In line with legal requirements this meeting is being held fa to face but members can join online um only the unitary councilors present are taking the decisions at this meeting officers in attendance are there to provide advice to us as a council the agenda and papers have been published on the
Council’s website in advance of the meeting the meeting will be webcast as you can see and the council will be making an audio recording of the meeting and this will be published on the council’s website in due course there are no planned fire drills this afternoon and in the event of a fire
Alarm please allow the please follow the fire exit signs and congregate in the car park if anybody present might need assistant in exiting the building then please let one of the democratic Services teams know if members in the room wish to speak please raise your hand and the monitoring officer and
Unitary solicitor will note your name and when it comes to your turn please use a mic phone on the desk in front of you for members joining the meeting virtually please raise the hand on the hand facility online please only speak when invited to address the council and please if
Possible say your name and role before speaking um I have been asked to encourage members in the room uh not to join the team’s call if they wouldn’t mind on their devices uh as it does affect the Wi-Fi bandwidth in the room so if I can if I can ask members for
That be be grateful um all page numbers referenc in this schedule refer to the agenda and reports pack published on the 12th of December okay item number one we’re going to apologies for absence and I’m going to hand over to David the monitoring officer David thank
You thank you chair um today bear with me we have a quite a long list uh so apologies from councelor Simon Carswell councelor Sarah DK councelor Andy go councelor Susanna Hart councelor benty height councelor Tim Carley councelor Christine Lawrence councelor Oliver Patrick councelor Lance dridge councelor Andy Kendall councelor
Tony Robbins councelor Joe slokum councelor Fran Smith councelor Jenny Snell councelor Alex Wilshire councelor f k councelor surria a councelor Tom per councelor Lucy trimel councelor Steven Pugsley councelor Matt Martin and as you’ve said chair counselor Mike best councelor Adam boen will be arriving late thank you I’ve got yes come on in
Matt oh great thank you Matt John um I didn’t hear Emily Pearl Stone’s name mentioned but I may have missed it she sends her apologies her father’s ill in hospital at the moment we’ll add that one John thank you very much indeed councelor Shane Collins please thank you Mar that one thank
You lovely any others please members nope okay thank you agenda item two then moving on is the minutes of the previous meeting they’re in your pack uh can I just have to confirm the accuracy proposer and seconder to move those forward please Liz thank you to propose
Thank you Mandy second a question s oh you had a question sorry let’s come come on in then Mandy thank you it’s just a question around uh proposed of one of the papers was Jane lock my understanding was that you had to be a counselor to propose a recommendation
I’m just wondering because that wasn’t a valid motion um but that’s the question okay let’s just let Lee in a second M we’ll come back to that thank you from recollection I think I proposed it as Vice chair of corporate parent board Mr okay if councelors are happy
We’ll take that as an amendment to the minutes then and we’ll say that Lee proposed that motion uh Mandy thank you I think the recollection is that Tessa months was the second thank you Bill so Lee proposed and Tessa seconded so we’ll make that Amendment thank you very much indeed
Other than that are we happy to move the minutes The Proposal we had was Liz anybody would like to second that please thank you Ros everybody else in agreement lovely thank you thank you very much indeed okay item number three uh is Declarations of interest I’m going
To pass to our legal representative Jill to tell us if there’s any Declarations of Interest Jill I’ve not received any additional Declarations of interest to the Declarations that members make in respect to the membership of Parish town and city councils thank you Jill we have some hands up
David as a point of clarification really we have an item on the agenda item seven uh which I think it’s seven yes which relates to uh the ownership of second homes I think there’s a number of members who will own second homes and therefore should they dis disclose those interests before they
Get there or should they leave the room during the debate thank you David good some advice and um I think the the Declarations of interest is for land with within the council area so if your second home is within Somerset Council area then yes that be a relevant
Declaration to to make and should already be on your Declaration of interest interest form as a as a land holding if it’s out withth of Somerset Council then it’s not a charge that’s being applied by this Council or an approach that’s being applied by this Council to that second
Home yeah and and yeah as a result of that you’d be no no worly affected than any other member of the public by the council that this the decision that this Council would ultimately take so just for clarity because it will affect a lot of people well not a lot of
People a few people um emphasize not myself but with the second property do they need to dis do they need to um disclose that now or on the item yes so is if it’s if it’s already on your Declaration of Interest then there’s no need to repeat that so you’ve already made that
Declaration I think what we’re saying what David saying is that if it’s if we’ve all we’ filled out our Declarations of interest if we’ve declared we’ve got a second home on that that covers Us under the circumstances that’s what you’re saying David isn’t it yeah Mark uh through you chairman uh
What happens if you just bought a property and you’ve not declared it yet because you’ve only just done it I’m try to throw that one but literally in my case has just happen so do I declare an interest yes Mark I think so but we’ll just check with David
Yeah absolutely it’s it’s up to members to to declare that interest as soon as it becomes apparent to them so again chairman through you if I may um does that mean I withdraw went on item seven if if if it’s a property within Somerset then then you would be you
Would be impacted by that that decision as a as a second homeowner so so we’ve got several hands up I will take these there is a bit of confusion over this so we’ll we’ll just cover this off couple of hands here let me take aliser first if I
Can alist is asking if Dave get to speak loudly into the microphone I’ll make sure he does aliser have you got another point no John yeah I will be making a personal pecuniary declaration for that item number seven we’ll be leaving the room um as I think that’s the right thing to
Do and I don’t think pecuniary interests are put on um your thing as well so I think it’s very important for members to make sure that they make the right Declaration on that noted please thank you John I think I’m just being told David like to clarify something uh and
I’ll make sure his mic’s on thank you yeah thank thank you chair just just to clarify if members have a second home within the county of Somerset um they firstly need to have that on their Declaration of interest if it’s already on their Declaration of Interest they
Don’t need to declare it again at this point in time however if it is there as an interest um then they should leave the room and not be part of the debate on that item thank you does that clarify things members okay let’s go to Adam
This working now um what about if you pay council tax in two places in Somerset yeah no I guessed that but that’s not an in surely that’s an interest as as p c tax as a second home councelor then that that that’s that’s exactly the same situation yeah
Asel thank you uh chairman surely it is that if you have a second home and not something that you let out if it is a home on which you pay a second home council tax that is what you have to declare and even if it’s on your list of interests when that subject
Comes you should say because it’s for everybody in this room to know and understand that that is a declarable pecuniary interest and then you leave the room it’s got to be clear not wishy-washy um you can’t just say interest to wander out you have to be more specific so that we all understand
What your interest is in that and even if it’s on your list if it affects you because you have two homes that you occupy and pay the council tax for then you need to declare it and leave the room if however you have a portfolio of investment properties which you do do
Not pay the council tax on as a second tax home I don’t think you have to declare that thank you thank you Hazel um I’m being told that you got second yeah you you don’t need to declare now members if it’s on your Declaration of interest but you will need to leave the
Room in those circumstances on and declare it at that item agenda agenda item has that clarified things sorry for the confusion Diego just separately chair um having been elected onto Bridgewater Town Council on Monday evening I’m pleased to declare a new interest as a Bridgewater Town counselor thank you Diego very good
Helen um sorry to drag this on but um as someone with one small byct property I’m not really sure in Somerset whether I should be declaring that or not I don’t live in it it’s not a home it’s not my second home tenant lives there if if Members Own a second home
Within the county of Somerset and pay the council tax on that second home then yes you should be declaring interest and leaving the room for that item aliser did you want to come in okay thank you just under the same premise I can’t hear you aliser yeah I’m
Sorry that’s my I’ve got very soft Scottish accent I apologize for that I I to I was B to Highbridge Town Council and an election two days ago so I have the interest thank you very much thank you any other declarations and members sorry for the confusion there no oh yes
One thank you Marcus thank you chair it’s not my reg of interest but bearing in mind that I’m presenting the report on item 10 I just would like point out that I do hold two licenses that are within the gambling act thank you just taking advice and it’s the person interested thank you
Marcus right so moving on thank you very much indeed we’re going to go on to public questions and we’ve got a number of public questions uh which is excellent we’ve got some in the room we’ve got some online um uh I’m delighted to introduce the first one if
I could just remind the uh the the individuals that you have three minutes um and if it’s helpful I’ll warn you after two and a half minutes so that you can wrap up if you’re if you’re still through your question so the first one if I can invite in person is Ray Rose
Please uh on viory Park is Ray here good afternoon Ray thank you very much is that it it right again everybody seen this I sent a copy here and he’s going to give it all to you I’ve had it five uh Pence at the back for the player was
In the wrong place I’ve got independent uh assessor for it and he’s waiting for an answer to 12 questions in here haven’t been answered so I want to answer I got next step to take after that if I’m not happy four Street toilets five there’s seven blocks up
There five has been locked since a uh April if not before and it says temp of use someone’s put on her permanently member of the public that is so that and why won’t Somerset Council let T te uh to T cancel see the contract for the toilets cuz
They are a mess they stink they haven’t been clean they haven’t been nothing and all I get off of these two them and her is a load of rubbish and it’s got to be sorted now not time come by next year put up the cancel tax by 80 or% cancel
Tax in to town what a load of rubbish anyway and you got VI Part fountain in and a water in leave it till Autumn oh sorry leave it till spring and we’ll get it done it wants doing now and I’m willing to go up and do it I used to do
It I’m willing to go up and still do it don’t have to pay me for the last four years I’ve been doing it ask AO ask um whatever his name another cancer I go out there and do it that now since cancer took over they don’t want
To know and the blo who’s in charge of it now what she goes to and sees he a’t got a clue of what he’s doing I’ve had to put them right up there and the blocks that we work up there have agree with me it’s a waste of time so something’s
Got to be done this is going to be done and it’ll end up in court if no if it a done everybody read it I’ve sent it to counselor need CC add one thanks Ray you’ve got 30 seconds to to finish off that’s all right as long as everything’s
Done and hor Street toilets and everything sorted these two kicked out of the council because I don’t think there’s any need for that uh Ray if you wouldn’t mind I don’t think there’s any need finger pointing and an instruction like that I think you’ve had your time thanks
For making your point and there’s a there is a a decent response coming wait for reply thank you very much indeed um and if I can invite uh Federica please to respond to that that one if you could Federica thank you uh thank you chair and thank you uh Mr rose
Again for your questions um which we’ve answered a variety of times through both directly to counselors to MPS so I’ll reiterate the points again today at our full Council um so in relation to the netting we’ve answered um questions like I said a variety of times um we remain
Of the view that the council has adequately considered the risk and have taken appropriate action with the sighting and height of the Cricut Nets in relation to the report that you’ve um sent through which we have received um we will respond to the health and safety Consultants
Separately in relation to viy park Fon whilst the offer of your assistance is generous the council has a responsibility to make sure the works are done with a relevant public and professional liability insurance in place and that and we are still comfortable with uh the work that we are
Doing there and the maintenance that will take place in the spring we’re aware of ongoing maintenance issues with the facilities at Paul Street toilets when they’re known to the council um we want to take action on them but unfortunately there are costs involved in that around 20,000 a cubicle due to
The work that’s needed to do in those toilets so those will need to be looked at as we go through um into the budget setting regarding the cleaning contract between Somerset Council and ID verdie officers from both Somerset Council and Taunton time Council have discussed the content of these arrangements and we
Discussed that as Somerset Council and ta Town Council we have regular dialogue both with counselor Tom Deacon um and the town clerk there we will continue to have those dialog of conversations and hold ID verie to account to the contract thank you Federica thank you very much indeed uh the next question if
I can invite I think this uh this individual’s in the room can I invite Rosa Fel please to uh to ask her a question and she’s going to uh ask us a question about buses so Rosa are you in the room nobody in the room have we got Roser
Online no so Ros is not here okay we will move on then okay if she if she transpires to come late or online we’ll we’ll pick up the question later um yes David sorry I thought the point of order I thought the um agreement was if
Somebody wasn’t in the room it’d be read out by the monitoring officer the answer would be delivered for the benefit of all members in the room yeah I think we’ll wait to see if she turns up if not we’ll do that then day yeah just
Wa um the third one is uh David rewell uh he’s online I think he’s going to talk to us about buses as well so have we got David online can you hear me chair we can indeed David you’ve got three minutes welcome to the meeting to you yeah so my
My first question about YoVille bus depot obviously I know with sadness the old Depot um is going to be demolished by first group properties but my concern is about the new Depo uh that’s required to run the services in South Somerset and West Dorset U which is about nine
