Agenda item

73/16              

Consideration was given to a report that sought a decision of the Council regarding whether or not a Local Authority Controlled Company (LACC) should be established jointly with West Devon Borough Council.

At the request of some Members, the Chairman agreed that each of the five recommendations should be debated and voted upon separately.  In so doing, the following points were raised:-

(a)   Some Members expressed their concerns at the level of expenditure that had already been spent on the LACC project and were of the view that the work should go no further, with the Joint Steering Group (JSG) being disbanded.  As a consequence, an amendment to recommendation 2 was PROPOSED and SECONDED whereby the words ‘at this time’ should be deleted.

In the subsequent debate, some Members felt that deletion of these words would be overly restrictive and it may be beneficial to retain the ability to establish some form of alternative LACC in the future.  In contrast, other Members felt that the inclusion of these three words was wholly unnecessary.

When put to the vote, the amendment was (by virtue of a Chairman’s Casting Vote) declared LOST;

(b)   Concern was expressed by a Member of the Audit Committee at the perceived lack of input invited from that Committee during this project.  Other Committee Members felt that the Audit Committee had played a key independent role in this project.  Nonetheless, an amendment was PROPOSED as follows:

‘That the associated finance and risk issues be considered as a formal agenda item at the next Audit Committee meeting prior to any further consideration by the Joint Steering Group.’

This amendment was not seconded.  However, the Chairmen of the Audit Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Panel both gave a commitment that they would keep a watching brief on the work of the JSG;

(a)   The Leader gave an assurance of the intention to retain political balance (and therefore Opposition Group Member representation) on the JSG;

(b)   In response to Member concerns over the influence of the JSG, an amendment was PROPOSED and SECONDED as shown in italics (below):

‘That the remaining funding for the LACC project be earmarked to fund further work by the Joint Steering Group within their revised terms of reference, subject to a cap being imposed of £20,000 on any single piece of expenditure.’

In support of the amendment, some Members felt that the JSG should not be given the authority to spend significant sums of public money and, in the event of a request being made for a single piece of expenditure to be made for over £20,000, then this should be referred to the Executive for its approval. 

When put to the vote, this amendment was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED

1.     That the recommendations of the Joint Steering Group (as outlined at Appendix 1 of the presented agenda report) ne noted;

2.     That the Council agree with the Joint Steering Group recommendation to not form a Local Authority Controlled Company in its proposed form at this time;

3.     That the Joint Steering Group continue to meet with revised terms of reference being put into place to consider other options in respect of shared arrangements and financial challenges;

4.     That the revised terms of reference for the Joint Steering Group (as set out in Appendix 2 of the presented agenda report) be approved; and

5.     That the remaining funding for the LACC project be earmarked to fund further work by the Joint Steering Group within their revised terms of reference, subject to a cap being imposed of £20,000 on any single piece of expenditure.