The Very Reverend Michael Tavinor, Dean of Hereford, led the Council in prayer.

The Chairman expressed the Council’s sincere condolences to Councillor PJ Edwards and family on the sudden loss of Mrs Mavis Edwards.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies had been received from Councillors CM Bartrum, GFM Dawe, B Durkin, PJ Edwards, MJ Fishley, AW Johnson and DC Taylor.  Mr Robert Rogers, Chairman of the Standards Committee had also tendered apologies.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

There were none.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 28 May 2010.

The minutes of the Annual Council Meeting held on 28 May 2010 were approved as a correct record.

To receive the Chairman's announcements and petitions from members of the public.

The Chairman in his announcements:

• Thanked Members who attended the Raising of the Flag at the Shire Hall on Armed Forces Day 21 June.
• Informed Council that a re-dedication of the Hereford War Memorial in St Peter’s Square would be taking place on 17July at 2.30pm which would acknowledge the honour of the inclusion of the Rifles badge on the monument. The traditional sounding of the Retreat would take place on the Castle Green at 6.30 pm.
• Advised that he had attended the opening of Riverside Primary School on Friday 9 July and commented that the outstanding new facilities funded by local authority prudential borrowing would benefit generations of children.
• Congratulated FC Phoenix Disability Centre and Wye Amateur Boxing Club who were each honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service; the award being similar to an MBE Honour to an individual.
• Wished the England team well at the World Blind Football Championships which would be taking place at the Royal National College for the Blind from 14 August.  Members were encouraged to attend.
• Acknowledged the receipt of the Good Egg award by Compassion in World Farming in recognition of the Council’s catering policy of using free range or organic eggs at all Council events catered for by Amey Herefordshire.  The Leader of the Council collected this award at the Local Government Conference held recently.

The Chairman informed Council that Councillor RI Matthews had presented him with a petition of 730 signatures (on behalf of Councillor PJ Edwards) on Active Open Space in Belmont.  The petition was presented to Councillor JG Jarvis, Cabinet Member Environment and Strategic Housing.

To receive questions from members of the public.

Copies of all public questions received by the deadline, with written answers, were distributed prior to the commencement of the meeting.  A copy of the public questions and written answers together with the supplementary questions asked at the meeting and answers provided are attached to the minutes as Appendix 1.

To receive any written questions from Councillors.

Attached as Appendix 2 to the minutes

No Notices of Motion have been received.

There were none.

To seek approval on Constitutional amendments.

The Cabinet Member for Corporate and Customer Services and Human Resources presented the report on matters relating to the Council Constitution and which sought approval to proposed changes.  All Members had received an accompanying table which set out technical changes to the constitution which came into effect on 1 January 2010.  A full index would be prepared and circulated to Council in advance of 1 September 2010.

Members were advised, that subject to the approval of the revised constitution, a Parts 1 and 2 of the Constitution would be submitted to the Plain English Campaign for crystal mark accreditation. 

Council was also asked to consider and adopt the revised Contract Procedure Rules which had been reviewed by a Task Group; Councillor M Cooper was thanked for her assistance as Lead Member on the Task Group.

A further report on the constitution would be presented to Council in November 2010 which would report on the work of two Task Groups currently underway one reviewing the Financial Regulations, with Councillor JG Jarvis as Lead Member, the other undertaking a review of regulatory matters, with Councillor JP French as lead member.

Responding to comments from Members regarding the Contracts Procedure Rules, the Cabinet Member stated that;

• the Council had done much to encourage the involvement of local firms and would continue to do all which was possible to support local companies to be involved in contracts;
• the Monitoring Officer’s responsibilities within the Rules would be delegated appropriately to officers in the authority within the Scheme of Delegation;
• that the monetary thresholds of contracts would be clarified and the appropriate pages re-circulated.

The Chairman expressed thanks to the Constitutional Review Working Group for their continued work on constitutional and governance matters.

RESOLVED that Council:

a)         Approves the following changes to the Constitution:

i.                    The Contracts Procedure Rules

ii.                  The designation of Monitoring Officer to the successor post of Assistant Director Law and Governance following the cessation of the current interim arrangements

b)         Notes that a technical redraft of the constitution has been undertaken

c)         Receives and adopts the refreshed constitution to take effect from 1 August 2010

d)         Notes the work undertaken by the Constitutional Review Working Group which will continue to assist with such further constitutional review work as it determines.

To receive the report of the Leader of the Council.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor RJ Phillips presented his report to Council.

He informed Council of two changes to portfolio responsibilities; namely that;

• Responsibility for procurement would move from the Resources Portfolio to that of the Corporate and Customer Services and Human Resources Portfolio in order for better alignment with the wider transformational agenda.

• The selection of tenants would no longer be part of the responsibilities of the Corporate and Customer Services and Human Resources Portfolio.

In highlighting aspects of the report, the Leader;

·         emphasised the financial challenges following the announcement of the revenue and capital grant reductions, the impact of which would need to be met within the current financial year.  Council was advised that there was a need to maintain as much flexibility as possible when determining where the cuts would be made to ensure that the impact on the most vulnerable be kept to a minimum.  It was recognised however support to sensitive areas such as children with mental health issues, subsidised bus travel and support to carers may be impacted.  Given the level of reductions, it was important that all Members recognised the possible impact on services and that there was a need for a strategy for how the Council would withdraw from services gradually; further reductions would be expected.  An immediate impact was the ceasing of the free swimming programme for local people under 16 or over 60 years of age following the end of government support to the scheme.  A consultation process would be undertaken jointly with NHS Herefordshire to seek views and suggestions on how, together, the needs of local people could be best met in light of the new financial pressures.  The Council would work with the Government to look at freezing council tax.  A detailed announcement on the comprehensive spending review would be expected on 20 October 2010.

·         Stated that the Audit and Governance Committee approved the annual Statement of Accounts for 2009/2010 in advance of 30 June, as was required.  The Finance Team was congratulated for their efforts.

·         Informed Council that the Health White Paper was at the forefront of national policy development with joint work between health and local authorities providing a holistic approach to health and social care budgets.  Such a joint approach should be encouraged to ensure that the public spend within a locality (which included other public services) was effective and that organisations did not focus on self preservation and have a silo mentality.

·         Outlined that the principle behind Hereford Futures was to establish a single company which would join up thinking and contribute to future enterprise, housing, jobs and infrastructure.  There was a need to ensure that important projects for the City went ahead.  All Members were encouraged to promote and use the Shop Hereford loyalty card, which would be distributed through Herefordshire Matters, which was one approach to encourage the public to view Hereford as a centre of choice for medical, educational, civic and retail matters.  The Leader stated that he looked forward  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

To receive the report and to consider any recommendations to Council arising from the meeting held on 2 July 2010.

Mr David Stevens presented the report of the Standards Committee.

In responding to questions and comments raised by Members in attendance, Mr Stevens stated that:

·         Standards Committee members attended and took part in many events and training courses during the year.  The process by which Standards Committee dealt with vexatious and persistent complainants may be considered during these events, though there was no specific course to solely consider such matters.

·         The appellant whose appeal was considered and rejected by the first tier tribunal did have the opportunity to seek a further appeal from the second tier tribunal within a specific time frame.  Sanctions would not be undertaken until the required appeals process had run its course.

·         For clarification, the Standards Committee was independent of any Council portfolio.

RESOLVED:      That Council approve the Guide to Blogging and Social Networking for members as attached at Appendix A to the report.