Agenda and draft minutes

The Mayor welcomed everyone to the November Council meeting.

He went on to report the very sad news of the passing of Councillor Edward Blake, Labour councillor for Baxenden.  Councillor Blake had been elected for the first time in May of this year and had served the Council diligently, until his passing.  The thoughts of the whole Council were with his family and friends at this sad time.

Councillors Gilbert, Dad, Anderson and Aziz all spoke kindly about Councillor Blake and noted his humility, his quiet and reserved demeanour, his thoughtfulness and willingness to serve the community and his love for animals.  In summary, he was an all-round gentleman, who would be sadly missed.  Councillor Khan added that, although the Conservative Group had not had sufficient time to get to know him well, the Group wished to offer its sincerest condolences to his family and to his Labour colleagues.

The Mayor reminded Members that in August of this year, two former councillors had also passed away:

• Ed Saville was a former Leader of the Council from 1986 to 1988 and had been awarded the title of Honorary Alderman in 2004.  He had served as a Labour Councillor for Hyndburn for 7 years between 1980 and 1988.

• Maurice Cowell was a former Mayor of the Borough in 1997/98 and had been awarded the title of Honorary Alderman in 2005.  He had served as a Labour Councillor for Hyndburn for 8 years between 1991 and 1999.

As a mark of respect for the aforementioned departed colleagues, councillors were invited to stand to observe a one minute silence.  This was dutifully observed, following which Members retook their seats.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Scott Brerton, Stephen Button, Joyce Plummer,Clare Pritchard andMohammed Younis.

The Mayor reported that all Members currently had an up to date dispensation, which included authority to speak and vote in connection with Members Allowances.  This dispensation was relevant for the purposes of Agenda Item 8 - Review of the Members Expenses Scheme.

Councillor Clare Yates declared a personal interest in Motion 3 (Accrington Victoria Hospital) at Agenda Item 11, as an employee of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.  However, in her employment role, she was not connected to services provided at that site.

Councillor Andy Gilbertdeclared a personal interest in Motion 3 (Accrington Victoria Hospital) at Agenda Item 11, as an NHS employee, but not connected to the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

a)    Mayor

b)    Leader of the Council

c)    Chief Executive

The Mayor made the following announcements:

1)         Street Angels

The Mayor announced that he was part of the Accrington Christian Churches Together Street Angels, who patrolled and provided assistance to people on the streets of Accrington Town Centre on Saturday evenings between 10pm and 2am.  On Sunday 27^th October 2024, he had attended a celebration of the group which had just completed its first full year of operation.  Some impressive statistics were provided, as follows:

• Over 500 calming interventions;
• 104 homelessness interventions;
• 25 first aid assistance provided;
• 24 taxis called;
• 74 persons picked up from the ground;
• 100 persons provided with food and drink;
• 50 persons provided with clothing;
• 2 persons escorted home;
• 3 persons taken to Accident & Emergency;
• 5 ambulance calls made;
• 1 person saved from death;
• 1 person saved from severe harm; and
• 50 persons provided with flip-flops and water.

The results were a credit to the Street Angels, which comprised a small group of individuals.  The Mayor wished to congratulate them for their achievements.  He was very proud of the group and of other volunteers in the community who gave their time freely.

2)     Remembrance Sunday

This weekend would see the commemoration of Remembrance Sunday, a time during which communities remembered those who had lost their lives or who had suffered from the horrors of war.  War itself was the enemy and this was a time for communities to pray for peace throughout the world.  The services held on Remembrance Sunday should remind everybody of the futility of war.

The Leader of the Council then made the following announcements:

3)         Local Government Association Corporate Peer Challenge

Last week the Council had welcomed a team of peers from across the local government family, including both elected members and officers.  They had conducted a Corporate Peer Challenge, which was a tried and tested process focussed on supporting improvement within individual councils and identifying good practice across the sector.

The team had met over 110 people in 35 meetings across two very full days.

