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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Phoenix Chambers, Phoenix House, Tiverton

Contact: Sally Gabriel  Member Services Manager

Link: audiorecording

Items
No. Item

60.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors: Mrs A R Berry, Mrs J B Binks, K I Busch, T G Hughes and Mrs B M Hull.

61.

Public Question Time (00-03-20)

To receive any questions relating to items on the agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

 

Minutes:

Mr Wilce – referring to Minute 60 of the Cabinet report stated that the council is only just coming to the end of the town centre relief road consultation and that being the case what evidence was supplied to Homes England in order to demonstrate significant local support for the project which is a condition of the application?

 

Referring to the report of the Licensing Committee, I note from the minutes that Councillor Busch has attended a meeting at last; does the Council agree with me that electors have the right to expect their elected representative to attend more than two meetings in six months?

 

Mr Collier referring to agenda item 6 on the agenda (Petitions) stated - I am a long term resident of Crediton, I have a number of questions about the sale of the old MDDC offices in Crediton which I will now outline.

 

1.    Please confirm that the identity of the prospective purchaser was not known to either council members or officers before the decision was made to sell to him?

2.    Please confirm the date of exchange of contracts?

3.    Please advise on what grounds three Cabinet Members decided to sell to the purchaser who has now exchanged contracts when they were fully aware that Crediton Town Council wished to purchase the building and a majority of MDDC councillors also wished the building to be sold to Crediton Town Council?

4.    Please explain why contracts have now been exchanged in the full knowledge of the ongoing dissatisfaction in Crediton and knowing that a debate on the matter was due at this council meeting?

5.    Please explain how the decision made was actually a democratic decision?

Cllr Mrs Brooks-Hocking again referring to Item 6 on the agenda stated - can the Leader of the Council please confirm that this Council understands that the registration of the building of the Town Council offices in Crediton an asset of community value meant that the community of Crediton valued the building and wanted to keep it. Does the council also understand the legislation in the Localism Act related to registering an asset of community value? Does the council understand that the Localism Act allows the District Council to sell to the Town Council at any time during the moratorium period?

 

Mrs Stephens again referring to Item 6 on the agenda stated - thank you for allowing us the opportunity to ask questions. I don’t bring this one just from myself I bring it from a lot of people in Crediton. Each week I speak to many residents, many of them are unable to get to the District council meetings due to the timings of your meetings and also the location. There is no public transport from Crediton to Tiverton. This significantly affects those that are interested in having a town council building. I wonder if members of the MDDC Cabinet are proud of the decision that they took to sell off the town council offices in Crediton and after  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

62.

Declarations of Interest under the Code of Conduct (00-22-59)

Councillors are reminded of the requirement to declare any interest, including the type of interest, and the reason for that interest, either at this stage of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of that interest.

 

 

Minutes:

Members were reminded of the need to declare any interests when appropriate.

 

The following Members declared interests:

 

Mrs E M Andrews

 

Personal Interest as Vice Chairman of the CCA and a Member of Cullompton Town Council

Minute 60 Cabinet Minutes

N A Way

Personal – Member of Crediton Town Council

Agenda Item 6 - Petitions

F W Letch

Personal – Member of Crediton Town Council and had signed the petition

Agenda Item 6 - Petitions

J M Downes

Personal – Member of Crediton Town Council

Agenda Item 6 - Petitions

R Wright

Personal – Member of Crediton Town Council

Agenda Item 6 - Petitions

 

 

63.

Minutes (00-24-15) pdf icon PDF 98 KB

Members to consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 29 August 2018.

 

The Council is reminded that only those Members present at the previous meeting should vote and, in doing so, should be influenced only by seeking to ensure that the minutes are an accurate record.

 

Minutes:

Subject to the inclusion of the following wording in paragraph 3 of Minute 59 Members Business (Councillor Mrs Roach) “and would not retract her comments” after “and she would not apologise”, the minutes of the meeting held on 29 August 2018 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

64.

Chairman's Announcements (00-28-00)

To receive any announcements which the Chairman of the Council may wish to make.

 

Minutes:

The Chairman had the following announcements to make:

 

·         He had visited several Parish Councils in his role as Chairman and intended to visit more over the next few months.

·         Two weeks ago, he had represented the Council at County Hall to witness the Lord Lieutenant presenting British Empire Medals to worthy recipients.

 

65.

