Agenda, decisions and minutes
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Apologies
To receive any apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor Mike Rigby. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting of the Executive
To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee. Additional documents: Decision: (Minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 20th November 2019 were circulated with the agenda)
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Executive held on 20th November 2019 were confirmed as a correct record and were duly signed by the Leader.
Minutes: (Minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 20th November 2019 circulated with the agenda)
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Executive held on 20th November 2019 were confirmed as a correct record and were duly signed by the Leader.
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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:-
The Leader of the Council declared a personal interest on behalf of all Members of the Executive that had received emails lobbying in relation to Item 10 – Taunton Business Improvement District Ballot. |
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Public Participation
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.
Additional documents: Minutes: A. Mr Shawn Rutter (No Taunton BID) asked the following questions in relation to Item 10 – Taunton Business Improvement District Ballot:
“Good evening, I’m speaking for No Taunton BID, representing the significant number of businesses opposed to the new Taunton BID proposal.
As I wrote in my letter to you last Saturday about the councils’ lack of openness and transparency over BID, it’s extremely disappointing that the agenda report for tonight has still not been made public, as it would have allowed a fair chance to make pertinent democratic representation for what will be discussed and decisions to be made by you today. But I sincerely hope that later this evening you will vote to not exclude the press and public from the BID discussion as it is not commercially sensitive.
If the council does allow the BID proposal to go to ballot, my letter of 22nd October made a strong case for the council to abstain from voting for it’s properties, given the overwhelming influence council votes would have. With average ballot turnout, this council’s vote would be 6% by voting number, and 12% by cumulative RV - and with this weeks’ questionable addition of the county council’s Brendon House, as the 4th largest RV property on the map now, if both councils vote they are forecast to have cast 18% of the RV vote.
The spirit of BID regulations is for BID to be a business-led initiative, for the businesses, decided on by the businesses; which is why the right thing for the Council to do would be to abstain from voting. If BID is to go ahead, the best chance of success will come from a true majority of business having embraced and wanting BID - and the only way we’ll know this, is a ballot without Council votes.
I suggest this council has some hard questions to ask itself when considering Taunton’s 4th BID ballot in 13 years, and I have 4 questions today:
1. The BID proposers have chosen not include East Reach, Station Road and most of Bridge Street, meaning businesses in these town centre areas would be starved of the extra investment and benefits BID are promising BID businesses. Is the Council happy with the limited scope of the map, which was decided on without appropriate consultation?
2. Is the council certain that BID is the best place management scheme for Taunton town centre? i.e. instead of a town centre partnership for example, which could be much wider reaching and inclusive for both more businesses and the community.
3. With regard to BID baseline agreements, for the 5 year duration of BID, will the Council be committing to legally binding baseline agreements for all statutory and discretionary services it currently provides into the proposed BID area?
4. Given Taunton’s poor experience with BID previously, what lessons has the council learnt, and what measures will the council be taking to ensure the town won’t be let down by BID again, if it goes ... view the full minutes text for item 74. |
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Executive Forward Plan
To receive items and review the Forward Plan. Additional documents: Decision: (Copy of the Executive Forward Plan, circulated with the agenda).
Councillors were reminded that if they had an item they wanted to add to the agenda, that they should send their requests to the Governance Team.
RESOLVED that the Executive Forward Plan be noted. Minutes: (Copy of the Executive Forward Plan, circulated with the agenda).
Councillors were reminded that if they had an item they wanted to add to the agenda, that they should send their requests to the Governance Team.
RESOLVED that the Executive Forward Plan be noted. |
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Amendment to Income and Arrears Management Policy
This matter is the responsibility of Executive Councillor Ross Henley, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resource.
This report seeks support for an amendment to our current Income and Arrears Management Policy to include a Council Tax write off for care leavers living within our area who receive Council Tax Support. Additional documents: Decision: RESOLVED to;
1. Approve that for those persons which fall within the definition of a care leaver, living within the District and who qualify for Council Tax Support, will have their net Council Tax liability written off for the qualifying period, and; 2. Delegate authority to the Revenues Specialist to approve individual eligible write-offs in line with this Policy. Minutes: Executive Councillor Ross Henley, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources introduced the report and moved the recommendations, which sought support for an amendment to the current Income and Arrears Management Policy to include a Council Tax write off for care leavers living within the area who receive Council Tax Support.
