Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 11 July 2023, the minutes of the Council meeting held on 19 July 2023 and the minutes of the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 4 October 2023 were agreed as true records of the meetings.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

Information on public speaking is available online

There were four speakers registered.

The first speaker,Mr Jack Rowland referred to the decision in March 2017 by the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group to remove the community beds at Seaton Hospital.  Since then, Mr Rowland had been concerned regarding the 40% empty space as he feared that the remaining services would be re-located and the site declared surplus to requirements before being sold on the open market.  This situation had prompted Mr Rowland to seek election to both the Town Council and the District Council.  With the assistance of various parties, a business plan had been produced in 2019 which had support from the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and NHS Property Services.  The preferred option was to purchase the site from NHS Property Services and create a health and well-being hub with a lower rent charge for the NHS.  To finance the purchase there would be support from the League of Friends cash reserves.  A report was also presented to EDDC Cabinet in January 2020 proposing a loan from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB).  The two funding sources would have enabled the site to be purchased and ownership transferred to a local community interest company which would have had responsibility for repayment to EDDC of the monthly PWLB loan payments. 

The 2019 business case still stands, and Mr Rowland was seeking support from EDDC to help secure the future of Seaton Hospital as a viable asset, save the NHS money in the longer term and provide a valuable integrated health care system to local residents and those in the wider Axe Valley area.  Mr Rowland was raising this issue due to the news that the Devon integrated care body was considering demolishing part of the building and that this had caused considerable alarm in the local community.

In response, the Leader thanked former Councillor Rowland for attending and speaking.  It had been a missed opportunity in early 2020 when EDDC had not pursued this matter.  However, the previous work undertaken was still available and internal meetings were already taking place for EDDC to explore the possibilities as urgently as possible.  The Council needed to show leadership in a situation which involved various other agencies, in order to do the best for the residents of Seaton and the surrounding area.

The second speaker, Cllr Paul Hayward, congratulated Cllr Colin Brown on his appointment as Leader of the Conservative Group and Cllr Ingham on his appointment as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group, and thanked Cllr Hartnell on his previous work in this role.  Through the Chair, Cllr Hayward asked Cllr Brown to urge the MP for East Devon to cease his public war of attrition against the Council and to work with EDDC for the greater good of the District.  Cllr Hayward invited Cllr Brown in his new role to help facilitate a meeting with the three local MPs to discuss current challenges and to agree how best to work together in partnership for the benefit of residents.

The third speaker, Cllr Mike Goodman, referred to the peer review which had been agreed by Council on 19 July 2023 and requested an outline of the likely timescales and what and who would be involved. 

In response, Cllr Hayward advised that a written reply would be appropriate and would be provided in due course, however, in the meantime, Cllr Hayward provided the following details:

·         The S.151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer had been involved in meetings with Local Government Association (LGA) representatives the Peer Review would be held during the first week of February 2024.

·         A Peer Review officer working group had been established and had established priorities for the lead up to the review, the first of which would be to prepare a position statement.

·         The scrutiny review by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny would be undertaken at the end of October and into the start of November, and would include a short survey and interviews with members and senior officers and attendance at the 9 November meeting of the Overview Committee.

·         A skills audit of Cabinet members and key Councillors has been allocated to the new Democratic Services Manager and an update would form part of a report that would be prepared for the Cabinet meeting on 29 November.

·         Work to bring together the Cabinet and the senior officer leadership team had started with a positive workshop held in September and was progressing well.

·         The Corporate HR Manager had been liaising with the LGA and South West Councils to review the training and support needed for the senior leadership team and to develop a costed developmental plan, to include how the impact of development would be measured.

·         A report on budget implications of the review had been presented to Cabinet on 6 September and an update with detailed costings would be presented to Cabinet on 29 November.

The fourth speaker, Cllr Dan Ledger, advised that Mr Rowland had covered the issue regarding Seaton Hospital which Cllr Ledger had been going to raise.

Information on matters of urgency is available online

There were no matters of urgency.

The Chair reminded Members of the need to be cautious as covid was still prevalent.

