Agenda and minutes
Venue: Conference Hall - Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ. View directions
Contact: Thomas Cattermole, Head of Executive and Member Services 020 8937 5446, Email: thomas.cattermole@brent.gov.uk
Media
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Minutes of the Previous Meeting PDF 181 KB To confirm, as a correct record, the attached minutes of the meeting of the Full Council, held on 21 November 2016. Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED, that the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 21 November 2016, be approved as an accurate record of the meeting, subject to the following amendments:
(i) Urgent Item: Review of Political Groups on Committees
(a) That the following words at bullet point 8 be deleted:
· Senior Staff Appointments Sub-Committee (Councillor Colwill);
(b) That appointments to Committees by the Brent Conservative Group be listed as an addendum to these minutes;
(ii) Matters Arising
That mention be made of the following response given by Councillor Southwood (Cabinet Member for the Environment) at the last meeting of the Council to the request by Councillor Nerva for an update on the motion put at that meeting with regard to Air Quality in Brent.
At the meeting of Council, held on 21 November 2016, Councillor Southwood had said that the Council was to launch an anti-idling campaign within the next couple of months and that, at the moment, Brent’s schools were being invited to design a cleaner air logo, which would be used for all of the Borough’s air quality work moving forward, designed by the Borough’s children on the basis that it was for the benefit of them that the Council improved the quality of the Borough’s air for future generations. She added that an air equality action plan would also go out for public consultation, subject to Cabinet approval in December 2016, so Councillor Nerva could be assured that the practical steps the Council was able to take as a Borough would be fully consulted on with the residents so that the Council could begin to make a real difference here.
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Declarations of Interests In accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct, Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, any relevant personal, prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests, and the nature of these, in any matter to be considered at the meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: There were no declarations of interest received from Members. |
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Mayor's Announcements (including any petitions received) To receive announcements from the Mayor. Additional documents: Minutes: The Mayor made the following announcements:
(i) The Mayor wished everyone a Happy New Year and good health for 2017.
(ii) The Mayor announced that he had just returned from an extremely enjoyable, busy and informative private visit to Bangladesh. He said he had been honoured to be able to meet the President and Prime Minister and had been humbled by the reception he received. The Mayor said that he had met with the speaker of the House of Parliament, the Foreign, Law and Information Ministers and the Dhaka and Sylhet City Corporation Mayors, the British High Commissioner in Bangladesh, the Federation of Chamber of Commerce, the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce, the Sylhet Chamber of Commerce, Mowlobi bazar Chamber of commerce and he also attended an international Rotary and Lions association reception. He went on to say that he had also met with the Inspector General of Police for Bangladesh given the importance of security and improving safety and that he had spoken at a seminar organised by the Centre for Non-Resident Bangladeshis on how Britain and Bangladesh could work together post Brexit. The Mayor said that they had discussed the issue of nationality for Bangladeshis living abroad and that he had extended an invitation to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh to visit Brent. In conclusion, the Mayor said that Tulip Siddiq had been present for his meeting with the Prime Minister and that he had taken the opportunity to visit his primary school and to see family there.
(iii) The Mayor expressed his sincere thanks to his Deputy Mayor, Councillor Chohan, who had covered his engagements whilst he had been away.
(iv) The Mayor extended his thanks to all those Members and Officers who had attended his Christmas fundraising event on 15 December. He said that it had been an extremely enjoyable evening and a substantial amount of money had been raised for his chosen charities. The Mayor said he was very grateful for the continued support he received.
(v) The Mayor reminded Council of the Brent Holocaust and Genocide Memorial that was to be held in the Civic Centre on Thursday 26 January 2017 at 6.45pm. This, he said, would be an opportunity to remember those who had lost their lives during the Holocaust and those who had been affected by genocide all over the world. The event, he said, was to be a non-faith event which would be open to all to attend.