Petitions (00-28-53)

To receive any petitions from members of the public.

 

The following petition

 

We the undersigned residents of the Crediton area, are appalled at the outrageous and undemocratic decision of Mid Devon District Council Cabinet to sell the Market Street Council building to the highest bidder, contrary to the expressed wishes of full Council and their Scrutiny Committee. The building is an essential facility for local people and is used by many mostly voluntary groups. Therefore we request that the Cabinet reconsider their decision and instead sell the property to Crediton Town Council at 50% of the restricted value as recommended by council officers in April 2017.

 

has now reached 1746 signatures and this therefore triggers a debate at Council.

 

In accordance with Procedure Rule 12.2 the following will apply: the petition organiser will be allowed to speak for 5 minutes to present the petition at the meeting.  Only one person may speak to present the petition.  The Council will then debate the petition for a maximum of 15 minutes (if the petition has 1500 signatures or more).

 

Minutes:

Honorary Alderman presented a petition with 1746 signatures to the Chairman of the Council and outlined the basis for the petition:

 

We the undersigned residents of the Crediton area, are appalled at the outrageous and undemocratic decision of Mid Devon District Council Cabinet to sell the Market Street Council building to the highest bidder, contrary to the expressed wishes of full Council and their Scrutiny Committee. The building is an essential facility for local people and is used by many mostly voluntary groups. Therefore we request that the Cabinet reconsider their decision and instead sell the property to Crediton Town Council at 50% of the restricted value as recommended by council officers in April 2017.

 

In accordance with Procedure Rule 12.2, Honorary Alderman Nation addressed the Council stating that further signatures had been received and raised the following issues:

 

·         The concerns of the residents of Crediton with regard to the Cabinet decision to sell the Council offices in Crediton.

·         The procedure that had taken place which led to the sale, which included the valuation figures, the registering of the property as a community asset, previous discussions at Council and at the Scrutiny Committee.

·         Contracts had been exchanged but there was still time for the decision to be overturned.

·         The Corporate Plan and its priorities and the Policy Framework.

·         His time as the Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee and the training he had received with regard to strategic decision making.

·         His view that the decision-making with regard to this issue had been inconsistent and was felt that it could be considered to be mal- administration.

·         A possible new petition to force a referendum to switch from a cabinet system to a committee system, therefore decisions such as the one taken would be dealt with by the Full Council.

 

A debate then took place with the following issues arising:

 

·         It was unfortunate that contracts had already been exchanged and that the Cabinet system had allowed such a decision to be made; the number of signatures required to force a referendum to change governance systems.  The need for decision-making to be consistent.

·         The Motion to Council in February 2018 and the support it had received.  Crediton Town Council had made provision to relocate, but that other groups located in the property would suffer from increased charges.

·         The issue had been badly handled and that a spotlight had been shone on the cabinet system of decision-making.  The alternative to overturning the decision would be a referendum on the governance arrangements of the authority.

·         Whether all of the Crediton Town Council were against the Cabinet decision.

·         The decision being taken by only 3 Members of the Cabinet and that such a decision should have been taken by the Council, some Members pledged support for a referendum

·         The lack of consistency with regard to decision-making, the need to receive best value for the sale of assets, the lack of public representation when the decision to sell the property was determined.

·         The role and powers of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

66.

Notices of Motions (1-06-00)

No motions were submitted for consideration by the Council.

Minutes:

No motions were submitted for consideration by the Council.

 

67.

Reports - Cabinet - Report of the meeting held on 30 August 2018 (1-06-14) pdf icon PDF 97 KB

 

To receive and consider the reports, minutes and recommendations of the recent meetings as follows:

 

(1)   Cabinet

 

-        30 August 2018

-        27 September 2018

 

2)    Scrutiny Committee

 

-            10 September 2018

-            8 October 2018

           

(3)  Audit Committee

 

-      18 September 2018

           

(4)  Environment Policy Development Group

 

-            4 September 2018

 

(5)  Homes Policy Development Group

 

-            11 September 2018

 

(6)   Economy Policy Development Group

 

-             6 September 2018

 

(7)  Community Policy Development Group

 

-            18 September 2018

 

(8)  Planning Committee

 

-            5 September  2018

-            19 September 2018

-            3 October 2018

 

(9)   Licensing Committee

 

-             9 October 2018

 

(10) Regulatory Committee

 

-                 9 October 2018

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Leader presented the report of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 30 August 2018.

