Agenda and minutes

46.1     RESOLVED – to confirm the minutes of the previous meeting of the County Council held on 5 December 2017 as a correct record.

47.1     An apology for absence was received from Councillor Sarah Osbourne

NEW YEAR’S HONOURS

48.1     On behalf of the Council the Chairman congratulated all who lived or worked in East Sussex who had been recognised in the New Year’s Honours.

ROB CROSS

48.2     On behalf of the Chairman also congratulated Rob Cross from Hastings who won the World Darts Championship in January.

CHAIRMAN’S ACTIVITIES

48.3     The Chairman reported that he had attended a number of engagements since the last meeting including: the Mayor of Seaford’s carol service, the Mayor of Brighton’s civic Christmas service and a carol concert at Beacon Academy. The Chairman also hosted a Christmas reception and attended a Holocaust memorial service and a Citizenship ceremony. The Vice Chairman also attended a number of events including the St John’s Ambulance Service carol service and a service at Arundel Cathedral.

CHINESE NEW YEAR

48.4     The Chairman reported that the Chinese New Year begins on 16 February and wished all a happy Chinese New Year.

PRAYERS

48.5     The Chairman thanked the Reverend Stuart Davison, Regional Minister for the Baptist Union, South East Association for leading the prayers before the meeting.

PETITIONS

48.6     The Chairman informed the Council that immediately before the meeting the following petitions had been received:

49.1     Copies of the of the questions asked by Esme Needham from Hastings, Peter Newell from Lewes, Zuher Panju from the East Sussex Stroke Association, Maria Litchfield from the East Sussex Stroke Association, Dirk Campbell from Lewes, Emma Richardson from the East Sussex Stroke Association, Julia Hilton from Hastings, Fran Witt from Lewes, Gabriel Carlyle from St Leonards on Sea, Kim Golding from the East Sussex Stroke Association, Patricia Patterson-Vanegas from Forest Row, Sarah Bray from Southdown Housing Association, Lewes, Richard Pike from Forest Row, Nicholas Swift from Forest Row and Tara Galloway from the East Sussex Stroke Association and the answers from Councillor Maynard (Lead Member for Adult Social Care) and Councillor Stogdon (Chair of the Pension Committee) are attached to these minutes, Supplementary questions were asked and responded to.

50.1     The following member declared a personal interest in items on the agenda as follows:

51.1     The Chairman of the County Council, having called over the reports set out in the agenda, reserved the following paragraphs for discussion:

Cabinet                                                     -      paragraphs 1, 2 and 5

Lead Member for Transport and              -    paragraph 1    

Environment

NON-RESERVED PARAGRAPHS

51.2     On the motion of the Chairman of the County Council, the Council ADOPTED those paragraphs in the reports of the Committees that had not been reserved for discussion as follows:

Cabinet report paragraph 3 – Council Monitoring 2017/18 Quarter 3

Cabinet report paragraph 4 – Annual Progress Report for Looked After Children’s Services

Cabinet report paragraph 6 – Annual Audit Letter

Governance Committee report paragraph 1 – Revisions to Procurement Standing Orders

Governance Committee report paragraph 2 – Amendment to Constitution – Scheme of Delegation to Officers

Governance Committee report paragraph 3 – Amendment to Constitution - Motions

Governance Committee report paragraph 4 – Terms of Reference of Governance Committee and Quarterly Monitoring

Paragraph 1 (Treasury Management Policy and Strategy) and Paragraph 5 (Conservators of Ashdown Forest Budget)

52.1 Councillor Glazier moved the reserved paragraphs (paragraph 1 and 5) of the Cabinet’s report.

52.2 The motions were CARRIED after debate

Paragraph 2 –Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources

52.3 Under Standing Order 23, the Council agreed that the speeches of the Leaders of the five groups (or their nominees) on paragraph 2 of the Cabinet’s report should be extended beyond five minutes.

