Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Councillor Richard Blunt.

The Chair welcomed John Greenhalgh to the meeting, who was the new Management Team representative replacing Stuart Ashworth.

The Chair asked for the Committee’s thanks to be passed onto Stuart for all his support he gave to the Committee over the years.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 31 October 2019 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the meeting held on 31 October 2019 were agreed as a correct record.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

These declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

There was none.

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chairman proposes to accept as urgent under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

There was none.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before the meeting commences.  Any Member attending the meeting under Standing Order 34 will only be permitted to speak on those items which have been previously notified to the Chairman.

There were no Members present pursuant to Standing Order 34.

There was no Chair’s correspondence to report.

The Chair welcomed Vanessa Dunmall and Peter Gray to the meeting to present the bus shelter policy and for the unparished area of King’s Lynn.

Vanessa gave Councillor Richard Blunt’s apologies for the meeting.  Councillor Blunt was supportive of the document and policy and welcomed comments from the Committee.  He would meet with officers following the meeting to take into account the comments made by the Committee, prior to it being considered by Cabinet.

The Committee considered the report and draft policy and made the following comments:

Councillor Kemp made reference to a particular bus shelter at West Lynn where its ownership was unknown.   Councillor Kemp suggested that the Borough Council should take on its ownership. 

It was also suggested that an environmental an environmental section could be added into the policy.

It was agreed that options should be explored on how to establish whether there were other ‘unknown’ bus shelters in the unparished area and also establish the process for taking ownership of existing shelters that are of unknown ownership.

In response to a comment from Councillor Mrs Collop, it was agreed to send the Committee a list of the bus shelters within the King’s Lynn area. 

With regards to the transfer of bus shelters to South Wootton Parish Council, it was explained that this was in the process of taking place.

Reference was made to a bus shelter on the hospital site, and it was explained that it was owned by a bus company and had not been included on the list of Borough Council owned bus shelters.  It was suggested that the bus shelter should stay with the hospital as it was within their site.

Officers explained that a bus shelter could only be erected where there was an existing bus stop.

Councillor Bambridge made reference to bus shelters in Holland which had green roofs.  It was explained that although this could be a good idea in principle, it would add to the installation and maintenance costs.  The result of that could be fed into the new environmental section of the policy.

Councillor Howman referred to new installations of bus shelters and asked if someone oversaw this process, as he knew of one which had been put in the wrong way round.

Councillor Kemp explained that bus shelters were a key part of the public transport network and would like them to be mentioned in the KL Transport Study.

Officers agreed to carry out some more work and feedback to the Committee at a future meeting.

The Chair thanked Vanessa and Peter for attending the meeting.

AGREED:       That additional work be carried out on the policy and presented back to the Committee for comments prior to its consideration by Cabinet.

The Assistant Director apologised for the short notice in publishing the report.

Councillor Dickinson suggested that it would be helpful for the Committee for an expanded list of 1.4 in the report.

With regards to the £1,000 marketing budget which had been set aside as detailed in Section 2 of the report, he suggested that the money could be spent on the play area in the Friars and Forward Day Centre.

Councillor Hudson stated that she would be interested to know more about the spending of nearly £340,000 on open spaces.

Councillor Kemp also queried the number and location of closed churchyards.  The Assistant Director explained that this information could be obtained, and if the Committee had any specific queries to email him.

AGREED:       That the report be noted, and a further report containing more detailed information be presented to the meeting.

The Committee will receive an update from Councillors Devereux and Moriarty and Terry Huggins on Governance Arrangements for the Council.

The Chair welcomed Councillors Devereux and Moriarty and Terry Huggins to the meeting. 

Councillor Devereux introduced the item and explained the work which had been carried out so far.  A Task Group had been set up to look at the Governance arrangements which lead to a workshop in November, organised by Terry Huggins, for all Councillors. 

The Committee made the following comments:

Councillor Kemp stated that she would like to see KLACC with its own budget to enable the Committee to be more proactive.  The Committee was supposed to function as a Parish Council for King’s Lynn but doesn’t have a budget.  The status of the Committee needed to be upgraded.

Councillor John Collop responded that it had been a problem that the Committee was just a Consultative Committee.  The Committee always had to request funding from Cabinet as it did not have its own budget.  It was frustrating that the Committee could not spend its own money.

Cllr Howman felt that the Committee’s Terms of Reference needed to be revised, and should be given the same power as a Parish Council.  The Committee needed to be reviewed, modernised and restructured.

Councillor Kemp suggested that the Committee needed to be forward thinking and agreed that the structure did need improving.  The area would be benefit if the Committee had a capital budget, for example health infrastructure.  She made reference to the Millennium Agreement at NORA.

Councillor Jo Rust understood the issues that had been raised relating to KLACC, but understood that this was governance arrangements overall and was wider than just this Committee.  She added that there was no longer an overwhelming majority and now was the opportunity to consider alternative governance arrangements.

Terry Huggins asked the Committee to outline the reasons why they considered that things were not working.

Councillor Howman added that there was not an adequate representation on Cabinet and considered that a Councillor from King’s Lynn should be on it.  KLACC was supposed to represent people but had no delegated powers or budget.

Councillor Bone stated that he wanted to help people in his ward.  With a Committee system he felt that it would be more individual that party driven.  There was now more debate at full Council meetings.

Councillor Jones explained that he was a new member in May, and did not know how the two systems would work.  He considered that Cabinet should have a more proportionate representation.

Terry Huggins explained that the change to a Committee system would have a big impact.  Some local authorities had reintroduced a Committee system but this was different from a traditional committee system.

The Chair added that some frustrations he was aware of related to matters from full Council being referred to Cabinet rather than debated at full Council.

Councillor Mrs Wilkinson reminded the Committee that when Labour was in control and a Committee system was used previously, there were opposition Chairs.  She considered that there should be more workable arrangements.

Terry Huggins explained that nothing had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Committee is asked to consider items for the future Work Programme.

The Committee is also asked to consider the Cabinet’s Forward Decision List.

The Chair reminded the Committee that they could forward any ideas for potential work programme items to him, the Vice-Chair and Democratic Services Officer.

Councillor Kemp asked whether an item on Tackling Rogue Landlords in King’s Lynn could be a future agenda item.  The Assistant Director advised that this now fell within his remit and he would arrange for the Committee to receive a presentation.

The next meeting of the Committee was scheduled to take place on Thursday 19 March 2020 at 6pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, King’s Lynn.

The next meeting of the Committee was scheduled for Thursday 19 March 2020 at 6pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall.