Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies and to be notified of the attendance of substitutes.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors S Dannheimer, W Mee, H Crosby, and E Winfield.

Members are requested to declare the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interest and/or other interest in any item on the agenda.

Councillor H Land declared a non-registerable interest in item 3 as she has a membership with Liberty Leisure, minute number 28 refers.

To consider the following call-in resulting from a Cabinet decision taken on Tuesday 5 December 2023.

Discussion took place on roles of Members who had called-in the item and whether they were predetermined and therefore could not act as substitutes. It was agreed by the Members concerned that speak solely as Members who had called the item in, rather than as members or substitutes on the Committee.

Further discussion ensued regarding the need for the meeting to include information that could only be discussed with the exemption of public and press. It was agreed by Members that the meeting would adjourn for fifteen minutes in order to consider discussion of the items in open session.

On resumption of the meeting Members considered the public interest factors and agreed that although Constitution did not set out timelines for adjourned call-in meetings, the Committee would be acting in good faith and in the interest of the residents of the Borough by adjourning the meeting to allow for increased transparency.

It was proposed by Councillor H Land and seconded by Councillor R Falvey that the meeting be adjourned until the next suitable date in order for officers to consider which information could be disclosed in order for the resumption of the meeting to be open to members of the public. On being put to the vote, the proposal was carried. Following the vote all Members expressed the request for it to be noted that all Members had voted for the adjournment.

The meeting resumed on the next possible date which was 19 January 2024.

Following the adjournment Kimberley School had agreed that the amount of financial assistance requested by the Council could be made available to the public. Furthermore, a redaction of the information provided by the Council’s Human Resources Manager, enabled the report to be published and members of the public to attend the reconvened meeting.

At the reconvened meeting apologies were received from Councillor H Land and Members were asked to reiterate their declarations of interest, upon which there were no declarations apart from the statement from Councillor J M Owen who stated that she was not predetermined and could consider the subject matter with and open mind.

Councillors P J Owen, L A Ball, G S Hills and M Brown spoke as Members who had requested the call-in.

Statements included concerns around information that could not be published and the lack of transparency which was of detriment to the residents. It was suggested that the Equality Impact Assessments were incomplete and there had been a lack of consultation with local residents and users of the swimming pool. It was further suggested that the Swimming Club should be supported by all the parties involved.

A ten-minute adjournment was agreed to allow for Councillor G S Hills to consider the report.

Following the adjournment, it was stated that further time would have been of value to the School’s pupils and more consideration could have been given to different ways of dealing with the school.

Councillors A Cooper and W Mee spoke as Ward Members for the area concerned.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

The Committee is asked to RESOLVE that, under Section 100A of the Local Government Act, 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act.