Council and democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 6SL. View directions

Contact: Jenny Shade, Senior Democratic Services Officer  Email: Direct.Democracy@thurrock.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

76.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 107 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Council, held on 26 October 2016.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of Council held on the 26 October 2016 were approved as a correct record.

77.

Items of Urgent Business

To receive additional items that the Mayor is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Minutes:

The Mayor informed the Council that she had not agreed to the consideration of any items of urgent business.

78.

Declaration of Interests

To receive any declaration of interests from Members.

Minutes:

Councillor Okunade declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of Item 17: Motion submitted by Councillor Gerrish as she was a member on the Advisory Board for Thameside Children's Centre.

 

Councillor Piccolo declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of Item 17: Motion submitted by Councillor Gerrish as he was the Chair of the Stanford Children's Centre Advisory Board.

79.

Announcements on behalf of the Mayor or the Leader of the Council

Minutes:

Firstly, the Mayor invited all those present to reflect on and remember Thurrock’s fallen of World War One.

 

The Mayor recommended that Jonathan Catton’s tremendous contribution to Thurrock be marked by having a memorial plaque dedicated to him placed at Thurrock Museum.

 

The Mayor then reminded Members that a ‘Give a Gift’ tree had been placed by the Council at Intu Lakeside with the help and support of Marc Myers and his colleagues. The tree was decorated with hundreds of gift labels which allowed people to buy much needed gifts for children cared for by our Fostering Service and encouraged all to participate in this wonderful initiative.

 

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Gledhill, made no announcements.

80.

Questions from Members of the Public pdf icon PDF 49 KB

In accordance with Chapter 2, Part 2 (Rule 14) of the Council’s Constitution.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A copy of the transcript of questions and answers can be viewed under the relevant meeting date at http://democracy.thurrock.gov.uk/thurrock and are attached at Appendix A to these minutes.

 

At 7.33pm the Mayor requested that standing orders be suspended to provide time to receive the remaining questions from members of the public. Members voted in favour of this.

81.

Petitions from Members of the Public and Councillors

In accordance with Chapter 2, Part 2(Rule 14) of the Council’s Constitution.

Minutes:

The Mayor informed Members that, in accordance with the Council’s Petition Scheme no notices of petitions had been received.

82.

Petitions Update Report pdf icon PDF 66 KB

Minutes:

Members received a report on the status of those petitions handed in at Council Meetings and Council Officers over the past six months.

83.

Appointments to Committees and Outside Bodies, Statutory and Other Panels

The Council are asked to agree any changes to the appointments made to committees and outside bodies, statutory and other panels, as requested by Group Leaders.

Minutes:

The Mayor enquired whether Group Leaders wished to change any appointments previously made to Committees and outside bodies, statutory and other panels.

 

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Gledhill, informed the Council Chamber he had no further changes to make.

 

Councillor Snell, Leader of the UKIP Group, informed the Council Chamber he had no further changes to make.

 

Councillor J Kent, Leader of the Labour Group, informed the Council Chamber he had no further changes to make.

84.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Children's & Adult Social Care pdf icon PDF 170 KB

Minutes:

Councillor S Little presented the report and stated that she had great pleasure in doing so and that she would be reporting separately on Adult Social Care first and then Children’s Social Care.

 

Councillor S Little summarised the extremely complex challenges being faced by Adult Social Care:

 

           An aging population with people living for more years.

           A greater number of years in poorer health.

           An increase in complexity of cases.

           An insufficient capacity within the NHS.

           A health and care system had been established to react rather than prevent.

           The difficulty in recruitment and the retention of staff.

 

A Transformation Programme called “Living Well in Thurrock” had been established to use the resources available to the best effect and the programme would consist of the following three elements:

 

           Stronger Communities

           Built Environment

           Adult Social Care and Health Infrastructure

 

Councillor S Little referred to the two domiciliary care services that had been brought back in-house that had created a number of problems and had led to an extremely stretched in-house service.

 

Councillor S Little stated her passion for Children’s Services having been a member on Corporate Parenting Committee and a member on the Fostering Panel.

 

Councillor S Little summarised the key areas of concern:

 

           The instability of social care workforce with a proportion of agency staff.

           The inconsistent service for looked after children.

           The need to do more to increase the number of local in-house foster carers.

           The Management oversight to be improved.

           The organisation’s use of management information and quality assurance had been poor and required improvement.

 

Councillor S Little then summarised the key areas of strength:

 

           That Child Sexual Exploitation had been well understood and addressed across the service.

           The effective cross party political scrutiny.

           The reduction in the number of days taken for children to be placed for adoption.

