Agenda and minutes

Venue: Online via the Zoom App

Contact: Susan Howl  01395 517540 email  showl@eastdevon.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Public Speaking

Information on public speaking is available online.

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed members of the public and Councillors to the Joint meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees and explained that all participants were taking part remotely and the meeting was also being viewed online and recorded.

She outlined that based on the decision of the Extraordinary Meeting of Council held on 26th July, the Council had delegated much of its decision taking power to its Senior Officers. This is for a short period of time only and due to concerns relating to COVID risk. Consequently, the meeting is held on a consultative basis only, and the procedural rules detailed in the Council’s Constitution, will continue to be adhered to.  

However, where the meeting would have normally decided a matter, it will now make recommendation to a Senior Officer. The Officer will then take that recommendation into account, when making their decision.   

The Chair went on to explain that since the meeting was a joint meeting between two Committees and the Chair of Scrutiny was unable to attend, she wanted to appoint a Vice Chair solely for this meeting and Cllr Pook had offered to perform this role. She invited members to confirm their support for this, and following a vote Cllr Pook was duly asked to act as Vice Chair for the meeting.

 

The Chair then started the meeting by doing a roll call of those present, and confirmed that the meeting was quorate.

 

There were no members of the public registered to speak.

 

2.

Minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 253 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair asked for comments on the Minutes from the previous Overview Committee meeting held on 12th November 2020.

 

Cllr Rylance wanted to offer retrospective apologies since she had not offered them for the meeting but had not been in attendance.

 

The Chair then invited Cllrs to vote in favour, against or abstaining recommending approval of the Minutes.

 

Following a vote of those present the Chair confirmed that the minutes were recommended for approval.

 

RECOMMENDATION: to approve the minutes of the last meeting following a vote of those present.

 

DECISION:

The recommendation was approved by a Senior Officer.  The Senior Officer Decision Notice is listed above under Additional Documents.

 

 

3.

Declarations of interest

Guidance is available online to Councillors and co-opted members on making declarations of interest.

Minutes:

79. Draft Updated Council Plan 2021 – 2023.  Councillors Vicky Johns, Dean Barrow, Alasdair Bruce, Maddy Chapman, Olly Davey, Steve Gazzard, Marcus Hartnell, Sam Hawkins, Tony McCollum, Andrew Moulding, Helen Parr, Geoff Pook, Val Ranger, Eleanor Rylance, Tony Woodward; Personal.  All are Town or Parish Councillors.

 

 

4.

Matters of urgency

Information on matters of urgency is available online.

Minutes:

There were no matters of urgency.

5.

Confidential/exempt item(s)

To agree any items to be dealt with after the public (including press) have been excluded. There are no items that officers recommend should be dealt with in this way.

Minutes:

There were confidential items to be discussed.

6.

Draft Updated Council Plan 2021 - 2023 pdf icon PDF 206 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair outlined that the report in the agendaprovided an updated draft of the new Council Plan for 2021-2023.  It also contained the recommendation as follows;

Recommendation:

That the Overview and Scrutiny committees consider this draft of the new council Plan 2021-2023 and provide feedback on it including that of the priorities and actions before it proceeds to Cabinet and Council in October’.

She went on to remind members that they have all had an opportunity to be involved in the development of the new Plan which is intended to go to Cabinet on 6th October and Council on 20th October, before being published later in October.

    Before inviting members to comment on the Plan, she asked the Chief Executive, Mark Williams, to provide a brief introduction.

Mark Williams referred members to page two of the Plan, which explained how the Council Plan fitted into the work of the Council overall, as an employer and service provider. This was also a slide used when he gave his welcome talk to new employees, to indicate the links between an individual’s annual objectives and Service Plans, the Council Plan and the Local Development Plan, the ‘Golden Thread’.

He then referred to page nine of the agenda papers which explained the political process for adoption of the new Plan, and page one of the Plan, which provided a more forceful articulation of future intentions through three key priorities;

·   Better Homes and Communities for all

·   A Greener East Devon

·   A Resilient Economy

Page three of the Plan started to indicate the detailed actions which would be required to deliver the priorities. He concluded by indicating how much the Council achieved each year but that it was necessary to be aware of the financial envelope available over the next two to three years.

The Chair invited Cllr Loudoun to speak as Portfolio Holder for Council & Corporate Coordination.

Cllr Loudoun thanked Mark Williams for his introduction and wise counsel, and all those members who had contributed to the development of the Plan. He thanked the Senior Management Team for their assistance in the drafting process and Jo Avery for her hard work and patience in putting the Plan together.

He wanted to point out an omission in the form of an additional, fifth point to be added on page four of the Plan under the sub-heading, ‘Promoting culture and community’, which should read as follows;

‘Support communities through the transfer of appropriate community assets to towns and villages, enabling local communities to own, manage and develop assets in support of community aspirations and benefits’.

 

The Chair invited comments from members.

 

Cllr Pook clarified the intention of the fifth point from the perspective of the benefit of transfers to a local community.

Cllr Davey re-iterated this point in relation to how EDDC may be able to encourage Town and Parish Councils in initiatives and improve relationships generally between them.

Cllr Hawkins referred to Cranbrook as being one of the largest towns in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.