Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 4 May, 15 July, 14 October and 14 December 2021.

 

 

 

The minutes of the meetings held in May, July, October and December 2021 were approved and signed as a correct record.

 

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non registrable interest as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct.  In making their decision councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

 

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

 

 

The following members declared an interest in item 11, the Community Governance Review, as they had previously participated and voted on the item as members of their local Parish or Town Council.

 

Cllrs: Val Pothecary, Nocturin Lacey-Clarke, Sarah William, Byron Quale, David Tooke, Gill Taylor, Kelvin Clayton, Jon Orrell, Kate Wheller, Paul Harrison, David Gray, Pete Barrow, Howard Legg, Tony Ferrari, Gary Suttle, Andrew Parry and Shane Bartlett.

 

 

                             

To receive any announcements from the Chairman of Council.

 

 

The Chairman congratulated Cllr Les Fry on the award of his British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours List.

 

The Chairman announced the death of Honorary Alderman Dr Ian Roebuck and Cllr Gill Taylor paid tribute to him.

 

Council was advised that the results of a survey on the proposal to sing the National Anthem at Full Council were as follows:

71 responses, 46 against the proposal, 19 in support, 6 no preference.

A period of 30 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to questions and statements on the business of the Council in the following order:

(a) Questions and statements from Town and Parish Councils;

(b) Questions and statements from those living or working in the Dorset Council area;

A person or organisation can ask either 2 questions, or 2 statements or 1 question and 1 statement at each meeting.  No more than 3 minutes shall be allowed for any one question or statement to be asked/read.

 

The full text of the question or statement must be received by 8.30am on 10 February 2022.

 

Details of the Council’s procedure rules can be found here

Procedure Rules

 

 

Public questions, statements and the responses from the Leader of the Council and appropriate Portfolio Holder are set out in Appendix 1 attached to these minutes.

A period of 15 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to petitions in accordance with the council’s petitions scheme.

 

A period of 15 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to deputations in accordance with the council’s constitution.

 

The petitions scheme and procedures relating to deputations can be viewed here Procedure Rules

 

 

There were no petitions or deputations.

To receive any announcements and reports from the Leader of Council and members of the Cabinet.

 

 

The Leader of the Council presented his bulletin and highlighted the following points:

 

He had been in dialogue with Government ministers and officials, seeking a change to the national planning framework and a different approach to the Local Plan for Dorset.

 

Along with two Cabinet colleagues he had visited Cornwall Council to meet their Leader (Cllr Linda Taylor) and two of her Cabinet colleagues to view and discuss some of their experiences in dealing with various issues. 

 

The recently published Levelling Up White Paper had presented opportunities for devolution and a County Deal. The Leader was keen to see Dorset Council work in partnership with BCP to consider opportunities across the Dorset area to increase funding into Dorset.

 

The Leader announced the results of a survey published recently by Climate Emergency UK and advised that an appointment had been made for the new role of Corporate Director – Climate and Ecological Sustainability.

 

He was also delighted that Moors Valley Country Park and Forest had been awarded Gold in the competitive Large Visitor Attraction category at the Dorset Tourism Awards, he congratulated all staff involved.

 

Dorset Council News magazine was due to be delivered to every household in Dorset during March.

 

Members were invited to ask questions relating to the Leaders bulletin.  Several members were keen for the Leader to visit their wards and following questions relating to the Community Governance Report the Leader advised that he would respond when the item was presented.

To consider a report of the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercial and Capital Assets.

 

 

The Finance, Commercial & Capital Strategy Portfolio Holder presented the Budget strategy and medium-term financial plan (MTFP).  A copy of his speech is attached as an appendix to these minutes.

 

The Chairman invited the Group Leaders to present their replies to the budget proposals.

 

Cllrs Ireland, Sutton and Fry presented their budget speeches which are attached as appendices to these minutes. 

 

Members sought re-assurance that borrowing debt would be controlled and discussed the proposed Council Tax increase.  Generally, the feeling amongst members was that although they did not want to raise Council Tax, the priority was to maintain services to the communities they represented and safeguard residents. 

 

The Finance, Commercial & Capital Strategy Portfolio Holder was confident that the budget was balanced but still encouraged prudence when committing reserves.

 

Members were appreciative of the officer work that had gone into producing the budget and the opportunity of attending budget cafes, cross party working and input from the Scrutiny Committees.

 

Cllr Flower presented his speech as seconder of the budget proposal.  Attached as an appendix to the minutes

 

Proposed by Cllr Suttle, seconded by Cllr Flower.

 

In accordance with procedure rule 19.6 a recorded vote was taken. Those who voted in favour of the recommendations:-

Cllrs: Adkins, Alford, Andrews, Barrow, Bartlett, Batstone, Beer, Biggs, Brenton, Brooks, Brown, Bryan, Carr-Jones, Christopher, Clayton, R. Cook, Coombs, Dunseith, Ferrari, Flower, Fry, Gibson, Goringe, Gray, Hall, Harrison, Haynes, Heatley, Holloway, Hughes, Jespersen, S Jones, C Jones, Kerby, Kimber, Lacey-Clarke, H Legg, Lugg, Miller, Morgan, O’Leary, Orrell, Parker, Parkes, Parry, Penfold, Pipe, Pothecary, Quale, Rennie, Roberts, Shortell, Somper, Starr, Suttle, Sutton, Tooke, Trite, Wharf, Wheller and Williams.

 

Those who voted against the recommendations:-

Cllrs: Canning, Ezzard, Hope, Ireland, Legg, Roe and Taylor.

 

Those who abstained:-

Cllr Tarr

 

 

Following a recorded vote, 61 for, 7 against and 1 abstention the recommendations were approved.

