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Town Council16th May 2012

Town Council Annual Meeting
16th May2012at7.30pm
Present:
Also in
Attendance: / Councillors:
Officers:
Councillors:
Public: / AL Roberts
P Carrington
E Costello
Mrs S Gilchrist
Mrs R Harris-Small
RD Hines
M Hunting
Mrs K Ireland
DJ Jones
J Patterson-Waterston
R Shimmin
AS Swain
P Williams
AD Winter
Stuart Oliver
Jennifer Saunders
Sonia Stennett
Sarah Gelsthorp
Chantel England
Jan Cooper
Dr R Egan
Mrs S Goodchild
9 / Retiring Town Mayor
Acting Town Clerk
Acting Deputy Town Clerk
Finance Officer
Communications
Promotions Officer
Admin Assistant
Community Projects Worker
CBC
CBC
7055 / ELECTION OF THE TOWN MAYOR
The retiring Town Mayor, Cllr AL Roberts, invited nominations for the position of Town Mayor for the period May 2012 to May 2013.
Nominees: / Cllr DJ Jones / Nominated by: / Cllr Mrs S Gilchrist
Seconded by: / Cllr P Williams
There were no other nominations, so Cllr Jones was duly elected. The new Town Mayor read and signed the ‘Declaration of Acceptance of Office and received the Chain of Office from the retiring Town Mayor.
At this point the new Mayor adopted his role as Chairman and stated that he was honoured to have become Mayor of the fine town of Houghton Regis, which had been home to him and his family for 25.5 years. Although the town had its difficulties and problems, like anywhere else, it had served them well. He thanked everyone for the support he had been given over the last 13 years as a Town Councillor and also for the trust invested in him to carry out the role of Mayor. Cllr Jones stated that he aimed to follow the example and emulate the standard of those who had gone before him. He would promote the town to the best of his ability and hoped for the continued support of everyone as he went about that task.
Cllr Jones presented the retiring Mayor with his Past Mayor’s Badge and the Past
Consort’s Badge. Cllr Roberts replied that he had thoroughly enjoyed his term of office and would retain many fond memories from the year. He gave a special thanks to Cllr Hines for his support and help with the Christmas Events.
Cllr Jones reported that his chosen charities for the year were ‘Hospice at Home Volunteers’, ‘Keech Hospice Care’, ‘SNOOSC’ (Special Needs Out Of School Club) and ‘Motor Neuron Disease Association – Luton Branch’.
7056 / ELECTION OF THE DEPUTY MAYOR
The Town Mayor asked for nominations for the position of Deputy Mayor for the period May 2012 to May 2013.
Nominees: Cllr P Williams Nominated by: Cllr Mrs S Gilchrist
Seconded by: Cllr M Hunting
There were no other nominations, so Cllr Williams read and signed the ‘Declaration of Acceptance of Office’ and received the Chain of Office from the Town Mayor.
(Sonia left the meeting)
7057 / APOLOGIES FOR ABSENSE
None, as all Members were present.
7058 / QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC
A member of the public raised the question concerning the pricing structure at Houghton Regis Leisure Centre. Although the work that was being done by Stevenage Leisure was welcomed, it was felt that the current pricing debarred family participation.
The Town Council stated that it was unable to respond immediately, but would investigate and report back.
7059 / SPECIFIC DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None.
7060 / MINUTES
Resolved: / To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on the
26th March 2012 and for these to be signed by the Chairman.
7061 / REPORT FROM THE POLICE
Due to personal circumstances, Police representation had not been possible. Members who had been present at the Combating Crime Working Group earlier in the day reported that it had been a good meeting and the questions they had raised had been answered satisfactorily.
7062 / REPORTS FROM CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE COUNCILLORS
Cllr Mrs S Goodchild
Cllr Goodchild thanked the retiring Mayor for his exemplary year and welcomed the choice of Cllr Jones as the new Mayor after having given so many year’s service to the town.
It was reported that 4 lower schools in the town had been granted permission to become primary schools and that work was being undertaken to achieve the same status for the remaining school. Kings Houghton Middle School had achieved Academy status after a successful consultation event.
Cllr Dr R Egan
Cllr Egan had attended a meeting with the team planning the North Houghton Regis Development and had been impressed with the presentation. The consultants were due to run workshops in the near future.
(Cllr Egan left the meeting.)
Cllr P Williams
The first draft of the Strategy Document had been discussed at CBC earlier in the day. The Local Development Framework had not yet been sorted, but would need to be in place for 2014. He encouraged Town Councillors to attend the public meetings.
Cllr DJ Jones
Cllr Jones reported that he had stood down as the leader of the Liberal Democrat group on CBC in order to devote more time to Houghton Regis. He had been given responsibility at CBC for Children’s Services.
Resolved: / To note the report.
7063 / COMMITTEE, SUB-COMMITTEE AND WORKING GROUP MEMBERSHIP
A list of the draft Committee, Sub-Committee and Working Group Membership was circulated prior to the beginning of the meeting and Members were asked to take these en-bloc. The suggested membership was duly approved.