           The support and intervention for teenagers.

           The work on the multi-agency safeguarding hub.

           The number of unaccompanied asylum children had been reduced.

 

Councillor Snell thanked Councillor S Little for the report and thanked Officers for the fantastic work that had been undertaken to keep these services going.

 

Councillor Snell stated that the report appeared to have skipped over the pressures and difficulties that Adult Social Care was currently facing and felt that this crisis was due to the Conservative Party’s actions and asked that Councillor S Little writes to her MPs. He also suggested that 5 per cent of the foreign aid budget be given back to help the residents of this borough.

 

Councillor S Little stated that there had been concerns over critical care when she had taken over as Portfolio Holder but confirmed that this had been overcome and that the budget had been managed far better and that the service was where they wanted it. Councillor S Little would be happy to write to her MPs but stated that the 2 per cent precept had already  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.

85.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Regeneration pdf icon PDF 153 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Coxshall stated he was happy to be presenting his first Portfolio Holder report for regeneration, planning and assets and how proud he was of the direction of the department had changed and outlined the key areas to his report:

 

           Grays South Master Plan, to link the River front and the Grays station crossing redevelopment, would be joining together to create a wider plan and news on the funding for this should be known before Christmas.

 

           To deliver a local plan with real engagement – a plan to engage with all residents to ensure it had the full backing of all.

 

           Implement an Asset Review for all Council assets to make sure they are categorised into one of the following: retain them, re-use them or release them, to maximise the money for the services of this Council.

 

           For Tilbury the master plan for the Civic Square and the wider area had been developed, consulted on and now agreed for implementation. A further wider master plan would be drawn up with the aim of ensuring that the Port of Tilbury expansion brought wider benefits to the local community.

 

           Have a good principle of “More for Less” which will be delivered with an aim of delivering an underspend for this financial year; there is already an underspend of £20,000.

 

           A tremendous increase of jobs with companies such as Amazon and UPS moving into the area which could create 2000 jobs that would result in those that want a job to have a job.

 

Councillor J Kent thanked the Portfolio Holder for the report and enjoyed the delivery of his statement with particular reference to the “good rate of investment gained over the last five years”. Councillor J Kent asked the Portfolio Holder if the administration would be looking to use compulsory purchase order powers to land bank parcels of land brought for future sale or development. Councillor Coxshall agreed that this was a serious issue and hoped that CPO did not have to be used.

 

Councillor Smith agreed that it was good news regarding the future projects and job vacancies and thanked officers for all the hard work. Councillor Smith asked the Portfolio Holder for his reassurances that infrastructure, schools and GP hubs would be high priorities and also when the maps for brown and green fill sites would be available.

 

Councillor Coxshall stated that £60 million had already been invested on road improvement with £150 million spent on Junction 30; with four schools being opened in the borough and three new schools proposed for 2017; four new Living Together hubs had already been proposed.

 

Councillor Piccolo asked what plans were in place to relocate industrial developments located in residential areas where HGVs were causing havoc on local roads with noise and pollution and what incentives would be available to relocate to a more suitable location. Councillor Coxshall stated this was happening over and over again in the borough and that a Policy was in place  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

86.

Questions from Members pdf icon PDF 60 KB

In accordance with Chapter 2, Part 2 (Rule 14) of the Council’s Constitution.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Mayor informed the Chamber that 5 questions to the Leader of the Council had been received and 9 questions to Cabinet Members.

 

A copy of the transcript of questions and answers can be found at Appendix A of these minutes.

 

At 8.57pm the Mayor announced that time according to the constitution had run out and that the questions not dealt with would receive a written response.

87.

Reports from Members representing the Council on Outside Bodies

Minutes:

The Mayor informed the Chambers that no reports had been received.

88.

Minutes of Committees

Name of Committee

Date

Planning Transport & Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee

13 September 2016

Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee

15 September 2016

Standards and Audit Committee

29 September 2016

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of Committees as set out in the Agenda were received.

89.

Update on motions resolved at Council during the previous year pdf icon PDF 75 KB

Minutes:

Members received an information report updating the progress in respect of Motions resolved at Council over the last year.

90.

Motion submitted by Councillor Duffin pdf icon PDF 38 KB

Minutes:

The Motion, as printed in the Agenda was proposed by Councillor Duffin and seconded by Councillor Aker. The Motion read as follows:

 

This Council supports the need to reduce and eliminate fuel poverty for Thurrock residents who struggle to heat their homes. Council requests that Cabinet investigate what options, including creating a fuel poverty grant that may exist for the Council to support the community by working with residents and providers.