The proposal would remove any Council Tax liability where the care leaver – · Is living with dependants · Is living with other care leavers, and/or · Has entitlement to Council Tax Support but their income is more than £75 a week
Where the care leaver is living with other adults SWT would look to apportion the write off to reduce the overall liability. The write off would apply up to the age of 25 and would end the day before their 26th birthday. The write off would only be applied after entitlement to other discounts, including Council Tax Support has been deducted from the liability. Somerset West and Taunton Council would be actively contacting our care leavers to encourage take up and we will consider backdated awards. SWT intended to apply the write off through our Income and Arrears Management Policy until we are able to consider including this in our Council Tax Support scheme for future years.
The recommendations were seconded by Councillor Kravis.
During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:- · It was raised as to how much the Council took into account young people’s incomes? · This was taken into account for e.g. if getting a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) this covered 80% of Council Tax and this measure would cover the other 20%. · It was stated that this was wholeheartedly supported and was the right thing to do.
RESOLVED to;
1. Approve that for those persons which fall within the definition of a care leaver, living within the District and who qualify for Council Tax Support, will have their net Council Tax liability written off for the qualifying period, and; 2. Delegate authority to the Revenues Specialist to approve individual eligible write-offs in line with this Policy. |
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Access to Information - Exclusion of the Press and Public
During discussion of the following item(s) it may be necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public having reflected on Article 13 13.02(e) (a presumption in favour of openness) of the Constitution. This decision may be required because consideration of this matter in public may disclose information falling within one of the descriptions of exempt information in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The Executive will need to decide whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption, outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
Recommend that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 respectively of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). Additional documents: Decision: RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the items numbered 8, 9 and 10 on the Agenda as the items contained exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972, and the public interest in withholding the information outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information to the public. Minutes: RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the items numbered 8, 9 and 10 on the Agenda as the items contained exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972, and the public interest in withholding the information outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.
The Monitoring Officer reminded all Councillors present of their responsibilities under the Code of Conduct and the Constitution in respect of confidential reports and the information contained within. An email reminder would be sent to all Councillors. |
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Taunton Bus Station
This matter is the responsibility of Executive Councillor Marcus Kravis, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development and Executive Councillor Ross Henley, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources.
Decision: Recommended to Council to agree the recommendations as written in the confidential report. Minutes: Executive Councillor Kravis, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development introduced this confidential report. RECOMMENDED to Council to agree the recommendations as written in the confidential report. |
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Taunton Park and Ride
This matter is the responsibility of Executive Councillor Mike Rigby, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport. Decision: RESOLVED to;
1. Request officers to explore whether the procurement decision for the Park & Ride contract’s operation beyond September 2020 written into the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Somerset West and Taunton (SWT) and Somerset County Council (SCC) can be extended from the current date of 31st January 2020 to the 20th February 2020 to allow the decision to be considered as part of the Budget.
2. Form a Cross-Party Working Group on democratic agreement of numbers to meet in January 2020 to consider the implications of notification of SCC procurement of the service, the potential options with the budget amount available and to report back to the Executive in advance of their next meeting on 22nd January 2020 and the Council on 27th January 2020.
Minutes: Councillor Federica Smith-Roberts, Leader of the Council introduced the confidential report.
RESOLVED to;
1. Request officers to explore whether the procurement decision for the Park & Ride contract’s operation beyond September 2020 written into the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Somerset West and Taunton (SWT) and Somerset County Council (SCC) can be extended from the current date of 31st January 2020 to the 20th February 2020 to allow the decision to be considered as part of the Budget.
2. Form a Cross-Party Working Group on democratic agreement of numbers to meet in January 2020 to consider the implications of notification of SCC procurement of the service, the potential options with the budget amount available and to report back to the Executive in advance of their next meeting on 22nd January 2020 and the Council on 27th January 2020.
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Taunton Business Improvement District Ballot
This matter is the responsibility of Executive Councillor Marcus Kravis, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development. Decision: RESOLVED to;
1. Consider the Council’s position in relation to the ballot and recommended to Council a position from the available options. 2. Recommended to Council the approval of the three other confidential recommendations included within the report.
Minutes: Executive Councillor Marcus Kravis, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development and Asset Management introduced the confidential report.
RESOLVED to;
1. Consider the Council’s position in relation to the ballot and recommended to Council a position from the available options. 2. Recommended to Council the approval of the three other confidential recommendations included within the report.
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