Each of the Committees and Sub Committees in turn elected its Chairman and Vice-Chairman. The decisions were as follows:
Environment Committee:
Chairman: Cllr DJ Jones Vice Chairman: Cllr AD Winter
Planning and Licensing Committee
Chairman: Cllr RD Hines Vice Chairman: Cllr P Williams
Policy & Resources Committee
Chairman: Cllr Mrs S Gilchrist Vice Chairman: Cllr AL Roberts
Personnel & Disciplinary Committee
Chairman: DJ Jones
Grievance Committee
Chairman: Cllr Mrs S Gilchrist
Accounts Sub Committee
Chairman: DJ Jones Vice Chairman: Cllr Mrs S Gilchrist
Grants Sub-Committee
Chairman: Cllr AD Winter Vice Chairman: Cllr R Shimmin
It was agreed that the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of the Working Groups would be elected at the first meeting of each of the Groups.
Resolved: /
  1. To approve the Committee, Sub Committee and Working Group membership for 2012-13, as attached at the end of these Minutes.
  2. To appoint the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen for the
Committees and Sub-Committees as listed above.
7064 /
REPRESENTATIVES ON OUSTIDE ORGANISATIONS
Members received a draft list of representatives to Outside Organisations and were asked to take these en bloc for 2012-13. This was agreed with the exception of Hospice at Home where a second nomination was put forward. It was agreed to take the rest en bloc and to vote on the Hospice at Home nominees separately. The vote for the
representative to the Hospice at Home was conducted with the following result.
Cllr RD Hines: 9 votes Cllr Mrs K Ireland: 4 votes
Cllr Hines was therefore put forward as the representative to Hospice at Home and the suggested list formally approved en bloc.
(Cllr Mrs Ireland left the meeting)
Members were reminded that those who had been appointed as representatives were requested to attend meetings of the organisations and to report to them items / issues of relevance from the Town Council and in turn report back to the Council on the activities of the organisations. There was a standing item on Town Council agendas to facilitate this. Members were asked to approve these reporting mechanisms.
Resolved: /
  1. To appoint Councillor representatives for the listed Outside Organisations for 2012-13, as attached at the end of these Minutes.
  2. To approve the reporting back mechanism as set out above.

7065 / CALENDAR OF MEETINGS
A revised Calendar of Meetings for 2012-13 had previously been circulated for consideration and recent changes explained.
Resolved: / To adopt the revised Calendar of Meetings for 2012-13.
7066 / CODE OF CONDUCT
(Cllr Mrs Ireland returned to the meeting)
Members were advised that the Localism Act 2011 required all Town & Parish Councils
to adopt a code of conduct that was consistent with the seven Nolan principles of public
life. Beyond that, councils had discretion to decide what form their code of conduct should take. NALC recently circulated a template code that had been issued by the LGA.
NALC intended to issue its own template in due course, but this was not yet available.A
copy of the recommended new Code of Conduct, as developed by CBC in compliance
with the requirements of the Localism Act had been formally adopted by CBC at its Annual Meeting on 19th April 2012, had been previouslycirculated for Members’ consideration.
The Localism Act provided that any complaints about the conduct of Town & Parish Councillors would be subject to investigation by the District Council, in our case CBC, therefore it made sense for Town Parish Councils to adopt a code that was the same, or similar, to that of CBC.
Members were further advised that the Localism Act also required that the code included provisions covering the registration and disclosure of pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests. However, “Disclosable pecuniary interests” were to be prescribed by the Secretary of State in regulations, but these had not yet been published, so this aspect of the code could not be finalised. Further information on this subject would follow in due course.
As a Code of Conduct needed to be adopted by the 1st July 2012 and that CBC would be the investigating authority, it was agreed that adopting the same code as that approved by CBC was the most appropriate action to take.
Resolved: / To adopt the Code of Conduct as recommended by CBC.
7067 / INVESTMENTS
Members were reminded that the Town Council had received £320,000 s106 money in respect of the development of the old Trico site and that this money was for the development of sport and recreational facilities in Houghton Regis. In addition there was a further £500,000 in reserves, resulting in a maximum of £820,000 potentially available for investment. It was reported that in the past types of investment used had been General and Enhanced Fixed Rate Deposits.
It was suggested that some of this money should be retained in an instantly accessible account so that it is available for the completion of projects in the coming year. The remainder could then be split between the two types of investments mentioned previously.
Members considered the options and agreed with the idea of keeping some money back, the amount to be determined after further investigation of the potential cost of projects. There was agreement with the principle of the investment process, determination of the amount to be invested in each of the Fixed Rate Deposits was deferred until the previous figures were known.
Resolved: / To retain some of the funds available in reserves for projects and invest the rest over a 1 year period.
The Chairman declared the meeting closed at 8.57pm
Dated this day of 2012
Chairman