In accordance with
Procedure Rules 10.3 and 10.5, a Member may ask the Mayor, Leader or the Chairman of any committee or
sub-committee, a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has
powers or duties or which affects the Melton Borough.
There were no
questions received.
Minutes:
In accordance with procedure rule 10.5(b),
the following question was received from Councillor Posnett MBE :
‘Does the new delegation scheme allow for officers of
this Council to write to the British Legion stating that the Mayor will no longer
be taking part in the Flag Raising Ceremony for Armed Forces day?
When this has not been discussed by Councillors.’
The Leader responded as follows :
He believed that
Councillor Posnett was referring to the impact of the budgetary reduction in
the civic arrangements. The proposed
reduction in the budget was discussed at the following forums prior to approval
on 13 February 2019 as part of the revenue budget :
·
Policy Forum in November
·
Conservative Group Meetings
·
Member Development Day in
December (followed by detailed report about specific events)
·
Corporate Committee in January
·
Council in February
As with all of the budget and
governance changes, he had been available to talk with Members about any
concerns as had the officers who had led on the changes. Concerns about specific events no longer
going ahead were not raised when the changes were approved despite Members
having been given information at the above forums.
As Members were aware, the Council made some tough
decisions in approving the forthcoming budget in an effort to ensure its
resources were focussed upon both delivering the priorities agreed last year as
well as ensuring core delivery. As
part of the revenue budget Members approved a significant net saving of £33,800.
The financial challenge faced
by Local Government could not be underestimated nor could the need to redirect
resources to support fundamental service delivery as well as aspirations the
Council had for the area. This was one example where the Council had redirected
its resources to support its ambitions.
As a result of the
approved budget at Council on 13 February, there was no dedicated support for
civic functions and whilst it was agreed that some events such as the Carol
Service, Mayormaking and Remembrance Day would be
supported, Democratic Services could no longer support organising any other
events. In addition, a budget was available for the Annual Council Meeting,
tickets, Carol Service and travel only.
Democratic Services would of course meet with the new Mayor to set out
expectations at the beginning of their term of office but additional events
which were not considered when the decision to approve redundancy of the
Democracy and Involvement Officer was made could not be included within any
other roles.
It
was important to clarify the actions taken by the officer had nothing to do
with the scheme of delegation as the officer was implementing the will of the
Council and had considered it appropriate and polite to give advance notice to
the British Legion of the Council's decision.
It
was also important to remember that the Mayor may accept any invitations they
wished to attend, including the Armed Forces Day flag-raising ceremony should
this be arranged by another organisation.
The
Council would also continue to fly the specially commissioned flag for Armed
Forces Day at Parkside from 24 to 29 June.
Councillor Posnett asked a supplementary
question :
‘Why is it that officers seem to be
destroying the relationship the Mayor has always had with the Borough. We have always been a community Council and
residents have supported this approach and we signed the Community Covenant and
have now gone against this and are destroying the relationship with the
community when taking away these civic duties.’
Several Members held the view that the
Council was going against the Armed Forces Community Covenant in not supporting
the work of the armed forces and they felt this was not what was expected of
the Council by the Borough’s residents.
The Deputy Leader raised a point of order
several times relating to the Independent Councillor’s statement that they were
not aware of the impact of the budgetary reduction to the Mayoral service as
although the Councillor was not at the Conservative Group Meeting, the
Councillor had been present at several of the forums listed when this was
discussed earlier in the year.
Councillor Rhodes raised a point of order
and referred to the strong feeling amongst Councillors about this matter and
due to this he wished to present an urgent motion which firstly required
suspension of standing orders to enable it to be heard.
Councillor Posnett seconded the motion to
suspend standing orders and on being put to the vote, the motion was carried.
Councillor Rhodes then moved the following motion
:
(1) That the letter sent
recently to the British Legion by the Director of Legal and Democratic Services
stating that the Council will not host an event for the Armed Forces Day be
withdrawn;
(2) That the Civic and
Mayoral budgets be reviewed in order to provide funding for the Council to
support this event and for the Mayor to continue to attend military and veteran
events in the civic year 2019/20;
(3) That the receipt of £69,000 arising from the
successful claim for restitution following the theft of funds by fraud be made
available for addressing any costs associated with these activities.
Councillor Rhodes stated that many
Councillors were unaware of the impact of some of the decisions they were
making when setting the budget. The cut
backs in the Mayoral budget had got to the heart of what the Council was about
as being a Borough Council meant there was a Royal Charter which came with
expectations to support community events and institutions and most importantly
those associated with the armed forces.
Also Melton had an army base in the town and had strong links with the
other military services as well as many veterans living in the Borough. He referred to the Armed Forces Covenant
which Councillor Lumley had championed and he thanked him for his work on
this. He explained that the motion was
to put right the mistake made earlier in the year in reducing the Mayoral
budget and to reinstate this event and he felt those activities connected with
the armed forces must continue and the public would wish the Council to do
this. Councillor Posnett seconded the
motion.
Several Councillors spoke in support of the
motion and that they would be voting for it.
Most also acknowledged that they had not realised the impact of the decision
made earlier in the year on the budgetary reduction in the Mayoral service and
felt that it deserved to be revisited.
It was noted that the British Legion would have appreciated a discussion
on the way forward on the Armed Forces event rather than receiving a
letter. Members also referred to the
Mayor’s Awards and they hoped these would continue in the future too.
There was mention of the TFEC agreement to
give priority for housing to ex-service personnel as another way of showing the
Council’s support to the armed forces.
The Leader referred to the Council decision
on the budget; reiterating that this was a decision taken by the Council not by
officers and highlighted the recorded vote which showed that the majority voted
in favour of the budget proposals which included the changes to the Mayoral
service. He said that he would be voting
for the motion but also felt that support for the armed forces came in
different forms as well as the event in question such as welfare, housing and getting work outside of the
forces. He also defended the action of
the officer writing the letter to the British Legion in that they were acting
in accordance with the Council’s wishes. The Leader asked that Councillors
ensure they read the detail in their Council papers and ask questions to inform
their decision-making in the future so that decisions such as this did not need
to be revisited. He also felt that the
Cabinet and Scrutiny model would tease out such concerns and the new process
would help to negate the need for reopening decisions.
Councillor Rhodes closed the debate and felt
that this motion gave Members the opportunity to put things right when they may
have had regrets as to how they had previously voted. He thanked the Chief
Executive and the Director for Legal and Democratic Services for their support
in drafting and facilitating the motion.
On being put to the vote, the motion was
unanimously carried.
RESOLVED that
(1) the letter sent recently to the British Legion by the Director of Legal and Democratic Services stating that the Council will not host an event for the Armed Forces Day be withdrawn;
(2) the Civic and Mayoral budgets be reviewed in order to provide funding for the Council to support this event and for the Mayor to continue to attend military and veteran events in the civic year 2019/20;
(3) the receipt of £69,000 arising from the successful claim for restitution following the theft of funds by fraud be made available for addressing any costs associated with these activities.
It was proposed and seconded to resume standing orders and on being put to the vote, the motion was carried.
The meeting resumed standing orders.