 

Decision:

 

(a) That the revenue budget summarised in appendix 1, was agreed

(b) That the increase in general council tax of 1.998% and 0.996% in the

social care precept, providing a band D council tax figure for Dorset

Council of £1,832.67, an overall increase of 2.994%, was agreed.

(c) That no change to the current scheme of Local Council Tax Support as set

out in the report, was agreed.

(d) That the capital strategy set out in Appendix 3 and the capital programme

set out in Appendix 4, was agreed.

(e) That the treasury management strategy as set out in Appendix 5, was

agreed

(f) That the assumptions used to develop the budget strategy and medium term financial plan (MTFP) as set out throughout the report and

summarised in Appendix 6, was agreed

(g) That the recommended balances on earmarked reserves and on general

funds, including the minimum level of the general fund, was agreed

(h) That the addition of £4.4m from the settlement into the contingency

budget, until there is clarity around further costs of implementing national

reforms and as a hedge against emerging cost pressures, was agreed

(i) That the responses to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.  The deadline for receipt of questions is 8.30am on Thursday 10 February 2022.

 

 

There were three questions received from councillors.  A copy of the questions and the responses are attached as Appendix 2 to these minutes.

 

In response to supplementary questions from Cllrs Gray and Taylor regarding the boundary review suggestions, the Leader addressed these when the item was discussed at minute no. 69.

To consider a recommendation from the Audit & Governance Committee.

 

 

The report was introduced by the Chairman of the Audit and Governance Committee.

 

Proposed by Cllr Hall, seconded by Cllr Goringe.

 

Decision:

That Full Council accepted the Public Sector Audit Appointments’ invitation to opt into the sector-led option for the appointment of external auditors to principal local government and police bodies for five financial years from 1 April 2023.

Reason for Decision:

The Council had a statutory responsibility to appoint an external auditor to audit its accounts. By March 2022 all local government bodies would need to make a decision about their external audit arrangements for the period commencing from the financial year 2023/24

To consider recommendations from the Harbours Committee.

 

 

The Chairman of the Harbours Committee introduced the Harbours Budget, Fees and Charges 2022-23 and proposed taking the recommendations en bloc.

 

Proposed by Cllr Roberts, seconded by Cllr Hughes.

 

Decision:

 

1.      That the budget request for 2022/23 for Weymouth Harbour was approved.

2.    That the budget request for 2022/23 for Bridport  Harbour was approved.

3.    That the budget request for 2022/23 for Lyme  Regis Harbour was approved.

 

 

Reason for Decision:

 

The Harbours Committee has the responsibility for the harbour finances within a budget set by the Full Council.

 

To consider a report by the Service Manager – Democratic and Electoral Services.

 

 

The Corporate Director, Legal and Democratic gave an explanation of an email sent to all members in relation to the voting procedure on the Community Governance Review Draft Recommendations.

 

A number of members had declared an interest at the start of the meeting as “dual hatters”, being both a Town or Parish Councillor as well as a Dorset Council Councillor.  It was intended to take the recommendations in the Community Governance report en bloc, not individually by Parish.  Members were advised that if they had voted on the Community Governance Review response at their Parish Council meeting, they should not vote again this evening.  However, it had been agreed with the Chairman that members could remain in the Chamber and speak to the item but not vote.

 

The Leader presented the report.  He reminded members that they were not making a decision today, they were just being asked to approve the twelve week consultation, he encouraged everyone to respond to the consultation and to encourage their constituents to do so.  The recommendations set out in the report included a timetable, which would enable the result of the further public consultation to be reported back to Full Council on the 14 July 2022. The Community Governance Review Working Group would reconvene to review the consultation responses and agree the final draft proposals.

 

Members were invited to speak and commented on the option of disaggregation and how they should respond to the consultation to get it right rather than split their communities.

It was understood that occasionally boundaries had to change, but there was an argument for Weymouth and Chickerell and not to allow the tidying up to become a takeover of some areas.

The opportunity of Parish/Town councils to look at warding at the same time as Dorset Council was also suggested.

 

Proposed by Cllr Flower, seconded by Cllr Fry.

 

Decision:

 

1.      That the proposals set out in Appendix 1 were adopted by the Council as Draft Recommendations for the purposes of the Community Governance Review.

 

2.      That, save as set out in the Draft Recommendations, the existing parishes in the Dorset Council area, and the names, boundaries, council size, groupings, and other parish governance arrangements in respect of those parishes, remain unchanged.

 

3.      That the Draft Recommendations be published for consultation purposes from 28 February 2022 to 23 May 2022 inclusive.

 

4.      That the results of the consultation would be reported to Full Council on 14 July 2022.

 

Reason for Decision:     

 

To ensure that community governance arrangements within the Dorset Council area were reflective of the identities and interests of the community in that area and achieve electoral equality.

 

The following members did not take part in the vote, having declared an interest in the item: Cllrs: Val Pothecary, Nocturin Lacey-Clarke, Sarah William, Byron Quale, David Tooke, Gill Taylor, Kelvin Clayton, Jon Orrell, Kate Wheller, Paul Harrison, David Gray, Pete Barrow, Howard Legg, Tony Ferrari, Gary Suttle, Andrew Parry and Shane Bartlett.

 

 

To consider a report by the Chief Executive.

 

 

The Corporate Development and Transformation Portfolio Holder presented the Pay Policy Statement 2022/23. 

 

Proposed by Cllr Haynes, seconded by Cllr Rennie

 

Decision:

 

That the provisions of the Localism Act and content of the Pay Policy Statement for the 2022/23 financial year were noted.

 

That the Pay Policy Statement for 2022/23 was approved.

 

Reason for Decision:

 

The Full Council was responsible for approval of the annual pay policy statement.

 

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

 

 

There were no urgent items.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.

There is no exempt business.

 

There was no exempt business.