Agenda and minutes

The Mayor reported that John Thomas, Chief Executive of the City of Lincoln Council between 1981 and 1994 and former Treasurer, had recently passed away. The Mayor said that Mr Thomas had made a big difference to the city and was well known by members and officers. Council observed a moment of silence in his memory.

The Mayor welcomed Councillor Lucinda Preston to her first meeting of the Council since her election following the Carholme By Election held on 19 October 2017.

The Mayor reported that he had attended approximately 37 civic engagements and events this month in his capacity as Mayor, highlighting that details relating to each were available on Facebook and Twitter.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2017 be confirmed, subject to the inclusion of the word ‘Local’ to Councillor Strengiel’s declaration of interest at minute number 22(a) so that it read ‘Birchwood Big Local’.

Please note that, in accordance with the Members' Code of Conduct, when declaring interests members must disclose the existence and nature of the interest, and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) or personal and/or pecuniary.

No declarations of interest were received.

No questions from members of the public were received.

Councillor Ron Hills, Leader of the Opposition, asked the following question to the Leader of the Council:

“Now that the planning inspectors have revised the decision of our planning committee on the "floating restaurant" by granting it planning consent, how is that decision going to be given permission of commencement by the landlords? Who in this instance, happen to be the council.”

Councillor Donald Nannestad, Deputy Leader of the Council, responded on behalf of the Leader and said that once a request had been submitted a decision would be taken by the Executive due to this being a property matter, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

Councillor Ron Hills, as a supplemental question, asked:

“If this is an Executive decision, will it be applicable for Call In if enough members felt it needed to be used?”

Councillor Nannestad reiterated that no formal request had yet been received.

Councillor Gary Hewson, Chair of the Performance Scrutiny Committee, presented Council with a report on the work of the Performance Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Hewson took the opportunity to thank members of the committee for their commitment and contributions throughout the year and, in particular, thanked Councillor Tony Speakman as Vice Chair for the time and effort he had put into the work of the Committee. He also thanked Pat Jukes, Business Manager – Corporate Policy, and officers for the work they undertook to support the Committee.

Clarification was sought over the term ‘key contextual benchmarking indicators’ which had been used in the report. Councillor Hewson explained that performance indicators and performance measures were an important part of being able to monitor the performance of the Council’s services. He added that key contextual benchmarking indicators were those indicators used to compare the Council’s performance with that of other local authorities and statistical neighbours, but made the point that this could sometimes be misleading due to some indicators not always being measured on a like-for-like basis.

Council noted the report.

Councillor Neil Murray, Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Economic Regeneration, presented Council with a report on the work of his portfolio.

Some members expressed their disappointment that the report did not include more detail considering the significance of the projects referred to in the document.

It was noted that Councillor Murray had recently attended a meeting of the Performance Scrutiny Committee where he was questioned in depth about the matters included in the report, which he answered fully and provided significant updates on.

Councillor Murray had purposely written the report to be brief and welcomed the opportunity to answer questions on any of the projects he had included. The following updates were noted:

·         Western Growth Corridor – all members had been invited to attend briefings and had been given the opportunity to keep themselves updated on the status of this scheme. The project remained vitally important for the Council in terms of the building of new houses for people to live in and better leisure facilities for people to enjoy in the city;

·         Parking in Lincoln and the Transport Hub – the Central Lincoln car park was now open, which gave the city the car parking capacity it needed. The new Transport Hub was also progressing well and would be a vast improvement to the previous bus station. Improvements to the Sincil Street and Cornhill area by the Co-operative were progressing extremely well and were an excellent example of how buildings could be knocked down but the historic value of the area retained for a more modern use and purpose;

·         Regeneration in Park Ward – no plans had been agreed at this stage, but Councillor Murray was hopeful that solid projects would soon be put in place that people in the ward and community would be able to support. The area was currently used as a free car park for commuters or visitors to the city, which he hoped the County Council would assist with addressing as part of this regeneration;

·         Christmas market – the Christmas market was due to open on 7 December 2017 and the Council’s officers committed a huge amount of time to ensure the market was a success. Councillor Murray was confident that this year’s Christmas market would deliver its usual high standards, noting that this year’s costs would be greater than expected due to additional security measures which were unfortunately unavoidable in the current climate;

·         Heritage – the Council was continuing to do what it could to protect its historic environment. The City of Lincoln Council would be the first authority in the country to adopt the ARCADE system which would provide the public with online access to heritage data, including records of historic buildings, archaeological discoveries, historic maps and a library of photographs and reports. The Council’s conservation areas had not been reviewed for some considerable time so consideration would soon be given to the conversation area ‘character zones’. The Council had been successful in enforcing planning law in relation to a historic  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29b

It was proposed by Councillor Donald Nannestad, Deputy Leader of the Council and seconded by Councillor Geoff Ellis.