The overall messages were very positive and reflected that there was much that the Council should be proud of.  The team had particularly remarked that Hyndburn had a friendly, loyal and dedicated workforce and strong partnerships across the community.  The team was impressed by the Council’s ambition, improvements made on systems and information from the Finance team and the Borough’s success in attracting funding.

The team would be producing a report ,which would provide more details on this and include their recommendations.  The next step would be for the Council to consider these and produce an action plan, which would be published along with the report.

The peer team would return in about 10 months to see how the Council was progressing with the actions.

The Council was looking forward to building on this valuable feedback to drive some improvements.

Councillor Dad was keen to thank officers, councillors and the Leader of the Opposition for their hard work and valued contributions.

4)         Islamophobia  ...  view the full minutes text for item 222.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Council meeting held on 26^th September 2024 (attached).

The Minutes of the Council meeting held on 26^th September 2024 were provided.

Councillor Shabir Fazal OBE highlighted the reference at Minute 160(6) to the previous letter about the Israel/Gaza conflict sent by the Leader of the Council to The Rt Hon David Lammy, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.  He welcomed both letters, but felt that their timing was a little late.  He also indicated that there were firms locally who made and supplied parts for F35 jets, which were involved in dropping bombs on Gaza.  He asked what steps the Council might take to engage with those companies to halt production.  He considered that that the companies may also be in breach of international law.  He hoped that the Council would speak to those companies to advise them of the legal position and do all in its power to prevent any unlawful trading.

Resolved                                    -    That the Minutes of Council meeting held on 26^th September 2024 be approved as correct records.

To deal with any questions submitted under Council Procedure Rule A2.2(vi).

One eligible question has been received (report attached).

One eligible question had been received, which was set out in the report.  The Mayor advised that a lengthy preamble to that question, included in the report, had provided some background information and context.  It was not proposed to read out the whole of the preamble on the understanding that Members would have already noted that information.  Accordingly, the Mayor read aloud the question only as shown below.

1)         Engagement with Taxi Drivers and Operators

To the Leader of the Council (Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP)

Submitted by Councillor Shabir Fazal

“Will the Council consider developing an overall strategy to engage with local taxi drivers and operators with the aim of:

1.      Fully understanding why drivers and operators are choosing to get registered in Wolverhampton at considerable effort and expense rather than Hyndburn;

2.      Further changing the taxi testing regime in favour of Hybrid and fully electric vehicles.  For example, as hybrid and electric cars are far less polluting and far more reliable than even new diesel and petrol cars, extending the period that hybrid cars only needing to be testing every 12 months to the first 7 years of their life and the period for fully electric cars to the first 10 years of life;

3.      Identify incentives for drivers to switch to hybrid and fully electric taxis e.g. by offering reduced fees for taxi and operator licences for hybrid and fully electric cars or offer grants and loans to encourage purchase of new and second hand zero emissions cars including wheelchair accessible cars.  Additionally, the Council (Hyndburn and LCC) could include criteria in contract tenders to make these more favourable to operators with zero emission vehicles;

4.      Improve the car-charging infrastructure within Hyndburn and offer cheaper charging for taxi drivers?

Many of these are currently being done by forward thinking councils who take their net zero responsibilities seriously.  I hope Hyndburn will implement the obvious ones straight away and develop a longer strategy for others.”

Response:

The Leader thanked Councillor Fazal for the question.  He reported that the Council had established a Taxi Liaison Committee, which involved taxi drivers and representatives of operators.  The majority of issues were taken to this group for discussion.  Councillor Dad undertook to refer all of the above issues to the Committee for consideration.  If any changes were proposed, these would be decision for the Cabinet to take.

Councillor Fazal asked a follow up question, as set out below:

He thanked the Leader for his positive response.  Councillor Fazal had listened to the LGA Peer Review feedback on 31^st October 2024, which had highlighted the excellent net zero work undertaken by the Council.  The above engagement with the taxi trade would demonstrate that the Council was being progressive and the suggested actions were obvious steps forward.  He was aware that approximately 50% of licensed taxis in Hyndburn were purely petrol or diesel vehicles.  Given that the Council was committed to net zero emissions, he asked that incentives be approved to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 224.

