WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL At the Meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council held in the Council Chamber, Clydebank Town Hall, Dumbarton Road, Clydebank on Wednesday, 29 April 2015 at 2.10 p.m. Present: Provost Douglas McAllister and Councillors Denis Agnew, George Black, Jim Bollan, Jim Brown, Gail Casey, Jim Finn, William Hendrie, David McBride, Jonathan McColl, Michelle McGinty, *Patrick McGlinchey, Marie McNair, John Millar, John Mooney, Ian Murray, Lawrence O’Neill, Tommy Rainey, Gail Robertson, Martin Rooney, Kath Ryall and Hazel Sorrell. * Attended later in the meeting. Attending: Joyce White, Chief Executive; Angela Wilson, Executive Director of Corporate Services; Richard Cairns, Executive Director of Infrastructure and Regeneration, Chris McNeill, Head of Community Health & Care Services; Jackie Irvine, Head of Children’s Health, Care & Criminal Justice; Laura Mason, Head of Educational Services; Peter Hessett, Head of Legal, Democratic & Regulatory Services; Stephen West, Head of Finance & Resources; Peter Barry, Head of Customer & Community Services; Craig Jardine, Capital Investment Programme Manager; Joe Reilly, Business Partner and Craig Stewart, Committee Officer. Also Attending: Chief Superintendent Helen Swann, Divisional Commander, ‘L’ Division, Police Scotland; Chief Inspector Mark Lundie, Area Commander , Police Scotland; Ms Elaine Boyd, Senior Audit Manager and Mr Laurence Slavin, Senior Auditor, Audit Scotland. Provost Douglas McAllister in the Chair CHAIR’S REMARKS Prior to commencing with the business of the meeting, Provost McAllister welcomed Chief Superintendent Helen Swann and Chief Inspector Mark Lundie, Police Scotland and Ms Elaine Boyd and Mr Laurence Slavin, Audit Scotland to the meeting. Note: Councillor McGlinchey entered the meeting at this point. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS The Minutes of Meetings of West Dunbartonshire Council held on (a) 4 February 2015 (Ordinary); (b) 18 February 2015 (Requisitioned, adjourned to 25 February 2015); (c) 25 February 2015 (Special); and (d) 25 February 2015 (Adjourned Requisition) were submitted and approved as a correct record, subject to the Following discussion, it was agreed to note that the Standing Item on the ‘Clyde Valley City Deal’ had not been included on the agenda for this meeting. The Council then heard a verbal update from the Executive Director of Infrastructure and Regeneration and the Chief Executive, the terms of which were noted. A question and answer session then took place, following which Council also agreed to note that a report on the ‘Clyde Valley City Deal’ would be submitted to the June Council meeting for Members’ consideration. MINUTES OF MEETING OF WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COMMUNITY HEALTH & CARE PARTNERSHIP/SHADOW INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD The Minutes of Meeting of the West Dunbartonshire Community Health & Care Partnership/Shadow Integration Joint Board held on 18 February 2015 were submitted and approved as a correct record. MINUTES OF MEETING OF AUDIT & PERFORMANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE The Minutes of Meeting of the Audit & Performance Review Committee held on 11 March 2015 were submitted and approved as a correct record, subject to the following correction:- With regard to the item under the heading ‘Local Government Benchmarking Framework 2013/14’, it was agreed that the minute be amended to reflect that any performance indicators above 15 (i.e. 16 – 32) would be the subject of a further report to the Audit & Performance Review Committee. PRESENTATION BY POLICE SCOTLAND – LOCAL POLICING IN WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE A presentation was made by Chief Superintendent Helen Swann, Divisional Commander, Police Scotland, on Local Policing in West Dunbartonshire. In noting the content of the Divisional Commander’s presentation, Members also took the opportunity to ask questions on a wide range of current and future issues in relation to policing and the impact on the community in West Dunbartonshire. Following the presentation and the question and answer session, Provost McAllister, on behalf of Council, thanked Chief Superintendent Swann and Chief Inspector Lundie for their full response to questions and for their comprehensive presentation. OPEN FORUM The Council noted that no open forum questions have been submitted by members of the public. STANDARDS COMMISSION FOR SCOTLAND: DECISION OF THE HEARING PANEL OF THE COMMISSION A report was submitted by the Executive Director of Corporate Services inviting Council to consider the decision of the Standards Commission for Scotland in respect of Councillor Black dated 5 March 2015. Councillor Rooney, seconded by Councillor McGlinchey moved:- Council notes the report as per the recommendation. This Council values all Council employees and believes that in accordance with the Councillors Code of Conduct they should be treated with dignity and respect at all times. Elected Members should treat all officers of the Council with courtesy at all times and should avoid being critical of officers in public. As