Agenda and draft minutes

Special Meeting, SWT Full Council
Tuesday, 25th October, 2022 6.15 pm

Venue: The John Meikle Room - The Deane House. View directions

Contact: Clare Rendell Email: c.rendell@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk 

Webcast: View the webcast

Items
No. Item

61.

Apologies

62.

Declarations of Interest

    To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

     

    (The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Members present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor or Clerk of a County, Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-

     

    Name

    Minute No.

    Description of Interest

    Reason

    Action Taken

    Cllr I Aldridge

    All Items

    Williton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Baker

    All Items

    SCC, Cheddon Fitzpaine & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr N Cavill

    All Items

    SCC & West Monkton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Coles

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Darch

    All Items

    SCC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr T Deakin

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr C Ellis

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr H Farbahi

    All Items

    SCC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr A Hadley

    All Items

    SCC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr Mrs Hill

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Johnson

    All Items

    SCC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr R Lees

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Lees

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr M Lithgow

    All Items

    Wellington

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr J Lloyd

    All Items

    Wellington & Sampford Arundel

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Perry

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr H Prior-Sankey

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Pugsley

    All Items

    SCC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr M Rigby

    All Items

    SCC & Bishops Lydeard

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr F Smith

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr F Smith-Roberts

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr A Sully

    All Items

    SCC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr A Trollope-Bellew

    All Items

    Crowcombe

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr R Tully

    All Items

    West Monkton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Wakefield

    All Items

    SCC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Wedderkopp

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr B Weston

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr K Wheatley

    All Items

    Wellington

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Whetlor

    All Items

    Watchet

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr G Wren

    All Items

    SCC & Clerk to Milverton PC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

     

63.

Public Participation - To receive only in relation to the business for which the Extraordinary Meeting has been called any questions, statements or petitions from the public in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 14,15 and 16

    The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

     

    For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

     

    We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, but you can also access them on the Somerset West and Taunton webcasting website.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Mr Kelvin Tutill, Chair of West Monkton and Cheddon Fitzpaine Neighbourhood Plan Working Group, spoke on agenda item 7 in support of the Plan’s adoption.

64.

To receive any communications or announcements from the Chair of the Council

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The Chair of the Council made the following announcements:-

    ·       The Chair of the Council advised Councillors of the addition of an urgent item to the agenda, which had been added under the guidance of Item 16 – Special Urgency in the Access to Information Procedure Rules within the Constitution.

    ·       She reminded Councillors that the deadline for nominations for the Civic Awards was 30 November 2022.

    ·       The Chair of the Council and the Mayor of the Taunton Charter Trustees accepted a book of condolences presented from the previous Mayor who had accepted it on behalf of the people of Lisieux on her recent twinning trip.

65.

To receive any communications or announcements from the Leader of the Council

66.

To receive only in relation to the business for which the Extraordinary Meeting has been called any questions from Councillors in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13

67.

West Monkton and Cheddon Fitzpaine Neighbourhood Development Plan to be Made (formal adoption) pdf icon PDF 455 KB

    This matter is the responsibility of Executive Councillor for Economic Development, Planning and Transportation, Councillor Mike Rigby.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

    ·       Councillors were very happy to support the adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan.

    ·       Councillors agreed that the work had been carried out in collaboration with the Working Group in a really good manner.

    ·       Councillors highlighted that the Plans needed to be fit for purpose moving forward, which the proposed Neighbourhood Plan seemed to be.

    ·       Councillors queried the 80% who had voted in favour of the Neighbourhood Plan and whether there was a minimum amount of voters required for the referendum to be valid.

    The Senior Planning Policy Officer advised that the legislation stated that the decision would be made based on the majority vote of those who had chosen to vote.

    ·       Councillors thanked all the officers and those who were part of the Working Group for all their hard work.

    ·       Councillors agreed it was a very impressive piece of work.

     

    Resolved that Full Council approved that following the outcome of the referendum which was held on 22 September 2022, the West Monkton and Cheddon Fitzpaine Neighbourhood Development Plan be formally ‘made’ (adopted) pursuant to the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 Section 38A as part of Somerset West and Taunton Council’s statutory development plan.

68.

Urgent Changes to the Constitution pdf icon PDF 298 KB

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    During the discussion, the following points were made:-

    ·       Councillors queried why the item had been brought at such late notice.

    The Legal Officer advised that a letter had been sent by Somerset County Council (SCC) which had to be responded to within the week.

    ·       Councillors highlighted that the recruitment of senior management had been delayed due to the recruitment of the Chief Executive Officer at SCC and so was only just starting now.

    ·       Councillors understood the concern raised for the short notice, however, they supported the action required.

    ·       Councillors agreed that given the circumstances, it was a valid change to the Constitution.

     

    Resolved that Full Council approved:-

    a)    To authorise the above amendment (detailed in section 1.6 of the report) to the Constitution.

    b)    Given the urgency of the matter, to give authority to the Chief Executive Officer to consent to the relevant notice from the County Council forthwith, and;

    c)    To take any further actions that might be necessary between now and 1 April 2023 required on an urgent basis in compliance with The Somerset (Structural Changes) Order 2022 and the Duty to co-operate in the setting up of the new Somerset Council.