Agenda
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Contact: Democratic Services
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Apologies Additional documents: |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members and Officers, relating to items to be considered at the meeting. Additional documents: |
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To confirm the minutes of the meeting of Council held on 19th July 2023. Additional documents: |
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Announcements from the Chair, Leader of Chief Executive (if any) Additional documents: |
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Public Questions To deal with questions from the public within the open forum question and answer session of fifteen minutes in total. Questions from each member of the public should be no longer than one minute each and relate to issues under the Council’s remit. At any one meeting no person may submit more than two questions and no more than two such questions may be asked on behalf of one organisation.
The Chair will ask whether any members of the public present at the meeting wish to ask a question and will decide on the order of questioners.
The response may take the form of: a) a direct oral answer; b) where the desired information is in a publication of the Council or other published work, a reference to that publication; or c) where the reply cannot conveniently be given orally, a written answer circulated later to the questioner. Additional documents: |
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A Member of the Council may ask the Chair, the Leader, a Cabinet Member or the Chair of any Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the Cotswold District. A maximum period of fifteen minutes shall be allowed at any such meeting for Member questions.
A Member may only ask a question if: a) the question has been delivered in writing or by electronic mail to the Chief Executive no later than 5.00 p.m. on the working day before the day of the meeting; or b) the question relates to an urgent matter, they have the consent of the Chair to whom the question is to be put and the content of the question is given to the Chief Executive by 9.30 a.m. on the day of the meeting.
An answer may take the form of: a) a direct oral answer; b) where the desired information is in a publication of the Council or other published work, a reference to that publication; or c) where the reply cannot conveniently be given orally, a written answer circulated later to the questioner.
The following questions have been submitted prior to the publication of the agenda:
Question 1 from Councillor Tom Stowe to Councillor Mike McKeown, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Sustainability
In December last year, your predecessor, Cllr Coxcoon, stated her position that tourists travelling to the Cotswolds via air travel should be deterred. Please could you confirm the Cabinet's current position on promoting the Cotswolds as a place to visit for air travellers?
Question 2 from Councillor Julia Judd to Councillor Juliet Layton, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory Services
CDC recently issued a Press Release about the planning department including new information about recruitment. How many vacancies are there currently and will that mean that the planning department will be running at full capacity for the foreseeable future?
Question 3 from Councillor Tom Stowe to Councillor Paul Hodgkinson, Cabinet Member for Health, Leisure and Culture
Please could you confirm the total costs to CDC of hosting the upcoming Mr Motivator event on Sunday 1st October?
Question 4 from Councillor Len Wilkins to Councillor Joe Harris, Leader of the Council
There have been some recent high profile cyber security attacks on several private and public organisations. This threat is likely to continue to grow over the coming years. To counter this growing threat it’s vital that organisations have a policy of continuous improvement in cyber security practice to support the security, resilience and integrity of digital services, data and systems. Does the council have a formal published cyber-security policy?”
Question 5 from Councillor Gina Blomefield to Councillor Paul Hodgkinson, Cabinet Member for Health, Leisure and Culture
A local resident from the farming community raised concerns with me regarding the future of the very important collection of old agricultural equipment currently displayed at the Old Prison, Northleach. I followed this up and subsequently had a meeting ... view the full agenda text for item 6. Additional documents: |
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Establishment of a Working Group for Boundary Reviews Purpose To seek the approval of Council to create a Working Group to oversee the Local Government Boundary Review and Polling District Review which are due to take place in the next 2 years and agree Terms of Reference for the Group.
Recommendations That Council resolves to: 1. Agree to the creation of a Working Group for Boundary Reviews 2. Agree the Draft Terms of Reference for the group outlined in Annex A 3. Note that Group Leaders are asked to confirm the nominated members to the Electoral Services Manager or Chief Executive Additional documents: |
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A review of the Cotswold District Local Plan housing requirement Purpose To agree that Full Council should approve the Review of the Cotswold District Local Plan 2011-2031 Housing Requirement, which finds that the local housing need of the district has not changed significantly and that the minimum housing requirement provided by the Cotswold District Local Plan does not require updating.
Recommendation That subject to the agreement of Cabinet on 12th September 2023, that Council resolves to; 1) Agree to recommend to Full Council to approve the review of the Cotswold District Local Plan 2011-2031 housing requirement.
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Appointment of two Independent Persons to the Audit & Governance Committee Purpose To appoint two appropriately skilled and experienced members of the public to be “independent members” of the Audit & Governance Committee.
Recommendations The Council resolves to: 1) Appoint John Chesshire and Christopher Bass to the Council’s Audit & Governance Committee for a four year term, commencing immediately.