 

The Council had before it questions * submitted by Councillors Mrs J Roach and Mrs N Woollatt in accordance with Procedure Rule 13.2, together with  responses from the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration.

 

Councillor Mrs N Woollatt asked a number of supplementary questions referring to:

 

Question 1  - The response to this question is disingenuous. My question was not about means of responding to the consultation, it was about the means of informing residents the consultation was taking place, therefore the example of how many responses to N Devon Link Road were online is irrelevant.

 

In fact to use the N Devon Link Road consultation as an example, in addition to online methods, the start of that consultation was advertised with the distribution of leaflets to 60 parishes, information boards on A361 and posters on local town and parish noticeboards and libraries. Posters are an issue I will cover further later. Research I have carried out of other relief and link road consultations conducted all over the country in the last few years demonstrates that leaflet, letter or postcards advising of the consultation taking place are the norm, with in most cases delivery of these media directly to households prior to or at the beginning of the consultation.

 

Question 2 - The reason I asked this question was twofold. One of the routes is literally inches from the showpersons site. I am aware that the Council met with representatives from this site but I am informed that the information about the consultation was not cascaded to the rest of the residents. Surely the Council had a duty to directly inform all the residents on this site? This is one of the many locations in Cullompton which did not receive a leaflet delivery.

When it became apparent that the leaflet delivery had failed to be delivered to the majority of households in Cullompton, the Chief Executive revealed in an email to me that he tends to resist the leaflet drop approach as he considers it skews the demographic responding. When I asked for further explanation he explained that ‘older people’ tend to respond to leaflets. Apart from finding this comment ‘ageist’ a combination of the leaflet delivery failure, mainly online advertisement of exhibition dates and because printed material and questionnaires was not left available for collection in public buildings in the town, I have found many older people I have spoken to who do not use online methods have felt excluded. Is there a document available detailing the equalities impact assessment and may I be sent a copy?

 

Question 3 - The full response to this question appears to have been put to Q4 ... I would suggest that given the failure of the leaflet delivery, if static exhibition boards had been displayed, it could have been mitigated in that at least residents would have a means to view the information other than  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

68.

Cabinet - Report of the meeting on 27 September 2018 (1-27-29)

Minutes:

The Leader presented the report of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 27 September 2018.

 

The Council had before it a question referring to Minute 72 * submitted by Councillor Mrs J Roach in accordance with Procedure Rule 13.2, together with a response from the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration.

 

Although not a supplementary question, Councillor Mrs Roach highlighted the work that she had progressed following her motion to Council in 2013, she had contacted the Town and Parish Councils and consulted further with other stakeholders all in line with the Gunning Principles, none of this had been taken into consideration, she felt that the issue would now be further delayed and wondered if the Greater Exeter Strategic Partnership had ideas to use the land for development?

 

Note: * Question previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.

 

 

69.

Scrutiny Committee - Report of the meeting held on 10 September 2018 (1-32-40)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee presented the report of the meeting of the Committee held on 10 September 2018.

 

70.

Scrutiny Committee - Report of the meeting held on 8 October 2018 (1-33-16)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee presented the report of the meeting of the Committee held on 8 October 2018.

 

The Council had before it a question * submitted by Councillor Mrs J Roach in accordance with Procedure Rule 13.2, together with a response from the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration.

 

Councillor Mrs Roach asked the following supplementary question of the Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee:  she wondered why Minute 81 had just been noted, as the consultation methods obviously were not working as the response had been very poor. Cllr Mrs Daw and herself had consulted with the public on another matter and had received 175 responses just by talking to people in the 3 main towns for a period of 9 hours.

 

The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee responded stating that the Committee had been assured that this had been stage 1 of the consultation process, the consultation process was more than just talking to people and some people did not believe that the changes to the Tiverton Town Centre would be in their life time.

 

Note: * Question previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.

 

 

 

 

71.

Audit Committee - Report of the meeting held on 18 September (1-37-49)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Audit Committee presented the report of the meeting of the Committee held on 18 September 2018.

 

72.

Environment Policy Development Group - Report of the meeting held on 4 September 2018 (1-38-27)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Environment Policy Development Group presented the report of the meeting of the Group held on 4 September 2018.

 

73.

Homes Policy Development Group - Report of meeting held on 11 September 2018 (1-39-02)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Homes Policy Development Group presented the report of the meeting of the Group held on 11 September 2018.

