Agenda item

6.1 Capital Programme 2015/16*

6.2 Treasury Strategy 2015/16

6.3 Call-In of Executive Decision – City Council Golf Courses

* A colour list of the ‘rag’ overview of projects is attached to the agenda for Councillors.

Capital Programme 2015 / 16

A report of the Director of Finance was considered which sought for a Capital Programme for 2015/16.  It was noted that the capital programme was split into 2 parts, immediate starts where schemes have the authority to commence following approval of the programme and policy provisions where the purpose of funding is defined but monies will not be released until specific proposals have been considered by the Executive.

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

26.       That Council:

(a)          Approve the capital programme described in this report and summarised at Appendix 2 to the report, subject to any amendments proposed by the City Mayor;

(b)        For those schemes designated immediate starts, delegate authority to the lead director to commit expenditure, subject to the normal requirements of contract procedure rules and finance procedure rules;

(c)        Delegate authority to the City Mayor to determine a plan of spending for each policy provision; and to commit expenditure up to the maximum available;

(d)        For the purposes of finance procedure rules:

·         Determine that service resources shall consist of service revenue contributions; HRA revenue contributions; and government grants/third party contributions ring-fenced for specific purposes (which, for the avoidance of doubt, includes grants for which we are the accountable body);

·         Designate the transport maintenance programme as a programme area, within which the director can reallocate resources to meet operational requirements;

·         Designate the transport improvement programme as a programme area;

·         Designate the following HRA schemes as 3 discrete programme areas:  investment in council owned housing, business and technological investment, and environmental improvements.

(e)        Determine that the City Mayor may increase any scheme in the programme, or add a new scheme to the programme, subject to a maximum of £10m corporate resources;

(f)        Determine that the City Mayor may reduce or delete any capital programme provision, subject to a maximum of 20% of scheme value for “immediate starts”;  and may transfer any “policy provision” to the “immediate starts” category;

(g)        Delegate to directors, in consultation with the relevant assistant mayor, authority to incur expenditure in respect of policy provisions on design and other professional fees and preparatory studies, but not any other type of expenditure.

Treasury Strategy

A report of the Director of Finance was considered which sought to establish the strategy for the management of Council’s borrowing and investments during 2015/16.

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

27.       That Council:

Approves the treasury strategy, and the authorised borrowing limit as detailed in paragraph 6.3 of the report.  Other than limits which apply specifically to 2015/16, the Council gives this strategy immediate effect.

The Lord Mayor called a short adjournment at 7.12pm

The meeting restarted at 7.35pm

Call-In Of Executive Decision – City Council Golf Courses

In accordance with Rule 12 of the City Mayor and Executive Procedure Rules, Councillors Barton (proposer), Unsworth (seconder), Cole, Westley and Newcombe had objected to the decision of the City Mayor of 11 December 2014 with regard to the above.

The submitted grounds for objection were:-

“The decision to close Western Park Golf Course will have a detrimental impact on golfers in West Leicester and on the city’s sport and outdoor leisure provision. This is a request to call in the decision to scrutiny.”

Also in accordance with Rule 12 of the Executive Procedure Rules, Councillors Porter (proposer), Naylor (seconder), Grant, Glover, and Potter had objected to the decision of the City Mayor of 11 December 2014 with regard to the above.

The submitted grounds for objection were:-

“That the decision is based upon an incomplete consultation(s) and subjective evidence. The decision is significant and requires the scrutiny and consideration of the Full Council.”

A copy of the original decision together with the Executive report and minute of the Overview Select Committee on 15 January 2015 which had considered the matter had been sent to Members and were available at the meeting.

The Lord Mayor advised that the matter would be dealt with under Rule 12 of Part 4d of the City Mayor and Executive Procedure Rules.  The Lord Mayor noted that whilst two separate objections had been received they both related to one decision.  He also noted that two separate motions had been received, one of which had been published in the script available at the meeting and one which had been circulated during the adjournment.  He therefore informed Council that it was his intention to deal with the two motions separately and first to address the motion which had been included on the script.

Moved by Councillor Barton, seconded by Councillor Unsworth and carried:-

28.  That Council requests that the decision to close Western Park Golf Course is referred back to the Executive to allow for the reconsideration of alternative business plans.

Moved by Councillor Porter and seconded by Councillor Naylor:

That any interested party, wishing to take on the management of the Western Park Golf Course, be given the opportunity to produce a proposal and enter into talks with the Council’s Sports Dept. before 30^th April 2015, with a briefing being made available for councillors as to the situation on the same date.  If no group has shown interest in running the golf course by this date, then the original decision to move towards the closure of the golf course should be upheld.

Under Council Procedure Rule 18c Councillors Porter and Naylor as proposers and seconders of the motion sought the consent of Council to the amendment of the date specified in the motion to 1 October 2015.

The Lord Mayor put the modification of the motion to the vote and declared it carried.

There followed a debate.

The Lord Mayor put the modified motion (ie incorporating the modification as accepted by Council) to the vote and declared it lost.