Vehicles and about seven routs still left out of yville run by group PLC um so my concern is there’s no planning permission for this being put into Somerset Council unless like we’ve certainly searched for one you Town Council hasn’t seen anything and we’ve no we hav at present also um not
Received any notification of what they call not racing center with the traffic commissioner inent we have seen indication make progress here and the transport Authority is Somerset most of those Services less than 51 are contracted to either sumerset uh Council as transport Authority or as to Dorset
As a transport Authority uh we would just urge that basically um uh that some urgent action is taken in discussions with first PLC and it’s their property arm it’s first property is not necessar first South you need to talk to on this my second question is of great concern
And I do share Mike rig’s view on this we have money from government about 1 million and a half pounds roughly to spend on Taun and bus station tson bus station call it a transport Mobility Hub whatever um going through a planning process preapplication I’ve checked the district local plan from um Somerset
West and um West sumerset Council Taunton Council and it’s it’s allocated it’s a bus station it’s what a transp interchange so I’m not sure why we’re going through a a long process and where this legal advice is coming from and I’ve spoken to English Heritage and they
Say what’s the change of use and I’m saying no it’s just renovating the old bus station and bringing it back into use for coaches buses taxes Maybe some E Scooters and bikes and some Revenue coming from the bus operators to pay for it plus any catering we managed to put
In there which is the way first run in the past with in joint in partnership with sum with Somerset West and to council chair so I think we just like that to be speeded up we’re not sure of the reasons for delay we are very very worried that a new incoming labor
Government May in fact take the money away so we need to start spending it and and I think that’s very important there’ll be a general election this year and that’s quite important this coming year and then my third question really is about protection of the seconds David
To wrap up I’ll do this very fast uh we just need to know what’s going to happen with the services funding of the buses and working with the town and Parish councils and what progress is being made and we’re aware of of of of contracts being led to stage coaches well but not
Announced formally in public thank you thank you very much for your question David I’m gonna hand to uh Mike Rigby now who’s going to respond Mike thank you very much for your questions David with uh the first part of your question uh question a is a matter for the traffic commissioner
Rather than Somerset Council operating bases and maintenance arrangements are the operators’s responsibility and they have a duty to inform the traffic Commissioner of any changes if the traffic commissioner deems the depo and maintenance arrangements are adequate then they will grant those changes if the commissioner deems that there are
Any issues with the new Depo or maintenance arrangements then they will not Grant the change in operating base uh I am aware that the traffic commission has been contacted by um groups in Somerset on this specific issue so I imagine that they will be dealing with this issue as we speak uh
The second of your questions on the tson bus station yeah there’s no particular issue delaying the reopening of tson bus station as a Mobility Hub the project is progressing well through relevant processes but it is unfortunately taking longer than we’d originally anticipated when we bid for the funds given the
Complexity of the project English Heritage is supportive of the scheme and they’re involved because the site is I understand a scheduled ancient Monument being part of the old Taunton Castle they’re supportive of the scheme and working with us to progress it we have ongoing dialogue with stakeholders and operators regarding income generation
Opportunities and whether access charges will apply we obviously wanted to make sure that having built the thing we can afford to maintain it in good order um we do not consider there to be any risk to the funding and regularly updating the DFT on progress and any changes to
Predicted delivery time scales and on the issue of of planning my understanding is that because for a period of time the bus station building has been used as a vaccination Center that we need to get planning permission to turn it back into a bus station so
That interim use there uh is what is is causing us to need to to go through the planning process but we will do that with with all speed I I agree entirely with you I use the the buses in Taunton on a regular basis and we need better
Facilities for waiting in particular and we’ll we’ll move on that with all speed the third question we’ll continue our ongoing review of supported public transport services to take account of any commercial changes that may take place in the coming year reviewing how successful our buset campaign has been
In driving demand for services reviewing availability of transport options to our local communities and considering available resources to meet the range of competing duties and responsibilities that we have this work will include conversations with neighboring authorities localities and stakeholders thank you David thank you Mike and thank you David for
The question we’ve now got Rosa back online Rosa Kell it is apologies for Mr pronouncing your name earlier Rosa um welcome to the meeting you’ve got three minutes over to you thank you I apologize thank you chair I apologize to everyone regreted I’m away from home and I haven’t been
Able to print my question but it’s basically uh I’m at seeking assurance that the worlds bus station will remain in Su Council ownership and that it will not be on the at risk register for any asset disposal and of course um we would like it to have it
Upgraded thank you Rose it’s very important have this part of sum but thank you a pleasure thank you for the question uh we’re gonna have a response on that one again from Mike Rigby over to you Mike thank you thank you chair hello Rosa and thank you for your
Question there is no proposal to disc of any property assets that are being actively used as bus stations including Well’s bus station given the wide range of competing duties and responsibilities though that the council does have we need to deliver within our available budget unfortunately we’re not going to
Be able to commit at this stage to modernizing and upgrading any of the public transport assets that we have beyond the current Grant funded projects thank you Mike um next question we have is from Peter Travis um Peter Travis is also online Peter I hope you’re online welcome to the meeting um
And your questions over buses again so feel free your three minute start now thank you chair um my name as you say is Peter Travis I’m one of the co-chairs of the somerset bus partnership thank you for allowing me to make a short statement today I apologize for not
Being in the meeting in person but yesterday I fell down a flight of stairs and ended up in the wonderful a near ruh with a crack ribs so I couldn’t drive to Bridgewater but for d for me driving is usually an option as it is indeed for
Most of the counselors here today but for many many bus users they don’t have the option of going by car that’s because they either can’t afford to have a car or are too young to drive or feel they’re too old to drive or maybe they’re disabled women too are often
More likely to be bus users as where there is a car in the household it’s often the man who has a priority over the bus of the car’s use so for all of those without access to a car buses are absolutely vital for them whether it’s to get to work to
School to college to go to the shops or just to see family and friends for them busers aren’t a lifestyle Choice they’re a necessity without without them many bus users would lose their jobs and hence their income to give an example in Fr many go
By a bus to their jobs in the service Industries in B it’s not just daytime buses they need evening buses too jobs in the service sector are not 9 to5 nor is the working week Monday to Friday the service industry is a 7day A Week business we are all now very much aware
That Somerset is faced with a financial emergency but we and Somerset continue to be faced with a climate emergency going by bus rather than by car needs to be encouraged and facilitated even when cuts to somerset’s 2425 budget are being considered Cuts will need to be made
Difficult choices are ahead of you but please do think about all those in Somerset who rely on buses I would urge you to prioritize bus services for those whose livelihoods and sorry pet you’ve got 30 seconds remaining thank you thank you I would urge you to prioritize bus
Services for those whose livelihoods and access to Services depend on their buses because they don’t have an alternative means of getting about thank you chair for the opportunity to express that view you’re very welcome Peter thank you for your question and we hope you uh you recover swiftly from
Your injuries that we we hear about so sorry to hear that um we’ve got a response from again Mike Rigby thank you Mike thank you chair thank you for your comments I’m very grateful to for the ongoing support of the the somerset bus partnership and for your personal
Involvement Peter as chair of our bus user and stakeholder group you’ve played at an essential role in help helping promote bus services which are potentially at risk of commercial failure due to low patronage and I firmly believe this is making a difference to use of those Services I
Agree that bus services are extremely important to our communities and we’re certainly examining all options to find new income streams to support public transport provision we do already require new developments to consider proper public transport provision and make Financial contributions where this is necessary to enable the planning to
Be consented in line with the planning legislation however we will redouble our efforts in this area as part of the more Vision Le approach to planning that we’ve recently consulted on through our creating places for people consultation and I just add to the end of that that I
Ask all of us here to consider using the bus whenever we can um the bus services are much more reliable than they were at the beginning of the year when the there was a bit of an issue with particularly with drivers the driver shortage now
Seems to be mostly at an end there are a few issues with with vehicle Rel ability but last week for example 98% of all of the services in the county ran as they should have done um we have I think a duty to try and support those services for those that
Don’t have an alternative I have a car but I got the bus here today because frankly it’s it’s easier it’s more relaxing um and I’d just urge you to consider that when you make your personal Journey choices that you do think about the possibility of using the
Bus particularly as it’s only two quit a single Fair thank you very much thank you Mike thank you very much indeed uh our next question then is from David or he can’t be with us today we’re going to read that out and uh uh David’s going to read that out our monitoring
Officer on behalf of David or over to you David thank you chair the financial emergency is the highest priority for this Council but it isn’t the only priority the Natural England nutrient neutrality guidance for all new homes in Somerset came in over 3 years ago without a local scientist ific
Understanding of how phosphorus gets on and off a levels and mes nor was it underpinned by a local evidence base the generic guidance isn’t specifically targeted to reducing phosphorus on the mes and levels the highly precautionary assumption by Natural England was that all phosphorus that was discharged into
The relevant Rivers ended up on the mes and levels and then another 20% more phosphorus is added to that total local research shows that that not to be the case only a fraction of the discharged phosphorus in the relevant Rivers gets to the mes and levels agricultural
Inputs over the past 60 years of artificial fertilizer use are significant with the utation impacts of choking wheat and algal growth being exacerbated by climate change additional local research will be needed to complete the evidence base and guide a targeted phosphorus neutrality policy there are 18,000 held up new home
Permissions within which thousands of vital social and affordable homes are also held up the primary focus is on the phosphorus from the 18,000 new homes while the phosphorus from more than 250 um 100,000 existing homes isn’t accounted for clearly improvements in removing phosphorus from each wastewater treatment works mitigates phosphorus
Removal from all homes connected to that works both new and existing the build of all the 18,000 new homes held up just 4 tons per animum of phosphorus needs to be removed from our river catchments wesex water have over the past four years removed almost 60 tons ofos
Phosphorus per anom from our River catchments yet absurdly the new homes remain held up between now and 2030 new Wastewater regulations will remove even more phosphorus from our Rivers the urgent need for a thriving local economy together with delivering vital social and affordable housing should be part of a balanced Somerset Nutri nutrient
Neutrality policy the cumulative economic social and Community impacts from holding up new homes are now highly damaging this flawed and dated nutrient neutrality status quo cannot continue until 2030 Cornwall and Wilshire have moved to taking a catchment-wide approach with natural England’s continuing oversight to unblock new housing and get the vital
Social and affordable homes built the question when will this Council also move to a attachment wide nutrient neutrality model to unlock vitally needed new homes while targeting phosphorous removal from the mes and levels thank you David and thank you David all for your question um I’m going
To pass to Ros for a response thank you Ros thank you the council’s approach to phosphate mitigation to date has been based on advice from Natural England the geographic extent with three River catchments and the number of new dwellings impacted by the Natural England device is very different to the
Examples provided by Mr O I.E Wilshire and cornall these areas both deal with a single River and a smaller number of developments which are impacted Wilshire diverted 850,000 of community infrastructure Levy to deliver a catchment approach to mitigation in Cornwall a natural England consultation response on the appropriate assessment for the site allocations
Document acknowledged in writing that proposed plan improvements to Wastewater treatments would count as mitigation the scale of the funding required to account to take a catch wide approach to phosphate mitigation in Somerset across the river’s Brew Parian tone is not currently available to the council we submitted a funding bid to
Government in May 2023 to enable a catchment-wide approach to post Fates mitigation if awarded this funding would enable cost effective um mitigation measures to be delivered without undermining developer viability and other planning obligations such as contributions to affordable housing or indeed Community facilities the council wrote to the
Government in August and again in September to seek Clarity on when this funding would be confirmed and we like many other local authorities are currently awaiting government’s confirmation on these funding bids since that was written I’m delighted to say that um the government has announced yesterday that we have
Been awarded um 9.6 million the total amount we requested to deliver our proposed mitigation um project which will be rode out um with as much Pace as possible recognizing the impact it’s having on our economy thank you thank you Ros thank you very much indeed um our next um question comes from valda