 

 

 

 

74.

Economy Policy Development Group - Report of the meeting held on 6 September 2018 (1-39-32)

Minutes:

The Vice Chairman of the Economy Policy Development Group presented the report of the meeting of the Group held on 6 September 2018.

75.

Community Policy Development Group - Report of the meeting held on 18 September 2018 (1-40-25)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Community Policy Development Group presented the report of the meeting of the Group held on 18 September 2018.

76.

Planning Committee - Report of the meeting held on 5 September 2018 (1-41-06)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Planning Committee presented the report of the meeting of the Committee held on 5 September 2018.

 

77.

Planning Committee - Report of the special meeting held on 19 September 2018 (1-41-53)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Planning Committee presented the report of the special meeting of the Committee held on 19 September 2018.

 

78.

Planning Committee - Report of the meeting held on 3 October 2018 (1-42-17)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Planning Committee presented the report of the meeting of the Committee held on 3 October 2018.

 

79.

Licensing Committee - Report of the meeting held on 9 October 2018 (1-43-21)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Licensing Committee presented the report of the meeting of the Committee held on 9 October 2018.

 

1.    Fourth Review of the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles (Minute 7)

 

The Chairman of the Licensing Committee MOVED seconded by Councillor Mrs G Doe

 

THAT the recommendations of the Licensing Committee as set out in Minute 7 be ADOPTED.

 

Upon a vote being taken, the MOTION was declared to have been CARRIED.

 

2.     Fourth Review of the Licensing Policy under the Licensing Act 2003 (Minute 8)

 

The Chairman of the Licensing Committee MOVED seconded by Councillor Mrs E J Slade

 

THAT the recommendations of the Licensing Committee as set out in Minute 8 be ADOPTED.

 

Upon a vote being taken, the MOTION was declared to have been CARRIED.

 

The Chairman indicated that a written response would be provided to questions posed in public question time.

 

80.

Regulatory Committee - Report of the meeting held on 9 October 2018 (1-47-46)

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Regulatory Committee presented the report of the meeting of the Committee held on 8 October 2018.

81.

Mid Devon and the Local Industrial Strategy (1-48-45) pdf icon PDF 67 KB

To consider a report in the Leader’s name, authored by the Chief Executive seeking delegated authority for approval of the Local Industrial Strategy to the Heart of the South West Joint Committee.

Minutes:

The Council had before it a report of the Leader, authored by the Chief Executive seeking delegated authority for approval of the Local Industrial Strategy to the Heart of the South West Joint Committee.

 

The Chairman explained the contents of the report.

 

 

The Chairman MOVED, that

 

  1. Council agrees to delegate the partnership approval of the Local Industrial Strategy to the Heart of the South West Joint Committee (Council’s vote vesting through the Leader as the representative on that body).
  2. The approval of any Mid Devon-specific input or content to the LIS is delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader.
  3. The update report being prepared by the HotSW Joint Committee Programme Management Office is shared with the Cabinet and the Council as it becomes available.

 

Discussion followed with regard to the ultimate approval of the Local Industrial Strategy resting with the LEP but that there was a need for the proposal to be signed off by the statutory joint committee with approval sought from Council to allow Mid Devon to vote on the item at the joint committee.  Concern was raised as to whether Members of the authority had any input into the decision and that delegated authority was sought for 2 people to make decision on behalf of the authority.  Members were reminded that the terms of the Heart of the South West Joint Committee had been approved by Council.

 

Upon a vote being taken, the MOTION was declared to have been CARRIED.

 

Notes: 

 

i)          Councillors Mrs J Roach and Mrs N Woollatt requested that their votes against the decision be recorded;

 

ii)         *Report previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.

82.

Questions in accordance with Procedure Rule 13 (1-54-56)

To deal with any questions raised pursuant to Procedure Rule 13 not already dealt with during the relevant Committee reports.

Minutes:

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 13.2.

 

83.

Outside Body Appointment (1-55-04)

To seek nominations and appoint one Member of the Council to the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership Joint Scrutiny Committee (the Terms of Reference state that this must not be a Cabinet member or a County Councillor). The Joint Scrutiny Committee will provide a strategic overview and scrutiny of the activities of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Minutes:

There was a need to seek nominations to appoint one Member of the Council to the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership Joint Scrutiny Committee (Outside Body).

