City of Stoke-on-Trent MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING Minutes of a meeting of the City Council held on Thursday, 8 December 2011 at the Civic Centre, Glebe Street, Stoke-on-Trent. In Attendance: THE LORD MAYOR Councillor Terence Follows Councillor Bagh Ali Councillor Ann James Councillor Muhammad Aumir Councillor Gurmeet Singh Kallar Councillor Kath Banks Councillor Majid Khan Councillor Paul Breeze Councillor Adrian Knapper Councillor Jack Brereton Councillor Andy Lilley Councillor Janine Bridges Councillor Mark Meredith Councillor Abi Brown Councillor Shaun Pender Councillor Karen Clarke Councillor Mohammed Pervez Councillor Randolph Conteh Councillor Sheila Pitt Councillor David Conway Councillor Andy Platt Councillor Terry Crowe Councillor Tom Reynolds Councillor Neil Day Councillor Ruth Rosenau Councillor Alan Dutton Councillor Paul Shotton Councillor Matthew Fry Councillor Duncan Walker Councillor Joy Garner Councillor Lee Wanger Councillor Martin Garner Councillor Glenys Ward Councillor Debra Gratton Councillor Alastair Watson Councillor Olwen Hamer Councillor Amjid Wazir Councillor Gwen Hassall Councillor Alison Wedgwood Councillor Peter Hayward Councillor Debbie Wheeldon Councillor Sarah Hill Apologies submitted Councillor Shazad Hussain Councillor Matt Wilcox 1 Prepared by Member Services City Council Thursday, 8 December 2011 99 MINUTES OF A PREVIOUS MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL HELD ON 20/10/11 Members were advised of an administrative correction required to the minutes presented for approval. Councillor Pervez had been listed in the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 20 October 2011, as having a Personal Interest in the Local Government Pension Scheme. This was incorrect, the interest that he had declared at the meeting was his Membership of the Co-operative Society. RESOLVED – That, with the correction now made, the minutes of the last meeting of the City Council held on 20 October 2011, be approved and adopted as a true and correct record. 100 TO WELCOME VISITORS (IF ANY) The Lord Mayor welcomed members of the public and representatives of organisations to the Council meeting. 101 TO RECEIVE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS (IF ANY) The Lord Mayor conveyed the best wishes of the Council to Councillor Randolph Conteh who was scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday 12 December 2011. 102 TO TRANSACT BUSINESS OF A NON-CONTENTIOUS AND/OR URGENT NATURE SPECIALLY BROUGHT FORWARD BY THE LORD MAYOR OR CHAIRMAN The Lord Mayor presented awards to officers that had been involved in securing the following awards for the City Council: • Guardian Public Services Awards – Runner up in the Creativity and Innovation category for Skills Development for the Trainee Care Worker Scheme – awarded to the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Team. • Shine a Light Award – Multi Agency Team of the Year Award and Outstanding Achievement Award – awarded to the Early Years Team for the Stoke Speaks Out initiative. Cabinet Members, Councillors Hamer and Gratton, thanked the officers involved and outlined the nature of the schemes referred to, which had received national recognition through the awards. Members of the Council joined the Lord Mayor and the Cabinet Members in congratulating those concerned. The Lord Mayor went on to announce the death of Sam Hurst, the Headteacher of Glebe Primary School, which had been reported on by the local press that day. Councillor Gratton, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Life Skills, paid tribute to Sam and the outstanding contribution that she had made to primary education in the City. 2 City Council Thursday, 8 December 2011 103 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST Members declared interests, as indicated, in accordance with the provisions of the City Council’s Constitution on the issued listed below: Name Item Interest Nature Councillor A Knapper Para. 115 – Motion Personal Tenant of Realis on Notice Estates. 104 REPORT OF PETITIONS RECEIVED The City Council received details of a petition received since the last full City Council meeting in relation to noxious smell affecting the people of Smallthorne. RESOLVED – That the petition be noted. 