Dagnal and elth waly of the green project but I think uh Sue is going to present this one on their behalf thank you sue over to you um thank you chairman and I feel very honored privileged and humbled to be asked on behalf of eloth waly and Baler dagal um
To present this folder of letters to you um which they produced during the Big Green week um I will read their statement on their behalf which should give you a flavor and then I will hand this to you chairman um here goes and I hope I do it
Justice dear friends thank you for this chance to present to you the folder of letters to the Future the climate Alliance invited people all over the country to write these expressing their hopes for future generations and their fears for what life could be like if we failed to slow down climate change here
In ilminster we opened up sweet surprise Cafe on the Saturday of the ilminster experience weekend and invited people in for a coffee and a chance to tell us and the world about their concerns about what is happening to the planet when people heard what we were
Doing they came in off the street sat down and started to write it was a very moving experience to see them and we hope you are equally moved to read what they have written this was no quick job no easy signing of a petition but a thoughtful experience in which people
Some for the first time ever talked with us and each other about their hopes and fears or sat staring into the distance pen poised above the letter form we provided it was a powerful experience to see people finally facing their fears about the future there was anger there
Was sadness one man who looked as though he had never cried in his life was wiping tears away as he tried to express what he was that he felt you cannot always tell from what is on the page just how strongly people feel others wrote their letter at the
Church or sent it to us by email we decided to collect the letters together both to share them amongst ourselves and to send on to you and to our MP with the Urgent request that you study these concerns and act upon them but more than that we know that this
Council is already on side we also know thank you sh 30 seconds please thank you we also know that the big decisions that impact our lives but the lives of people thousands of miles away are made by politicians we rarely see and by International corporations in these letters are many
Examples of doing what you can where you are with what you have but sadly it is not going to be enough so our question is how can we all work together to celebrate and make known all these small actions not for self-aggrandisement not even to get reelected but to the point where it
Actually shames the big decision makers into refusing to water down the essential actions the people of the world are calling for to save the planet now before it is too late we look forward to hearing your thoughts in friendship bder dagnal eleth waly PP chard and nmin Quakers thank you for
Your time chairman thank you sue spot on three minutes thank you very much thank you so I’ll pass that to Dixie later and and as you say scrutiny okay uh I’m going to pass now to Dixie who’s going to respond as appropriate thank you Dixie thank you councelor Osborne and um
Thank you balder and Elizabeth and child and ilminster Quakers I was really moved by your statement I look forward to reading the letters to the Future and they’ll also be shared with members of the climate and place scrutiny committee I think that confronting the very real existential threat of climate change is
Immensely challenging so much so that many shy away from it because it’s so overwhelming but there is hope in action bringing people together in the way that you have done is enormously helpful both emotionally and practically sharing those small actions that add up to a great
Deal we’d like to work with you to do as you ask to make known what you are doing to grow those actions so that the message that we can make a difference spreads the establishment of local community networks will support us in working more collaboratively with communities and we also encage you to
Sign up to our scene climate email newsletter which shares best practice and provides support and access to online resources and thank you so much for the work that you’re doing thank you Dixie much appreciated okay our next speaker is Nigel Bean um he’s going to talk to us about budget
And Council Services now I think Nigel’s in the room yes you are Nigel good afternoon to you welcome to the meeting uh your three minute starts now thank you thank you chair I’m not going to read out verbatim What was what what you’ve it’s already been submitted but the point about the preventative
Services and statutory Services I mean a lot of councils I mean I think you know a lot of think tanks uh policy wonkers uh everyone connected with local government accepts as a problem but but how how that’s dealt with is another matter and I think what crisis um repeat
Etc except crisis cash repeat recycle what cycle um so but the second question though I was at the audit committee last week and there was a discussion about the prevention of failure in local government and about well-managed councils and it was pointed out by Gran Thornton the Auditors that um no
Well-managed councils have failed I.E is a section 114 notice but looking in the light of so many councils in trouble now perhaps that should be revised as I indicate in the question and just adding one point finally is is um which only noticed after the deadline for questions
Was was failing councils like thurk slow and woking are actually the council tax referendum this did uh next financial year is allowed to be 8 to 10% increase so it seems very perverse thank you thank you Nigel for your question and in response I’m gonna hand over to
Liz over to you Liz thank you thank you chair and and thank you Nigel for your always pertinent questions and for your attendance at the recent audit committee meeting so your question on which preventative Services are at risk in Somerset is certainly an interesting one as a unitary authority of course we
Encompass the services and the facilities of the former District councils as well as those of the County Council within adults the percentage of services that are considered preventative and therefore nonstatutory is a tiny percentage of the total budget at just 1% under the Care Act local authorities have a responsibility to prevent delay
And and reduce the need for statutary services with a development of the neighborhood approach and ability to enable people to live independent lives and so by reducing Prevention Services that could potentially add additional cost to the adults budget anything up to 7 million pounds estimated so the prevention agenda is at
The heart of the my life my future newon Europe work streams and the adult stry going forward and is a significant contributing factor to reducing demand and enabling a community offer that supports people to live independent lives within their local communities in children’s the spend is around 5.8
Million on a range of Prevention Services with the largest being on the family intervention service and there are no proposals to reduce this all all the proposed savings will be published with the papers for the January executive which will be held on the 15th and I believe those papers will be
Published by the 5th of January uh on uh to go on on the same question from the directorate that is communities housing and culture of course there is a much higher percentage of non-statutory funded facilities and services and therefore a much greater concern about loss of what can fairly be
Considered preventative Services keeping people in good physical and mental health leading stimulating lives for longer in their own homes often includes the contributions that local councils and Public Health Grants make to our communities Somerset is no exception decent houses Services funded through the public health Grant Green spaces
Theaters music museums and Heritage they all play a part in our lives with housing being one of the key determinants of healthy lives how we are able to work with Partners including the voluntary sector and the parish town and City councils to maintain this part of
Our services remains to be seen as the work continues with all Partners we believe that we have made a good start to that work and that it will continue both before and after budgets setting next February uh on the second question the statutary minimum level of services so I
Would have to say that 12 years of austerity has already reduced many of canel services to levels that are lower than we would wish for and closer to a statutory minimum I believe that many councils across the country will be working together to understand what statutory minimum may look like for the future
And that includes councils that have previously been considered the bigger wealthier more secure councils across both urban and rural areas including Hampshire County Council where we have heard recently of their work on this subject on the third subject uh third question sorry regarding the audit committee meeting indeed guy Clifton
From Grant thoron did say no has his answer to a question about well men manag councils issuing section 114 notices at present however he went on to say that the funding model for local authorities was unfair and in light of the fact that 33 leaders of upper tier authorities all
Signed a letter to the Secretary of State Michael Gove under the banner of the County Council Network it does seem only a matter of time before councils that were previously considered very financially secure reach the last of their reserves sell the last of their Surplus assets and continue to see
Increased demand for services and that further impacts through inflationary factors so I would say not yet is indeed a much better descriptor of the impending situation than no thank you very much Nigel thank you chair thank you Liz for the response thank you our next speaker then is also here because
I’ve seen her it’s Eva Browski I hope I pronounced that right Eva uh thank you welcome again uh ‘s goingon to ask us a question on Section 114 and I’ve agreed with EV I’m G to talk give you the 30 seconds 60 seconds 30 seconds intervals okay still waiting for my ears okay
We’ll do thank you Eva over to you right before I speak there’s a typo we’re 2016 in is should have been 2026 okay um the latest off reading from the government is peanuts um and my main question is are you going to fight harder than lobbying and joining you know National
Associations um I’m going to talk about David and Goliath um Margaret me um but mainly I plead with you to fight um to be the change counselors 30 seconds e thank you wow um one of the things you could do is take the government’s Courts for deliberate asset stripping of
Infrastructure for an agenda that has nothing to do with the needs of residents okay um and you need a strategy to deal with obstacles like David and Goliath uh David noticed that heavily Al armed Goliath had his forehead free one minute evil one minute
He pelted the stone at his for it and he won a lot of people lost their bets okay so that’s what you need to do like the Clark’s workers uh the Clark’s brand was being uh you know reputational damage and they strike forced a an a demonstration the Chinese
Multi-billionaire to come over from Tokyo to negotiate and the workers won against fire and reard that’s what sort of thing you need to do you need to harder one minute 30 one minute 30 Eva thank you if I could quote Margaret me you might verer never doubt that a small
Group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world indeed it’s the only thing that ever does um so really you know you might start small but you can you know get together with other Council Crow fund taking the government to court whether you win or Loom two
Minutes Eva two minutes thank you uh you need to take your residence with you you need to take alongside the unions and other campaigners um and I want to know why didn’t you fight harder when I appeared at the executive committee meeting and asked you to you’ve been working hard I
I I agree you know with the national associations but you’re going to do anything more than Lobby and beg you know beg Father Christmas Jeremy hunts 30 seconds left Eva 30 seconds left God okay so really my main message uh I know I’ve said it again and again but you
Know it is the main message you know do a consultation if you have to uh so that residents choose a variety uh selection box of you know activities for justice thank you thank you very much Eva um well within the three minutes thank you and I’m going to hand over to Liz and
Dean for their responses thank you chair and thank you Eva I’ll take the first two questions and then hand over to councelor Dean Ruddell so thank you for your comments and questions Eva we recognize that this is a particularly difficult time in the short life of Somerset Council and it
Feels actually like a momentous time for all of us we are committed to working with unions with all staff of this Council and with all Partners to find the most creative ways of maintaining services and Facilities while establishing which assets can be disposed of to create an ability to use
A capitalization direction from government without any further borrowing we do understand that redundancies will cause stress and financial concern to many many of our very valued staff we welcome the positive response from so many many of somerset’s town city and Parish councils and we are pleased that
At a recent executive meeting we have approved multiple year agreements with both citizens advice and Spark so that we can continue to work with the voluntary sector in a collaborative way on the second question councils are most definitely working together across the political divide to ensure that government ministers understand the
Value of and the need for local government indeed the current prime minister Rishi sunak was Minister for housing communities and local government in 2018 when he delivered a speech to the county council’s Network Conference his speech focused on three priorities a new fairer funding system social
Mobility and the vital role that c local councils play in helping our society ‘s most vulnerable people I think it’s fair to say that the government has failed on the fairer funding system and so it’s impossible to consider that this government has succeeded in supporting local government fully to deliver what
Our society so clearly needs now postco and through a cost of living crisis either for you and for anyone else I will add a link to the speech given by Rishi sunak when he was local government minister in my written response and chair I’d like to hand over
To councelor Dean ruddle thank you thank you Liz over to you Dean yeah thank you LZ thank you chairman and thank you Eva for your questions and happy Christmas to you by the way thank you the cost of a Newton Europe contract is high but it’s important to understand the
Difference between the cost and the value of this contract the support from Newton is provided on a contingency basis these are fixed and contingent on financial benefits been delivered and signed off by the somerset Council as such Newton guarantee the benefits being delivered in this program and will at
Least exceed 1.3 times a combined fee from the original diagnostic program as such guaranteed benefit of 10 million pound the latest progress against this work is available in P in the public domain and was a part of the adults health and scrutiny committee on 7th of December and again I will provide you
With a written response and the link to this thank you very much thank you Dean uh next question is from Colin Nash welcome Colin Colin’s in the room as well he’s going to talk to us on the budget thank you Colin your three minutes starts now thank you chair thank
You Council for letting me put this question um yeah my name’s Colin Nash I social worker with the an adult social care services in Somerset and have been for um very nearly 27 years now um my question relates to the financial situation of course this overspend that um has triggered the
