BOROUGH COUNCIL

BURNLEY TOWN HALL

Wednesday, 25th February 2009

PRESENT

MEMBERS Her Worshipful The Mayor (Councillor Ida Carmichael) in the Chair; Councillors Frank Ashworth, Howard Baker, Bill Bennett, , Justin Birtwistle, Charlie Briggs, Lynne Briggs, Bill Brindle, Charles Bullas, Frank Cant, Julie Cooper, Derek Dawson, Peter Doyle, Gary Frayling, Roger Frost, Jonathan Gilbert, John Harbour, Allen Harris, David Heginbotham, Karen Heseltine, Michael Heys, Anne Kelly, Arif Khan, Wajid Khan, Anthony Lambert, Margaret Lishman, Maureen McCaffrey, Peter McCann, Malik Mohammed, Elizabeth Monk, Darren Reynolds, Paul Reynolds, Martin Smith, Len Starr, Jeff Sumner, David Thomson, Cosima Towneley, Linda White and Sharon Wilkinson.

OFFICERS Steve Rumbelow - Chief Executive David Brown - Director of Environment Mick Cartledge - Director of Community Services Nick Aves - Director of Resources Mike Cook - Director of Regeneration and Housing David Wilcock - Head of People and Law Phil Moore - Head of Finance Tom Forshaw - Head of Chief Executive’s Office Ruth Wynn - Democracy Manager Jeremy Richards - Communications Officer David Bristow - Deputy Mayor’s Officer Eric Dickinson Democracy Officer

87. Minutes

RESOLVED The Minutes of the meeting of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on the 11th February 2008 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

88. Mayor’s Communication

Her Worshipful the Mayor, Councillor Ida Carmichael indicated that she had received a request from Councillor Jonathan Gilbert for permission to address the Council on a matter of condolence.

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Councillor Jonathan Gilbert addressed the Council on behalf of the Conservative Group to extend condolences, thoughts and prayers to MP and his family on the death of their son Ivan.

All other Group Leaders also expressed their sympathy and condolence to David Cameron MP and his family.

89. Public Question Time

John Rowe addressed the meeting under the Council’s Right to Speak Policy on regeneration in Elevate areas.

90. Revenue and Capital Budgets and Council Tax 2009/10

Consideration was given to the Revenue and Capital Budgets and Council Tax for 2009/10.

It was moved by Councillor Margaret Lishman and seconded by Councillor Gordon Birtwistle;

“That the Reports submitted for approval together with recommendations of the Executive in relation to the Capital Opportunities Fund 2009/10, Revenue Budget 2009/10, the Statutory Report of the Chief Finance Officer, Capital Investment Programme 2009/14, CIPFA Prudential Code – Prudential Indicators and Treasury Management Strategy 2009/10, Repayment of Debt Calculation-Minimum Revenue Provision, Treasury Management Monitoring, Council Tax 2009/10 and the Members Allowance Scheme 2009/10 be approved ”

An amendment was proposed by Councillor Sharon Wilkinson and seconded by Councillor Len Starr;

That Minute No. 180 (16th February 2009) of the Executive be amended as follows:

iii) That a further £303,200 of Area Based Grant be used to fund the work of the Community Engagement & Cohesion Unit and the net budget be reduced accordingly.

iv) Set a net budget of £18,061,323 for the financial year 2009/10.

ix) Approve a Council Tax (Band D) figure of £240.47 for this Council for the year commencing 1st April 2009 and adopt the statutory resolution to set the full Council Tax for the year.

On being put to the vote the amendment was declared to be lost.

An amendment was proposed by Councillor Howard Baker and seconded by Councillor Julie Cooper;

That Minute No. 178 (16th February 2009) of the Executive relating to the Capital Opportunities Fund be amended as follows:

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5) The budget for the current financial year (2008/09) be reduced by £171,155 to reflect the uncommitted balance on the fund as identified in the report. The additional capital receipts unspent at 31st March 2009 be carried forward into the financial year 2009/10 to finance spending in that year.