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, Leader of the Council, about the outcome of the latest statutory review of polling places and polling districts in Hyndburn and proposing recommendations.

The Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 required the Council to review Hyndburn’s polling districts and polling stations periodically.  The review had to cover the polling stations and polling districts used for Parliamentary, County Council and Borough Council elections and a statutory review had commenced in September 2024, so that any changes arising from the review could be implemented prior to the Lancashire County Council elections in May 2025.

When carrying out the review the Council was required by legislation to:

• ensure that all electors had reasonable facilities for voting; and 
• ensure that as far as reasonable and practicable, polling places were accessible to all electors, including those with disabilities.

Polling Districts:

When reviewing polling districts the Council was required to look at the polling district boundaries and consider:

• were the boundaries well defined ?
• did the boundaries follow natural boundaries in the area ?
• was it clear which properties belonged in which polling district ?

In addition, the Council was required to look at the location of the polling district and consider:

• were there suitable transport links within the polling district and how well did these serve the areas of greatest population ?
• were there any obstacles to voters reaching the polling station e.g. steep hills, major roads that were hard to cross, railway lines, rivers etc ?

Polling Stations:

When reviewing polling stations the Council was required to look at the location of the polling station and consider:

·         was it easy to get to – were there convenient transport links or were there barriers such as steep hills, major roads etc ?

In addition, the Council was required to assess the size of the polling station and consider:

·         could several polling stations fit in the same room if need be ?

·         was the polling station big enough, especially if there was a high turnout ?

The Council also had to look at the suitability of the polling station and determine:

·         would the building be available if there was an unexpected election ?

·         was the building likely to be demolished or become disused ?

·         was the building accessible to people with a disability ?

Where possible, the Council had sought to avoid the use of mobile units as polling stations, as usually it was not possible to provide a wheelchair ramp within the space available at the relevant location.  However, in a small number of polling districts there was no other suitable venue available within the polling district (or within a reasonable distance within an adjacent polling district) and the Council had no option but to use a mobile unit.  Although this was not the ideal solution, experience from recent elections was that these units did not generate complaints or concerns in respect of a lack of full disabled access.

The full list of polling  ...  view the full minutes text for item 225.

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillor Melissa Fisher, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder forHousing and Communities, advising on the responses received to the consultation in respect of the Council’s draft revised Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles and proposing a policy for approval, having regard to the responses received.

Section 349 of the Gambling Act 2005 required that the Licensing Authority (the Council) prepared and published a Statement of Principles (the Policy) every three years.

The existing Policy had been kept under review since coming into force in January 2022.

In producing the draft policy the Licensing Authority had had due regard to –

• The Gambling Act 2005 licensing objectives namely:

o   Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime;

o   Ensuring gambling was being conducted in a fair and open way;

o   Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling;

• The Guidance to Licensing Authorities issued by the Gambling Commission (5^th edition); and
• Responses from those consulted on the Gambling Policy.

The draft proposals had been advertised on the Council’s website, with the consultation period running for 12 weeks from 15^th July 2024 to 30^th September 2024.  Letters had been sent out to the gambling trade and a public notice and information about the policy and consultation had been placed in all of Hyndburn’s public libraries.  The consultees comprised:

• Council chief officers and service heads;
• Gambling Commission;
• HM Revenue and Customs;
• Lancashire Constabulary;
• Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Authority;
• Lancashire County Council – including Lancashire Area Child Protection Committee and Trading Standards Section;
• All neighbouring Councils;
• Licensing Solicitors;
• The British Casino Association;
• Casino Operators Association of the UK;
• Company Secretary, Casino Operators Association of the UK;
• Business in Sport and Leisure;
• Racecourse Association Ltd;
• British Holiday & Home Parks Association;
• Community Trade Union;
• All Gambling and Licensing Premise Licence Holders;
• All Small Lottery Licence Holders; and
• The general public by way of the Council’s website.