Financial crisis is largely as a result of overspend within adult social care the factors behind that the adult social care Market um inflation all the other factors have been well understood for the last 24 months or so how did Senior Management and the council not see these coming and
As such how did um we not prepare for them plan for them first question har and when did the council come to realize the scale and accurity of this crisis and what actions were taken to ensure that the Iden ified shortfall was correct so that it could be managed in some
Way and finally um following the work that’s already been undertaken to reduce the Gap in the budget as of today what’s the anticipated budget shortfall for 23 24 and 2425 Financial Years thank you thank you for the question Colin and you’ll be having a response now firstly from
Liation and then d thank you thank you chair um when we set the budget for 2324 in this room just last February we were predicting an increase in the adult social care budget uh of 40.5 million as laid out in the executive uh executive and full Council
Papers what we could not predict at that time were a number of additional factors that have increased this prediction they include and I accept that my knowledge and understanding is considerably greater than now than it was last February and indeed uh the previous May when I stood for election again for
Somerset Council so those factors include somerset’s historically low fee structure for residential and Nur nursing placements and that how that reflects the low council tax base and rate in somet for many years the impacts impacts of brexit and covid on the workforce and also the covid the ending
Of the covid grants that in effect masked some of those increasing prices or the likely increase in prices through 2021 and 2122 a 40-year high inflation which we’re all glad to see is dropping back down down but that doesn’t mean inflation’s in negative figures of course now it’s just not Rising as
Quickly uh the increase staring costs and of course increased interest rates the government’s commencement of the fair cost of care exercise which opened the book on fees across Somerset and indeed across the whole country exposing Su asset’s low fee structure The increased rise in the minimum wage which
We all welcome of course from 1114 to 1144 which will result in an increased cost for adult social care only of something in the region of another 5 million pound and years of oneoff funding from government some of which is not recurring so we have all of those
Factors and as the scale of the challenge has emerged our response to it has been stepped up this is a pattern seen across local authorities right across the country where they have responsibility for care services I think it’s fair to say that other councils other upper tier councils in this
Country are perhaps more pressured on children’s cost Rising than adult cost Rising the historically low fee structure in Somerset has exposed Us in an additional way to increasing costs that have had such uh a huge impact on our budget for 242 and indeed for the current year so
We will include more information in the written answer at this stage uh could I hand over please to councelor Dean R thank you thank you Liz over to you Dean thank you Liz thank you chair and thank you Colin for your questions following the overspend this financial year a full
Rebase of the adult budget has taken in place the first in 10 years and you might consider well overdue that has been a huge piece of work a line by line analysis of the need and cost using democratic factors including mortality rates and the increased cost in the
Sectors have increased our own fee payable as Liz has said from 577 a week for residential care to an average of 850 a week a considerable amount of money that work was completed over the summer then checked and checked again and on a line by line Bo is both for our
Senior officers and external Specialists Consultants that has seen the budget line for adult social care increase from1 1887 million pounds in 2023 24 B passed in February of this year to an expectation of 251 million as a figure for 2425 that is an increase of 64 million pounds which is substantial this is
Therefore across two Financial years with with much greater increase than expected in the next financial year hence the extreme troubled budget Gap thank you thank you Dean and thank you Colin for the question um and now welcome to the floor Beth Paul please Beth is in
The room and is going to talk to us again about the budget good afternoon Beth you have your three minutes now thank you do you want to turn your microphone on Beth just press forly South Somerset District Council is Somerset council is a locality officer um based in South Somerset and uh my
Colleagues and I are directly impacted by um a consultation that has just been launched in Partnership localities um so my questions are on behalf of Unison um first and foremost how many posts remain vacant at this present time within Somerset Council given the the council will be looking for indications for
Voluntary redundancies in January 2024 what is the scale and the speed of the redundancies envisaged and how many posts over and above the unfilled posts are likely to be affected how will the council be looking after all staff through redundancy processes younger colleagues colleagues with young families mature colleagues many of whom
Will have mortgages and financial responsibilities what support will be provided to secure other employment in terms of retraining and developing employment skills and obtaining work with new employers thank you Beth do you want to turn your microphone off again thank you for your question I’m going to pass over
To uh Theo who’s going to respond over to you Theo thank you thank you very much for your question Beth um currently our HR admin and payroll system is showing a vacancy count of just over 785 full-time equivalents work is still underway following the move to the unitary
Council for Somerset to validate these figures uh as there were a number of different methods used in each Council to monitor this information part of this work will be to remove unfunded posts confirming the funding source for each vacant post and identifying where temporary staffing is
Being used to fill posts we will of course review all vacancies across the authority to consider whether these are still required and can play any part in contributing to a smaller leaner Council there are of course vacancies in several service areas that will need to be
Filled due to the nature of the roles and professional skills needed such as planners social workers and lawyers redundancy of any kind is clearly a very difficult matter for this Council and for its staff it must be handled in a suitably sensitive way with the emphasis on transparency and keeping
Staff informed throughout as details become clearer in the new year they will be shared with staff and members the appropriate wraparound supports and guidance we acknowledge the insecurity that colleagues may be feeling at this moment in time within the developing Workforce transformation program a subs work stream is focusing on supporting
People within the developing Workforce trans for it sorry sorry we’re getting some interference here aren’t we somebody got the microphone on oh okay Peter could you mute yourself please online thank you Peter Travis online thank you very much thank you sorry Theo sorry I’ll start that that section again
Um we acknowledge the insecurity uh that colleagues may be feeling at this moment in time within the developing Workforce transformation program a subw work stream focusing on supporting people through change has been set up the subw workstream will draw on expertise from across the organization and where necessary from outside the
Organization to ensure that our colleagues are suitably supported well-being including financial and economic well-being will form a key part of this subw work stream we also plan to use the wellestablished networks such as the young employees Network to provide specific tailored information and support to certain groups within our
Workforce all colleagues already have access to workf friend a website hosting useful material and resources to to support colleagues that may wish to prepare in searching applying and interviewing for a new job work friend is provided by external outplacement Support Services renovo conversations are continuing with renovo as to what
Other support can be offered to our Workforce during 2024 the organizational the organizational development subw work stream are also developing career Pathways with the intention that being that staff can more easily identify other roles that their skills and interests would suit our economy team are also considering how we can support
Our colleagues seeking employment opportunities outside of sumerset council through our Partnerships with local agencies educational institutions and the voluntary sector using Workforce data we will continue to monitor any impact on our staff to ensure that any risks and issues are identified early and responded to thank you Theo thanks for the
Response and thanks for the question back thank you chair thank you okay our next question is from Allison Han I think Allison’s in the room welcome Allison we’ll give you a second to get to the mic you’re going to talk to us about the budget as well so welcome to
The meeting um you’ve got three minutes Allison thank you thank you I’m Allison Han I’m the Branch Secretary from Somerset local government and Community Branch um I represent a lot of the workers at Somerset Council who many of whom have come with me today to Lobby outside to
Voice their concern over the future of Public Services across the county the financial emergency is really terrible news for Council workers as well as everybody who lives in the somerset area um local people here didn’t cause the crisis but they are the ones likely to feel its pinch um and
Across suers set communities depend on many of the services that the council provides and the scale of the council’s finan cial shortfall is so great that many of these Services could be cut um the council has previously been found guilty in the courts of not delivering in certain aspects of social
Care so what is the council doing to ensure that vital statutary services are delivered in a timely fashion to clients so that further costly legal proceedings can be avoided and a second question is around particularly given that we now have um confirmation that there is a below average local government settlement for
Somerset how is the council approaching this significant shortfall in funding with central government and what re resources are realistically expected to come from central government to support the most vulnerable in our communities thank you for your question Allison if you’d be kind enough to turn the microphone off that would be kind of
You and we’re going to give you a response here from a number of uh executive members but I’m going to hand over first of all to uh Dean and then Tessa and then Liz to respond to you over to you Dean thank you I’m sorry chair but I haven’t actually got a
Response I wasn’t sure I had um if I’m if I may can I I’ve got a sort of combined response my apologies Tessa that’s right hardly see you there we are okay thank you very much all of you thank you Alison for your questions much appreciated um meeting the demand of
Delivering high quality services in both adult social care and children’s social care children’s services generally um is a is a huge priority for us so since the pandemic demand for care services generally has increased in common with other local authorities we have overdue assessments and reviews and we’re trying to manage
Waiting list across adult social care and that’s a both a local and a national Focus we’ve a range of governance mechanis mechanisms to address this ensuring our practice sorry and the arrangements in place to identify and respond to risk while people are waiting for care is consistent on a quarterly basis we
Provide a report to the multi- agency Somerset safeguarding adults board on our performance and Improvement activity as well as to our scrutiny committee to support our work Workforce we’ve introduced a co-produce competency based framework to continue to develop and deliver high standards of practice within our servy alongside this we’ve introduced a
Practice quality audit framework and practice quality board to Monitor and highlight areas of good practice and areas for ongoing development and learning in relation to the local care provider Market quality stability and capacity 81.8% of active social care settings in Somerset were rated good or outstanding in September
2023 there has been a steady downward Trend since December 2022 which is attributed to the cqc’s current approach of only inspecting highrisk providers until the launch of their single assessment process from early December 2023 there has been a steady downward Trend since December 2022 which is attributed forgive me sorry got that
Wrong the number of unmet home care needs in Somerset remains very low despite demands from for Home Care remaining significant and Somerset benefits from higher proportion of good or outstanding rated home care than regionally or nationally if I can move just to Children the CH area of Children
And Families um delivering high quality services to our children and families as you know and as I said earlier is a key area priority for us where it’s safe to do so supporting children to remain within their family network is our priority where this is not possible or
Safe and children need to come into the care of the local Authority we aim to keep them still in their family environment in Somerset so they remain close to their networks sufficiency of foster careers remains a significant local issue both locally and nationally meaning that this is not
Always possible and we’re working hard to recruit more carers and this is also on the national agenda for a small proportion of our children in in in our care their complexity of needs requires that they have to have a residential care setting but they are our priority thank you
Again for your question and you’ll have a full written answer thank you Tessa and I think Liz are you going to come in behind thank you um thank you very much Allison um the resources from national government to local government to provide those essential services for people most in
Need of support have been reducing over many years as the revenue support grant for what was Somerset County Council I believe it’s reduced from somewhere in the region of 80 million to what we see now which is nearer 8 million and with greater Reliance on council tax and business business
Rates where there is greater inequality across the country as both council tax and business rates are collected unevenly from area to area so the Secretary of State’s most recent announcement on core spending power of councils having increased by 6.5% has not actually helped Somerset at all where the increase is actually
6.1% core spending power in includes council tax and business rates and government grants but the government grants are very much the minority of that income for councils um so reductions in Grants have exceeded any increase meaning that our financial position this week is actually worse than it was last week the long
Promised review of local Authority funding becomes less likely as a general election nears and the Secretary of State Michael go appears to expect councils to rely on their reserves to get by until it is the responsibility of a new government to pick up the huge challenge of how social care is funded
The com the current model is completely broken all local Council leaders must continue the conversation across the political divide as they have been doing recently so that all political parties are fully informed before a new government is formed in 2024 thank you chair thank you Liz and
Thank you very much indeed for the question Alison thank you okay our next question comes from Ian Glover I think Ian’s in the room good afternoon Ian welcome to the meeting uh you’re going to talk to us about the budget as well so um your three minutes starts uh do
