Agenda and minutes

The Worshipful the Mayor welcomed everyone to the meeting and outlined the arrangements for the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2023.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2023 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Members were aware that Honorary Alderman Bill Noble had sadly passed away.

 

The Worshipful the Mayor outlined that Bill served as a Councillor in the Hardwick Ward for 16 years from 1995 until 2011 and sat on numerous committees, including as Vice-Chairman of the Executive Scrutiny Committee.

 

Bill also served as Mayor of the Borough in 2007/2008 and was awarded Honorary Alderman status in 2015.

 

The awarding of his Honorary Alderman status was a fitting tribute to the contribution Bill made over a number of years.

 

Bill would be a huge miss and condolences were given to his widow Kath and his family at this very sad time.

 

The Leader of the Council paid tribute to Bill’s work as a councillor and that Bill always represented the people of his ward passionately and with the utmost dedication.

 

As a mark of respect Members stood in a minute’s silence.

The following question was submitted by John McDermottroe for response by the Leader of the Council:-

 

”Given that it has been almost 2 years since announced, when will the due diligence on buying Billingham Town Centre be complete & when is a subsequent purchase likely to go ahead?”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in the Levelling Up bid for Billingham Town Centre which was based around Council ownership, demolition, and re-purposing parts of the Town Centre.

 

The Council remains committed to supporting redevelopment of the centre, as evidenced through resourcing the emerging masterplan and is in ongoing dialogue with the centre owner as to their future plans for the centre and how resource can be best utilised to bring about redevelopment of the centre.”

 

John McDermottroe asked the following supplementary question:-

 

“I don’t think the answer was given to my question , when will the due diligence be complete and when is the purchase of the town centre?”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“I have explained that it was part of the Levelling Up bid to purchase the town centre and we missed out on that. Although I have been told that there is another Levelling Up bid coming forward but I’m not sure of the dates for the bid although I would have thought it would be before the next general election. So therefore, the purchasing of the town centre would be part of any future Levelling Up bid.

 

Cabinet looked at a masterplan for the town centre to see where we go from here. We have put money aside from the Council’s budgets of £10 million for the town centre but obviously we need to find which way forward we can go through the masterplan and how best we can finance the rest of the scheme and the re-development of the town centre.”

 

Consideration was given to a report that reviewed the allocation of seats to political groups as prescribed by the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990.

 

At the Annual Meeting on 24 May 2023, Councill appointed to Committees, Panels etc, in accordance with the Constitution and statutory political balance requirements. Committee size was set out in the Council’s Constitution. However, in the case of Executive Scrutiny, the size and political balance of that committee could not be determined until Council had appointed a committee chair and the chairs of each select committee. The Council’s constitution, para 2.37, stated:-

 

“The Executive Scrutiny Committee will be comprised of a Chair appointed by Council, plus the Chairs of the 5 thematic Select Committees, together with such other Members as are necessary to achieve political balance”.

 

A recalculation had been made and a total membership of 12 was required comprising 5 Conservatives, 5 Labour (the appointed chairs of Selects) and 1 Thornaby Independent (the appointed Exec chair) and 1 Ingleby Barwick Independents Association. Appendix A to the report set out the revised membership of Executive Scrutiny Committee for approval.

 

Following the recent Hartburn election, a recalculation of the political balance of all Council committees had taken place and in accordance with that, Appendix B to the report sets out the wishes of political groups in the filling of seats for approval.

 

In addition, Appendix C to the report highlighted the outstanding vacancies yet to be filled by the Council.

 

RESOLVED that:-

 

1. The following revised membership of the Executive Scrutiny Committee be approved:-

 

Remove:-

 

Cllr Ian Dalgarno

Cllr Stefan Houghton

Cllr Barbara Inman

Cllr David Reynard

Cllr Vanessa Sewell

Cllr Marcus Vickers

Cllr Alan Watson

Cllr Sally Ann Watson

Cllr Barry Woodhouse

 

Add:-

 

Cllr Niall Innes

Cllr Lynn Hall

Cllr Sufi Mubeen

Cllr Laura Tunney

 

Final Membership of the Executive Scrutiny Committee:-

 

Cllr Pauline Beall

Cllr Marc Besford

Cllr Carol Clark

Cllr Richard Eglington

Cllr Lynn Hall

Cllr Niall Innes

Cllr Sufi Mubeen

Cllr Ross Patterson

Cllr Tony Riordan

Cllr Marilyn Surtees

Cllr Laura Tunney

Cllr Sylvia Walmsley

 

2. The following revised memberships be approved:-

 

Adult Social Care and Health Select Committee

Remove - Cllr Emily Tate

Add - Cllr Lynn Hall

 

Crime and Disorder Select Committee

Remove - Cllr Hugo Stratton

Add - Cllr Jason French

 

People Select Committee

Remove - Cllr Sufi Mubeen

Add - Cllr Niall Innes

 

