Langton

Communities

Councillor Dave Trimble

Leisure, Culture and IT

Councillor Sam Webster

Finance, Growth and the City Centre

Councillor Adele Williams

Adult Care and Local Transport

Councillor Linda Woodings

Housing, Planning and Heritage

 

  Executive Assistant Appointments

 

Executive Assistant name

Remit

Councillor Leslie Ayoola

Regeneration and Safe Nottingham

Councillor Merlita Bryan

Schools and Nottingham Customer Care

Councillor Chantal Lee

Housing and Child Friendly Nottingham

Councillor Angela Kandola

Energy and Nottingham Welcome

Councillor Zafran Nawaz Khan

IT and Green Nottingham

 

(3)  the terms of reference for Executive committees, and related changes to the Constitution, as set out in Appendix 3 to the report

 

(4)  the first meeting dates for Executive committees as detailed below:

 

Committee

Date of first meeting

Executive Board

21 May 2019 1:30pm

Commissioning and Procurement Sub Committee

11 June 2019 10am

Executive Board Strategic Regeneration Committee

To be confirmed

East Midlands Shared Services Joint Committee

17 June 2019 10:30am

Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Economic Prosperity Committee

4 June 2019 10:30am

 

(5)  the appointments, including substitutes where applicable, to Executive committees as detailed below:

 

Executive Board

Councillor David Mellen (Chair)

Councillor Sally Longford

Councillor Cheryl Barnard

Councillor Eunice Campbell-Clark

Councillor Neghat Nawaz Khan

Councillor Rebecca Langton

Councillor Dave Trimble

Councillor Sam Webster

Councillor Adele Williams

Councillor Linda Woodings

 

Commissioning and Procurement Sub Committee

Councillor Sam Webster (Chair)

Councillor Cheryl Barnard

Councillor Eunice Campbell-Clark

Councillor Sally Longford

Councillor Adele Williams

 

East Midlands Shared Services Joint Committee

Councillor Sam Webster (Chair)

Councillor Eunice Campbell-Clark

 

Substitutes:

Councillor Linda Woodings

Councillor Neghat Nawaz Khan

Councillor Rebecca Langton

Councillor Dave Trimble

Councillor Adele Williams

Councillor Cheryl Barnard

 

Executive Board Strategic Regeneration Committee

Councillor David Mellen (Chair)

Councillor Sally Longford

Councillor Neghat Nawaz Khan

Councillor Linda Woodings

Councillor Adele Williams

Councillor Rebecca Langton

 

City of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Economic Prosperity Committee

Councillor David Mellen

 

Substitute:

Councillor Sam Webster

 

(6)  the executive delegations as set out in the Scheme of Delegation in the Council’s Constitution.

8.

Appointments, Remits and First Meetings of Committees and Joint Bodies 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 98 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Lord Mayor presented a report detailing the terms of reference, first meeting dates and appointments to Council committees and joint bodies.

 

RESOLVED to

 

(1)  agree the terms of reference for Council committees and joint bodies as set out in Appendix 1 of the report and amend the Constitution to reflect changes to the terms of reference for Area Committees, Audit Committee and Greater Nottingham Light Rapid Transit Advisory Committee and other minor administrative changes

 

(2)  agree the first meeting dates for Council committees and joint bodies as set out below:

 

Committee

Date and time of first meeting

Appeals Committee

As and when required

Appointments and Conditions of Service Committee

2 July 2019 2pm

Aspley, Bilborough and Leen Valley Area Committee

11 June 2019 5:30pm

Audit Committee

26 July 2019 10:30am

Basford, Berridge and Sherwood Area Committee

25 June 2019 5:30pm

Bestwood, Bulwell and Bulwell Forest Area Committee

11 June 2019 5:30pm

Castle, Hyson Green and Arboretum and Radford Area Committee

12 June 2019 5:30pm

Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee

11 June 2019 11am

Clifton East and Clifton West Area Committee

26 June 5:30pm

Corporate Parenting Board

3 June 2019 2:30pm

Dales, St Anns and Mapperley Area Committee

12 June 2019 5:30pm

Greater Nottingham Light Rapid Transit Advisory Committee

11 June 2019 2pm

Health and Wellbeing Board

29 May 2019 2pm

Health and Wellbeing Board Commissioning Sub Committee

29 May 2019 4pm or at the rising of the Health and Wellbeing Board if that is later

Health Scrutiny Committee

13 June 2019 10am

Independent Panel

As and when required

Investigatory and Disciplinary Committee

As and when required

Joint Committee for Strategic Planning and Transport

7 June 2019 10am

Lenton and Wollaton East, Meadows and Wollaton West Area Committee

19 June 2019 5:30pm

Licensing Committee

As and when required

Licensing Panels

As and when required

Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority

7 June 2019 10:30am

Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Panel

3 June 2019 2pm

Overview and Scrutiny Committee

5 June 2019 2pm

Overview and Scrutiny Call In Panel

As and when required

Planning Committee

29 May 2019 2:30pm

Regulatory and Appeals Committee

16 July 2019 1:30pm

Standards Committee

As and when required

Trusts and Charities Committee

14 June 2019 12:30pm

 

