Council meeting 1st February 2011 MINUTES OF COUNCIL MEETING At a Meeting of the Council of the London Borough of Ealing held on Tuesday, 1st February 2011 at 7:00pm. PRESENT: The Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Councillors Ahmed, Anand, Anderson, Anjum, Aslam, Bakhai, Ball, Bell, Brooks, Byrne, Ann Chapman, Costello, Cowing, D. Crawford, K. Crawford, Joanna Dabrowska, Dennehy, Dheer, Dhindsa, Sue Emment, Gordon, Isobel Grant, Gulaid, Eileen Harris, Iskanderian, Johnson, Kang, Anita Kapoor, Kapoor, Kausar, Langan, Mahfouz, Malcolm, G Mann, Manro, Midha, Millican, Mohan, Murtagh, Noori, Padda, Diana Pagan, Popham, Potts, Roz Reece, Reen, Reeves, Rennie, Rose, Sabiers, Scott, Stacey, Stafford, Steed, Sumner, Tailor, Taylor, Varma, Walker, L Wall, R Wall and Young. ABSENT: Councillors Bagha, Dhami, Kaur, Said and Summers (from whom apologies for absence were received). 1. Procedure It was moved by Councillor Reeves, duly seconded and agreed: “That Council and Committee Procedure Rule 2 relating to the order of business be suspended so as to allow item 12, Annual Report of the Standards Committee, to be considered after item 8, Questions from Members of the Public.” 2. Declarations of Interest No declarations were made. 3. Matters to be Considered in Private There were no matters to be considered in private. 4. Minutes Resolved: That the Mayor be authorised to sign as a correct record of the proceedings the minutes of the meeting held on 14th December 2010. 5. Mayor’s Announcements 1. The Mayor referred to the recent deaths of Sue Machin, a Member Services Officer within the Democratic Services Section, and close relatives of Virendra Sharma, MP and Councillor Bagha. 2. The Mayor referred to several charity events, including the charity race night on 29th January, and thanked various individuals and companies for their contributions. The next event would be a charity night at the Milan Palace in Southall on 19th March 2011. 1 Council meeting 1st February 2011 3. On behalf of the Council, the Mayor congratulated the England cricket team on their recent Ashes success. 6. Petitions A. Submitted Under Council and Committee Procedure Rule 9.1 From Members of the Public The Mayor received a petition from Mr S Mahimaidass containing 227 signatures expressing concern about the increase in betting shops in the Southall area and the negative impact this had on local residents. The portfolio holder for Safer Communities responded on behalf of the Council. From Members of the Council The Mayor received a petition from Councillor Malcolm containing 585 signatures expressing concern about the proposed reduction in the number of Park Rangers. B. Submitted Under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 None 7. Questions from Members of the Public None. 8. Annual Report of the Standards Committee Mr J Beastall, Chair of the Standards Committee, introduced the Committee’s annual report. Resolved: That the annual report of the Standards Committee be noted. 9. Questions from Members of the Council 1. Councillor Millican asked the Cabinet member for Children and Young People the following question: “Does the portfolio holder agree with me the Government’s plans to open technical schools for 14 year olds would improve standards and offer additional opportunities for our young people? Would she propose and support the opening of one in the Borough?” The Cabinet member said that she would propose and support the opening of a technical school in the Borough if she were persuaded that 2 Council meeting 1st February 2011 it would raise standards and that it would offer additional opportunities for our young people. The Cabinet member answered supplementary questions from Councillors Millican and R Wall. 2. Councillor Iskanderian asked the Leader of the Council the following question: “Can the Leader of the Council outline what effect December’s bad weather had on the local economy?” The Leader of the Council said that it was always very difficult to accurately say what effect weather has had on an economy and it would be foolish to claim that you can with any degree of certainty. However what is certain is the excellent work by our officers in ensuring that disruption caused by the weather was minimised. During the worst of the snow over a 48-hour period, the Council spread over 600 tonnes of grit on main routes covering the equivalent of 2,550 miles of roads. Gritting lorries were out in full force, spreading grit on primary routes, which were gritted six times with secondary routes being gritted five times. Busy footways around stations, hospitals and shopping centres were gritted three times. As well as this, sheltered housing was gritted ensuring the elderly and vulnerable were not isolated in their homes. This was the equivalent to what the Council would normally do over a 2-3 week period. The Leader of the Council said that he would like to place on record his thanks to the officers who kept the borough moving at this difficult time. The Leader of the Council answered supplementary questions from Councillors Iskanderian and Taylor. 