Agenda and minutes

Venue: This meeting will be held remotely via Teams - Remote Meeting. View directions

Contact: Dave Brown/Paul Wheeler  Email: democraticsupport@northtyneside.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

C67/20

Former Councillor Phil O'Keefe

Minutes:

Members observed a minute’s silence in memory of Phil O’Keefe, a former Councillor for Chirton and Camperdown Wards, who had recently passed away.

C68/20

To receive any Declarations of Interest

You are invited to declare any registerable and/or non-registerable interests in matters appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest.

 

Please complete the Declarations of Interests card available at the meeting and return it to the Democratic Services Officer before leaving the meeting.

 

You are also invited to disclose any dispensation from the requirement to declare any registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been granted to you in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

 

Minutes:

Councillor A McMullen declared a registerable personal interest in relation to

Motion 1 as his employer had business connections with the company Talk Talk.

 

Councillor P Earley declared a registerable personal interest in relation to

Item 5 – Freedom of the Borough as he was a trustee of North Tyneside Carers Centre.

 

 

C69/20

Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2020 (previously circulated)

Minutes:

Resolved that the minutes of the Council meeting held on 19 March 2020 be taken as read, confirmed and signed by the Chair.

C70/20

Motions pdf icon PDF 142 KB

Five valid Motions on Notice, signed by at least three Members of the Council, have been received for consideration at this meeting.

 

Minutes:

 

Motion 1 signed by Councillors M Thirlaway, F Lott and M Hall

 

It was moved by Councillor M Thirlaway and seconded by Councillor F Lott that:

 

North Tyneside Council notes the Government’s decision to replace Public Health England with the National Institute for Health Protection.

 

We condemn the decision to appoint Baroness Dido Harding as the temporary chair of this new organisation.

 

We believe Baroness Harding is an unsuitable appointment due to her lack of experience and expertise in public health and her failure as Head of the NHS Track and Trace during the coronavirus outbreak.

 

We believe Baroness Harding’s appointment is a political decision that fails to prioritise public health during a worldwide pandemic.

 

North Tyneside Council requests that the Elected Mayor writes to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care expressing our opposition to this appointment.

 

The Motion, on being put to the meeting, was approved by 39 votes to 6 votes.

 

Motion 2 signed by Councillors M Rankin, C Johnson and B Pickard

 

It was moved by Councillor C Johnson and seconded by Councillor B Pickard that:

 

Council notes:

 

·         that the COVID-19 crisis has had a profound impact on the Council’s staff, services, and income;

·         that, at the start of the crisis, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government urged councils to do “whatever was necessary” to control the spread of the virus;

·         that the Secretary of State also promised full financial reimbursement to councils for the financial impact of the crisis;

·         that, despite three welcome tranches of money, the Council still faces an in-year financial shortfall;

·         that the Government changed the distribution formula between allocations of funding, skewing resources away from urban areas with higher levels of COVID to shire counties and rural areas, with lower levels of COVID;

·         that the LGA estimates the financial gap facing the local government sector to be £7.4bn;

·         that recent IFS analysis reports that councils are facing a “perfect storm” of funding and that many will have to make in-year budget cuts as a result of the failure of Government to fully compensate for losses.

 

Council believes:

 

·         that the Government should honour their promise to reimburse councils in full for financial losses;

·         that it would be a national outrage if councils were forced to reduce services and lay off the staff who have gone the extra mile to support our communities through the crisis.

 

Council calls upon the Mayor to:

 

·         write to the Secretary of State to ask him to honour his pledge to fund

councils fully;

 

·         sign up to the Unison campaign Back the #10BillionBailout for local services (see https://action.unison.org.uk/page/63837/petition/1?locale=en-GB);

 

·         campaign for a decent and fair settlement for local government in the

forthcoming Spending Review.

 

The Motion, on being put to the meeting, was approved by 41 votes to 6 votes.