(3)  appoint the membership, and where applicable substitutes, for Council committees and joint bodies as set out in Appendix 3 to the report

 

(4)  appoint the chairs for Council committees and joint bodies as set out in Appendix 3 to the report

 

9.

Questions from citizens pdf icon PDF 5 KB

Minutes:

Travel for disabled citizens

 

DS asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:

 

Will the new Leader Councillor Mellen and the new Labour Cabinet order an immediate review of the Mobility Bus Pass Policy with a view to reinstating the universal 24/7 nature of the Mobility Bus Holders?

 

Councillor David Mellen replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank the citizen for this question. Since the introduction of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme, Nottingham City Council has offered more than the statutory requirements for concessionary travel for the people of Nottingham. This included additional pre-9:30am and post-11pm free travel for mobility card holders. As part of the budget process for 2018/19 the Council proposed a budget saving of £100,000 per year, and in September 2018 free travel for mobility card holders before 9:30am and post-11:30pm was withdrawn. In taking the decision to remove the additional scheme, which has been entirely funded by the Council, we agreed to investigate alternative proposals that might mitigate the impact of the change for those suffering hardship. However, following significant and continued cuts to our budget, the Council stood by its decision to withdrawn the concession for mobility card holders. Colleagues across the Chamber will know that since 2010, Nottingham’s Core Settlement has fallen by £145 million and since 2013, Nottingham’s Revenue Support Grant has fallen from £126 million to just £25 million next year. In that same period, this Council has made cumulative savings of more than £267 million to deal with not just the cuts in government funding, but also the effects of a changing demography whilst maintaining core services. This was a difficult decision but we continue to do our best to do what we can and to use our resources efficiently. Notwithstanding all that, I am prepared to look at the decision again and work alongside the Portfolio Holder to review the policy. 

 

Travel for disabled citizens

 

DS asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:

 

Why has the Council said that it cannot use reserves when it has quite rightly used reserves to fund the Marcus Garvey Centre for 2019/20, and has this set and established a precedent meaning that these same reserves can be used to fund the equally important 24/7 Mobility Passes going forward?

 

Councillor David Mellen replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor. I would like to thank again the citizen for the question. In my previous response I confirmed my commitment to work alongside the Portfolio Holder and review the decision to remove the concessionary scheme for mobility card holders.  At this stage, it would be premature to confirm the scope or speculate on any possible outcome, but you have my commitment that a meaningful and robust review will take place within 3 months.

10.

Petitions from Councillors on behalf of citizens

Minutes:

Councillor Gul Khan submitted a petition regarding reinstallation of a barrier to Kingston Court Car Park.

11.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of Council held on 4 March 2019 pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 4 March 2019 were agreed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

12.

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

Minutes:

Ian Curryer, Chief Executive, reported the following:

 

New councillors

I would like to welcome the 24 new councillors and returning councillors who were elected to represent wards in the City in the local elections on 2 May 2019.

Nottingham Performing Arts Library Service

The Nottingham Performing Arts Library Service won the Excellence Award for Music Libraries 2019 at the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centre, UK and Ireland Awards for its innovative work to provide music and drama groups with an outstanding, cost-effective regional loans service for music scores and play scripts.

Former Councillor Pat Ferguson

It is with great sadness that I report the death of former Councillor Pat Ferguson on 18 March 2019.  She was elected to represent the Clifton North ward in 2014 and stood down in 2018.

Honorary Alderman Brian Markin

I am sad to report the death of Alderman Brian Markin in March 2019.  He was elected to represent the then Robin Hood ward between 1995 and 2003 and subsequently the Leen Valley ward from 2003 to 2006.

Former Lord Mayor’s Sergeant Neil Smith

I also sad to report that Neil Smith, former Lord Mayor’s Sergeant, passed away in April.

Councillors Battlemuch, Edwards and Saghir spoke in tribute to former Councillor Pat Ferguson, Honorary Alderman Brian Markin and former Lord Mayor’s Sergeant Neil Smith respectively and a minute’s silence was held.

13.

Questions from Councillors - to the City Council's lead Councillor on the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority

Minutes:

None.

14.