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Amendments to the Constitution - Recommendations of the Constitution Working Group Purpose To consider proposals from the Constitution Working Group for amendments to the Constitution to i) create a Standards Sub-Committee, ii) recruit up to two town or parish Councillors to advise Members in respect of hearings where the subject member is a town or parish councillor, and, iii) a change to the call-in arrangements for Cabinet/Individual Cabinet Member Decisions to reflect a the Council’s political balance arising from the May 2023 local elections.
Recommendations That Council resolves to: 1) Agree to establish a Standards Hearing Sub-Committee (of the Audit and Governance Committee). This would be a politically balanced 3-member sub-committee with membership appointed by the Committee each year. 2) Instruct the Director of Governance & Development (Monitoring Officer) to recruit up to two town and parish council representatives to act as a non-voting consultee(s) at hearings to determine whether a town or parish councillor has breached their council’s code of conduct. 3) Authorise the Director of Governance & Development (Monitoring Officer) to update i) Part B, Article 8 of the Constitution with consequential amendments to the Audit & Governance Committee’s membership 4) Authorise the Director of Governance & Development (Monitoring Officer) to update Part D6, paragraph 4.13, Overview & Scrutiny Procedure Rules. Additional documents: |
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Petition received in relation to Visitor Information Centres Purpose For Council to consider a petition submitted under the Local Petition Scheme (Part F of the Constitution).
Recommendations That Council resolves to either; 1) Refer the petition to Cabinet as the decision-maker for the request to be considered. 2) Refer the petition to Overview and Scrutiny Committee for review. 3) Note the petition and take no further action. Additional documents: |
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In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12, the following Motions have been received:-
Rail Ticket Offices Motion
Proposed by Councillor Paul Hodgkinson and seconded by Councillor Angus Jenkinson
Council notes with concern the announcement by the Rail Delivery Group that train companies are pressing ahead with plans to close up to 1000 rail ticket offices across England over the next 3 years. Council believes that ticket offices provide a vital service to residents in the Cotswolds. Having a clearly sign-posted place in the station for people with ticket enquiries provides certainty and confidence for customers who may struggle to otherwise locate station staff. Council is concerned the closure of ticket offices will disproportionately affect elderly and disabled residents in the Cotswolds – as well as those with poor IT skills. Council notes the statistics from Age UK that 3 million elderly people in the UK do not have access to the internet, and statistics from the Royal National Institute for Blind People that only 3% of those with partial or full sight loss feel able to use ticket machines. Council is also concerned about the possible implications for current station staff and the concerns that have been raised over possible staff redundancies – given that there will be no regulations for minimum staffing levels at stations and on platforms. Council therefore resolves to: · Instruct the Chief Executive to write to Mark Harper MP Secretary of State for Transport, and the Chief Executive of the Rail Delivery Group, expressing Council’s opposition to the possible closure of staffed rail ticket offices – and in particular the office(s) at Moreton in Marsh, Kemble and Kingham. · Instruct the Chief Executive to write to Great Western Railway expressing the Council’s opposition to any plans to close the staffed ticket office(s) at Moreton in Marsh, Kemble and Kingham. · Refer this issue to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee with the recommendation that representatives from Great Western Railway are invited to attend a Scrutiny Meeting at the earliest possible point to discuss future plans for ticket offices and staffing at our local stations.
Grey Water Motion
Proposed by Councillor Julia Judd, and seconded by Councillor Andrew Maclean
Thames Water believes that limiting water use and runoff could help to stop the outflow of sewage into rivers from its systems. In 2020, this occurred for more than 200,000 hours.
Much of the CDC district is within Thames Water catchment, one of the worst for leaks losing about 25% across its network which is classed as under serious water stress. Cirencester and our Trinity Road offices of Cotswold District Council are within Thames Water district.
The Environment Agency has warned that parts of England could run out of water within 25 years as a result of growing demand from a rising population and the impacts of climate change, and has called for household water use to be cut by a third. We already experience periods of drought followed by periods of deluge and as a responsible authority, we should be ... view the full agenda text for item 12. Additional documents: |
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Next meeting The next meeting of Full Council will be on Wednesday 22nd November 2023. Additional documents: |
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Matters exempt from publication If Council wishes to exclude the press and the public from the meeting during consideration of any of the items on the exempt from publication part of the agenda, it will be necessary for Council to pass a resolution in accordance with the provisions of section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that their presence could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in specific paragraphs of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.
Council may maintain the exemption if and so long as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
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Exempt minutes from the meeting on 19th July 2023 Purpose To approve the minutes from the 19th July 2023, if they have not already been done so at Agenda Item 3 |