Response to Consultation

There had been 2 representations received during the consultation period.  The Policy had been amended to reflect some of the comments in the consultation response submitted by Gosschalks Solicitors, on behalf of the Betting and Gaming Council.  The changes were highlighted in the draft policy appended to the report, at paragraphs 12.9 and 12.45.  However, although the second response was considered, the Licensing Manager did not think the Statement of Principles was the correct place to address the issues raised for the following reasons:

• The Gambling Act 2005 specifically required the Council to ‘aim to permit’ gambling. The legislation did not enable the policy to address general moral or ethical objections to gambling per se.  The policy was instead intended to ensure that the Council addressed the statutory licensing objectives.

• Problem gambling was dealt with under Government initiatives and by the Gambling Commission codes of practice.

• One of the licensing objectives covered by the policy was protecting children  ...  view the full minutes text for item 226.

Report attached.

Members considered a report ofCouncillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, Leader of the Council, regarding the recent review of the members expenses scheme and the recommendations of the Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel.

Councillor Dad provided a brief introduction to the report and thanked the Independent Remuneration Panel for their work.

The statutory role of the Independent Remuneration Panel was to advise the Council in respect of the allowances and expenses paid to councillors.  By law, the Council was unable to amend its members allowances scheme without having regard to the recommendations of its remuneration panel and this had to be done at a meeting of the Council as a whole, although the panel’s recommendations were not binding on the Council.  The Council was, therefore, able to take decisions about members allowances that differed from the recommendations of the remuneration panel.

By law, the Council was required to have a scheme for the payment of members’ allowances.  The scheme:

• must provide for payment of a basic allowance.  The basic allowance must be paid to every councillor and every councillor must be paid the same amount;
• may provide for the payment of special responsibility allowances which were paid to councillors who had special roles and responsibilities;
• may provide for payment of a childcare and dependant carer’s allowance.

A copy of the Council’s current members allowances scheme was set out in the report at Appendix 2.

The last significant change to members expenses occurred in 2011/12 when the Council had revised its members allowance scheme to reduce members allowances to 2009/10 levels.  This was to reflect the position with staff pay, which had remained static since 2009/10. Councillors were also limited to claiming only one special responsibility allowance each.

The Council’s members allowances scheme provided for basic and special responsibility allowances to be increased on 1^st April each year in line with the NJC local government pay award and, between 2011/12 – 2015/16, members allowances were therefore increased on this “inflation only” basis.  However, the law only permitted “inflation only” increases to be made for four consecutive years without the benefit of a remuneration panel report which considered whether the practice should continue and at what rate.  No such report had been presented to Council since 2011/12 and the allowances paid to members had therefore remained unchanged since 2015/16.

As the members allowances scheme had not been reviewed for several years, the Leaders Policy Development Board (which comprised the Leader and Deputy Leaders of the Council’s political groups) had met on 29^th July 2024 and had agreed unanimously to reconvene the Independent Remuneration Panel to consider the following matters:

a.         whether the Council should again have the capacity to increase allowances by reference to inflation as previously (subject to the legal proviso that this could only be done on four occasions without reference to the remuneration panel); and

b.         whether the special responsibility allowance for vice-chairs of overview and scrutiny committees was out of step with the special  ...  view the full minutes text for item 227.

To receive the Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 18^th September 2024 (attached).

Rules of Debate

·         The Leader of the Council will move the Minutes, the Deputy Leader of the Council will second the Minutes.

·         Non-executive Members will be invited to make comment or ask questions on the Minutes (5 Minutes).

·         Cabinet Members will be invited to make comments and respond to any points raised (5 Minutes).

·         The Leader of the Council will be given up to 15 Minutes to respond and to answer any questions raised.

The minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 18^th September 2024 were submitted.

The following matters were raised.

In respect of the announcement recorded at the start of the meeting regarding a grant of £30m for the Huncoat Garden Village project, the Leader commented that a visit by Homes England had taken place today.  The Council had invited them to attend and the Leader had thanked them in person for the funding offer.  He had also sought support from Homes England for elements of the Accrington Town Centre Masterplan.  Their response had been very positive.  Councillor Melissa Fisher commented that a visit from Homes England was almost unprecedented and was a positive sign.