The Leader notified Members of the appointment of Cllrs Todd Olive and Paula Fernley as Assistant Portfolio Holders to support Cllr Geoff Jung with the Coast, Country and Environment Portfolio.  The Leader would advise the division of responsibilities for the Assistant Portfolio Holders in due course.

To agree any items to be dealt with after the public (including the Press) have been excluded. Thereare no itemswhich officersrecommendshould be dealtwithin thisway, but if confidential minutes from Cabinet and/or the Council’s Committees are being discussed, Officers may recommend consideration in the private part of the meeting.

There were no confidential / exempt items.

No questions had been submitted within the requisite notice period.

The item was to receive and accept the minutes of Committees and to agree any recommendations contained therein.

The Chair invited the Leader and the Chairs of Committees to present their minutes.

The Leader moved the above minutes and following a vote, the minutes were accepted.  The Cabinet recommendations to Council contained in the minutes were agreed as follows:

The Leader moved the above minutes and following a vote, the minutes were accepted.  The Cabinet recommendations to Council contained in the minutes were agreed as follows:

The Chair of the Scrutiny Committee moved the minutes of the above meeting and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Scrutiny Committee moved the minutes of the above meeting and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

Cllr Ledger presented the above minutes.  Cllr Gazzard expressed his disappointment that a number of meetings had been cancelled.  Cllr Gazzard also noted that he had not received a response to his questions raised at the meeting held on 15 June 2023, which he had not been able to attend.  The questions were set out at minute 1, Public Speaking.  In response Cllr Ledger advised that the questions had been answered at the meeting.

Following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

In the absence of the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, the Chair moved the above minutes and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair moved the above minutes and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair moved the above minutes and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.  The recommendation contained in the minutes was agreed as follows:

The Chair of the Planning Committee moved the above minutes and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Planning Committee moved the above minutes and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Planning Committee moved the above minutes and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Planning Committee moved the above minutes and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Licensing & Enforcement Committee moved the above minutes and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted. 

The recommendation contained in the minutes was agreed as follows:

The Chair of the Licensing & Enforcement Committee moved the above minutes and thanked the Vice-Chair of the Committee who had chaired several of the Sub Committee meetings.  Following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Licensing & Enforcement Committee moved the minutes of the above meeting and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Licensing & Enforcement Committee moved the above minutes and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Licensing & Enforcement Committee moved the above minutes and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Audit & Governance Committee moved the minutes of the above meeting and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Audit & Governance Committee moved the minutes of the above meeting and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

The Chair of the Overview Committee moved the minutes of the above meeting and, following a vote, the minutes were accepted.

10.1  To appoint Councillor Sarah Chamberlain as Chair of the Housing Review Board,

10.2   To determine the Councillor vacancy on the Housing Review Board, and

10.3   To seek Council’s endorsement to appoint Pat Gore as Tenant / Leaseholder Representative co-optee on the Housing Review Board.

It was noted that Cllr Ledger had stepped down as Chair of the Housing Review Board.

Cllr Arnott proposed that Cllr Sarah Chamberlain be appointed Chair of the Housing Review Board.  This was seconded by Cllr Ledger and was RESOLVED.

Cllr Arnott proposed that Cllr Chris Burhop be appointed to the Housing Review Board to fill the Councillor vacancy.  This was seconded by Cllr Ledger and was RESOLVED.

It was further RESOLVED to endorse the appointment of Pat Gore as the Tenant/Leaseholder Representative co-optee on the Housing Review Board.

To appoint Cllr Jenny Brown to the Planning Committee, to replace Cllr Fred Caygill

IT WAS RESOLVED to appoint Cllr Jenny Brown to the Planning Committee to replace Cllr Fred Caygill.

To appoint Cllr Colin Brown as Leader of the Conservative Group, to replace Cllr Marcus Hartnell

Members noted the appointment of Cllr Colin Brown as Leader of the Conservative Group and therefore as Leader of the Opposition.

Members also thanked Cllr Marcus Hartnell for his work as the previous Leader of the Conservative Group.