That Minute No. 181 (16th February 2009) of the Executive relating to the Capital Programme be amended as follows:

5. The additional capital receipts of £171,155 be used to part fund the Green Spaces – Transport & Grounds Maintenance project, thus freeing up £171,155 of revenue reserves

That Minute No. 180 (16th February 2009) of the Executive relating to the Revenue Budget be amended as follows:

iii) The net Revenue Budget be reduced by £172,630 as follows:

• That the additional resources of £171,155 from revenue reserves be used to fund revenue expenditure.

• That the budget for Members Allowances be reduced by £1,475 to reflect the additional savings identified in the report at 5(i) on tonight’s agenda

iv) Set a net budget of £18,191,893 for the financial year 2009/10.

ix) Approve a Council Tax (Band D) figure of £245.55 for this Council for the year commencing 1st April 2009 and adopt the statutory resolution to set the full Council Tax for the year.

On being put to the vote the amendment was declared to be lost.

An amendment was proposed by Councillor Peter Doyle and seconded by Councillor David Heginbotham;

That Minute No. 180 (16th February 2009) of the Executive be amended as follows:

iii) That the net Revenue Budget be reduced by £124,000 as follows:

• That a further six, currently vacant, full-time posts be deleted from the establishment to generate a saving of £171,000. These posts to be identified by Management Team prior to 31st March 2009.

• That the assumed saving in the budget for the non-filling of vacant posts be reduced from £375,000 to £328,000

iv) Set a net budget of £18,240,523 for the financial year 2009/10.

ix) Approve a Council Tax (Band D) figure of £247.43 for this Council for the year commencing 1st April 2009 and adopt the statutory resolution to set the full Council Tax for the year.

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On being put to the vote the amendment was declared to be lost.

RESOLVED (1) That the provision of £50,000 in the Revenue Budget for 2009/10, and £100,000 in the Capital Budget for 2009/10, for the Ward Opportunities Fund scheme be approved;

(2) That the approach set out in the Council’s Medium-term Financial Strategy be endorsed;

(3) That the approach that has been adopted in developing budget proposals that reflect the Council’s strategic Objectives be endorsed;

(4) That approval be given to the proposals for the Revenue Budget for 2009/10 contained in the report subject to the following amendments: Net budget increases: Reduce the income assumed from charges for bulky household waste by £1,500; Reduce the income assumed for Market Hall lettings by £50,000; Net budget decreases: Reduce the costs associated with refuse collection/street cleaning contract by £51,500;

(5) That approval be given to the setting of a net budget requirement of £18,364,523 for the financial year 2009/10;

(6) That the statutory report issued by the Director of Resources under the Local Government Act, 2003 be received;

(7) That Directors/Heads of Service be authorised to progress and finalise any redundancies, early retirements or deletion of vacant posts/restructuring that result;

(8) That approval be given to the use of the Modernisation Reserve to meet any one-off costs that arise from (7) above;

(9) That approval be given to the establishment of a budget of £2.56M to administer grant received from the Working Neighbourhoods Fund;

(10) That approval be given to a Council Tax (Band D) figure of £252.25 for this Council for the year commencing 1st April 2009 and adopt the statutory resolution to set the full Council Tax for the year;

(11) That approval be given to the Capital Investment Programme for 2009/14 as set out in Appendix 1 to the report;

(12) That approval be given to the resources statement to fund capital schemes as set out in Appendix 2 to the report;

(13) That approval be given to the Capital Budget for 2009/10 as set out in Appendix 3 to the report;

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(14) That a further report be considered on necessary amendments to the programme once the award of Housing Capital Grant and Elevate funding has been finalised;

(15) That the prudential indicators as shown in Appendix 1 to the report and the borrowing policy and strategy statement as shown in Appendix 2 to the report be approved;

(16) That approval be given to the Council’s Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Statements for 2007/08 and 2008/09 as shown at appendix 1 to the report;

(17) That approval be given to the Council’s MRP Statement for 2009/10 as shown at appendix 2 to the report;

(18) That approval be given to the revised arrangements for calculating annual repayments of the Council’s borrowing;

(19) That approval be given to the revision of the net interest payable budget for 2008/09 to £944,168;

(20) That it be noted that the Director of Resources has calculated the figure of 25,735 as the Council Tax base for the year 2009/10 in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 made under Section 33(5) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992;

(21) That it be further noted that the following amounts have been calculated as the amounts of its Council Tax Base for the year 2009/10 for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one of the special items relate:

Briercliffe with Extwistle 1,287 916 525 3,007 with 1,080

(22) That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the financial year 2009/10 in accordance with Sections 32 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (‘the Act’):

(a) £71,928,001 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 32 (2) (a) to (e) of the Act;

(b) £53,520,258 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 32 (3) (a) to (c) of the Act;

(c) £18,407,743 being the amount by which the aggregate at (22)(a) above exceeds the aggregate at (22)(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 32(4) of the Act, as its budget requirement for the year;

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(d) £11,872,791 being the aggregate of the sums which the Council estimates will be payable for the year into its general fund in respect of redistributed non-domestic rates and revenue support grant; increased by the amount of the sums which the Council estimates will be transferred in the year from its Collection Fund to its General Fund in accordance with Section 97(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988;

(e) £253.93 being the amount at (22)(c) above less the amount at (22)(d) above, all divided by the amount at (20) above, in accordance with Section 33(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year.

(f) £43,220 being the aggregate of all special items (Parish Precepts) referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act as set out below.

Briercliffe with Extwistle £8,000 Cliviger £10,000 Habergham Eaves £1,500 Padiham £18,720 Worsthorne with Hurstwood £5,000

(g) £252.25 being the amount at (22)(e) above less the result given by dividing the amount at (22)(f) above by the amount at (20) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34(2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no special item relates.

(h) being the following amounts given by adding to the amount at (22)(g) above the amounts of the special items relating to dwellings in those parts of the Council’s area mentioned at (22)(f) above divided in each case by the amount at (21) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 34(3) of the Act, as the basic amounts of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one of the special items relate.

Briercliffe with Extwistle £258.47 Cliviger £263.17 Habergham Eaves £255.11 Padiham £258.48 Worsthorne with Hurstwood £256.88

(i) being the following amounts given by multiplying the amount at (22)(g) and (22)(h) above by the number which, in the proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the Act, is applicable to the dwellings listed in a particular

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valuation band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed in valuation band D, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 36(1) of the Act, as the amounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation band

Band A Band B Band C Band D Band E Band F Band G Band H £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ Briercliffe with Extwistle 172.32 201.03 229.75 258.47 315.91 373.34 430.79 516.94

Cliviger 175.45 204.68 233.93 263.17 321.66 380.13 438.62 526.34

Habergham 170.08 198.41 226.76 255.11 311.81 368.49 425.19 510.22 Eaves

Padiham 172.32 201.04 229.76 258.48 315.92 373.36 430.80 516.96 Worsthorne with Hurstwood 171.26 199.79 228.34 256.88 313.97 371.05 428.14 513.76 All other areas of the Borough 168.17 196.19 224.22 252.25 308.31 364.36 420.42 504.50

(23) That it be noted that for the year 2009/10 the County Council has stated the following amounts in precepts issued to the Council, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of the dwellings shown below:

VALUATION BANDS

A B C D E F G H £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £

738.87 862.01 985.16 1,108.30 1,354.59 1,600.88 1,847.17 2,216.60

(24) That it be noted that for the year 2009/10 the Lancashire Police Authority has stated the following amounts in precepts issued to the Council, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

VALUATION BANDS

A B C D E F G H £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £

94.72 110.51 126.29 142.08 173.65 205.23 236.80 284.16

(25) That it be noted that for the year 2009/10 the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority has stated the following amounts in precepts issued to the Council, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

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VALUATION BANDS

A B C D E F G H £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £

41.61 48.54 55.48 62.41 76.28 90.15 104.02 124.82

(26) That, having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at (22)(i), (23), (24) and (25) above, the Council, in accordance with Section 30(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the following amounts as the amounts of Council Tax for the year 2009/109

Band A Band B Band C Band D Band E Band F Band G Band H £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ Briercliffe with Extwistle 1,047.52 1,222.09 1,396.68 1,571.26 1,920.43 2,269.60 2,618.78 3,142.52

Cliviger 1,050.65 1,225.74 1,400.86 1,575.96 1,926.18 2,276.39 2,626.61 3,151.92

Habergham Eaves 1,045.28 1,219.47 1,393.69 1,567.90 1,916.33 2,264.75 2,613.18 3,135.80

