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Special Meeting of Council 13th February 2024

9:07 am, Friday, 16th February 2024 - 3 months ago

Present: Councillor Lindley (in the Chair)
Councillors Aisthorpe, Batson, Beasant, Boyd, Brasted, Brookes, Cairns, Croft, Dawkins, Downes, Farren, Freeston, Goodwin, Harness, Hasthorpe, Henderson, Holland, Hudson, Jackson, Mickleburgh, Morland, Patrick, Pettigrew, Reynolds, Shepherd, Shreeve, Shutt, Silvester, K Swinburn, S Swinburn, Westcott, Wheatley and Wilson.

Officers in Attendance:
• Rob Walsh (Chief Executive)
• Simon Jones (Monitoring Officer and Assistant Director Law and Governance)
• Paul Windley (Democratic and Scrutiny Team Manager)
• Paul Wisken (Civic and Mayoral Officer)
• Sharon Wroot (Executive Director of Place and Resources)

NEL.67 MR COLIN EASTWELL

Members stood to observe a minute’s silence as a mark of respect for Mr Colin Eastwell, former Member and Mayor of North East Lincolnshire Council, who passed away on 11th January, 2024.

NEL.68 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence from this meeting were received from Councillors Astbury, Cracknell, Haggis, McLean, Parkinson, Robinson, Sandford and Smith.

NEL.69 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Dawkins declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in item NEL.70 as his spouse is an employee of Equans. He vacated the Chamber and took no further part in this meeting.

NEL.70 EQUANS REVIEW

The Council considered a report from the Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder Economy, Net Zero, Skills and Housing setting out strategic options available for future delivery of services currently included within the contractual relationship with Equans. This report had been referred to full Council as part of the engagement process prior to final decision by Cabinet at its meeting on 14th February 2024. The report was also considered at a joint meeting of the Economy Scrutiny Panel and the Communities Scrutiny Panel on 6th February 2024 and a paper setting out the outcome of that meeting was circulated.

The Leader moved the recommendations as laid out in the report, noting also his support for the additional recommendations arising from the joint scrutiny meeting. This was seconded by Councillor Shreeve.

Following the debate on the open aspects of the report, the Mayor enquired whether there were any comments on the exempt papers on the agenda for this meeting. On being signalled that there were, the Mayor then moved the exclusion of the press and public to allow these comments to be made. This was seconded by Councillor Beasant, the Deputy Mayor. On being put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED – That the press and public be requested to leave on the grounds that discussion of the following business was likely to disclose exempt information within paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The Mayor then moved the suspension of standing orders to allow any Member who had already spoken to have the opportunity to speak again on the exempt matters. This was seconded by Councillor Beasant and agreed on being put to the vote.

Following a debate on the exempt matters, the press and public were invited to return and the open session continued.

Upon being put to the vote, a recorded vote was requested in accordance with the requirements of the Council’s Standing Orders. The votes cast were recorded as follows:

For the Motion:

Councillors Aisthorpe, Batson, Beasant, Boyd, Brasted, Brookes, Cairns, Croft, Downes, Farren, Freeston, Goodwin, Harness, Hasthorpe, Henderson, Holland, Hudson, Jackson, Lindley, Mickleburgh, Morland, Patrick, Pettigrew, Reynolds, Shepherd, Shreeve, Shutt, Silvester, K Swinburn, S Swinburn, Westcott, Wheatley and Wilson (33 votes).

Against the Motion:

None.

The motion was declared carried and it was

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET –

  1. That the delivery model approach set out in the closed appendix to the report now submitted, be endorsed.
  2. That the Director for Economy, Environment and Infrastructure, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, be delegated responsibility to oversee the strategic and operational aspects in the implementation of the proposed delivery model, as set out in the closed appendix to the report now submitted.
  3. That the Director for Economy, Environment and Infrastructure update Cabinet by way of further report at least 6 months in advance of 1st July 2025.
  4. That the recommendations of the joint meeting of the Economy Scrutiny Panel and the Communities Scrutiny Panel be supported, namely:

i) That the Executive and Scrutiny Liaison Board, in consultation with the Statutory Scrutiny Officer, consider the establishment of temporary scrutiny arrangements to enable the overview and scrutiny of the transition to the new delivery model.
ii) That, in line with the recommendation of the joint scrutiny panel, the financial considerations section of the report now submitted be amended so that paragraph 5.1 reads as follows:

In 2010, a ten-year partnership agreement was entered into with BBW for a number of council functions, with the aim of utilising the expertise and commercial nous of BBW to deliver improvements to these services. This partnership arrangement has been extended by the maximum period of five years and cannot be extended beyond 30th June 2025. By adopting the proposed delivery model outlined in Appendix 1 (closed report), the Council can use part of the contract fee beyond 1st July 2025 to fund any additional staffing costs (e.g. council pays living wage) and additional pension contributions for those staff who return to the Council through a TUPE transfer.

There being no further business, the Mayor declared the meeting closed at 7.52 p.m.