(vi) The Mayor announced that the Council would be celebrating the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History Month on 28 February 2017. He said that the “Pride NOT Prejudice” event would focus on LGBT history, the celebration and recognition of LGBT people and culture past and present. He encouraged Members to attend the event at the Civic Centre from 6pm to 8pm for an opportunity to engage with colleagues, residents and partners and said that further details about the event, together with full registration details, would be included within the Members’ Bulletin. ... view the full minutes text for item 3. |
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Appointments to Committees and Outside Bodies and Appointment of Chairs/Vice Chairs (if any) To agree appointments to Committees (tabled), in accordance with Standing Order 37(g). Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED, that the following appointments to committees be ratified by the Council:
(i)
Resignation of Councillor Shama Tatler, as full
Member, from the Council’s Resources and Public Realm
Scrutiny Committee – Councillor John Duffy to fill the
vacancy, as full Member.
(ii) Resignation of Councillor Shama Tatler, as substitute Member, from the Council’s Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee – Councillor John Duffy to fill the vacancy, as substitute Member.
(iii) Resignation of Councillor Roxanne Mashari, as full Member, from the Council’s General Purposes Committee – Councillor Shama Tatler, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Growth, Employment and Skills, to fill the vacancy, as full Member.
(iv) Resignation of Councillor Shama Tatler, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Growth, Employment and Skills, as full Member from the Council’s Equalities Committee – Councillor Roxanne Mashari to fill the vacancy, as full Member. (v) Resignation of Councillor Roxanne Mashari, as substitute Member, from the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board – Councillor Shama Tatler, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Growth, Employment and Skills, to fill the vacancy, as substitute Member.
(vi) Resignation of Councillor Roxanne Mashari, as substitute Member, from the West London Economic Prosperity Board – Councillor Shama Tatler, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Growth, Employment and Skills, to fill the vacancy, as full Member.
(vii)
Resignation of Councillor Roxanne Mashari, as substitute Member, from the Senior
Staff Appointments Sub-Committee – Councillor Mili Patel, Cabinet Member for Children and Young
People, to fill the vacancy, as substitute Member.
(viii)
Resignation of Councillor Wilhelmina Mitchell
Murray, as full Member, from the Corporate Parenting Committee
– Councillor Mili Patel, Cabinet
Member for Children and Young People, to fill the vacancy, as Chair
and full Member.
(ix)
Resignation of Councillor Wilhelmina Mitchell
Murray, as full Member, from the General Purposes Committee –
Councillor Mili Patel, Cabinet Member
for Children and Young People, to fill the vacancy, as full
Member.
(x)
Resignation of Councillor Wilhelmina Mitchell
Murray, as full Member, from the Health and Wellbeing Board –
Councillor Mili Patel, Cabinet Member
for Children and Young People, to fill the vacancy, as full
Member.
(xi)
Resignation of Councillor Wilhelmina Mitchell
Murray, as full Member, from the Highways Committee –
Councillor Mili Patel, Cabinet Member
for Children and Young People, to fill the vacancy, as full
Member.
(xii)
Resignation of Councillor Wilhelmina Mitchell
Murray, as full Member, from the Schools’ Disciplinary
Sub-Committee – Councillor Mili
Patel, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, to fill the
vacancy, as full Member.
(xiii)
Resignation of Councillor Wilhelmina Mitchell
Murray, as full Member, from the Senior Staff Appointments
Sub-Committee – Councillor Mili
Patel, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, to fill the
vacancy, as full Member.
(xiv)
Resignation of Councillor John Duffy, as full
Member, from the Council’s South Kilburn Trust –
Councillor Rita Conneelly to fill the
vacancy, as full Member.
(xv)
Resignation of Councillor Michael Pavey, as full Member, from the Tricycle Theatre
Board – Councillor Tom Miller, Cabinet Member for Stronger
Communities, ...
view the full minutes text for item 4.
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Reports from the Leader and Cabinet To receive reports from the Leader and Cabinet in accordance with Standing Order 38. Additional documents: Minutes: In accordance with Standing Order 38, the Council received reports from the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members, as follows:
(i) Councillor Butt (Leader of the Council)
Councillor Butt said that the New Year brought many challenges for the Council, particularly around schools, the National Health Service and looking after elderly residents. He said that the Council needed to be focussing on these issues and needed to make sure that every child did have the best start in life. He added that the Council would be making sure that it stood up and protected the National Health Service from the Government and that the Council needed to make sure that its residents, especially the older generation, lived dignified lives in the future.