52.4     Councillor Elkin moved the adoption of paragraph 2 of the Cabinet’s report.

52.5     The following amendment was moved by Councillor Tutt and seconded:

Delete paragraph 2.53 of the Cabinet’s report and replace with:-

            (1)  approve, in principle, the draft Council Plan at Appendix 6 and authorise the Chief Executive to finalise the Plan in consultation with the relevant Lead Members;

           (2)  approve the net Revenue Budget estimates totalling £371.3m for 2018/19 as set out in Appendices 4 (Medium Term Financial Plan) and 5 (Budget Summary) and authorise the Chief Operating Officer, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer, Leader and Deputy Leader, to make adjustments to the presentation of the budget to reflect the final settlement and budget decisions with the following amendments

1.    Reinstate savings proposed for Older People Services: Review of Milton Grange and Firwood House Intermediate Care Services - £1,232,000

2.    Reinstate savings proposed for Assessment & Care Management - £1,958,000

3.    Reinstate savings proposed for Supporting People: Accommodation and Building Services - £800,000

4.    Reinstate savings proposed for Carers - £422,000

5.    Reinstate savings proposed for the Stroke Association - £79,000

6.    Reinstate savings proposed for Early Help (noting that the target for 2018/19 was to be temporarily mitigated from reserves) - £1,561,000

7.    Reinstate savings proposed for Home to School Transport - £567,000

8.    Partially reinstate savings proposed for closure of seven libraries - £350,000

9.    Partially reinstate savings proposed for grass cutting - £200,000

Total of proposed revenue amendments - £7,169,000

To be funded by:

10.  Reduce Venue Hire budgets - £95,000

11.  Reduce staffing budgets by a vacancy factor of 2.5% - £3,535,000

12.  Reduce Business Services/Orbis budget - £200,000

13.  Reduce Property Maintenance budget - £50,000

14.  Reduce Communications budget - £500,000

15.  Reduce Senior Management & Organisational Development (SMOD) operational budget - £87,700

16.  Reduce Senior Management & Organisational Development (SMOD) external legal services budget - £50,000

17.  Remove Core Maintenance budget and replace with Parking Surplus - £150,000

18.  Reduce budget for Waste - £300,000

19.  Reduce Cultural Strategy budget - £40,000

20.  Reduce revenue contribution to capital from £4.0m to £3.4m - £561,900

21.  Less cost of borrowing for reducing revenue contribution to capital - (£100,600)

22.  Use annuity method to calculate the Minimum Revenue Provision - £1,600,000

23.  Set target income for impact of new short term investment strategy - £100,000

Total of proposed revenue funding amendments - £7,169,000

24.  Additionally, to ring-fence £1.0m from the Priority Outcomes & Transformation Reserve to fund a transformation and restructuring programme.

            (3)  in accordance with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

53.1     Councillor Bennett moved the reserved paragraph in the report of the Lead Member for Transport and Environment.

53.2     The following amendment was moved by Councillor Philip Daniel and seconded and LOST:

(insert) The County Council to note  –

 (1)  (delete) not to agree the Notice of Motion as set out in paragraph 1.1; and

(insert)

·         The damage done to many smaller roads, especially in villages and rural areas, by Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) using roads that are too small for them;

·         The work done by the Local Government Association to highlight this problem; and

·         That HGV (lorry) satellite navigation systems (sat-navs) are similar to normal car sat-navs but with the inclusion of bridge heights, narrow roads, and roads unsuitable for HGVs;

·         That, in addition, HGV sat-navs allow the driver to enter the lorry’s dimensions – height, width, length, weight and load – so that the HGV is guided only along suitable roads.

This Council calls for:

(1)  the Government to legislate so all HGVs and large vehicles install suitable sat-navs designed for lorries; and

(2)  The Chief Executive to write to the Secretary of State for Transport to support the mandatory use of suitable sat-navs designed for lorries

  (delete) (2) to agree that the Lead Member, in consultation with the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport and the Motion’s proposer, writes on behalf of the County Council to the Secretary of State for Transport tohighlight the issues and impacts that local authorities and local communities in our rural areasare facing as a result of the damage caused by HGVs to our minor road network

53.3     The following motion was moved by Councillor Bennett and CARRIED:

   (1) not to agree the Notice of Motion as set out in paragraph 1.1; and

   (2) to agree that the Lead Member, in consultation with the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport and the Motion’s proposer, writes on behalf of the County Council to the Secretary of State for Transport to highlight the issues and impacts that local authorities and local communities in our rural areas are facing as a result of the damage caused by HGVs to our minor road network

(a)  Oral questions to Cabinet Members

(b)  Written Questions of which notice has been given pursuant to Standing Order 44

54.1     The following members asked questions of the Lead Cabinet Members indicated and they responded:

WRITTEN QUESTIONS PURSUANT TO STANDING ORDER 44

54.2     There were no written questions