Agenda Item No: 2 S Democratic Support Service PO Box 136 County Hall Northampton NN1 1AT MINUTES of the Business Meeting of the NORTHAMPTONSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL held at County Hall, Northampton on 20 September 2012 at 10.30am PRESENT: Councillor John Bailey (Chairman) Councillor Larry Henson (Deputy Chairman) Councillor Sally Beardsworth Councillor Stephen Legg “ Paul Bell “ Chris Lofts “ George Blackwell “ Chris Long “ Catherine Boardman “ Matt Lynch “ Julie Brookfield “ David Mackintosh “ Robin Brown “ Carolyn Maxted “ Mark Bullock “ Ken Melling “ Richard Church “ Andy Mercer “ Bob Civil “ Dennis Meredith “ Michael Clarke “ Chris Millar " Tony Clarke “ Marion Minney “ Jenny Conroy “ Gina Ogden OBE “ David Dean “ Steve Osborne “ Don Edwards “ Bill Parker “ Richard Giddings “ Bhupendra Patel “ Brendan Glynane “ Suresh Patel “ André Gonzalez De Savage “ Ron Pinnock “ Christopher Groome “ Alan Pote “ Mike Hallam “ Rupert Reichhold “ Stan Heggs “ Ron Sawbridge “ Alan Hills “ Bob Seery “ Sue Homer “ Judy Shephard “ Dudley Hughes “ Ben Smith “ David Hugheston-Roberts “ Heather Smith “ Belinda Humfrey “ Chris Stanbra “ Bernard Ingram “ Winston Strachan “ Joan Kirkbride “ Jay Walia “ Andrew Langley “ Allen Walker “ Phil Larratt “ Malcolm Waters “ Graham Lawman “ Alan Wright “ Derek Lawson MBE “ Also in attendance (for all or part of the meeting): Quentin Baker, LGSS Director of Legal Services Laurie Gould, Monitoring Officer Paul Hanson, Committee Manager Alex Hopkins, Director of Customers, Communities & Learning Professor Stephen Horsley Stuart McCartney, Conservative Group Political Assistant Patrick Murray, Liberal Democrat Group Political Assistant Jenny Rendall, Democracy Officer (Minutes) And 5 members of the public. At the Chairman’s invitation, the Reverend David McConkey of All Saints Church, Northampton introduced himself and spoke about his Church pointing out County Hall was within his parish. The Chairman then invited his Chaplain, the Reverend Richard Coles to lead the Council in prayers. 65/12 Apologies for non-attendance: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Scott Edwards, Matt Golby, Andrew Grant, Rebecca Harding, Jim Harker OBE, Jane Hollis, John McGhee, Christopher Malpas, Bob Scott & Michael Tye as well as the Chief Executive and Director of Environment, Growth & Development. 66/12 To Approve and Sign the Minutes of: (a) The Extraordinary Meeting of Council Held on Thursday 21 June 2012: RESOLVED that: Council agreed the minutes of the extraordinary meeting of Council held on Thursday 21 June 2012 (b) The Business Meeting of Council Held on Thursday 21 June 2012: RESOLVED that: Council agreed the minutes of the business meeting of Council held on Thursday 21 June 2012 67/12 Notification of requests by members of the public to address the meeting The Chairman informed Council the following people had registered to speak: Agenda Item No: 12(c) - Mr Fred Hensman 68/12 Declarations of Interest by Councillors: At the Chairman’s invitation the Monitoring Officer, Laurie Gould explained the new regulations relating to making declarations of interest stating under the new code of conduct recently supplied to councillors, they need only declare an interest that had not already been recorded in the register of interests. They did not need to declare any interest already included in the register. New declarations should be added to the register within 28 days of the meeting. Disclosable pecuniary interests were required by law and appendix ‘a’ to the code listed what these were. They included spouses and partners but did not apply to siblings or children. The Council had voluntarily adopted the code relating to non-statutory disclosable pecuniary interests which came in 2 groups, the first was items affecting a person’s well-being or the well-being of family members or close associates. These were the rules relating to siblings. A non-statutory interest was one a member of the public would reasonably regard as so significant it was likely to prejudice a councillor’s judgement. Councillors making such a declaration should leave the meeting during the item but they might make representations or ask questions before leaving the meeting. A block dispensation had been given that day to councillors to enable them to discuss number 7(d) (Report by the Independent Panel for Councillors Allowances). Similar block dispensations would be granted as and when required to discuss items such as council tax. Both Councillors Mark Bullock and Chris Stanbra declared an association with the Beanfield Community Centre managed by the member of the public speaking on agenda item number 12(c). 