Padiham 1,047.52 1,222.10 1,396.69 1,571.27 1,920.44 2,269.62 2,618.79 3,142.54 Worsthorne with Hurstwood 1,046.46 1,220.85 1,395.27 1,569.67 1,918.49 2,267.31 2,616.13 3,139.34 All other areas of the Borough 1,043.37 1,217.25 1,391.15 1,565.04 1,912.83 2,260.62 2,608.41 3,130.08

(27) That the Head of Revenues & Benefits be and is hereby authorised to take all necessary action to collect the 2009/10 Council Tax and Non-Domestic Rates and to recover any unpaid amounts by the appropriate proceedings before a Magistrates’ Court.

(28) That the Members Allowance Scheme for 2009/10 be approved as follows:-

a) Basic Allowance

A Basic Allowance of £ 2,460 will be payable to each Councillor. Leader Supplement £10,800

Deputy Supplement £2,700

Executive Members £4,050

Committee Chairs £2,700

Committee Vice Chairs £1,350

Full Council 25th February 2009 Page 8 of 11 Other Group Leaders £1,350 Special Responsibility Allowances for Chairs and Vice-Chairs will be payable in respect of the following Committee only:

Development Control Committee

Special Responsibility Allowances for Chairs will be payable in respect of the following Committees only:

Scrutiny Committees and Licensing Committee

The purposes for which Special Responsibility Allowances are payable under the Council’s scheme are specified as follows:

a) Acting as Leader of the Council; b) Acting as Deputy Leader of the Council; c) Involvement in staff interviews; d) Participation in agenda briefing meetings held prior to meetings of Committees/ Executive meetings; and e) Participation in other meetings in the capacity of Chair or Vice Chair of a Committee/Sub-Committee or Executive Member.

c) a dependants’ carers allowance be paid at the rate of the adult per hour , under the following criteria;

Limitations

Costs necessarily incurred for;

• A child or children under the age of 16 • An elderly relative requiring full-time care • A relative with a physical disability requiring full-time care • A relative with learning disabilities requiring full-time care

Safeguards

• The person for whom care has been arranged must live in the same household as the Councillor • The care in respect of which the allowance is claimed must not be provided by a person living in the Member’s household, or by another parent of a child in the household • Disabled dependents are excluded where the Member is already in receipt of a carer’s allowance. • The Councillor must notify the Council of the identity of the carer in respect of whose costs the allowance is claimed and the cared for child(ren) or dependent(s) must be registered with the Council in advance of any claim being made

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d) The following travel and subsistence allowances shall be paid for attendance at approved events:

Allowance current payment Car-< 999cc 42.9p per mile -999-1199 46.9 ->1199 58.7 Motor cycle-<150cc 151-250 >251-500 3 p per mile for each car passenger cycle 20p per mile Breakfast £6.09 Lunch £8.39 Tea £3.31

Evening Meal £10.39 Overnight £79.82 (£91.04 in London) inclusive of all expenses That the payment of travelling allowances by taxi cab be provided for Disabled and Vulnerable Members not to exceed; a) in cases of urgency or where no public transport was reasonably available, the amount of the actual fare and any reasonable gratuity paid; and b) in any other case the amount of travel by appropriate public transport.

e) Continue to pay a contribution towards Members broadband provision, at the rate of £20 per month for each Member. This payment being subject to Members adhering to the requirement to have and use broadband access.

f) Allowances will be repayable should a Councillor be suspended, ceases to be a Councillor due to a relevant conviction or non-attendance, or resigns.

g) No Members allowances will be classified as pensionable under the Regulations.

h) Payment of Allowances

Members are now paid their allowances half a month in arrears and half a month in advance. Travel and subsistence allowances will be paid for approved duties in line with agreed rates.

The Council will provide reasonable adjustments for disabled members including meeting their specific individual needs.

91. Strategic Objectives 2009/10

The Council considered a report on the Council’s Strategic Plan 2009/12.

RESOLVED (1) That approval be given to the Strategic Plan 2009/12;and

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(2) That delegated authority be given to the Head of the Chief Executive’s Office to finalise the Strategic Plan as necessary, and in consultation with the Leader, prior to its publication.

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