You want to turn your microphone on no thank you good afternoon counselors my name’s Ian Glover my day job I’m an enforcement officer in Somerset East I’m a mental health first aider and I’m here as a member of Unison in the somerset local government and communities Branch
I’m the equality officer and I’m also a very busy Steward the question I pose this afternoon is this staff mental health and high stress levels are prevalent in the workplace from the ongoing worry as a result of the lgr process and Associated restructures and now also from the threat of further redundancies
As a result of this council’s financial position what is the council going to do to help with this is the current offer of online and telephone support from external companies such as care first really the answer I don’t think it is what assurances and certainty can be
Offered to staff at this very difficult time thank you thank you thank you for your question Ian um the response is from Theo thank you Theo thank you very much for raising this important question Ian and indeed for the work that you do uh you’re quite right that the employee assistance
Program which is predominantly counseling and which is delivered by care first is not the whole answer for everyone access to such support is just one support mechanism that is accessible to sta colleagues in our Workforce Service already have a substantial amount of well-being related activity progressed and available for colleagues to access
This is business as usual work uh which will be complemented by the supporting people through change workstream within the workforce transformation program specific initiatives are planned and will be in place throughout 2024 for individual members of staff and teams to access a new set of well-being Advocates will support the development of this
Work we will continue to review the workforce data including staff sickness this data already exists and is shared across the organization by a monthly Workforce report the subw workstream will proactively monitor this information so that we can react accordingly to insert appropriate initiatives to improve the support offered to staff ensuring that
Staff are well as well as they can be whil at work as has been previously described a program of reorganization and transformation is what we need to lead us to a sustainable position for Somerset Council this is a very difficult time and we understand that it
Is a time of concern and anxiety for many staff we will continue to be as open and transparent as we can be in explaining both our ongoing position and our developing plans for the financial future of Somerset Council throughout any period of change thank you Theo and thanks very much for the
Questioning uh our final public question today comes from Richard Brown uh I’m not sure if Richard’s in the room are you in the room Richard yes excellent uh Richard is going to talk to us about the budget as well so welcome Richard your three minute start now thank you Mr
Chairman despite the best efforts of start working in areas of um counil tax recovery counil reportedly 43 million pounds in uncollected council tax thatb is near a 55 million when you add uncollected business rates into that factor in response to a staff question on the 13th of December the chief
Finance officer indicated these figures may not be accurate questions today what are the accurate figures for unpaid council tax and business rates currently what is the council doing to recover this unpaid money in this period of financial emergency how many dedicated staff have been allocated to recover the outstanding money
Owed what is the target amount set for the recovery and within what period will that recovery be completed um question is very relevant in the context of the mention of redundancies that we’ve heard heard on a number of occasions today um and it’s very very important in terms of closing
The Gap that we have in the budget um I’m very conscious that councilor Lee rman has a very similar question and if it’s of assistance then I’m happy to take a joint answer if that works for you thank you Richard I’m happy with that as well Lee Lee is there anything
You’d like to add uh on this on this one please CH thank you for the opportunity members will be aware and know from the papers that I have actually asked a similar question to this that through our normal process um I added a little
Bit to that in the fact that one of the the the outcomes hopefully from my question will be that we’re able to generate a report that creates some transparency along this because my understanding there’s lots of uncertainties currently as we as the five councils have come together and the
Outcome going forward and and figures are very varied in in what’s outstanding if we’re able to generate a process a formal process and a report that generates something that maybe even goes to scrutiny so that they can look at things and keep an eye on it this would
Allow Council to be aware monitor in a transparent way and hopefully as the list reduce and becomes clearer help and put people’s mind at rest thank you for the opportunity to join the question together thank you chair thank you Lee um we’re going to ask Liz to respond
Thank you Liz thank you chair and I do apologize that I will be heard rather too much for most people this afternoon uh but these are important questions and they have relevance right across the whole Somerset not just in this Council so um it’s really important to understand three points on collection of
Council tax and also business rates it’s still with the four teams working where they were formally in District councils working on separate and different systems so Council tax and business rates are always subject to a collection rate identified in the performance monitoring reports produced quarterly as they were by all the district councils
With collection rates in the region of 97% that leaves 3% that is not budgeted for but which can be a gain for the council when collected beyond the target so we are currently looking at the figures for the current year 30 2324 which will show as an income line in the
2425 budget the previous three years have been slightly confused by the arrangements the government put in place for the covid and lockdown years um so the figures quoted include arrangements made with residents to backpay over a period of time which may be for years and maybe on very small addition sums
Per month for instance 5 even maybe one pound per month extra our council tax reduction scheme which we’ve had in place since vesting day has been designed to reduce the number of unpaid very low bills that can cost the council more to chase than the total outstanding and make people’s lives even more
Difficult when they are genuinely not able to pay so the counil tax collection of course is not for Somerset Council alone it is also for the police fire and the parish precepts so the collection rates as well as the council tax reduction scheme affect all those for
Whom council tax is collected with a total collection for 2324 well in excess of 400 million it is easy to see that 3% is a very considerable figure each year the figure that has been quoted in the press recently uh is over 20 years it covers all four former district councils and it
Does not explain that some councils in the pre previous years and particularly the last few years have had some have had greater resources for pursuing debt and also to deal with areas writeoffs for instance where a resident dies owing council tax on a rented property or where a resident leaves the county or
Country with no forwarding details in the month six Revenue budget monitoring report there was an update on the collection fund and it identified that the total uncollected council tax at that time was 36.7 million and that was over 911, 658 different accounts and so there is a question
About what is the council doing to recover unpa paid money and as a plan is put together for Recovery of unpaid counter tax and business rates um now that the first six months work on Microsoft Dynamics is complete we are in a much better place to put that plan
Together and further detail will come forward so when we do a written answer I think we have a need for a very clear statement across all of these factors for elected members for members of staff St and for residents and businesses uh I’m also asked the target amount set for
Recovery and within what period will it be completed and again as soon as I have sight of that plan for recovery and the time scale for realistic recovery of debt I will ensure that that is shared through the statement too thank you thank you Liz and thank you to all
Public questions uh both in the room and online thank you very much indeed for your contributions um so moving on agenda item five Chairman’s announcements you’ll see it’s included in agenda item Pages 21 to 22 summary of uh mine and the chair’s visits over the last three
Months suffice to say I won’t go into it here if you need to speak to me about it by all means uh you can grab me afterwards been a very busy period with remembrance and Christmas coming up um agenda item number six moving on then so now we mooving to reports for decision
Um I’m planning to break for if it’s okay with everybody for a comfort break around about 2:00 if there’s a sorry 4:00 sorry 4:00 if there’s an natural break in proceedings um that’s what I’m looking to do and we can grab a 10-minute break there if it’s okay with
Everybody but we move into reports for decision our first report includes a number of recommendations so we’ll take uh separate votes on each paper if that’s okay this is on pages 23 to 376 of your pack and agenda supplement number one and I’m going to hand over to
The leader bill revans over to you Bill uh thank you very much uh chair and welcome to your first time in the H seat you’re doing a doing a great job so far keep it up um you’ll see in front of us we’ve got seven reports from the
Executive the first four are from Liz Lon next two are from me and the last one is from uh Federica Smith Roberts so I’ll hand over to Liz Lon uh for payer first thank you thank you Liz over to you thank you chair uh some of this introduction I
Have actually covered in answers to questions so I will try to keep this a bit shorter um this is an update paper it’s not a paper for decision on savings at this stage we will see those Savings in January the decisions will then be taken in February there will be
Recommendations from the executive but the decisions will be taken in this room by all counselors the paper does present the very Stark position for Somerset Council it also gives us the very clear direction of travel and the recommendations explain the need for real Pace to get us to a place where a
Budget can be proposed in February so we believe we’ve made good progress on work with the external Auditors although we are still carrying some residual risk and a huge workload with five statements of accounts plus the pension fund for 2223 I’m pleased to say the South Somerset accounts are nearly complete now for
2122 and I’d like to thank the finance team for their very good work on this there are other councils in the country that have not been through local government reorganization that are many years behind us we also have to bear in mind that although we see inflation
Figure reducing at the moment we don’t know whether that that downward Trend will continue or whether we will continue to be affected in further years we also know we have the national living wage implication as I have already mentioned with no additional support in the finance settlement announced this
Week uh a presentation at the County Council Network Conference by Paul Johnson who’s director of The Institute for fiscal studies on the outlook for public finances was more than Stark it will not be just Somerset Council in this position uh so the clarification on somerset levels of council tax compared
With other unitary councils in the Southwest is extremely interesting and gives us an idea of the scale of our challenge where council tax is lower need for care is often higher that is I believe why a property tax based on 1991 house values is clearly unfit for
Purpose and fair funding is no closer to a reality so chair I won’t go through all the recommendations at this point because we will take those I’m sure uh you or I’ll read them um at the extraordinary uh audit committee meeting last week a slide of the Strategic risks
Was included and within those risks is acknowledgment on the of the huge pressure on officers over the past months and the coming months that is something that we all need to recognize and to support officers in every possible way we can so that we make our way through to budget
Setting knowing that February’s budget setting is the start of a massive program of work ahead of us thank you chair thank you Liz and do we have a second of that proposal please uh yes I’m prepared to second I’ll reserve my rights to speak and until later in the
Debate if that’s okay Mr J absolutely Bill thank you right I’m going to open it up to members comments now I’m going to try and avoid bringing Liz back in time and time again we’ll ask her to summarize at the end if I can uh but if
I can have any members comments please raise your hand thank you Mandy thank you chair and well done on your chairmanships thus far so um a couple of questions really on paper a and the first one uh relates on page 52 to 74 sites have been declared as
Surplus um I had a call this week from my local paper to discuss one that I wasn’t not even aware of as a counselor so my question is when will counselors know when when this Council be transparent to let them know what’s happening in their areas um there’s a 15
To 20 million pound Target for this I won’t use selling the family silver as was been used by so many of you opposite previously but the question really is you know we are working with our towns towns parishes City councils it might be that they might be interested or could
Help or could keep buildings open um but only if we know about it and can have those conversations can we help with that so that’s my first uh question um my second is to do with payer and appendix one which is a reserves paper um I’ve been asking for this for
Some time as you’ll all know and it was good to receive it however it has not been through the scrutiny process I don’t believe it’s attached for the executive meeting or for the scrutiny meeting and I just think given the uh review of AAR reserves that’s been undergone and uh we’ve taken out
36.8 million these have been repurposed to support the mtfp I understand that but I cannot understand fully from the what we’ve been provided with as where it’s it’s coming from where it’s going to um and moreover you know are there any areas of risk that this Council has if funds have been
Pulled from certain reserves so my question is really um can we have the opportunity as councilors to have another look in a discussion about that um I think given the the amount that we’re talking about like I said not far off 40 million that feels appropriate and transparent thank you chair thank
You Mandy I’ll give Liz chance to respond in a second let me take Dave Dave thank you good afternoon thank you chair yes um so we’re being invited to uh endorse the actions and investig and mitigations being taken on the the financial emergency now I do accept that most of
These are you know Fair regrettably looking like they’re going to be unavoidable I also accept that we’re in a very challenging time for just about everybody involved in the uh in the council and the the officers in particular are clearly having to work extremely extremely hard to to to
Address this uh this this challenge but I do have uh concerns that I would like to would like to raise I would also like to say that in in my opinion the uh the government is failing Somerset the government does need to do more than it is has done over the years
And is sewing any signs of doing to Prov provide Fair funding to Somerset for our Public Services now there’s a number of reasons why that’s Arisen some have been said lack of fair funding mechanisms I think we also are aware that part of the uh the issue is that