Place Select Committee

Remove - Cllr John Coulson

Add - Cllr Andrew Sherris

 

Audit and Governance Committee

Remove - Cllr Tony Riordan

Add - Cllr Susan Scott

 

Planning Committee

Remove - Cllr John Coulson

Add - Cllr Lynn Hall

 

General Licensing Committee

Remove - Cllr David Reynard

Add - Cllr Jason French

 

Statutory Licensing Committee

Remove - Cllr David Reynard

Add - Cllr John Coulson

 

Health and Wellbeing Board

Remove - Cllr Tony Riordan

Add - Cllr Diane Clarke

 

Corporate Parenting Board

Remove - Cllr David Reynard

Add - Cllr Alex Griffiths

 

Home Safety Association

Remove - Cllr John Gardner

Add - Cllr  ...  view the full minutes text for item COU/44/23

Cllr Niall Innes informed the meeting that he would not be moving his motion and therefore the motion was treated as having been withdrawn.

The following question was submitted by Cllr Ray Godwin for response by the Cabinet Member for Environment & Transport:-

 

“The state of our road infrastructure both nationally and locally is crumbling, I see this every day in my professional role as a driver of a large goods vehicle and also have it reported daily from residents within my ward.

 

Given that additional to individual taxation, that the amount of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) collected by national government last year was around £7.1 billion (2021/22) up from £6.9 billion the previous year and fuel duty is at the highest levels ever, averaging between £24.3 billion and £25.9 billion per year between 2021 / 2023 equivalent to £867 per household per year or 0.9 per cent of national income.

 

What is the allocated amount of funding to this council from central government for the repair and maintenance of the roads in our borough and could you supply a rough estimate on what this borough would actually require to not only patch potholes but to repair and resurface our roads to a standard expected by motorists and residents in our communities?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Environment & Transport responded with:-

 

“The highway infrastructure asset is the most valuable single asset owned by the Council and is vital to local economic prosperity and resident’s quality of life. The 2021/22 budget allocated by the Government to Stockton Council to maintain these assets was £3,296,143. However, this budget has to cover footpaths, bridges, streetlights, traffic signals and other infrastructure, as well as carriageways. In 2021/22 the budget from Government available for roads in Stockton on Tees was £1,576,996.

 

Using a nationally recognised calculator for road maintenance, to maintain a ‘steady state’ in respect of carriageway condition, Stockton’s roads require a budget allocation of £3,200,000 per annum. This shows that Stockton’s road repairs represent a funding gap of approximately £1.62m per annum.

 

However, in terms of our performance with the resources available, based on national benchmark indicators, SBC are doing a better job than most Local Authorities.

 

According to the 2022 The National Highways & Transport Public Satisfaction Survey;

 

• Speed of repair to damaged roads 4% above the national average, ranked 23 out of 111, and in first quartile.

• Quality of repair to damaged roads 4% above the national average, ranked 26 out of 111 and in first quartile.

• Condition of Road Surface 3% above the national average ranked, 40 out of 111 and in second quartile.

 

This isn’t a problem that only faces us here in Stockton and in response to the shortfall our carriageway maintenance programme is managed on a needs basis and has been restricted to dealing with those sections of carriageway most in need of attention, with preventative maintenance being reduced.

 

Councils up and down the country including Conservative Councils are managing decline in terms of the state of their roads. Despite suffering from funding shortage, we are still maintaining a good position nationally. You mentioned about exercise duty and petrol duty, there  ...  view the full minutes text for item COU/46/23

The Leader of the Council gave his Forward Plan and Leaders Statement.

 

Council last met on 21 June 2023. Since then, Cabinet met on the 13 July and considered the following matters:-

 

• Medium-Term Financial Plan - Draft Outturn March 2023

• Powering our Future

• Vibrant and Thriving Town Centres - Regeneration Update

• Indigenous Growth Fund Update

• Senior Management Capacity

• Volunteering Policy

• Electoral Update

• Modern Slavery Statement

• Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Report in the Public Interest

• Xentrall Annual Report 2022/23

 

Cabinet would next meet on the 14 September 2023 and is scheduled to consider:

 

• Financial Update and report on the Medium-Term Financial Plan (2023/24 Quarter 1)

• Overview and Scrutiny - End-of-Term Report 2019-2023

• Selective Licensing of Private Rented Housing (scheme proposal)

• Corporate Parenting Strategy

 

Before that, the Leader of the Council was looking forward to lots of great events over the Summer in the Borough. SIRF begins on the 3 August. This year’s official launch show was the spectacular ‘Perceptions’ by Bivouac. The show would start at 7pm on Friday 4 August. There’s also the popular Teddy Bear’s picnic in Preston Park later in August.

 

After that the Leader of the Council looked forward to seeing Members all at the next full Council meeting on the 20 September.