integral part of the acceptance of elected office, requires newly elected members to sign up to the Councillors Code of Conduct. However, the Respondent in the Standards Commission Hearing Report claims that the local authority had provided no training on the councillors Code of Conduct. This is not accurate. At 4.2 in the Executive Directors report clearly shows that on 11th May, 2012 Elected Members were given training on the Code of Conduct as part of the Induction Training. In addition a copy of the guidance was in the Induction Pack provided to all Elected Members. Furthermore, the Councillors Code of Conduct is an integral part of the Councils Standing Orders which have been reviewed on a regular basis since 2007. Council also notes that West Dunbartonshire provides an extensive training programme for Elected Members covering a wide range of issues and the feedback form provides an opportunity for Elected Members to request training on any subject they believe may help them in carrying out their public duties. Given the above this Council asks the Chief Executive to write to the Standards Commission detailing the efforts made by the Council to raise awareness of the code. Furthermore the Council asks the Executive Director to add a seminar on the Councillors Code of Conduct in the 2015/16 training plan, to help reinforce the standards of behaviour for Elected Members. As an amendment Councillor McColl, seconded by Councillor Black moved:- That Council notes the contents of the report. On a vote being taken, 10 Members voted for the amendment and 12 for the motion which was declared carried. REVIEW OF COUNCIL WARDS A report was submitted by the Executive Director of Corporate Services to agree Council’s response to the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland on their proposals for wards within West Dunbartonshire. At this point, Provost McAllister agreed to vary the order of business and take the motion by Councillor McColl on the same subject matter. Having heard Councillor McColl, the Council agreed:- To instruct the Chief Legal Officer to include in our response to the latest proposals, the rest of which we accept, the following observation and suggestions: The proposal for the boundary between wards one and two requires Alexandria Town Centre to be split in two. This not only applies to residential properties, but also to the shopping centre whereby one half of the main street would be in Lomond Ward with the other half in Leven Ward. While this may be convenient for the purpose of population based electorate boundaries, it would cause significant logistical and administration issues for local Councillors and the Council as a whole when it comes to responsibilities and remits around town centre planning and consultations. It should be noted that the current boundary is also anomalous in that each side of Wilson Street is in different wards and in order to access India Street in Lomond Ward, you have to enter and leave Leven Ward. We would suggest the following changes to the boundaries, which we believe allows local communities to remain intact while preserving the integrity of the boundary redesign process with cognisance of the +/-10% population variance requirement. The boundary to the West from the corner of Park Street and Main Street (B857) Alexandria should continue South, bearing East towards the River Leven down the centre of North Street and passing to the North of, and not encompassing, India Street. This solves a number of issues with the current and proposed boundary on the West side of the River Leven. • It ensures that the Alexandria Town Centre community remains whole. • It avoids complications with the main shopping centre being split down the Main Road. • It moves India Street into Leven Ward as part of the Town Centre, which it is. • There being no current or planned residential property on the North side of North Street, it moves all of Wilson Street into Lomond Ward without further complication elsewhere. In order to meet the population variation target of +/-10% the boundary on the East side of the River Leven could be amended to bring The Lade, Oakbank Gardens and the handful of houses at the foot of Auchincarroch Road back into Lomond Ward as they are at present. The attached maps (Appendix 1) show where we suggest the new boundary should be. They are superimposed upon LGBCS maps of the current 2007 boundaries (figure 1) and the 5 th review proposals from March 3 rd 2015 (figure 2). From where we left off in the vicinity of India Street, the boundary should make its way to the centre of the River Leven from where it should follow the current boundary until it joins the proposed 5 th review boundary part way along Auchincarroch Road. From here we are happy that it follows the new proposed boundary. AUTHORITY TO EXECUTE CONTRACTS WITH HUBWEST SCOTLAND LIMITED A report was submitted by the Executive Director of Infrastructure and Regeneration seeking to obtain specific delegated authority for the signature by authorised officers of the Council of the contract documentation utilised in contracts with hub West Scotland Limited (hWS) for the delivery of a number of Capital Projects.