Council tax is lower in Somerset than it is in other similar areas and a key factor behind that is the freezes in council tax which undertaken now looks like fail advisedly in previous years one of my concerns is the uh impact that this is having on rural
Areas and how that aspect is being being dealt with I feel that the Devolution process that is uh that is underway is uh is moving too fast um possibly it makes sense to for the uh for the bigger towns um but it just looks like it’s creating an
Impossible situation uh for our rural parishes and our smaller smaller towns now one of the big problems is there’s been a complete lack of information so uh our parishes and towns have been invited to see whether they wish to have services and assets devolved to them but
There has not yet been clear information on what the services will be still provided by Somerset Council from the savings what services will continue um and uh and what will be what you know what will be left after the cuts and uh you know what is being taken out so
We’re we’re told that um there should be better information on this in the New Year in January but but I have to say this is this is too late uh for the budget setting processes for parish councils and I really think better attention should have been paid to uh
Paid to this and there has to be a qu big question you know how much detail will actually follow what will Parish councils be able to understand from what’s published in uh in January I still have doubts that the position will not be that clear so I do feel that
Aspects of how this is being handled hasn’t been handled well um and and just you know it should have been reconsidered we will see how it how it goes but I do feel that our parish councils and smaller towns in particular are just being put in an impossible
Position by the you know what is a break neck Pace that we’ve been trying to run through this Devolution process um and with the lack of information as I’ve tried to uh tried to outline but my second a concern is where are we heading to in the future so it’s
Clearly we’re it’s great concern that uh the savings the cuts that look likely to be made for next year’s budget but all the signs are that that’s only the start that it’s going to potentially even get worse after that um and what it’s been called that we we need a vision for a
Sustainable Somerset Council but we need to know what that means and again next to no detail is being given to us we’re told it’s going to be a smaller leaner Council employing fewer people but for when we set the budget we do need to understand what this means and just what
Position we are being forced into and for me at the current time there is a lack of information especially in these areas and for that reason I do not feel that I can support the current process as we’re been been invited to do to address address the crisis at this stage
Thank you thank you Dave for your comment um Gill let’s bring you in please thank you good afternoon thank you Mr chairman um yeah this sort of follows on from what Dave was just saying um because clearly we in the next 18 months two years we’re going
To go through a pretty agonizing process as a council um for our residents and for our staff but in a way I’m beginning to look beyond that to see what we’re going to end up with with because actually the proposal at the moment is to blow some
Of the reserves just to keep the ship afloat we’ve got this capitalization thing which will also keep the ship afloat so we’re going to be bailing heavily for the next 12 months and actually at the end of that what are we going to be left with
Um there seems to be an idea that we will move to a a Leena Council but as as DAV has said I’m not entirely sure I know what that looks like and I’m rather worried that we’ll end up with some sort of hollowed out shell that isn’t it
Really in a position to do a great deal moving back to the reserves question if we have a council of this size we are legally obliged to keep Reserves at a certain level I believe and I’m very worried that come the end of this process once we’ve sort of
Getting into clearer water and there may be an election there may be a change of government we can we can speculate on on that but even if we get through this these Rapids we may find ourselves on the other side without enough money to actually run the council properly with
With a and and set a balanced budget on the other side so I suppose my question is to what extent have we done our homework on other councils who’ve gone through the 114 process in ahead of us and we’ve heard that they have entered that process from a
Variety of directions for a variety of reasons but nevertheless the the fundamental fact is they just run out of money and so therefore when they come to the other side of it are they still sort of Staggering along or are they actually in a position to start to pick up the
Pieces and put local Services back together thank you thank you Gill uh lee please chair thank you um I support most of the comments that have been said before but um just a couple of uh quick to cover them um the point about the way that things
Are happening at the council at the moment is important we have a situation my favorite subject which I will keep reitera it builds on CS the Chop’s point about telling local counselors there are things happening within the Ser within the service now in an effort to to find
Money uh uh behind the the pillows down in the side of the sofa and anywhere particularly possible to try and and help us get through this year but changes Al with services are also happening and my concern is that that that there isn’t a a an a adequate
Scrutiny of these the things that are happening and potentially lots of little things could add up to a big fall down at the end the straw that breaks the camels pack is my concern and if unless we’re we’re able to scrutinize Monitor and observe in a transparent way My
Worry is that something will be missed and then we end up in more problematics so my ask is that in this continuing process now we are able to apply as much scrutiny uh as we can but also uh where possible ensure that officers speak with local members when it’s local things
That are impacted because we will be the ones that that get the brunt of it when things come out um I accept the Need for Speed I accept the situation we’re in I’m as frustrated as as councelor Manel the fact that we’ve been failed in everything and potentially this the the
Current executive having to deal with things legacies Etc but my wish is that we’re able to find a way to make sure that that as we go through the short term things are transparent and obviously I accept the fact that as already been planned for the 1 of
February the first meeting for to discuss the mtfp uh that we will be looking at the smaller changes then going forward but it’s between it’s the short term that’s the concern for me chair thank you thank you Lee David thank you chair and can I say congratulations on chairing so well so far
Um I look forward to us finishing at six o’clock as per the schedule I feel for Bill I think this is not a great place to to be and having spent time recently with a 114 Council I know just how bad 114 is and do not kid
Yourselves that it could be an easy option it is not where any of us want to go so I think difficult decisions have to be made the frustration here is that we’ve been saying this since almost last Christmas um we weren’t getting figures we weren’t getting reports last
Christmas we kept con constantly saying Mandy became like a broken record um at various meetings and yet we are where we are and even back in the summer the the president of sifa came and said uh get a grip of the the figures and it’s only
Now that we’re beginning to see this so so this is work that sorry could I have um yes let David finish from counc Whitefield yeah absolutely Carry On David unless she wishes to interrupt and make a serious point no you carry on David no no interruptions carry on please yeah and no apology
Either yeah sorry David you carry on okay I’ve slightly lost my thread but I’ll pull it back I’m sure um so whilst we recognize that the work is now being done relatedly there is one very big um unacceptable recommendation here and that’s the capitalization to ask us to sign off
What potentially is a 5050 million pound request to put costs onto the credit card from government on a oneline recommendation I think is not acceptable so whilst we would be inclined to support the administration in the work that they’re trying to do we will be abstaining on this because the
Capitalization is not fully understood the impact of what you’re going to have to pay for the capitalization is not fully understood and we can’t possibly agree to that until everybody in this Council understands it thank you David uh can I just remind members to have the courtesy to let
Other the members speak please and not interrupt as they’re speaking thank you very much indeed I have no oh I do have one hand yes Martin thank you very much um thanks for the report um I the one thing that worries me going forward Mr chairman is that this Somerset has been
Reduced in the number of council representation by about 2/3 in the last 18 months um we are contemplating the possibility of fewer staff perhaps fewer committees reducing a members involvement and I really have a worry going forward about what we would call Democratic deficit are we really going
To be able to control what we do in this Council in future it’s as some of the speakers have said it’s not simply about what’s happening next year it’s will we ever recover in the future and I think we have some very serious decisions to make and more information is certainly welcome thank
You thank you Martin I can see no other hands or members looking to comment so I’m going to invite uh Bill if he’d like to um a seconder to to to sum up thank you and then I’ll come to Liz I was can I invite Liz I think some of the
Questions went on to Ros White’s portfolio as well so if Ros Liz can speak and then I’ll Su on okay thank you Bill thanks Ross thank you in response to um assets can I just remind people that one of the first things I did when I took her responsibility was to make
Sure that we had an asset strategy management no longer were assets going to be disposed of um behind scenes or with limited information and that strategy has been upheld to secondly you will remember earlier this year you had a asset disposal strategy came to the or policy sorry not a strategy it’s Al
Asset disposal policy came to the council and you can see that in there there is very clear recommendation that at the appropriate time both the um Ward members and indeed where appropriate the Town Council the parish or the city council would be um informed and at and
Um discussions would be had if that regarding disposal of an asset and that has happened it’s done with degree of um confidentiality because on occasions but most definitely and there are people in the room I can look at and they know that they were informed and told about
Something early in the days and of course um when we do that we may need to give the town um Parish or city council some time to respond and think about something with with disposing of Assets in a local measured way over the next year or
So we have a a beginning list of where we’re going and what order we have um in addition to the um the inherited governance we’ve increased it and we now have a public um subcommittee of the executive which um in fact the next one I think will be held tomorrow so there
Are opportunities for all members to see the direction of travel so when when it comes to asset disposal yes we we have got ideas about in what order and and where we should find our monies both commercial and in our own assets but we’re doing it in a managed way and
There won’t be a long list it will be done item by item and will no doubt be absolutely adhered to in terms of the asset disposal um strategy there’s no way we’re going to do this behind closed doors we need to do it in a measured way
But members will be involved at the right time to ensure that they can respond and actually influence the direction of travel if needed thank you Ross So moving on Bill would you like to a second oh Liz sorry sorry chair you’re not rid of me
Yet um there are a few other points to pick up particularly the review of reserves uh where we did acknowledge and apologize for the fact that those were late coming to Executive uh and there is a massive spreadsheet that sits in behind the two PDFs of the re the
Reserves put together the Amalgamated reserves where they were still under the predecessor Council headings and the more recent PDF of the review of reserves that work is still continuing it is not complete yet I know particularly after the executive meeting that many members who’d been particularly District Council approached me about certain reserves
That they were concerned about and that they really wanted to ensure was still in place that work needs to continue we need to have a completely open door for any elected member to come forward and actually ask where a reserve can be found if it was expected that that
Reserve was clearly ear marked so we will continue with that work um I think has covered the Devolution to parishes uh where we’re going in the future in response to councelor Manel the January executive will see the outline business case for uh the new Somerset Council uh
And that is we acknowledge a very short time scale for a piece of work of that magnitude to come forward um so I do accept that some people might have preferred a financial emergency declared earlier we have to acknowledge though with our hats on considering staff morale and well-being that declaring a
Financial emergency was a really significant thing to do and my concern was that we didn’t do that too soon that we waited until we knew it was absolutely essential because to come so close after vesting day would have been even harsher I believe on our staff we still don’t have enough time I
Agree with you that with that February budget setting fills with lipets just around the corner we will have an outline business case we will not have a detailed business case uh one of the things that counselor Ren mentioned was about um how are other councils doing
Post section 114 uh and the leader of and I have got the advantage of ongoing support from LGA pier and more mentoring is being offered now to all the members of the executive all the lead members um the the tell local counselor the TLC is absolutely right and this is a
Fast moving situation every time I’ve gone to a parish or tank Council or an LCN recently I I’ve ended up speaking for what I thought would be far too long but actually is still not enough information for people and so I’m very happy to keep doing that I’ve lived
Through this in my own working life I know how difficult it is and I know how difficult it is for Budget managers to actually find a way through to a new future uh and I I completely take your point that if we don’t get it right we don’t adequately scrutinize the plan
That we could have a much bigger fall ahead that must apply to all those other councils and those councils who are writing behind us perhaps not being quite as open as we are um I accept councelor fil’s comment that a section 114 is not where anyone wants to go
That’s why we’ve got this paper today it’s why this paper has been through scrutiny and audit and it executive um I would just remind though that local government reorganization was the choice of the previous administration to go forward at this time I recall in a full council
Meeting that was on teams when I proposed that we went ahead with the 21 elections and put off lgr until an easier time postco and was voted down the move to Microsoft Dynamics was was also decision of a previous administration I completely acknowledge that that is the right thing to do
Particularly when we want a council to work in a financially more open and efficient way but it is a massive challenge to do those two things at the same time when we have inflation and interest rate and the end of coage Grants so the capitalization Direction I completely agree that it is something