Questions from Councillors - to a member of Executive Board, the Chair of a Committee and the Chair of any other City Council body pdf icon PDF 112 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Housing evictions

 

Councillor Toby Neal asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Planning and Heritage:

 

Does the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Planning and Heritage welcome the government’s announcement of a consultation on abolishing section 21 no fault evictions?

 

Councillor Linda Woodings replied as follows:

 

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I start by congratulating both yourself Lord Mayor and our Sheriff on your election, and our new Leader and Deputy Leader on their election. I look forward to working with all of my new councillor colleagues as well and congratulate you on your election, but I especially want to mention the newly elected women councillors that mean we are now, in my understanding, the first majority female council in the country.

 

So thank you for this question. The private rented sector has grown substantially over the past 20 years and is now home to a fifth of households in the United Kingdom, that’s 4.7 million people. So many more people can now expect to live in the private rented sector for longer and more importantly, 1.7 million of these households contain almost 3 million children.  However, the rules and regulations that underpin the private rented sector have not kept pace with this growth. This means tenants in private rented homes can face unaffordability, poor conditions, a lack of security of tenure and a limited control over the place that they want to call home. Meanwhile, a perfect storm of cuts to benefits and a national shortage of homes leading to increased rents have led to an imbalanced relationship between landlord and renter with all the power with the landlords, some of whom are unscrupulous.  In truth, Britain’s broken rented housing sector needs to become more like Germany’s, where more than half the population enjoy secure and mostly happy private tenancies averaging 11 years. By contrast, in Britain tenancies average just 30 months.

 

So yes, I do welcome the consultation over the abolition of Section 21 No Fault Evictions and I can confirm that the Council will submit a response. In addition to that, I am determined that the voices of the people who have suffered no fault evictions, including revenge evictions, will be put forward as part of the evidence as well. Unfortunately colleagues, I have a level of cynicism about this announcement, specifically its timing. It was announced just two weeks before the local elections. Was this possibly a last minute, desperate, vote-catching policy by the Conservative Government, who then went on to lose more than 1300 seats? Too little, too late, especially when you consider that the Government conducted an almost identical consultation last August, but took no action. Also, this commitment is only to hold a consultation and we know from our own experience in introducing selective licensing that the landlord lobby is well-connected, well-organised and well-funded, and so I fear an eventual watering down of the fine words which accompanied this announcement.

 

That said we welcome that there is, on the face of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

15.

Decisions taken under urgency procedures pdf icon PDF 206 KB

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council submitted a report detailing decisions taken under procedures that include exemption from Overview and Scrutiny Call In Procedure Rules and Special Urgency Access to Information Rules.

 

RESOLVED to note

 

(1)  that there were no urgent decisions (exempt from call in) to be reported; and

 

(2)  the Key Decisions taken under special urgency procedures:

 

Decision Reference Number

Date of Decision

Subject

Value of Decision

Reason for Special Urgency

3443

8 March 2019

Broadmarshroadspace transformation and public realm improvements programme

Exempt

To ensure the timely co-ordination of a number of significant design elements across several major developments in the City Centre

3479

28 March 2019

Nottingham Central Library Development

Exempt

To enable the Central Library business case to be progressed in line  with development timescales of other interdependent projects in the Southside area

 

16.

Future Meeting Dates

To agree to:

 

(1)  meet at 2pm on the following Mondays:

·  8 July 2019

·  9 September 2019

·  11 November 2019

·  13 January 2020

·  9 March 2020

 

(2)  hold an Extraordinary Council meeting on 8 July 2019 at the rising of the Ordinary Council meeting on that day to appoint Honorary Alderpersons

Minutes:

RESOLVED to:

 

(1)  meet on the following Mondays at 2pm:

  i.  8 July 2019

  ii.  9 September 2019

  iii.  11 November 2019

  iv.  13 January 2020

  v.  9 March 2020

 

(2)  hold an Extraordinary Council meeting on 8 July 2019 at the rising of the Ordinary Council meeting on that day to appoint Honorary Aldermen and Alderwomen.

17.

ADOPTION OF THE PLANS SET OUT IN THE LABOUR MANIFESTO AS THE BASIS OF COUNCIL POLICIES pdf icon PDF 189 KB

Report of the Leader

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Lord Mayor agreed that this item, although not on the agenda, could be considered as a matter of urgency in accordance with Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 to enable work to commence as soon as possible in developing the Council Plan and associated policies.

 

The Leader of the Council presented a report setting out the Labour Manifesto and proposing that the plans set out in that Manifesto are adopted as the basis of Council policies.

 

RESOLVED to adopt the plans in the Nottingham Labour Manifesto 2019 as a basis of Council policies for the current term.