 

Councillor Mrs Woollatt MOVED seconded by Councillor Mrs J Roach that Councillor R M Deed be appointed as the Council’s representative to the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership Joint Scrutiny Committee.

 

The Leader MOVED seconded by Councillor C R Slade that Councillor L G J Kennedy be appointed as the Council’s representative to the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership Joint Scrutiny Committee.

 

Following discussion and upon a vote being taken it was RESOLVED that Councillor L G J Kennedy be appointed as the Council’s representative to the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership Joint Scrutiny Committee.

 

 

 

 

84.

Special Urgency Decisions (1-58-29)

Decisions taken under Rule 16 (of the Constitution) Special Urgency – July to September 2018

 

There have been no such decisions in this period.

 

Minutes:

With regard to any decisions taken under Rule 16 (of the Constitution) Special Urgency – July to September 2018

 

The Chairman informed the meeting that no such decisions had been taken in this period.

 

 

85.

Questions to Cabinet Members (1-58-39)

Cabinet Members will answer questions from Members on their Portfolios.

 

Minutes:

Councillor Mrs N Woollatt addressing the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration stated that she had been made aware that Jonathan Guscott was working at the Cullompton Relief Road exhibition.  The former Head of Planning had been employed as a consultant for the Local Plan, was he being employed on other projects as well?

 

The Cabinet Member stated that the former Head of Planning has been employed to work on two parts of the Local Plan; one was the road infrastructure for the East of Cullompton (now the garden village area) and he was also looking at elements of the Junction 27 proposed allocation.

 

Councillor F W Letch addressing the Leader stated that bearing in mind that Drew Pearce gave a commercial valuation for Tiverton Town hall, could he please have Cabinet explain to him, Members and the Council tax payers of Mid Devon District Council why that building which clearly had a commercial value was never put on the open market.  Is he aware that at least one Parish Council did not support Crediton Town Council by writing to Mid Devon District Council saying don’t be so naughty, sell it to them because of what had happened and I have seen the written report from the Chairman of the Parish Council that they had been told that :

 

a)    Crediton Town Council wanted the building for nothing – not true

b)    They had never offered half of the restricted value – which I maintain is not true

c)    There bids were put in too late – not true

d)    The building was not a Grade II listed building – not true

 

He asked for further discussion with regard to the issue of the Parish Council.

 

The Leader stated that he did not have any figures available but would be happy to respond in writing and with regard to the other issue he would be happy to receive correspondence from the Member.

 

86.

Members Business (2-03-06)

To receive any statements made and notice of future questions by Members.

 

Note:  the time allowed for this item is limited to 15 minutes.

 

 

 

Minutes:

The Leader stated that he had been delighted to be invited by Cullompton Town Council to attend their food and drink festival; he had attended with Councillor R Evans and other Members.  He was also delighted to be informed that they had recently won an award for best farmers market, also congratulations to Crediton as he believed they were in the top three.

 

Councillor Mrs J Roach stated that the written questions that she had asked earlier were to try and establish whether the Gunning Principles had been and were going to be followed by this Council in consultations, one of the few rights that back bench members had, who are part of a ruling party was to ask questions of the Council and expect a decent reply to those questions, she felt that the answers she had received to questions today showed arrogance on the part of the people who were writing them, it seemed to her that when  she had read the answers that they were saying oh it’s just Councillor Mrs Roach, let’s just say we have done the consultation, she felt that her questions were not answered and she would be contacting the Monitoring Officer tomorrow to ask what action she could take to ensure that in future that her right as a back bench member of the Council were upheld by the officers of the Council and that never again would her questions be treated in such a manner.

 

Councillor R J Dolley asked for assistance with an issue first raised by a resident in his Ward in 2013 with regard to an area of land adjacent to his own which was to be designated an area of natural beauty and requested that the Cabinet Member of Housing discuss the matter with him.  The Cabinet Member stated that he was happy to do so.

 

The Cabinet Member for Housing informed the meeting that he and the Director of Operations would be travelling to London on 27 November to discuss the issue of ‘Right to Buy’ with the Housing Minister.

 

Councillor R M Deed stated that as a member of the Audit Committee he had recently attended a conference; of particular interest was a presentation with regard to the demise of Northampton Council and that he had been reminded of the demise this evening, he suggested that Members look at the report and take lessons from it.

Written Questions pdf icon PDF 114 KB