That seems strange to people it’s only if you understand and are used to working with local Authority accounting where you keep the revenue in the capital separate that it makes any sense at all um and the the comment from councelor dimer about can we control and
Can we recover in future that’s what our business case will be for that we’ll be looking at in January thank you chair over to the leader thank you liia over to you bill please thank you um just a few La last comments want to thank uh
The leader of the opposition for his his sympathy um I’m on an LGA course with other new leaders of authorities when we went around the room there was the leader of Birmingham and cuden and Liverpool and myself all in the same room and we had we we had an interesting
Chat about the roles of Commissioners and 114 Liverpool by the way don’t have a 114 but they do have Commissioners for other reasons and it is an incredibly difficult position to be in to hand over the Reigns in effect to outside consultants and it is our it is our
Determination and responsibility to make the tough decisions that will get us on the on the track to having a stable and financially secure in the future Council it will be a very very tough process to get through this um I appreciate that the opposition are have indicated
They’re going to abstain on this um on on reflection if we’d asked for the capitalization earlier we might have been able to see more detail I know that’s an option that the cumbrian authorities did at their point um of of U going through the unitary process whether that would have been
Added any comfort I’m I’m not sure we will need to go through that process of asset disposal to understand how much of that borrowing will be required to fund that we will obviously keep that down to a minimum as we go forward um fully appreciate the points made on Democratic
Deficit we’ve had we had all the discussions um about the unitary uh proposals um I’m very aware that actually was it wasn’t this Council it was Somerset County Council in which you proposed that Liz and I see colleagues of mine from sedore on the benches opposite who of course supported the um
The stronger Somerset business case we all move on from those days and sometimes we can we can reflect that maybe the right or wrong decision was taken as to whether to proceed with uh with unry at that point or not we’re we we’re here and we need we’re the ones
That have to take the responsibility and the tough decisions to get this Council back onto a stable footing for the residents of Somerset and a council that we can once again be proud of for the right reasons so I’m pleaseed to Second this motion Mr sh thank you Bill uh Liz
Is there anything more you want to add as proposing no so we’ll go to the vote thank you we’ll go to the vote members and can I just remind you what we’re voting on so full council is recommended to note that the council has declared a financial emergency and accordingly
Endorses the range of actions and mitigations being taken forward furthermore the council fully supports the executive and Senior officers to continue its discussion with the department for leveling up housing and communities DC and formally requests a capitalization Direction in order to set the 24 25 budget so can I have a show of
Hands please those in favor of that recommendation thank you members okay thank you those against please and now extensions thank you very much that’s clearly carried thank you members um it’s now 4 o’l I think I could do with a break so if we can say 10 minutes um to uh take a
Bit of a comfort break back here sharpish in 10 minutes 10 P thank you members ability as a billing Authority for all of Somerset our income banded ccil tax reduction scheme approved in November 2022 has proved to be both workable and welcome for those whose household incomes have been under most pressure
During the cost of living crisis following a light touch review bear in mind that the ctrs only came in on the 1 of April so this summer a light touch review uh has allowed us to recommend rolling forward our scheme plus the exceptional hardship scheme without a need for further P public consultation
So we did consider three options to not uprate the income banss in line with inflation to uprate the income banss by a figure representing say 50% of inflation or to uprate the income bands in line with the DWP figure for inflationary increase to state benefits this was 6 point
7% so this recommendation has come forward from executive earlier this month and with a further recommendation to continue with the exceptional hardship scheme and also to agree to a full review of the scheme during the next financial year with agreement of the cost of using external expert
Resources as we did to establish the scheme for Somerset council’s first year uh Richard cely uh the officer who has led on all of this work for suers set council is in the room if there are any technical questions chair they’ll go straight to Richard thank you thank you
Liz I understand that Dave is very kindly happy to to Second this one so David would you like to speak now or reserve your right happy second and reserve my right thank you David okay so I’ll open it up to uh members comments then uh would anybody like to uh comment
On the motion please thank you Mandy thank you very much um welcome the paper and I also welcome that review that’s coming next year I think there’s a few bits that would welcome uh being tweets so I look forward to that hope again that counselors can uh be involved um
And I think it’s really important for me that you look at the facts and figures and we’ve talked about debt collection Etc today and for me it’s just assuring ourselves that we are supporting people that really need it not only those that we’ve got here but there are lots of
Families that are I’ll call it just about managing in Somerset that actually sort of sometimes fall through the net so I welcome that work next year and I understand why we haven’t done it this year and um look forward to that thank you Mandy is there anyone
Else nope I see no others so I’ll come right back to David thank you David thanks very much indeed ch um I I think there’s very little to add to what Mandy’s just said uh I this is a really important aspect about Camp Texas colelection and and and relief um to
Very vulnerable people in our society so very happy to support it um and to continue to support it so yeah seconded thank you David Liz would you like to Su up from me chair I think this paper speaks for itself and I thank David for seconding thank you very much okay let’s
Go to a vote though so uh we are um recommended to approve the council tax reduction and exceptional hardship schemes set out in appendices four and five to the report option three in relation to the income ban threshold used within schedule one of the proposed council tax reduction scheme I.E upating
In line with the 6.7% rise in state benefits announced by government in the Autumn uh statement and a full review of council tax reduction scheme during the 2425 Financial year to identify options for a revised scheme in the 2526 Financial year okay so those in favor please raise your hand
Thank you very much anybody against anybody abstaining any extensions excellent that’s unanimous thank you very much indeed members thank you okay paper C excuse me paper C uh this is the annual treasury management outturn report 22 and 23 we got paper C1 and C2 Liz um I think we’ll take those together
I think will we um and I’m going to hand over to you you for both of those pleas if I may thank you very much chair I’m pleased to say we’re joined online by Alan Sanford our principal investment officer so again technical questions uh will go to Alan so in C1 these reports
Uh appendices one to five they’re the treasury management outturn reports from the five predecessor councils and come to full Council as part of the sit for requirement for full Council to rece receive and approve an annual strategy a midyear review and an annual report after the close of the financial year so
Clearly C1 is after the close of the financial year these appendices have been to Executive in October and now come full Council for approval uh paper C2 is the treasury management midyear report for The Current financial year 2324 executive has also approved this paper and recommends for full Council
Approval it shows the total inherited portfolios and movements in the first six months of Somerset council’s first year if there are any questions I’m sure Alan Sanford will be able to give us correct answers thank you thank you Liz do you have a second Bill thank you Bill do you want
To speak now I’ll hold your uh reserve your right I’ll hold my right to respond at at the end of the debate thank you thank you Bill okay opening up to members comments then do we have any members comments on paper C of this agenda item thank you
Mandy thank you very much and as again a good read as I know Liz and I always read like reading this paper every year it’s just a comment really on the Investments overall I me I went through all the individual papers actually and added them up and when I had alert
They’ve dropped by 30% is just under um in that sort of one year and I think I lost a sense of that in this sort of covering paper so that was only my comment just that everybody in the room is aware the Investments over that one
Year dropped by just short of 30% Thank you thank you Mandy any other members comments nope thank you very much yes one’s gone up Lee sorry chair I just sck a point of clarification really and paper C that includes the outturns from the previous councils uh there was an
Issue previously where um members weren’t comfortable voting for outters for councils they weren’t part of um so the question was are you going to take it as one paper or individual votes on this one yeah it does include that LE we’re taking it as one paper thank you
Very much hope that clarifies that no other hands are up so I’m going to go back to you Bill a seconder thank you if I may just respond on investment drop this is something we’ve seen right across the country postco I should think of it’s been seen right across the world
And it will include of course the pooled funds as well where we have significant pulled funds from all five councils in fact I think but I would need to to to have this confirmed by Alan Sanford I think we’re probably exceeding our investment in the ccla pulled funds at
The moment uh and so there will need to be rationalization of those Investments I think also the commercial Investments uh I’m not sure if you’re including those as well Mandy in your comments no the the Investments so I don’t know if Alan wishes to come in at this
Point Alan have you got any anything of value to add Alan online um not really I’m not quite sure what the drop of 30% is is it from the from the 31st of March to 30th of September Mandy or what exactly does that cover oh please do
Yeah yeah I went through all the investment figures in all the uh previous councils and added them all through so I don’t think they were covered in the covering paper for the previous year so I just went through and added them all up and when I added them
All up they came to 30% less thank you uh Alan can you help with that briefly uh I’ve I’ve not been privy to the um to the outturn papers of the uh districts so I I can’t comment on that I’m afraid we you’re okay okay I suggest we get a
Written answer on that one and J call Jason do you is there anything you can add to that Jason if I just bring Jason in at the back yeah it will reflect the change in the cash flows obviously we inherit a lot of short-term debt and therefore
Have been repaying that by use pairing down our investments so it’s reflecting that switch as a new C Council but I’m happy to provide a written answer with the full details there explaining how that’s moved from the first of April to where end of September thank you don’t need a written
Answer it’s all available I just had to pull it from several places thank you that’s fine Mandy thank you Bill coming back to you a second thank you nothing further to add Mr J formally second thank you uh nothing more from you Liz no okay we’ll go to a vote then on this
One uh and this is that full Council approves the reports as being in compliance with the SI for code of practice for treasury management so all those in favor please raise your hand thank you very much indeed anybody against no any extensions cou of extensions at the back
Okay so that’s carried thank you very much indeed members okay we’re going on to paper D now is the Hara management advisory committee report paper D and I’m going to hand over to Bill to introduce a paper Pap thank you Bill uh thank you chair um as members will be aware
Somerset Council has ports and harbors with in our areas of responsibility uh the council is the statutory Harbor Authority and competent Harbor Authority for the port of Bridgewater the statutary harbor Authority for mad and watchet harbors and the statutary responsibility for Bridgewater docks um for Council previously sorry Bill can I
Interrupt can I ask you to bring the microphone close so there’s some members down the bottom can’t hear you thank you thank you no problem at all um for Council previously agreed to the responsibility for the council’s functions as statutary Harbor Authority and the role Duty holder should sit with
The executive as the duty holder the executive is responsible for ensuring that Somerset council complies with the port Marine Safety Code um many councils and harbors and ports such as Cornwell and Dorset have established Harbor management committees on the 15th of March the executive resolved to establish a harbor management advisory
Committee as an executive subcommittee meeting from the 1st of April in order to widen the membership experience and expertise of the harbor management advisory committee the report seeks support from the from Council to disband the current committee and recommend the harbor management committee to for Council the advantage of this approach
Is that we will be able to appoint members to represent those postal communities and other members who have relevant experience to work um with us also as Coop cooptive non- voting members on that committee the committee is a committee of council and therefore will be should be politically
Proportional um chair um do have to just give you an apology that uh we had some legal advice um shortly before this meeting um and I’d like to make just make it a small amendment to recommendation four um which is the appointment of six elected members be delegated to the monitoring officer um
As nominated by the relevant group leaders just so that we can check the names are compliant with legislation um we just sort of a last minute hitch that we don’t want to get uh get involved with I understand Council fill is happy to second that thank you very much I’m
Happy to second that Amendment lovely thank you um yeah Lee can I bring you in I understand your you’re kind enough to Second the the uh initial motion CH I I formally second it we reserve my right to speak thank you thank you very much okay so let’s open up for members
Comments if we can has any member got any comment they’d like to thank you Mandy thank you I just like to say thank you really to to the leader I think it’s a really positive move involving local counselors who know their areas best um
I think it will add uh to the value and hopefully will will help the council moving forward thank you Mandy any other comments from Members no I’m coming back to you then Lee thank you chair um again I I’d like to thank the the leader of council for
For listening to to usting and reviewing and redesigning the proposal again the cross party element means that people near the water would have more of an influence over the water near them uh than the than executive members who wouldn’t have any water apart from the levels near
Them thank you for your time I’m happy a formerly second yeah thank you Lee um just some advice from the monitoring officer we’re going to have to take this in Amendment so first of all David and Bill do you want to say any more in terms of the
