Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Charlie O’Macaulay, Councillor Claire Farrier and Councillor Kitty Lyons.

The Worshipful the Mayor was present.

The Mayor’s chaplain, Dayan Yonason Abraham, offered prayers.

The following interests were declared:

The minutes of the meeting of 28 July 2015 were agreed as a correct record, subject to the amendment of two typographical errors noting that items 17 and 20 should state ‘The Worshipful the Mayor’ rather than ‘the Right Worshipful the Mayor.

The Worshipful the Mayor announced he was pleased to advise Council of a letter he had written to Her Majesty the Queen on behalf of Council on 9 September stating:

“On behalf of the Council and Citizens of the London Borough of Barnet, it gives me great pleasure to send to Her Majesty The Queen, ‘Loyal Greetings’ and congratulations on the occasion of becoming Great Britain’s longest reigning monarch. 

We would like to express our gratitude for Her Majesty’s dedicated and selfless contribution to the life of our Borough, our Nation and the Commonwealth.”

The Worshipful the Mayor welcomed to the Council meeting representatives from Citizens UK, Middlesex University and a number of Barnet synagogues who were in attendance in support of the Council’s motion on the Syrian Refugee crisis later on in the agenda.  He noted that the representatives were welcome to stay for the meeting and the Council thanked them for their support.

The Worshipful the Mayor noted that since the last Council meeting there had been a Barnet war memorial relocation of a Hendon war memorial where a plaque was given for the lost service soldiers from Hendon of the Second World War which had not been there previously.

He further noted several successes and achievements.  Since the last meeting of Council, Barnet students had won a film competition which had received 500 entries national.  Barnet’s entry came first with an anti-smoking campaign advert.  Also, the Advocacy in Barnet group had recently won the Queens Award which was presented by the Deputy Lieutenant.  The Mayor noted Barnet had also held its first ever Silver Sunday celebration for Barnet’s elderly people in the Town Hall which was a great success and which he hoped would be continued going forward.

In relation to procedural matters, the Worshipful the Mayor reminded Members that supplementary Council Questions need to be questions and not speeches.

There was none.

The questions, together with the answers provided and the text of any supplementary questions and answers, are set out in Appendix 1 to the minutes.

There were none.

There was none.

Councillor Brian Salinger moved reception and adoption of the recommendations set out in the report of the Audit Committee. Debate ensued.

Upon being put to the vote the recommendations in the report of the Audit Committee Community were declared carried.

RESOLVED – That Council note the Annual Report of the Audit Committee for 2014-15.

Councillor Daniel Thomas moved reception and adoption of the recommendations set out in the report of the Assets Regeneration and Growth Committee, and the supplementary report to Council as tabled.  Councillor Geof Cooke moved his amendment.  Debate ensued.

The amendment in name of Councillor Geof Cooke was put to the vote. Votes were recorded as follows:

For:           27

Against:    32

Abstain:      1

Absent:       3

TOTAL:     63

The amendment was declared lost.

The recommendations as set out in the Supplementary report were put to the vote. Votes were declared as follows:

For:           32

Against:    28

Abstain:      0

Absent:       3

TOTAL:     63

At least ten members called for a formal division on the voting.  Upon the vote being taken, the results of the division were declared as follows:

For:              32

Against:        28

Abstain:          0

Absent:           3

TOTAL:        63

The recommendations in the report were declared carried.

RESOLVED that Council:

1.          Considered the objections received

2.          Declared the land as surplus to the Council’s requirements.

3.          Approved the granting of a two year call option to HGS Properties (Brookdene Holden Road Ltd) to purchase the public open space land at the rear of 71 Holden Road on a 150 year lease subject to (i) planning, (ii) a tree maintenance plan (iii) compliance with the requirements so far as applicable of the Localism Act 2011 and The Assets of Community Value (England) regulations 2012 and (iv) the requirements of s 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 to obtain the best price that can be reasonably obtained. A condition of the lease will be that the public are afforded access to the amenity land.

4.          Delegated authority to the Chief Operating Officer in consultation with the Chairman of the Assets Regeneration and Growth Committee to negotiate and finalise the terms of the Lease including the 2 year call option.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Councillor Reuben Thompstone moved reception and adoption of the recommendations set out in the report of the Children Education Libraries and Safeguarding Committee. Councillor Anne Hutton moved her amendment. Debate ensued.

The amendment in name of Councillor Anne Hutton was put to the vote. Votes were recorded as follows:

For:           28

Against:    32

Abstain:      0

Absent:       3

TOTAL:     63

The amendment was declared lost.

The recommendations as set out in the report were put to the vote. Votes were declared as follows:

For:           32

Against:    28

Abstain:      0

Absent:       3

TOTAL:    63

At least ten members called for a formal division on the voting.  Upon the vote being taken, the results of the division were declared as follows:

For:              32

Against:        28

Abstain:          0

Absent:           3

TOTAL:        63

The recommendations in the report were declared carried.

RESOLVED -

1.          That the Council consider consultation findings on Barnet’s future library service that took place between the 10^th November 2014 and 22^nd February 2015 set out in full in Appendix E.

2.          That the Council consider the revised options appraisal and proposal for Barnet’s future library service contained in Appendix A and summarised in paragraph’s 1.11 to 1.22.2 of the report.

