Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Council Offices, Station Road East, Oxted. View directions

Items
No. Item

264.

Minutes of the Council meeting held on the 16th December 2021 pdf icon PDF 374 KB

Minutes:

These minutes were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

265.

Chair's Announcements

Minutes:

The Chair thanked everyone who would be supporting his St Valentine’s dinner and dance on the following evening at Bletchingley Golf Club, including those who had donated raffle prizes in lieu of attendance.

 

The next civic fundraising events would be:

 

  • a concert on Saturday, 19th March at the Oxted United Reformed Church, Oxted with performers from the Robert Bouffler Music Trust; and

 

  • a Caterham Food Bank meal and quiz on Saturday, 24th April at the Westway Centre, Caterham

 

The Chair also advised that an e-mail would be sent to all Members on the 11th February to confirm the amended committee dates during the forthcoming cycle of meetings. 

 

266.

Declarations of Interest

All Members present are required to declare, at this point in the meeting or as soon as possible thereafter:

 

(i)         any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPIs); and / or

 

(ii)        other interests arising under the Code of Conduct in respect of any item(s) of

            business being considered at the meeting.

 

Anyone with a DPI must, unless a dispensation has been granted, withdraw from the

meeting during consideration of the relevant item of business. If in doubt, advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer or her staff prior to the meeting.

Minutes:

Councillor Botten advised that he would leave the Chamber for the duration of any discussion about the Westway Centre in connection with the budget setting process for 2022/23. (At the Council meeting on 16th December 2021, he had declared a non-pecuniary interest regarding the fact that he was a founder trustee of the Westway Centre). No such discussion took place.

 

Councillor Pursehouse advised that would not participate in any discussion regarding the level of rents for Council garages in connection with the Housing Revenue Account budget setting process for 2022/23. (At the Housing Committee meeting on 25th January 2022, he had declared a pecuniary interest on the basis that he rented Council garages on behalf of three community organisations in Warlingham). No such discussion took place. 

 

  

  

 

267.

Questions submitted under Standing Order 30 pdf icon PDF 320 KB

(i)         questions from residents and others working or studying in the District; and

(ii)      questions from Councillors

Minutes:

Questions were dealt with from Councillors O’Driscoll and Moore. The questions and responses are set out in Appendix A.

268.

Reports of committees pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

R E S O L V E D that the reports of the following meetings be received, and the recommendations therein be adopted:

 

          Planning Committee - 9th December 2021

 

 

          Planning Policy Committee - 5th January 2022

 

 

          Strategy & Resources Committee - 11th January 2022

 

 

          Planning Committee - 13th January 2022

 

 

          Community Services Committee - 18th January 2022

 

 

          Planning Policy Committee - 20th January 2022

 

 

          Housing Committee - 25th January 2022

 

 

          Audit & Scrutiny Committee - 27th January 2022 (including the acceptance of PSAA’s invitation to opt into the sector-led option for the appointment of external auditors for five financial years from 1st April 2023 – the Council was advised that this should have been presented as a recommendation from the Audit &Scrutiny Committee as opposed to a resolved item)

 

 

          Strategy & Resources Committee - 1st February 2022

 

              Minute 257 – 2022/23 final budget and 2023/24 Medium Term Financial Strategy

 

Recommendations A to M had been supplemented by an additional recommendation N, published earlier in the day, to enable the Council to set its budget and Council Tax requirements in the statutory format. The additional recommendation N was presented in light of the Council Tax precepts recently determined by Surrey County Council and the Surrey Police & Crime Commissioner.   

 

 

 

 

Councillor Steeds, seconded by Councillor Ridge, moved the following amendment to Recommendation H (additional words shown in italics):

 

       the final budget envelopes for each Committee for 2022/23 as at tranche 1 (Appendices I and J) be approved, subject to additional Tranche 3 savings of £3k, held in corporate items, to be identified in order to offset a reduced increase in plot fees for the Meadowside mobile homes park from 4.1% to 2%

 

In accordance with Standing Order 13(4) Councillor Steeds requested that the above amendment be the subject of a recorded vote. This was supported by the requisite number of Councillors under Standing Order 13(4). The result of the vote was:

 

            For

 

                        Councillors Black, Bloore, Duck, Elias, Gaffney, Groves, Hammond, Mansfield,                             Morrow, O’Driscoll, Prew, Ridge and Steeds (13)

                       

                        Against

 

                        Councillors Allen, Blackwell, Bourne, Crane, Davies, Farr, Gillman, Langton,                                 Lockwood, Moore, Mills, Pursehouse, Sayer, Shiner, Stamp, Swann, C.White,                              and N.White (18)               

 

                        Abstain

 

                        Councillors Botten, Caulcott and Lee (3)

 

 

              The proposed amendment to recommendation H was therefore lost.

 

Recommendations A to N, as per the original recommendations A to M in Minute 257, plus the additional recommendation N as referred to above, were the subject of a single recorded vote in accordance with Standing Order 13(5). The result of the vote was:

 

            For

 

                        Councillors Black, Blackwell, Bloore, Botton, Bourne, Caulcott, Crane, Davies, Duck, Elias, Farr, Gaffney, Gillman, Groves, Hammond, Langton, Lee, Lockwood, Mansfield, Moore, Morrow, Mills, Prew, Pursehouse, Ridge, Sayer, Shiner, Stamp, Steeds, Swann, C.White and N.White (32).

                       

                        Against

 

                        Councillor Allen (1).