Councillor Butt welcomed Councillors Shama Tatler and Mili Patel to the Cabinet. In conclusion, Councillor Butt said that, as the Council moved forward, it still had to deal with the challenges of what might happen with regards to Brexit.
(ii) Councillor McLennan (Deputy Leader of the Council)
Councillor McLennan said that January and February would focus largely around the Council’s Budget and that she, the Leader and senior officers had been attending all meetings of the Brent Connect Forums and had undertaken a “supermarket sweep” where Councillors and senior officers had been talking to residents in supermarkets to gauge their views on the proposals for budget cuts that were required to be made, which in essence, had been positive and there had been an understanding of the reasons behind why the Council had to make cuts. She said there had been support of the fact that Brent’s Council Tax had to rise and the proposed increase for social care precept was something that the Council would need to do because the public agreed that looking after the most vulnerable was one of the key things that the local authority should be taking forward. Despite the challenges, Councillor McLennan said that, as an authority, the Council was still delivering services in different ways in order to release savings. Part of this strategy, she said, was looking at shared services. Councillor McLennan said that Brent’s IT Services was leading the way by managing IT provision at two very large London boroughs and was looking to expand this service other boroughs also. In conclusion, Councillor McLennan said that her vision was for Brent to become a digital hub, something digital and something for the future but, for now, the priority was the Budget.
(iii) Councillor Southwood (Cabinet Member for the Environment)
Councillor Southwood said that everyone would be aware that Transport For London (TFL) was renewing its business plan, which had been published towards the end of last year . She said that this included how TFL was to allocate the LIP for this year, which was the Council’s main source of funding for doing all the things its residents wanted, and needed the Council to do in terms of traffic management in the Borough. Councillor Southwood went on to ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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Deputations (if any) To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 39. Additional documents: Minutes: The Mayor informed Members that he had received the following request for a deputation.
Removing Speed Bumps and Replacing with Alternative Traffic Calming Methods
Councillor Davidson introduced Mr Matthew Godley to Members.
Mr Godley, a resident of Brent, introduced the deputation on the subject of the case for removing speed bumps and replacing these with alternative traffic calming methods.
In response, Councillor Southwood, Cabinet Member for the Environment, thanked Mr Godley for his deputation and said that the Council’s responsibility as a traffic authority was to keep traffic moving safely but also to mitigate other impacts such as pollution and she hoped that she had reassured Mr Godley that this was absolutely paramount for the Council. She said that around 200 deaths in the Borough were contributed to by poor quality air per year. She added that in many parts of the Borough, there were limited speeds, often to 20mph, and these were accompanied by signage and traffic calming, which often meant speed bumps. Councillor Southwood said that these had been chosen on the basis that the evidence suggested that they did have a really strong impact on reducing speeds, reducing amounts of traffic and that they were a cost-effective way for the Council to do that. She said that, in the current financial climate, the ability to alter what the Council spent, both its capital and revenue budgets, on this was significantly limited but that did not mean she was going to stand up and thank you for coming and say the Council would just carry on doing what it had always done. Councillor Southwood said that, with the caveat that the Council was in a very limited financial position, she would welcome a further discussion and meeting with Mr Godley to talk about the alternatives that he had suggested. She imagined that different parts of the Borough would be suited to different forms of traffic-calming and that this depended on the width of roads and pavements and also, of course, proper consultation with local residents. Councillor Southwood said that the Council also used chicanes and road-narrowing measures in different parts of the Borough. She acknowledged that many residents needed to drive but that the most effective way of reducing air quality and reducing traffic accidents was to reduce the number of cars on the Borough’s roads. Councillor Southwood said that the Council was very committed to making the Borough safer to walk in and safer to cycle in and making its public transport infrastructure something which residents felt able to choose without compromising on their actual ability to get where they needed to get to. In conclusion, Councillor Southwood thanked Mr Godley for addressing Council and stated that if he would like a meeting to discuss the matter further, then to get in touch.
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Questions from Members of the Public To receive questions from members of the public to be put to members of the Cabinet in accordance with Standing Order 39A. Additional documents: Minutes: In accordance with Standing Order 39A, there were no questions received from Members of the Public. |
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Petitions To receive any petitions for debate in accordance with the Council’s petition rules and Standing Order 68. Additional documents: Minutes: In accordance with Standing Order 68, there were no petitions received.
