Agenda and minutes

to approve as a true and correct record the minutes of the Joint Meeting held on 4 June 2020;

OSDM.6/20      

The minutes of the Joint Meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel and Development Management Committee held on 4 June 2020 were confirmed as a true and correct record.

Members are invited to declare any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests, including the nature and extent of such interests they may have in any items to be considered at this meeting;

OSDM.7/20      

Members and officers were invited to declare any interests in the items of business to be considered during the course of the meeting but there were none made.

A period of up to 15 minutes is available to deal with issues raised by the public;

OSDM.8/20      

In accordance with the Public Forum Procedure Rules, the Chairman informed that no questions had been received for consideration during the agenda item.

Note: If any Member seeks further clarity, or wishes to raise issues regarding any future Executive agenda item, please contact Democratic Services before 5.00pm on Friday, 28 August 2020 to ensure that the lead Executive Member(s) and lead officer(s) are aware of this request in advance of the meeting.

OSDM.9/20      

The Joint Meeting was presented with the most recently published Executive Forward Plan.

In introducing the Plan, the Chairman confirmed that, in accordance with the adopted Procedure Rules, there had been no prior requests for updates to be received on any of the items listed.

OSDM.10/20    

Members considered a report that sought to recommend a series of options in order to produce an amended Revenue Budget for 2020/21.

In her introduction, the Leader of Council thanked Members for their invaluable contributions during the recent Budget Workshop and wished to put on record her gratitude for the hard work of the Section 151 Officer and her finance colleagues in producing such a comprehensive draft amended Budget for 2020/21.

In discussion, particular reference was made to:-

(a)   car parking income.  In light of the summer season in the South Hams being busier than previously envisaged, a Member asked whether this had seen a positive impact on car parking income.  In reply, officers advised that the information was still being compiled but would be available in time for the Executive meeting to be held on 17 September 2020;

(b)   the leisure contract.  The Joint Meeting was reminded that a further report on the leisure contract was to be considered by the Council at its meeting to be held on 24 September 2020;

(c)    an amendment to part 1 of the motion.  An amendment was PROPOSED and SECONDED that read as follows:

‘That the Joint Meeting recommend to the Executive to recommend to Council that the options 1 to 4 (as set out in Section 5.2 of the presented agenda report) be agreed (totalling £433,000) and the remainder of £880,000 be taken from the Unearmarked Reserve, in order to produce an Amended Revenue Budget for 2020-21.’

In their support for the amendment, some Members were of the view that it would be more appropriate (bearing in mind the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic being deemed an Emergency) for Unearmarked Reserves to be used to balance the Revenue Budget for 2020-21.  In contrast, other Members felt that it would not be prudent to use Unearmarked Reserves and believed that Members should trust the advice of their highly respected Section 151 Officer.

When put to the vote, the amendment was declared LOST.

       It was then:

RECOMMENDED

OSDM.11/20    

The Joint Meeting was presented with a report that summarised what continued to be a highly effective response to the challenges of the Pandemic; detailed key recovery actions already completed or underway; and proposals to develop and implement the first iteration of the Council’s long/medium term recovery and renewal plans.

The Chairman informed of his intention for the Meeting to consider the draft Recovery and Renewal Plan on a theme by theme basis:

Theme 1: Business and Economy

In discussion, the following points were raised:

(a)   The lead Executive Member advised that, whilst still very much in its infancy, he was committed to developing the Business Forum concept as the Plan continued to evolve;

(b)   An addition was PROPOSED and SECONDED for inclusion in the Plan that read as follows:

To include the following addition in accordance with action 1.5: ‘Engage with existing businesses to understand what support they need’:

‘Support taxpayers who currently find themselves excluded from meaningful support.’

The proposer highlighted that there were still local taxpayers who were not able to obtain meaningful support from Central Government for a variety of reasons and he considered it to be important for the Council to do everything that it could to assist these people.

The Joint Meeting proceeded to recommend that this addition should be included in the draft Plan;

Theme 2: Place and Environment

       In discussion, reference was made to:

(a)    the importance of the Climate Change and Biodiversity agenda being an underpinning issue throughout every aspect of the draft Plan;

(b)    increasing wildflower spaces and protecting wildlife corridors.  Some Members singled out these actions for particular focus and felt that the Council should place significant emphasis on these matters.  In addition, the view was expressed that the Council should look towards working in partnership with those local town and parish councils who had also declared a Climate Change and Biodiversity Emergency;

(c)    the need to utilise external advisors.  To deliver on a number of the proposed actions, a Member felt that the Council should be looking to take advantage of the wealth of external local knowledge and expertise that was residing within the South Hams area;

(d)    the proposal to influence the development of active travel schemes.  Support was expressed for the inclusion of this action within the draft Plan.

Theme 3: Residents, Communities and Partnerships

The Joint Meeting expressed its support for the content of the draft Plan as presented.

Theme 4: Service Recovery and Redesign

The Joint Meeting expressed its support for the content of the draft Plan as presented.

Theme 5: Communications and Governance

In discussion on this Theme, particular reference was made to:

(a)    the format of the Council Constitution.  The need to re-design the Council Constitution to ensure that it was a more reader friendly document was recognised;

(b)    an amendment to the draft Plan was PROPOSED and SECONDED that read as follows:

‘To consider utilising three day fallow periods before and after a single meeting to open  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.