 

Councillor Duffin introduced the Motion and in doing so requested for Cabinet to move forward with this with the three main factors affecting fuel poverty being:

 

           Low Incomes

           Poor Energy Efficiency

           High Fuel Prices

 

Decisions being taken by Government have had a massive increase on fuel bills and on average future bills were being predicted to increase a further £51 based only on the green tariff. The green tariff comes from investments such as the investments the Council make in the solar farm in Swindon and questioned what the Council should be spending this money on.

 

Councillor Duffin stated that:

 

           7.4 per cent of households in Thurrock were affected by fuel poverty.

           82 per cent of households in Thurrock were concerned about paying fuel bills over the winter.

 

With this being such a serious issue, Councillor Duffin called on Cabinet to act on this if the Motion was agreed and would take any profits made and put this to deal with the fuel poverty in Thurrock.

 

Councillor B Rice stated that she would be supporting this very important motion especially in the case of the residents of Thurrock. Councillor B Rice stated that there were schemes available to residents which they should be made aware of. In addition to the Motion, Councillor B Rice would like Cabinet to take on board and get this information out to residents.

 

Councillor Gledhill stated he would be supporting this motion and agreed that the schemes were very confusing and that the focus would be getting this information out to residents. Residents on benefits would also be advised of what schemes they can apply for. Councillor Gledhill stated that he did not agree on moving money from the solar farm investment into a fund helping people in fuel poverty although a fund for people in fuel poverty would not be ruled out. Investments need to be made to prevent services from being delivered or increases to Council Taxes.

 

Councillor B Little stated he would be supporting this motion and that prepayment cards to manage fuel poverty had in the past been introduced to prevent fuel debt. Unfortunately over time the costs to top up these cards had increased and those residents were the most vulnerable and now paying the highest tariffs. This Council needed to continue to support the most vulnerable.

 

Councillor Hebb stated that the new launched Thurrock News email updates could concentrate on the communicating of these sign postings and services to residents and will arrange for Officers to do this for the December edition.

 

Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.

91.

Motion submitted by Councillor Gerrish pdf icon PDF 42 KB

Minutes:

The Motion, as printed in the Agenda was proposed by Councillor Gerrish and seconded by Councillor Fish. The Motion read as follows:

 

Members of Council tonight oppose the proposed closure of Children’s Centres currently under consultation. They provide a vital service to all our communities. The proposed closures of Beacon (Chafford Hundred), East Tilbury, Stanford le Hope and Aveley Children’s Centres will leave some communities entirely without a centre. This will have a severe and detrimental impact on local families. The Members’ of Council tonight call on Cabinet to acknowledge the importance of these vital community services and to not proceed with the proposed closures.

 

Councillor Gerrish introduced the report and in doing so explained that the Conservative administration were due to close four Thurrock Children Centres in April 2017. The centres under threat were Aveley, Chafford Hundred, East Tilbury and Stanford le Hope alongside additional outreach cuts. The centres undertook a huge about of work with parents. With the final decision being made by Cabinet in January 2017, the Motion had been brought to this Council for Members to express their views and comments. It was the role of a strong opposition to point out to the administration that they were due to make a huge mistake and to help them correct it by sending a message from the community to halt the plans to close these Children Centres.

 

Following debate and discussion between Members it was the consensus amongst the Labour Party Members that the decision to close the four children centres would:

 

-           Take away vital services.

-           Would impact on the Looked after Children that used these Centres.

-           All communities should be able to access these services.

-           Further debate and a genuine consultation needed to take place.

-           Consultation was misleading.

-           Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been misinformed.

-           Not a good move for the Council.

-           Staff at the Children’s Centres deserved more backing not sacking.

-           Perplexed by some of the comments of the Conservative members.

 

The following Labour Members spoke during the debate: Councillors Kerin, Pothecary, Okunade, J Kent, Fish and Gerrish.

 

Consensus comments received by Members from the UKIP Party included:

 

-           Why was the decision limited only to Cabinet.

-           Decision should be made between all Members.

-           Further debates needed to take place.

-           Vital consultations needed to be undertaken.

-           That both children and parents will suffer.

-           If paying high rents for these centres, what other high rents are the Council being ripped off on.

-           Plans need to be in place for the transition period.

-           Main concern should be that of the children.

-           Communication not clearly working.

-           Item should have come as an agenda item to Full Council.

 

The following UKIP Members spoke during the debate: Councillors Spillman, Duffin, Wheeler, Smith and Snell.

 

The common responses from the Administration in defence to the decision to close the four children service centres included:

 

-           Impressed by the Portfolio Holder’s savings.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.