Agenda

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 11 July 2023.

To receive any announcements from the Chairman.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link: -

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is mid-day 3 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is mid-day the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

Please refer to the recommendations detailed in items 6 to 10 below.

RECOMMENDED that Council: -

(c)             Approves the 2023/24 capital virements to accept new grants above £1m as set out in Appendix C.

Note – resolutions (a) and (b) were resolved matters by the Cabinet.

The Cabinet at the meeting held on 26 July 2023 resolved as recommendation (e) to “delegate to the Director of Finance in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance the assets to be put forward to Council for disposal from the list endorsed by the cross-party strategic asset disposal working party, and as set out in exempt Appendix D”.

In accordance with that resolution, recommendation (e) below incorporates the list of those assets recommended for disposal by the Director of Finance following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance. Appended to this agenda at Appendix E, is a series of schedules for each of these assets which includes exempt information. Should the Council wish to discuss the detail of Appendices D or E, it will be necessary to exclude the press and public and move into exempt session. If applicable, the following resolution should be moved:

"That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act and that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs such interest in disclosing the information."

RECOMMENDED that Council: -

(e)           approves the following list of assets for disposal:-

·        St Ambrose Cottage

·        27 High Street, Christchurch

·        Public Conveniences in Adastral Square, Canford Heath, Poole

·        Waitrose Car Park, Christchurch but only to Christchurch Town Council

(f)            approves a reduction in the working capital loan facility to BCP FuturePlaces Ltd. The value and timing of the reduction to be delegated to the Director of Finance in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance.

Note – resolutions (a), (b), (c) and (d) were resolved matters by the Cabinet.

RECOMMENDED that Council: -

(a)             Approves £4.462 million investment into Childrens Services Improvement and transformation.

(b)            The areas for investment to establish the structures and capacity needed to deliver transformation and improvement in children’s services being delegates authority to the Director of Children’s Services in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer with the allocation of funds and monitoring of impact and expenditure through the Children’s Transformation Board.

Note – resolutions (c), (d) and (e) were resolved matters by the Cabinet.

RECOMMENDED to Council that the revised prudential indicators set out in table 10 of the report to the Audit and Governance Committee on 27 July 2023 be approved.

Note – resolutions (a), (b) and (c) were resolved matters by the Audit and Governance Committee

Minute No. 25 – Review of the Council’s Constitution

RECOMMENDED that:

(a)    (i)     in relation to Issue 1 (Overview and Scrutiny Structure and Arrangements) the proposed amendments to Parts 2, 3, 4 and 7, as set out in Appendix 3 to the submitted report, be approved with an implementation date of 29 September 2023;

        (ii)    subject to the approval of (a)(i) above, authority to agree the calendar of meeting dates for the Overview and Scrutiny Board for the remainder of 2023/24 be delegated by Council to the Overview and Scrutiny Board;

(b)    in relation to Issue 2 (salary Sacrifice Scheme for Councillors):-

(i)     the proposed amendment to insert a new Section 8 into Part 7 (Scheme of Members' Allowances), as set out in paragraph 35 to the submitted report, be approved;

(ii)    the Chief Executive be delegated authority to determine from time-to-time which benefit schemes are to be made available to councillors;

(c)    in relation to Issue 3 (Schedule of Council Meetings – Change of Date, Time and Venue), the amendment to Part 4D, Procedure Rule 1, as set out in paragraph 39 to the submitted report, be approved;

(d)    any necessary and consequential technical and formatting related updates and revisions to the Constitution be made by the Monitoring Officer in accordance with the powers delegated.

Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) is a statutory function of all councils operating an executive model of decision making.  In BCP Council, O&S activity is currently carried out by four O&S committees formed of councillors and co-opted members.  There is a requirement to report on the work of O&S to Council, to ensure good visibility of the function and Council ownership of any improvements required.

The annual report contains a summary of O&S activity undertaken over 2019-23, reflections on working practices and an action plan identifying strategic improvements to the O&S function.

Knife Crime

The following motion submitted in accordance with Procedure Rule 10 of the Meeting Procedure Rules has been proposed by Councillor S Armstrong and seconded by Councillor J Salmon: -

BCP Council believes:

Every family and community should be safe from the loss of a life due to knife crime.

As community leaders, many of us are parents, grandparents and carers and we are all corporate parents - we have a responsibility to set an example to our children and young people and send a clear message that violence is never the answer, that young people can stand up for themselves and be heard without the need to arm themselves and harm others.

We need to keep working together to get to the root causes of knife crime – we acknowledge the efforts being made to tackle it head on by BCP Council and partners such as the Police, for example the dedicated work under taken by the Community Safety Partnership who amongst many other things, have established a multi-agency Serious Violence Young Persons Task and Finish Group to lead on project and intervention work with the aim to reduce serious violent offences committed by young people.

BCP resolves:

·        To consider the amount of funding required to effectively deliver our Serious Violent Crime duty and if there is a short fall, to lobby the government for resources that reflect the specific needs of BCP.

·        To work in partnership with other voluntary services such as youth organisations to find alternative sources of funding to develop and deliver early intervention programmes especially in areas where we know there are vulnerable young people and their families.

·        To commit to working towards a public health approach that brings together youth services, community groups, schools, NHS and other statutory partners to tackle knife crime and serious violent crime in our neighbourhoods.

·        That the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Regulatory Services reports back to Council on progress of the Community Safety Strategy in particular paying attention to knife crime, at the full council meeting in November. This update to include figures on the current attainment of the KPIs set out in the Community Safety Strategy.  These figures to be available via a dashboard and shared with councillors and the relevant stakeholders.

It is RECOMMENDED that Council schedule an additional ordinary meeting of Council on Thursday 5 October 2023 at 7.00pm.

The deadline for questions to be submitted to the Monitoring Officer is 4 September 2023.

To consider any urgent decisions taken by the Chief Executive in accordance with the Constitution.