3. Councillor L Wall asked the Cabinet member for Housing the following question: “Can the portfolio holder outline how he is ensuring Council tenants get value for money from the Council?” The Cabinet member said that all London boroughs would be increasing their rents in 2011/12. Ealing’s Cabinet had taken the decision to keep rents as low as possible to give tenants some help during hard times. Ealing was in a position to do this as it was an efficient service. As such, Ealing had set one the lowest rent increases in London at 4.7% and this was much lower than the government wanted us to increase it by. Most, if not all, other London boroughs had indicated their rents would be in line with the government guideline rent which was between a 6% and 7% increase. 3 Council meeting 1st February 2011 In 2010 the Audit Commission inspected Ealing Homes. The report recognised the improvements that had made in delivering value for money in services to tenants. In particular the report noted: Value for money was being achieved through benchmarking costs with similar organisations to identify and eradicate high cost areas. The costs of responsive repairs and voids turnaround were low in comparison to other similar organisations. Costs of housing management had been reduced. From 1st April 2011 the Council’s new integrated Housing Service would become operational. The combined services would provide opportunities to build on the successes of the council services and Ealing Homes. Further savings and efficiencies would be achieved through the eradication of duplicated posts and the realisation of economies of scale while ensuring that we provided a high quality housing management service to tenants. The Cabinet member answered supplementary questions from Councillors L. Wall and Stacey. 4. Councillor Young asked the Cabinet member for Customer and Community Services the following question: “What steps is the portfolio holder taking concerning voucher use in Controlled Parking Zones?” The Cabinet member said that the application process for service vouchers was being reviewed with a view to introducing much tighter procedures. Clear criteria would be attached to the new application forms controlling who vouchers are issued to and when / where they could be used. Internal applications by staff were likely to be from Service Heads or above who would be responsible for distribution within their team on a business need only. Efforts were being made to pull forward the implementation of “electronic” service vouchers provided through the newly implemented “cashless parking system” – PayByPhone. This would allow for greater controls and monitoring of use and abuse if it should occur. The Cabinet member answered supplementary questions from Councillors Young and Byrne. 5. Councillor Bakhai asked the cabinet member for Customer and Community Services the following question: “Will the portfolio holder reassure users that the Council has no plans to close Hanwell or Perivale libraries or the Mobile Library Service?” 4 Council meeting 1st February 2011 The Cabinet member said that a review of the library service was currently being undertaken to inform the Council’s decisions on the future direction for libraries. This is looking at: Improving the service offer Buildings and locations Partnerships Value for Money Organisation and delivery The cost effectiveness of the library service was being looked into as well as how the service offer met local needs. The Council would need to make decisions in the light of this. This would involve consideration of fewer but better buildings; deciding how a service might continue to be provided in different ways and, in some instances, stopping doing things that are no longer cost effective as well as improving the overall service offer. Currently, the service operates from thirteen library buildings; a mobile library; home library service; the hospital library based at Ealing Hospital and an on-line access to the library service. No decisions had yet been made and public consultation would commence at the end of the month. The Cabinet member answered supplementary questions from Councillor Bakhai and Padda. 6. Councillor Mohan asked the Leader of the Council the following question: “Can the Leader of the Council outline whether he has made progress on delivering a new car park for Southall?” The Leader of the Council said that a new car park for Southall was a very important manifesto commitment for the administration. He was very pleased to report that, at the next Cabinet meeting, a property strategy update report would be discussed, which would include a proposal to demolish Disraeli Nursery and turn the site into a temporary car park. Further to this, in the administration’s upcoming capital strategy a capital allocation of £5.5m would be made in order to build a new car park in Southall.