69/12 Chairman’s Announcements: . The sad death of Mr John Ewart CBE, DL on 6 September 2012 was announced. At the Chairman’s invitation Councillor Gina Ogden referred to the meeting in June that year when John Ewart had been made an honorary alderman of the Northamptonshire County Council (NCC). He was a former county councillor, representing the Middleton Cheney Division from 1971 until 1995. He was the Conservative Group Leader between 1991 and 1995. He had been a very strong chairman of the Policy, Resources & Finance Committee, keeping control of the budget whilst considering the needs of residents. He rarely changed his policies, having a clear vision of what he wished to achieve. He formed a solid partnership with other senior leaders of the Council, John Lowther and Bill Morton. He lived and farmed in his division after retiring from engineering where he had been successful in both Huddersfield and India. He was enthusiastic and energetic, a gentleman, generous host and good friend that would be greatly missed. At the Chairman’s invitation Councillor George Blackwell then paid tribute to John Ewart stating that although they had different backgrounds and political beliefs, he had great respect for him. He felt it difficult to talk about him without also mentioning John Lowther because they were very similar people who worked very well together. He persuaded Councillor Blackwell to join the governing body Moulton Agricultural College and he had found this to be very rewarding. Because of his engineering background John Ewart appreciated Councillor Blackwell’s work as a fullt-time elected officer of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers and regularly paid tribute to the work of this union, particularly its democratic structure. He concluded by stating he remembered him with much affection. The Chairman then confirmed he had written on behalf of the Council to John Ewart’s widow. He also noted that although the funeral had taken place in private a memorial service would take place in the Church of St Peters & St Paul, Kings Sutton from 12noon on Monday 29 October 2012. Council then observed a few moments silence in memory of John Ewart CBE. One of NCC’s Family Social Workers based in the Initial Contact Team had recently been presented with an award from Thames Valley Police for persuading a member of the public not to make a suicide jump. It was felt she had good communication skills and presence of mind as well as possibly some courage in doing this. At the Chairman’s invitation the Director of Adult & Children’s Services, Charlie MacNally endorsed all the Chairman had said stating she had demonstrated the role of a good Samaritan. He then invited Lorraine Gregory to the front of the Chamber where the Chairman presented her with the commendation and the Director of Adult & Children’s Services presented her with a bunch of flowers. At the Director’s invitation, Lorraine Gregory stated she only did what she hoped anyone would do by approaching someone clearly threatening suicide, telephoning emergency services and waiting for them to arrive. The Chairman’s garden party would take place from 3pm on Sunday 22 September 2012 at Great Harrowden Hall. At the Chairman’s invitation, the Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Joan Kirkbride announced the Leader of the Council had travelled to London that day to receive an award on behalf of the county which had been named ‘the most enterprising place in Britian’ by the Department of Innovation and Skills. This award recognised the Council’s individual approach to prosperity in the county, particularly its work in retaining the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. They had also earned the award for export, undertaking through the Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP) and the establishment of a European investment team based in Brussels. 70/12 Petitions: At the Chairman’s invitation, Councillor Carolyn Maxted presented a petition regarding a field in Laburnham Crescent, Kettering on behalf of residents of the Grange/Avondale area of Kettering. The field which was adjacent to the Crescent Community Centre contained a full size football pitch and would revert back to NCC ownership when the Beuccleugh Academy moved to a new site. It was understood this site would be developed and whilst the petitioners accepted that they requested the full size football pitch be retained. It was regularly used by local football groups and the football association held league matches on the site. Many groups were managed by volunteers for local youths who competed in competitions and learned new skills. The pitch, like the volunteers were considered to be a valuable resource for this deprived area. The community centre was originally built as a pavilion and provided changing rooms and café facilities to the groups. The pitch and centre were the ‘hub’ of many sporting and social events in the area and the revenue from the football was an integral part of the centre’s income. She considered this to be a ‘shining’ example of the big society as it was totally self-administering but its future would be compromised without the field and its revenue. Reference was made to a supporting e-mail (copies of which had been previously circulated) from the Chairman of the Kettering and District Weetabix Youth League. She concluded by stating the centre was unique being run for the people by the people and requested the full size pitch be retained.