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Urgent Items Taken Under Standing Order 16 PDF 59 KB In accordance with Standing Order (16b), the Leader shall report the key decisions taken under this Standing Order. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Warren moved a point of order to seek clarification that the Council had fully complied with Standing Order 16.
The Council’s Chief Legal Officer confirmed that the Standing Order had been fully complied with. She confirmed that one notice had not previously been published but that this had now been done in relation to Item (c).
In accordance with Standing Order 16, Councillor Butt informed the Council of the decisions that had been taken.
Councillor Warren asked whether the decisions taken could be the subject of further debate. The Mayor confirmed that the Leader had only to inform Members of the decisions that had been taken.
Councillor Warren moved that Standing Orders be suspended to allow the Council to have a more detailed explanation of the items contained within the agenda.
Prior to Councillor Warren’s motion being put to the vote, the Chief Executive reaffirmed that the decisions had been made, that they had all been sent to the relevant Chairs of the Scrutiny Committees in advance, that there had been no call-in of any of the decisions taken and that the provisions of the Council’s Standing Orders had been met.
On a vote being taken by a show of hands, Councillor Warren’s motion was declared LOST.
The Chief Executive invited any Member who had any concern about any of the decisions in relation to this matter, that they relay those concerns to her, in writing, to respond to.
RESOLVED that the urgent key decisions taken by the Leader and the Chief Executive, as detailed in Page 23 to the agenda, be noted. |
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The Council is asked to consider an invitation by the Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA), being an appointing person for the purposes of the Regulations, to become an opted-in authority in accordance with the Regulations. Additional documents:
Minutes: Councillor McLennan (Deputy Leader), introduced the report by the Council’s Chief Finance Officer and commended to the Council that with the abolition of the Audit Commission, Council now had the power to appoint its own external auditors. She said that the general consensus was that the Council should appoint external auditors so that they could have a consensus of independence and ensure strict governance.
Councillor McLennan said that the LGA had produced a model which the Council, and other local authorities, would wish to buy into which had the advantage of bulk purchasing and savings to the Council.
RESOLVED that the Public Sector Audit Appointments’ (PSAA) invitation to ‘opt in’ to the sector led option for the appointment of external auditors for five financial years commencing 1 April 2018, be accepted.
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Non Cabinet Members' Debate To debate an issue raised in accordance with standing order 39B and to receive reports from Cabinet members in issues previously raised. Additional documents: Minutes: In accordance with Standing Order 39(b) the subject chosen for debate by non-Cabinet Members was “Crisis in the NHS”.
During the debate, Members expressed concerns that the Government had made things difficult for the third sector in recent years as it had become almost impossible for organisations dependent upon the combination of government funding and charitable donations to speak their minds, which made the recent Red Cross denouncement of the humanitarian crisis in the NHS more pertinent.
It was said that people were seeing an essential public service being robbed of every resource by the Government and that the Government had cut and cut and had been allowed to do so. It was suggested that unless people came together in opposition, the good work of past Labour Governments could be undone.
Members agreed that the NHS was something everyone relied upon and were very proud of. It was noted that Labour, Conservative and Liberals had always supported the NHS. It was recognised that there was a crisis in social care and knew that the NHS could not work properly if there was no funding and interaction with social care. Brent needed an all-party approach to funding and transformation of the NHS and social care funding.
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Questions from the Opposition and other Non-Cabinet Members PDF 275 KB Questions to be put to members of the Cabinet in accordance with Standing Order 40. Additional documents: Minutes: The Mayor advised Members that this item gave them the opportunity to ask questions of Members of the Cabinet on any matter, which was the responsibility of Cabinet. He confirmed that Members had received written tabled responses to these questions.
The Mayor stated that non-Cabinet Members each had one minute to ask a supplementary question if they so wished.
(i) Councillor Shaw asked the Cabinet Member if she agreed that at the cost of the taxpayer to do a consultation and ignore the results is a costly waste of time and a pretence to be concerned with the majority of residents in Brent and that this sets a dangerous precedent for future consultations which the residents will not trust or participate in in, in the future? Does the Lead Member have concerns that this will come back to haunt this administration in May 2018 regarding this terrible hike?