A query was raised in relation to the wording of paragraph 4 in Appendix A regarding the rate of £25 per square metre proposed for Sustainable Urban Extensions. It was noted that the document had been produced by the Planning Inspectorate’s examiner and therefore could not be amended, but it was agreed that clarification on the matter would be sought.

RESOLVED that Council:

(1)       Approves the modifications as set out in the City of Lincoln Council CIL Examination Report (Appendix 1) to the Draft Charging Schedule.

(2)       Incorporates those modifications into the City of Lincoln Council CIL Charging Schedule.

(3)       Adopts the amended City of Lincoln Council CIL Charging Schedule as set out in Appendix 2 of the report.

(4)       Approves the supporting policies outlined in Appendix 3 of the report (Regulation 123 List, Instalments and In-Kind Policies).

(5)       Implements the CIL Charging Schedule on a date as soon as is practicable on or after 1 January 2018.

(6)       Incorporates this additional function within its Constitution.

It was proposed by Councillor Donald Nannestad, Deputy Leader of the Council, and seconded by Councillor Geoff Ellis.

A query was raised regarding the quorum of the Housing Appeals Panel, which had previously required either the Chair or the Vice Chair to be present. It was noted that this requirement had been removed from the proposed amendments to the Housing Appeals Panel procedures.

RESOLVED that Council amends the Constitution to reflect amendments to the Housing Appeals Panel procedures agreed by the Executive on 30 October 2017.

It was proposed by Councillor Donald Nannestad, Deputy Leader of the Council, and seconded by Councillor Geoff Ellis.

RESOLVED that Council approves changes to the Minimum Revenue Provision Policy.

The agenda for this meeting of Council was published on 27 November 2017, which is the same date that the Executive is scheduled to consider a report on Procurement Policies. A copy of the Executive report is therefore attached.

A extract of the minutes from the meeting of the Executive in relation to this item will be published and circulated via a supplement as soon as practicable after the meeting.

It was proposed by Councillor Donald Nannestad, Deputy Leader of the Council, and seconded by Councillor Geoff Ellis.

Councillor Nannestad, in proposing the motion, said that an important part of implementing these new policies would be about how people were informed about them. He confirmed that considerable effort would be going into communicating the documents through the Chamber of Commerce and the Lincoln Business Hub to encourage people to use the policies and do business with the Council.

Councillor Ron Hills, Leader of the Opposition, queried the definition of ‘local’ and ‘social value’, making reference to the living wage and the national living wage. He was concerned that the Procurement Policies set these definitions in such a way that they could disadvantage some local companies in the city. He referred to a question posed at the meeting of the Policy Scrutiny Committee on 10 October 2017 where the issue of social value had been raised in the context of works at St Botolphs Court and Shuttleworth House.

Councillor Nannestad responded by reminding Council that the definition of ‘local’ and ‘social value’ in the proposed policies were not different to the definitions included in the policies of Procurement Lincolnshire, previously used by the City of Lincoln Council prior to leaving the partnership arrangement.

RESOLVED that the proposed Procurement Policies, as appended to the report, be approved.

The agenda for this meeting of Council was published on 27 November 2017, which is the same date that the Executive is scheduled to consider a report on the Brownfield Land Register. A copy of the Executive report is therefore attached.

A extract of the minutes from the meeting of the Executive in relation to this item will be published and circulated via a supplement as soon as practicable after the meeting.

It was proposed by Councillor Donald Nannestad, Deputy Leader of the Council, and seconded by Councillor Geoff Ellis.

RESOLVED that the Constitution be amended to include decision making associated with its forthcoming Brownfield Land Register, as set out in the report.

It was proposed by Councillor Donald Nannestad, Deputy Leader of the Council, and seconded by Councillor Geoff Ellis.

RESOLVED that the report of the Returning Officer for the City of Lincoln Council By Election for the Carholme Ward on 19 October 2017 be received.

It was proposed by Councillor Donald Nannestad, Deputy Leader of the Council, and seconded by Councillor Geoff Ellis.

RESOLVED that the proposed changes to the Constitution as set out in the report and the supplement, be approved.

It was proposed by Councillor Nannestad, Deputy Leader of the Council and seconded by Councillor Geoff Ellis.

RESOLVED that the following appointments be approved:

·         Councillor Lucinda Preston to be appointed to the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee in place of Councillor Paul Gowen;

·         Councillor Lucinda Preston to be appointed to the Performance Scrutiny Committee in place of Councillor Paul Gowen;

·         Councillor Lucinda Preston to be appointed to the Commons Advisory Panel to fill a vacancy;

·         Councillor Gary Hewson to be appointed to the Dawber Trust to fill a vacancy;

·         Councillor Tony Speakman to be appointed to the Select Scrutiny Committee to fill a vacancy;

·         Councillor Paul Gowen be appointed as a substitute on the Select Scrutiny Committee;

·         Councillor Pete West to be appointed in place of Councillor Jim Hanrahan on the Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee.