Agenda and minutes

The Lord Mayor noted that he had no further announcements.

The Lord Mayor invited Members to declare any interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

No declarations were made.

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2016 are available to view at:

http://www.cabinet.leicester.gov.uk:8071/documents/g7529/Printed%20minutes%20Thursday%2024-Nov-2016%2017.00%20Council.pdf?T=1

Copies are also available from Democratic Support on (0116) 454 6350 or Committees@leicester.gov.uk

Moved by the Lord Mayor, seconded by the Deputy Lord Mayor and carried:

31.       That the minutes of the meeting of Council held on 24 November 2016, a copy having been circulated to each Member of the Council, be taken as read and that they be approved as a correct record.

None.

-           Presented by Members of the Public

-           Presented by Councillors

-           Petitions to be debated

            5.1  Rushey Mead Library and Neighbourhood Centre

PETITIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

Miss Vicky Roe to present a petition with 94 valid signatures in the following terms:-

“We request that Leicester City Council:

1.         strictly enforce their powers of regulation over landlords;

2.         insist that out of area owners/property developers list their main residence on any planning application submitted to the Council;

3.         seriously consider extending their powers of regulation over landlords, to the benefit of tenants and the increase of the Council's revenues.”

PETITIONS FROM COUNCILLORS

Councillor Thalukdar presented a petition with 1,464 signatures in the following terms:

            “Due to the recent funding cuts of £30,000 a year from Leicester City Council for Shama Women’s Centre and lack of other funds we will not be able to continue to provide our services to thousands of women from March 2017. We want the Council to reinstate our funding of £30,000 a year from 1 April 2017.”

Under Council Procedure Rule 13a the aforementioned petitions will be referred to the Monitoring Officer for consideration and action as appropriate. 

PETITIONS TO BE DEBATED

At the request of the Lord Mayor the Head of Law and the Deputy Monitoring Officer addressed Council and noted that under the terms of the Council’s Petitions Scheme each petitioner had been invited to speak on their petition for a maximum of five minutes. This would be followed by a debate on the issues raised by the petition for a maximum of 15 minutes.  Following the debate under the Constitution the Council could take the action the petition requests in so far as it has the power to do so; recommend a decision maker to not take the action requested for reasons put forward in the debate; recommend that further investigation into the matter be commissioned or note the petition.  Attention was further drawn to the legal implications on page 2 of the report which referred to the executive decision which had been taken in relation to the Transforming Neighbourhoods Strategy.

A petition had been received from Ms Jo Popat which had been verified as having the required number of verified signatures to trigger a debate and had been submitted in the following terms.  The petition was presented by Ms Popat, Jayshri Solanki, Lily Paulson, Rikesh Gandesha and Dixit Chauhan.  Following a request from the petitioners the Lord Mayor allowed one further minute to finish the statement.

“We the undersigned petition the City Mayor, Peter Soulsby of Leicester City Council to ensure that both the Rushey Mead Library and the Rushey Mead Recreation Centre remain open and continue to provide services for all of the community of Rushey Mead. These two premises provide much needed essential space and services for local people. It is a lifeline for many people, including women, disabled people, single mothers, elderly people, young children and families.

There are no other Council Community facilities in the area and so we demand that there are no cuts to the provision and that both of the buildings remain open and continue  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Questions from Members of the Public

None.

Questions from Councillors

Lord Mayor:  Questions from Councillors, Councillor Cole please. 

Councillor Cole:   Thank you Lord Mayor.  “Does the City Mayor think that Leicester City Council should have a referendum on increasing Council Tax to meet the rising costs of social care in the city?”    

Lord Mayor:  Deputy City Mayor please.   

Deputy City Mayor:  Thank you my Lord Mayor.   In a word no, we do not think that, we explored the inadequacies, the unfairness of relying on Council Tax as a solution to the adult social care funding crisis, we do not accept that premise.  Moreover I do not believe the people of Leicester would thank us for taking what would be a £600,000 gamble if we were to hold a referendum.  That would be the cost of running a referendum and rebilling households in the City should that referendum be lost, which I believe it would be.   

Lord Mayor:  Thank you Deputy City Mayor.  Councillor Cole do you have a supplementary?

Councillor Cole:  Can I just thank the Deputy City Mayor for his answer and say it is probably unfortunate that we have no Conservative MPs in the city because it does seem that other Councils have used that as a ploy for getting more money out of the government for adult social care.

Lord Mayor:  Councillor Cole can I remind Members it is not a statement but it should be a question relating to the original answer given.  Thank you Councillor Cole.  You don’t want to respond do you?

Deputy City Mayor:  Just briefly Lord Mayor.  Just for clarity we do not believe that Conservative MPs in the city would necessarily be a helpful thing.     

Lord Mayor:  Thank you Deputy City Mayor.  Councillor Cole, question 2 please. 

Councillor Cole:  Thank you Lord Mayor.  “Can I just ask the City Mayor how many Directors does Leicester City Council have working in it, and how many of them are from the BME community?”

Lord Mayor:  Thank you Councillor Cole.  City Mayor please.  

City Mayor:  Thank you my Lord Mayor and thank you Councillor Cole for the question.  Councillor Cole will be aware that we do as an organisation monitor very carefully the composition of our workforce, and I am pleased to say that in general terms our workforce is much more representative of the community it serves today than was the case some time ago.  However, it is the case that it is more representative in the lower parts of the organisation than it is right at the top of the organisation, and that is a phenomenon that we see in other places as well.  But I am pleased to say that we have made some considerable progress in the higher levels of the organisation and we have 3 Strategic Directors and 13 Directors in post in total.  And of those 2 have declared that they are of black and minority ethnic communities.  I am told that Directors declaring BME  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

7.1 Treasury Strategy 2017/18

TREASURY STRATEGY 2017/18

Moved by City Mayor, seconded by Councillor Singh and carried:-

33.       That Council approves the Treasury Strategy, which includes the annual investment strategy at Appendix B of the report to Council.

8.1 Scrutiny Annual Report 2015 - 2016

Moved by Councillor Singh, seconded by Councillor Malik and carried:

34.       That Council notes the work of scrutiny during 2015 / 2016.

-       To note any changes to the Executive

-       To vary the composition and fill any vacancies of any Committee of the Council

None.

None received.

There being no urgent business identified the Lord Mayor declared the meeting closed at 7.55pm.