In response, Councillor Southwood said “no” in short, to both of the questions put. She thought that Councillor Shaw may have been referring to the statutory consultations for amending the traffic orders in order to implement the policy. She said that prior to that, an extensive public consultation unlike any undertaken before had been undertaken on parking, which looked in a more holistic way about what people cared about. Councillor Southwood said that what residents cared about was finding somewhere to park when they needed to; making journeys that were essential easier; easier for their visitors to park; easier for elderly people to have people come to visit and easier for the Council to tackle air quality by making sure that its traffic moved more sensibly around the Borough. She said that the pricing of parking was an absolutely appropriate response to managing demand and managing the very small number of spaces (35,000) the Borough had to serve its 56,000 households.
(ii) Councillor Crane asked the Cabinet Member if she would investigate what powers are available to the Council and how the Council use these powers to adopt the alleyway and report urgently to the Cabinet?
In response, Councillor Southwood said that it was a blight for residents to live with, disgusting and an extra sensory experience the likes of which one would not wish to experience. She said that the key here was finding a solution that resolved the issue in the long-term and which was proportionate and in the public interest. She said that she was very willing to look at different models for funding and resourcing the kind of sustained approach to these alleyways that would actually make it sustainably clean and pleasant to live around. Councillor Southwood said that Officers were already looking into this matter and that she was very happy to commit to bringing back ideas in ways that were in the public interest and which would support a sustainable resolution of this. (iii) Councillor Colwill asked the Cabinet Member would he join him (Councillor Colwill) and the Mayor of London in objecting to the ... view the full minutes text for item 12. |
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Report from Chairs of Scrutiny Committees PDF 131 KB To receive reports in accordance with Standing Order 41. Additional documents:
Minutes: Council received the following reports from Chairs of Scrutiny Committees, as detailed in the Supplementary Agenda to this meeting:
(i) Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee
Councillor Kelcher, Chair to the Council’s Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee, said that the main business of the Committee of late had been consideration of the Budget report, which had been debated both by the Cabinet and his committee and was now available for public inspection. He said that an underlying theme throughout the report, which was something the Council would need to take very seriously in the future, was the idea of the Council becoming more self-sufficient when business rates were devolved and looking at ways in which the Council could grow its own local businesses and be enterprising in the way that it helped them to develop and therefore claim the tax in return.
Councillor Kelcher said that the Budget consideration was the second of three task groups which were to be held during the current municipal year and he hoped that the three task group reports, when taken together at the end, would highlight the strategic direction of the Committee. He added that the Committee had started off by looking at the national issue of the devolution of business rates and how this would affect Brent. The Budget, he said, went into more detail on specific financing and areas around that and the third task group, which Councillor Stock would chair, would look at some particular, specific ideas about how the Council could grow local businesses in Brent and discuss the best ideas that could be taken forward from other communities. Councillor Kelcher said that, since the last meeting of Full Council, the Committee had considered one call-in, which had looked at some actions around the development in South Kilburn. He said that he had visited the site in question and a record number of people had come along to the Committee to make deputations and speak. In the end, he said, the Committee decided not to refer the decision back to Cabinet but did make a series of recommendations about how the Committee thought decisions of this kind could be improved in future.
Councillor Kelcher sai that, at the last meeting of the Committee, Members looked at the Council’s Investment Strategy and asked questions about the wholly-owned company, which the Council had set up. He said that the Committee had also looked at how to improve High Streets, which also included a site visit there as part of this work.
Councillor Kelcher was pleased that one of the ideas that came out of these discussions was around setting up a Bond when there were some building developments within an area and that where those building developments damaged kerbside or the pavement, the Council could pay for the repair but not lose the money. He said that this matter had been agreed by the Cabinet and he felt that the entire process about how recommendations were presented to Cabinet ... view the full minutes text for item 13. |
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Report from Vice-Chair of Audit Committee To receive any report in accordance with Standing Order 41A. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor A Choudry, Vice-Chair to the Council’s Audit Committee, thanked the Council for agreeing to change the Constitution to enable the voice of the Audit Committee to be heard at Council meetings.
