Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Room 14, Priory House, Chicksands, Shefford

Contact: Leslie Manning  0300 300 5132

Items
No. Item

23.

Apologies for Absence

To receive apologies for absence and notification of substitute Members.

Minutes:

 

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Fiona Chapman, MBE and Cllr Maurice Jones.

 

 

24.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 70 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 27 October 2016 (copy attached).

 

Minutes:

 

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 October 2016 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

 

25.

Members' Interests

To receive from Members any declarations of interest.

 

Minutes:

(a)

Personal Interests:-

 

 

None.

 

(b)

Personal and Prejudicial Interests:-

 

 

None.

 

 

26.

Chairman's Announcements and Communications

To receive any announcements from the Chairman and any matters of communication.

 

Minutes:

 

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·         News had been received of the sad and unexpected death of a recent former Monitoring Officer of this Council, Melanie Clay, who had worked closely with this Committee. The Committee’s thoughts were with her family at this sad time.

·         in view of the Committee’s comment at the last meeting (minute 16/22 refers) that it would be helpful to have an indication of proposals for the re-ordering and indexing of the Constitution at the meeting today, a document had been drafted which would be considered at the 30 March 2017 meeting prior to the report setting out the proposed detailed changes coming to the following meeting, with recommendations for full Council to consider in due course.

 

 

 

27.

Petitions

To receive petitions from members of the public in accordance with the Public Participation Procedure as set out in Annex 2 of Part A4 of the Constitution.

 

Minutes:

 

No petitions had been received.

 

 

28.

Questions, Statements or Deputations

To receive any questions, statements or deputations from members of the public in accordance with the Public Participation Procedure as set out in Annex 1 of Part A4 of the Constitution.

 

Minutes:

 

There were no questions, statements or deputations from members of the public.

 

 

29.

Pay Policy Statement 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 56 KB

 

To recommend to Council the proposed Pay Policy Statement for 2017/18.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

The Committee noted that a revised paper and appendix had been submitted through a supplementary agenda circulation. Paper copies were also made available at the meeting.

 

The Committee received details of the Pay Policy Statement for 2017/18, which was required to be adopted by full Council by 31 March 2017.

 

Points and comments included:

·         noted the revised version of the Statement included a reference to the Council’s Monitoring Officer, as required.

·         a request that in future years, information be provided in the report to this Committee on mean and average salaries, giving figures.

 

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

 

that the Pay Policy Statement for 2017/18 be adopted and published on the Council’s website with effect from 1 April 2017.

 

 

30.

Wixams Joint Development Control Committee - Quorum pdf icon PDF 60 KB

To recommend to Council a minor amendment to the terms of reference previously agreed by Council for the Wixams Joint Development Control Committee in order to reflect a minor change to the quorum agreed by Bedford Borough Council.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

The Committee had previously considered revised terms of reference for Wixams Joint Development Management Committee, which included membership of Bedford Borough Council members. Bedford Borough Council had at its meeting the previous evening (7 December 2016) approved the revised terms of reference as recommended by Central Bedfordshire Council, subject to one amendment being agreed by Central Bedfordshire Council. This amendment sought a provision within the quorum arrangements for a representative from each participating Council at any Wixams Joint Development Control Committee.

 

The Committee noted that this provision would mean that if no Member attended from one of the participating Councils, the meeting could not go ahead. However, without this provision, decisions could be taken affecting one council’s population without elected member representation from that council being present.

 

Points and comments included:

·         the Chairman of this Council’s Development Management Committee, Cllr Matthews, was present and indicated his support for the proposal.

 

 

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

 

that the Constitution be amended to provide that the Terms of Reference for Wixams Join Development Management Committee require at least one representative of each participating council (Bedford Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council) to be present at any meeting.

 

 

31.

Update on Amendments to the Constitution pdf icon PDF 50 KB

 

To receive an update on amendments to the Council’s Constitution.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

The Committee received a report and schedule detailing the changes which have been made to the Constitution between June and November 2016.

 

RESOLVED

 

to note the changes made to maintain the Council’s constitution, as set out in Appendix A to the report.

 

 

32.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 49 KB

 

To consider the Committee’s work programme.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

The Committee received details of its work programme for the remainder of the 2016/17 municipal year.