3.          That the Council agree that the proposal for Barnet’s future library service contained in Appendix A and summarised in paragraph’s 1.11 to 1.22.2 (below) are approved for further public consultation.

4.          That Council approve the commencement of a further round of public consultation on this proposal in accordance with the consultation plan as set out in section 5.11 of the report.

5.          That the Commissioning Director for Children and Young People, in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee, is delegated by the Children’s, Education, Library and Safeguarding Committee to approve the final consultation design.

6.          That the Council note that a further  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

The Worshipful the Mayor called on Councillor Richard Cornelius to introduce the report. It was noted that if Members had any questions relating to information contained in the exempt report they would need to be heard at the end of the meeting in exempt session. There were no such questions.

Councillor Richard Cornelius introduced the report, noting that Policy and Resources Committee had made an amendment to recommendation 1. in the report that the finalisation, agreement and sealing of the Shareholder Agreement with The Barnet Group be authorised by the Commissioning Director Growth and Development in consultation with the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee. Debate ensued.

Separate votes were taken on each of the recommendations as set out in the report.

Votes on recommendation one, as amended by Policy and Resources Committee, were declared as follows:

For:           32

Against:      0

Abstain:    28

Absent:       3

TOTAL:     63

Votes on recommendation two were declared as follows:

For:           60

Against:      0

Abstain:      0

Absent:       3

TOTAL:     63

Votes on recommendation three were declared as follows:

For:           32

Against:    27

Abstain:      1

Absent:       3

TOTAL:     63

The recommendations were declared carried.

RESOLVED that Council:

1.         Authorises the Commissioning Director, Growth and Development in consultation with the Chairman of Policy and Resources Committee to finalise, agree and seal the Shareholder Agreement with The Barnet Group.

2.         Approves the creation of a Registered Provider subsidiary of Barnet Homes.

3.         Approves the creation of a new The Barnet Group Terms and Conditions Trading Company.

Councillor Tom Davey moved reception and adoption of the recommendations set out in the report of the Housing Committee.  Councillor Ross Houston moved his amendment. Debate ensued.

The amendment in name of Councillor Ross Houston was put to the vote. Votes were recorded as follows:

For:           28

Against:    32

Abstain:      0

Absent:       3

TOTAL:     63

The amendment was declared lost.

The recommendations as set out in the report were put to the vote. Votes were declared as follows:

For:           31

Against:    28

Abstain:      1

Absent:       3

TOTAL:     63

The recommendations were declared carried.

RESOLVED that Council:

1.         Approve the final Housing Strategy at Appendix A.

2.         Approve the final Commissioning Plan at Appendix B.

The Chief Executive moved reception and adoption of the recommendations set out in the report. It was noted there was a typographical error in paragraph 15.3 of Appendix A, with two missing words; the sentence should read ‘Where a decision is made by the Board the decision shall be published.’ 

The recommendations as set out in the report were put to the vote, and were declared carried.

RESOLVED that Council:

1.         Agree the proposed call-in mechanism for decisions made by the West London Economic Prosperity Board, as set out in Appendix A.

2.         Amend the Constitution as set out in Appendices A and B.

3.         Recommend to Performance and Contract Management Committee that, in line with this call-in mechanism, it establishes a sub-committee to respond to any items referred to it from the West London Economic Prosperity Board.

The Head of Governance moved reception and adoption of the recommendations set out in the report.

The recommendations as set out in Appendix A to the report were put to the vote, and were declared carried.

The recommendations as set out in Appendix B to the report were put to the vote, and were declared carried.

Councillor Joan Scannell moved her amendments to Appendix C, as tabled, which were duly seconded.  Council noted that the party conference dates for 2016 and 2017 had not been finalised.   As such, there may be a need to revise committee dates in September and October of these years to accommodate the conferences.

The recommendations in Appendix C as amended were put to the vote and declared carried.

RESOLVED that Council:

1.         Note the changes to the Calendar of Meetings 2014/15 in Appendix A

2.         Approve an increase the membership of the Corporate Parenting Advisory Panel to 10 members, as set out in Appendix B

3.         Appoint Councillor Shimon Ryde to the Corporate Parenting Advisory Panel, as set out in Appendix B

4.         Endorse the Calendar of Meetings 2016/17 and 2017/18 as attached in Appendix C

5.         Authorise the Head of Governance to facilitate variations to the calendars in consultation with the Chairman of the General Functions Committee and the Leaders of the main Political Parties.

6.         Agree that any changes should be reported to the next Council Meeting.

There were none.

The Worshipful the Mayor movedunder Council Procedure Rules 7.1 and 7.2 for the Suspension of Full Council Procedure Rule 2(14) to ask Council to agree to take a joint motion in the names of Councillor Richard Cornelius, Councillor Alison Moore and Councillor Jack Cohen. The suspension of Council Procedure Rules was duly agreed, and debate ensued.

Council voted on the joint motion, and the motion was duly carried.

RESOLVED –

Councillor Alan Schneiderman moved his motion and requested that under Council Procedure Rule 23.5 the Motion be referred to Environment Committee for consideration, which was duly agreed.

RESOLVED that under Council Procedure Rule 23.5 the Motion be referred to Environment Committee for consideration.

There were none.

RESOLVED – Council noted the exempt report.