He said that the work of the Audit Committee was often perceived as very technical and unglamorous with a bunch of bean counters going on to the Audit Committee and just looking at numbers. He said that this was not so and that whilst not all Members of the Committee were accountants, there were a number of people who were crucial and who played a big role in grilling some of the people, including KPMG, Price Water House and some of the Officers, which he felt was an important role of the Committee and that it was important that some of the issues the Committee discussed there got reported to Council. In addition to this, he said, some of the crucial decisions taken by the Audit Committee in terms of finance e.g. the treasury element of this, was a highly complicated matter that he thought the Committee needed to discuss. He said that the Committee did spend an enormous amount of time doing some of those things and seeing how this money was invested and to get a better return for it. Councillor Choudry said that the Committee also looked at things such as the arrangement for the external audit work and what work the Committee needed to do, why, when and how the Committee reported it and received feedback. Over the period of the last year or so, Councillor Choudry said that the Committee had considered the shared costs side of things that the Council was perhaps were branching out to other boroughs and making sure that it was getting synergy benefit from other authorities. He said that the Committee was of the opinion that it was not happening for Brent so it took a decisive decision to take that back in-house and he was very proud and very pleased that people from all parties came to help the Committee and to make that decision. We don’t play politics in the Audit Committee – we play a serious role in making sure what is best for Brent actually is delivered and it happens all the time. Councillor Choudry said that the Committee had also looked at the statutory account, which was a very important part of the Committee’s work. Brent was, he said, generally transparent and he believed it did an enormous amount of work here in Brent and he thought it was good that the Council did and that it continue to do that. Councillor Choudry said that the cooperation it had amongst colleagues was good but there was concern where the Council had to appoint an individual onto the Audit Committee, these individuals were appointed for one year and maybe, he said, there was the need to reappraise the Council’s approach going forward and maybe there was a need to have it for a longer ... view the full minutes text for item 14. |
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To debate the motions submitted in accordance with Standing Order 45. Additional documents:
Minutes: (i) Protect Brent’s Schools from Government Cuts
Councillor Patricia Harrison moved the motion circulated in her name by urging the Council to condemn the Government’s proposals for a National Schools’ Funding Formula and reject any effort to pay for the failure of an ideologically imposed programme of austerity by choking off essential and already insufficient funding for the education of children and young people in Brent.
The motion was put to the vote and was declared CARRIED.
(ii) Health and Social Care Budget
Councillor Colwill moved the motion circulated in his name in that the Conservative Group calls on the Leader of the Council to ensure that enough money was placed in the health and social care budget locally to ensure that the services could adequately cope with residents who would have need to access the health services in the coming winter.
Councillor Warren moved as an amendment that this Council notes that Councillor Colwill' group does have a "canny knack " of choosing subjects for motions that are popular with the Labour Group. The Council also notes that, like the Labour Group ,Councillor Colwill's Group did not support the additional £2.25m for social care included in the Brent Conservative Group budget for 2016/17.
Councillor Warren’s amendment was put to the vote and was declared LOST.
Councillor
Hirani moved as an amendment
that this Council unanimously
Councillor Hirani’s amendment was put to the vote and was declared CARRIED.
Councillor Colwill’s original motion, as amended, became the substantive motion, which was put to the vote and was declared CARRIED.
(iii) Planning Shambles
Councillor Warren moved the motion circulated in his name that this Council notes the damning report by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) into the workings of the Brent planning department......the report highlighted:
1. "Significant weaknesses in the planning application review and assessment process."
2. "The Council may not be able to demonstrate that it has taken steps to prevent bribery resulting in non- compliance with the Bribery Act 2010."
3. "Anti - bribery awareness training has not been provided to planning staff."
4. "Audit trail is susceptible to manipulation .This could result in planning applications being approved inappropriately due to fraud or error."
5. "No code of conduct for officers. No requirement for officers to make formal declaration of interest."
PWC concluded that it could only give the Brent planning service "limited assurance."
This Council believes that only "limited assurance” is simply unacceptable, and believes that it is essential that all our residents have confidence in the integrity of the planning process.
In the light of the PWC report, this Council instructs the Chief Executive to initiate an independent review into planning applications submitted in the report ... view the full minutes text for item 15. |
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Urgent Business At the discretion of the Mayor to consider any urgent business. Additional documents: |