105 PUBLIC QUESTIONS The City Council received details of 8 public questions submitted under Council Procedure Rule 8 and the respective responses provided by Cabinet Members, as set out below:- Question 1: Electoral Registration – (Submitted by Mr Adam Colclough, Penkhull, Stoke on Trent) The government has announced proposals to move from household voter registration to individual registration, meaning the public will no longer be compelled to comply with electoral registration officers. Household registration may present problems in relation to possible fraud, however the move to individual registration could see up to ten million people failing to register to vote. Parliamentarians, academics and the Electoral Commission have expressed concern that the resulting shrinkage of the electoral register could cast doubt on the validity of future election results. What steps will the council take should individual registration become the norm to ensure the maximum number of people join the electoral register and make use of their right to vote? Response Provided by the Leader of the Council (Councillor Mohammed Pervez):- Whilst the government is committed to introducing individual electoral registration from 2014, it is still at a very early stage in terms of detail. 3 City Council Thursday, 8 December 2011 It is therefore not possible to give any indication of what steps the city council will take to ensure the completeness of the electoral register. Final legislation will dictate how the system will be implemented and administered. However, Stoke on Trent has an excellent record of ensuring that the electoral register is full and accurate, achieving a response rate of over 96% at the annual canvass in recent years. Electoral Registration Officers’ performance is monitored by the Electoral Commission. Since the inception of the performance standards, Stoke-on-Trent has never failed to meet or exceed the standard. Regardless of the system that is used, the Electoral Registration Officer is fully committed to doing everything possible (within legislation and with resources available) to ensure that no elector in Stoke on Trent is disenfranchised and is given the facilities required to cast their vote. (In a supplementary question, Mr Colclough asked the Leader of the Council if he agreed that effective engagement with communities was a priority for the City. Councillor Pervez gave reassurances that the City Council was fully committed to effective community engagement and the democratic processes that existed to support community engagement.) Question 2: Transfer of Residential properties (Submitted by Ms Eve Johnson, Dresden, Stoke on Trent) In the last 10 years how many Stoke-on-Trent City owned residential properties have been transferred to other organisations or where allocation of properties has been transferred, and to whom? (Each year) In each case what did the council receive (cash/ in kind services etc) What is the estimated total value (at current market rates) of the value of these properties? Response Provided by the Cabinet Member for Housing & Neighbourhoods (Councillor Gwen Hassall): A total of 15 council house dwellings were transferred as part of the ‘Meir Housing Market Renewal Area of Major Intervention Master Plan’, to Great Places RSL, during the 2010/11 financial year. The value received by the Council as part of this was £131,250 (average £8,750 per dwelling), but this valuation reflected the fact that Great Places paid for the refurbishment of the transferred dwellings, at around £60k per dwelling. The city council retains the right to 100% nominations from our housing register for a period of 5 years 4 City Council Thursday, 8 December 2011 Leased properties 20 council house dwellings are leased to Brighter Futures as per the following: 1997/98 2 dwellings leased 1998/99 1 dwelling leased 2001/02 2 dwellings leased 2002/03 2 dwellings leased 2004/05 3 dwellings leased 2007/08 1 dwelling leased 2008/09 1 dwellings leased 2009/10 6 dwellings leased 2010/11 1 dwelling leased 2011/12 1 dwelling leased All are leased to support vulnerable tenants with enduring mental health problems (12 properties) or people with learning disabilities who require ongoing low level support (8 properties). Brighter Futures pay the council a lease charge, quarterly in advance, equal to the rent, minus a notional housing management element. The current average market value for council house dwellings is £64k. Following Right to Buy discount the average reduces to £40k. Hillcrest House Hillcrest House is leased to Brighter Futures on a 25yr peppercorn arrangement with maintenance responsibility lying with Brighter Futures. Prior to 2007 it was a local authority registered care home managed in the traditional way and in need of total refurbishment to bring it up to a 21 st century, independent living establishment. Entering into the long lease arrangement satisfied the bid conditions to enable Brighter Futures to submit a bid to the Homes and Communities Agency Affordable Housing Programme. The bid was successful and provided £256kk toward a total refurbishment cost of £451k. Health funded £45k and Brighter Futures met the remaining £150k from their capital reserves the overall scheme now contains 15 units of accommodation and is part of the clubhouse Network supporting 125 members. The overall scheme enables residents to step up to independence