Councillor Khan indicted that the Conservative Group also supported the decision to proceed with the development and would be happy to work with the controlling administration to make it a success and to secure the right housing for the Borough.  Councillor Khan expressed disappointment that the questions he had asked and the answers given at the Cabinet meeting had not been recorded more comprehensively in the formal minutes.

Resolved                                    -    That the Minutes be received and noted.

To receive the Minutes of committees, as set out below:

Rules of Debate

·         The Leader of the Council will introduce the Minutes as a whole.

·         Any Member may raise any issue from the Minutes; the Chair of the relevant Committee may respond (5 Minutes).

·         The Leader of the Council will close the debate (5 Minutes).

The Minutes of the following meetings were submitted:

Resolved                                    -    That the Minutes be received and noted.

Report attached.

Rules of Debate

·         Each motion shall be debated for no more than 20 minutes before being put to the vote.

·         No more than one and a half hours in totality shall be allowed at each meeting for the debate of all motions.

1)         Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre

The following motion was proposed by Councillor Danny Cassidy and seconded by Councillor Marlene Haworth, with support from signatories Councillors Zak Khan, Loraine Cox and Kath Pratt, under Council Procedure Rule A9:

“The Civic Theatre is a hub of activity that has welcomed residents of all ages into an amazing space of creativity and arts.  Sat in the heart of Oswaldtwistle, it provides a highly valuable community service to those in Hyndburn.

To ensure that the building is restored and reopened to a new glory, this Council commits to creating a new cross-party working group, to be chaired by Cllr Josh Allen, Deputy Mayor and local Ward Cllr for Immanuel.”

Councillors Kate Walsh and Stewart Eaves sought to move an amendment to the motion and a brief debate ensued about the issue of cross-party working.  Councillor Khan indicated that this had been the subject of an earlier discussion between Councillor Whitehead and himself.  However, in the absence of Councillor Whitehead it was not possible to clarify what had previously been agreed.

The Chief Executive sought to clarify the precise wording of the amendment, to enable officers to consider whether the proposed amendment was valid.  Before that could be actioned, a suggestion was put that the Mover and Seconder of the Motion might consider withdrawing it to enable further discussions to take place outside of the meeting.  Accordingly, Councillors Cassidy and Haworth sought to withdraw the motion and this received the consent of the meeting.

Councillors Alexander, Dad and Gilbert all spoke to affirm the Council’s commitment to returning the Civic Theatre to use and to working cross-party to achieve this outcome.  Councillor Allen thanked Councillor Whitehead, in her absence, for having invited him to participate in the recent meeting about the Theatre.

2)         Change to Council Procedure Rules

The following motion was proposed by Councillor Zak Khan and seconded by Councillor Danny Cassidy, with support from signatories Councillors Kath Pratt, Judith Addison, Loraine Cox, Josh Allen, Marlene Haworth, Mohammed Younis, Steven Smithson and Tina Walker, under Council Procedure Rule A9:

“This Council approves a change to Council Procedure Rules that reverts to allowing motions and notices to be signed by at least two members.”

Councillor Khan indicated that he had sent a letter to the Chief Executivesetting out the rationale for the proposal, which had subsequently been forwarded to the controlling group.  In effect, democracy should be seen to be transparent.  He acknowledged that when the change had been proposed initially, the Opposition had not noticed it.  The original report had referred to changes highlighted in red, which were not apparent in the published Appendix.

Hyndburn was the only local authority in Lancashire, which had adopted this procedure.  It was felt that this would unfairly affect minority political parties.  Councillors Fazal, Allen and Haworth spoke in favour of the motion.  Councillors Aziz, Walsh, Dad and Fisher spoke against the motion, noting that the original change had been fully supported at the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 230.

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The Mayor thanked all for their attendance and then closed the meeting.