 

Motion 3 signed by Councillors C Davis, W Samuel and B Burdis

 

It was moved by Councillor C Davis and seconded by Councillor W Samuel that:

 

This Council resolves to endorse the Covid  ...  view the full minutes text for item C70/20

C71/20

Freedom of the Borough pdf icon PDF 236 KB

A report to consider nominations received for Ylana First and the North Tyneside Carers Centre for the award of Freedom of the Borough.

Minutes:

A report was considered that informed Council of nominations received for Ylana First and the North Tyneside Carers Centre to be awarded the Freedom of the Borough.

 

In accordance with the Authority’s procedure for the award of the Freedom of the Borough, the Overview, Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee had received a report at its meeting on 2 March 2020 and had agreed to recommend both nominations to Council for consideration.

 

Council was informed that, due to exceptional circumstances, the nomination for Ylana First had been agreed following urgent consultation with the Elected Mayor and political party group leaders and a presentation had been held in July 2020.

 

The North Tyneside Carers Centre had been proposed by Councillor

C Davis seconded by Councillor M Wilson.

 

Supporting information was detailed in the report in relation to the nominations.

 

The Council was asked to consider the nominations taking into account the provisions of section 249 of the Local Government Act 1972, which permitted the Council to admit to be honorary freemen persons of distinction and persons who had, in the opinion of the Council, rendered eminent services to the Borough. Any decision to admit the nominee was required to be approved by not less than two thirds of Members voting thereon at the Council meeting.

 

It was moved by the Elected Mayor and seconded by Councillor S Day that:

 

(1)  the award of Freedom of the Borough to Ylana First be ratified; and

(2)  the North Tyneside Carers Centre be awarded the Freedom of the Borough.

 

The Motion, on being put to the meeting, was approved by 45 votes to 0 votes.

C72/20

Annual Review of the Constitution pdf icon PDF 233 KB

To receive and approve a report of the annual review of the Constitution and associated documents.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council received a report on the Annual Review of the Constitution and associated documents undertaken by the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Constitution Task Group.

 

The report contained recommendations to the main Constitution (Audit Committee terms of reference) and Contract Standing Orders to ensure that they continued to be fit for purpose and provide a framework which ensured the efficient discharge of the Authority’s business by allowing for decision making at the appropriate level.

 

It was moved by Councillor F Lott and seconded by Councillor B Pickard that:

 

Council approve the proposed changes to the Constitution and Contract Standing Orders set out in Appendix 1 to the report and refer the approved changes to the Elected Mayor for her consent in accordance with Article 15 of the Constitution. 

 

An amendment was moved by Councillor K Barrie and seconded by Councillor J Wallace, as follows:

 

Contract Standing Orders: to replace ‘For contracts valued at up to £10,000, the Budget Manager concerned may invite one quotation’ with ‘For contracts valued at up to £10,000, the Budget Manager concerned may invite two quotations’.

 

The amendment, on being put to the meeting, was rejected by 40 votes to 5 votes.

 

The Motion, on being put to the meeting, was approved by 41 votes to 5 votes.

C73/20

Chair's Announcements

To receive any announcements by the Chair of Council.

 

Minutes:

The Deputy Chair, Councillor Drummond extended his best wishes to Mr Michael Taylor in his retirement and thanked him for his community service of 53 years with 21st troop of the Whitley Bay Scouts.

C74/20

Elected Mayor's Announcements

To receive any announcements by the Elected Mayor.

 

Minutes:

The Elected Mayor provided an update on local restrictions that had been introduced in the light of the increasing rates of Covid-19 infection in the North East. She stated that the Leaders and Elected Mayors of the seven North East local authorities and the North East Combined Authority had approached the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to request support and resources in applying the local restrictions in an attempt to protect the community and aid recovery.

 

She also provided details of two coronavirus walk-through testing sites within the borough, one at The Parks Leisure Centre, North Shields which had opened today, and the other at Coronation Street Car Park, Wallsend, that would be opening tomorrow.

 

The Mayor expressed her gratitude to all Local Authority staff and volunteers for ensuring the continued operation of all essential services throughout the pandemic. She noted that many of the staff were amongst the lowest paid, however they continued to place their own safety at risk to serve the North Tyneside Community.