Amendment um no just to respond to councilor Redmond that the levels water all ends up in Bridgewater so um so the all all routs lead to the same place I’m afraid so uh thank you Phil um and I’ll go to I’ll I’ll go to Lee then on the substantive Lee anymore
No happy no chair on okay can we vote on the amendment thank you those in favor of the amendment sorry members thank you those against any abstentions nope oh one H Davis thank you Q okay thank you very much indeed now we’ll go on the substantive
Motion uh and there’s a quite a lengthy uh motion and members happy for it’s in the pack it’s on your pack um a members happy to go on the basis of that yet thank you Andy um could those in favor of the motion please raise your hand lovely thank you those against any
Abstentions one okay thank you thank you members that’s passed thank you okay we’re going to go on to uh oh yes we’ve got you here isn’t it chair CH why why I’ve abstained is because I’m the only member from uh the county with Somerset on on the the committee that we’re
Talking about so I thought I shouldn’t vote for myself it’s out of order okay that’s fine thank you for the explanation you um Right Moving on then paper e uh and this is the paper e is just bear with me a second this is the proposed withdrawal and dissolution of the heart
Of the Southwest joint committee and I’m going to hand over to bill again over to you Bill thanks thanks again chair so this report follows a ster from leaders of partner councils in the heart of the Southwest that’s Devon County Council exus city council T Bay Council Plymouth
City council and Etc um and we’re bringing this here because they’ve all agreed to dissolve the heart of the Southwest Jo joint committee so um we’d be very lonely if we turned up without them um so just to clarify for everyone’s benefit that this is is not the local Enterprise partnership so
We’re not dealing with the LEP committee or its some joint scrutiny committee um this is was a partnership vehicle to provide a forum for local Authority engagement um with those with the with the LEP and with governments The Joint committee’s worked on various issues in its time um such as local industrial
Strategy Coastal productivity plan housing task force and Regional imbalances um the report sets out the case for change um which is supported by all of our partners I understand that councelor fathergill was there at the birth and is quite happy to be there at the demise thank you Bill David you happy to
Second happy to Second a few words to say after the debate thank you thank you David okay opening up excuse me to members comments please anybody like a member like to comment no I see no hands so back to you please David thank you very much I felt
It was appropriate to say a few words um that the heart of the Southwest joint committee was a really important vehicle for a number of years um it was our vehicle to talk to government um on behalf of I think it was about 17 authorities in total um on issues which
Uh which affected us all um and I remember the very first meeting with quite a junior minister in um the um housing communities uh Ministry who said that it was a I think he said it was a seedling that need to be watered and nurtured um because it had great
Potential um The Joint Committee um I think we did water it and nurtur it for a few years it’s clearly outlived its purpose um Devon have moved on Plymouth have moved on we think um tall Bay have moved on um and it’s right that it’s now stood down these these organizations
Once they fulfilled their purpose should be officially stood down and I’m delighted to Second it thank you very much David okay so full council is recommended to agree the council serve notice of as withdrawal and at the heart of the Southwest joint committee be dissolved on the 31st of December of
This year so those in favor please raise your hand thank you any against no any extensions no that’s unanimous thank you members okay moving on paper F final one on this uh agenda item and paper f is the housing revenue account quarter one and I’m going to pass to
Federica please to introduce this one thank you fed um thank you uh chair um so this paper is coming before us um it was considered by the executive back in October um but we’re needing um full Council to in um or it’s been recommended to for Council a supplementary capital budget approval of
Just over 3 million pounds this is in relation to um our spend on fire safety just as a reminder to everyone the HRA is a ring fenced provision that supports the social housing that we have um in the North and the west of the county in the old sedore and Somerset Western taon
We look after approximately 10,000 homes um and we provide a different level of um housing whether that’s General needs sheltered and Extra Care Facilities after undertaking some work and and post Grenville and the legislation that has come out of that we do need to do work in relation to fire doors um emergency
Lighting fire safety floring to communal areas and consumer unit upgrades as just some of the activity so I do recommend it to council that we spend this so that we ensure that our tenants are living in safe and habitable environments thank you fed do you have a
Second Liz over to you thank you chair I cannot think of anything more more important than completing the fire safety work so I’m very happy to Second this paper thank you thank you inviting members comments thank you John yeah thank you very much I I would like to
Support this as chairman of the de subet Farm Rescue Authority I think this is this is an excellent thing to bring forward and I I absolutely stand squarely behind it thank you thank you John thank you any other members comments no okay we’ll go back to the second and back to you
Liz I’m happy for this to go to the vote chair much to bed can I come back to you happy to go straight to the vote chair thank you fed I do like this okay members those in favor please raise your hands lovely thank you those against any
Abstentions no it’s unanimous thank you very much indeed members those are all the conclusion of those those six papers um okay oh I didn’t actually read out what we’re voting for but there we are let’s go on to the next one um a apologies I could read that retrospectively um but
Yeah agenda item seven I got carried away there agenda item seven is the report of the executive director for corporate and resources um so I’m going to ask the deputy leader Liz to introduce this one thank you Liz sorry point point of order this the item where number of people need to
Leave very good point thank you yes it is thank you thank you thank you chair as as after what was said earlier I’ll be leaving the room thank you members thank you David I forgot we forgot that okay thanks members David thank you for reminding me there uh okay so I’m going
To ask Liz to introduce this uh report thank you sorry chair before we do can I just say that we would like to call for a named vote on this I think it’s really important we know who’s in the room voting on this and who’s not in the room
Voed on this and if you need me to stand with a number of members for that then I’m happy to okay David I understand we need five members to support that vote that’s plenty thank you right back to you Liz to introduce thank you it will be a named
Vote thank you very much chair so the recommendation for council tax premiums was approved last November with expectations that those premiums would be implemented from April 24 however National consultation has delayed that date and there are now likely to be exemptions to the premium on some second homes which will be to
The benefit of people in Somerset a link is included in the paper for anybody who wishes to to view that consultation so the recommendation is in two parts to reduce the qualifying period for the long-term empty property premium to one year which was formerly two years and
That to come into effect from the 1 of April 24 and to implement a 100% premium on second homes effective from the 1st of April 2025 as that needs a Year’s notice for Council is also recommended to delegate to the section1 officer to enable him to amend the policy when the exemptions
From the premiums uh are subse or are subsequently amended by government chair Richard cely again is in the room if we have any technical questions but it’s important to realize that we did take this paper last November and this is slightly amended but basically the same paper thank
You thank you Liz and I understand Bill you’re seconding would you like to speak now or reserve your right no thank you okay thank you okay we’re opening up four members comments then I think thank you David it’s not really a com I just wanted to explain the reason
For calling for a name for I think it’s really important people feel comfortable that they’ve been excluded from the vote or included in the vote so there’s nothing other Sinister than I think it’s right that people know where where they stand thank you any other comments no coming back to you Bill a
Seconder thank you oh sorry so sorry Michael I didn’t see your hand too late over to you apologies just a just a clarification really uh it’s 100% premium for second homes brackets dwellings which are furnished but unoccupied so if you wanted to avoid paying this you just take all the
Furnishings out of your house and it would just be empty is that what I’m seeing here okay you might want to call on Richard cely there are of course other things like Class C and class D that apply to uh unfurnished homes either in between say tencies or homes that are being
Refurbished so um I don’t know whether Richard cely needs to come in at that point yeah I’ll bring Richard are you there Richard could you turn off your microphone please Michael thank you yes thank you Richard uh thank you chair so to clarify uh technically yes you could take the
The furniture out of the house in order to try and avoid the premium uh on the basis of it being a second home uh that what would then happen though is that you’d attract the premium on the basis of it being an empty property so and as
You’ll see there are two uh essentially this covers two areas both long-term empty properties and second homes so uh the factory that that it wouldn’t work thank you Richard Andy I think your hand was up yes thank you chair just a a question a technical question and I
Apologize if I’ve missed it in the uh in the paper the second recommendation council is recommended to delegate powers to council’s 151 officer uh to enable them to amend the policy um there is there a threshold at which that Amendment would come back to full Council um it’s not detailed in the
Recommendation again I apologize if I missed it in the paper I think shair that it follows the consultation and when that becomes formally adopted but again I’ll defer to Richard Richard’s kindly got his hand up thank you Richard thank you chair so the that recommendation is there to Simply
Reflect the fact that we are still awaiting a statutory instrument from government uh which will introduce formally uh a number of exemptions from the the premiums so essentially the the recommendation limits the powers of the section1 to only being to able to amend the policy to the extent that it’s
Necessary for those um exemptions to work if if we went beyond if we’re trying to go beyond that then yes it would have come have to come back to you as members so so essentially there’s there’s no scope in there at all for the1 officer to to implement 110% premium for
Example no essentially short answer to that thank you Richard okay any other members comments nope so I’m coming back to you Bill a second nothing from you Liz no okay so we’re gonna go to a name vote on this so I’m goingon to pass over to David who’ll take us through the name
Vote thank you David okay if I can start with councelor Steve Ashton for councelor John Bailey councelor Jason Baker left CC Lee Baker as chair I’ll abstain thank you councelor Marcus bar councelor Mike best is here councelor Brian Bol H councelor Adam boen he arrived councelor Alan Bradford councelor Hillary Bruce
Four councelor Theo but philli councelor Mike Caswell councelor Norman Cavell councelor Nicola Clark councelor Barry Clark councelor Peter Clayton counc Simon Kohl’s for councelor Nick cotle councelor Adam Dan councelor Dixie D councelor Hugh Davies councelor Tom Deacon councelor Don Denton councelor Martin dimery councelor Andy dingwall for councelor Michael dun for councelor
Caroline Ellis celor Habib far councelor Ben Ferguson councelor Bob filmer councelor David Fill councelor Tony Grimes councelor Andy Hadley PA councelor paulen ham councelor Philip ham councelor mark key councelor Alistair Henry yeah councelor Ross Henley councelor Mike hson councelor edrick Hobs councelor Henry Hobs House councelor John Hunt councelor Don
Johnson councelor Jenny Kenton councelor Marcus kravis councelor Liz Lon four councelor Tony lock councelor Martin leville councelor David Manel councelor Matt Martin councelor Kevin messenger celor Harry Mt councelor Tessa Mont celor Mike msh councelor Francis Nicholson councelor greem oos councelor Sue Osborne councelor Connor Payne councelor Kathy Pierce councelor Derek
Perry councelor Edie pots Jones councelor Hazel prior sanki councelor F perb councelor Wes Reed councelor Lee redond councelor Bill revans B councelor Mike Rigby celor Diego Rodriguez councelor Joe Rando green celor dean rodo councelor Peter seep councelor Heather sheeter councelor Brian Smedley councelor Federica Smith Roberts councelor Andy suton councelor Mike
Stanton councelor Andy silly councelor CLA Sul cancel seder Wakefield councelor Martin whale go coun Richard Wilkins councelor David War for councelor Rosemary Woods for councelor Gill Ren and last but not least councelor Ros white it’s clear the carriage thank you members that’s uh that’s carried can I ask the officers
Please to let those members that have been uh sent out the room to come back in please thank you you well those that are still [Laughter] here thanks David yeah no that’s fine okay thanks members for those of you um if we can just come to order please
Members thank you uh for those of you who left the room the motion was carried unanimously thank you okay we are now moving on to agenda item number eight which is the report of the chief executive so I’m GNA hand over to the man on my right Duncan over to you
Duncan thank you thank you chair I’ll be very brief um unfortunately members will have seen reports of this format before but members will recall as part of the one summer business case with detailed savings proposals um which required us to look at the structure of the management of the new Council uh we’re
Still working through those processes as members will recall I think the regional plan was about three years to get through full um amount of the savings um this is a further report in a series of those reports particularly driven by the fact that the legislation requires any
Um redundancy or exit package which is over £100,000 in cash value to come to full Council that figure has not been uprated by inflation I think ever since it was introduced the auor it is catching more and more packages um because particularly pension strain for anyone over 55 is a substantial cost
Just by of the way it’s calculated so what you can see here unfortunately we’re losing 16 colleagues as part of this process five of whom um and not by name obviously but by um the figures are identified in um schedule a um are over that £100,000 threshold therefore
Require full council’s approval um for that package I’ll stop at that um chair I’m very happy to take any questions but I think Council but Phillips is um introducing the paper thank you Duncan yeah over to you Theo to propose thank you thank you very much for that I have
Very little to add to what Duncan has said except to address a question which has been put to me by a couple of colleagues um colleagues have questioned the enhanced column on the table of uh of redundancy pay it’s just to explain what that is um the First Column is the
Statutory element of the redundancy pay the enhanced element is the element to which departing colleagues are entitled to as a result of their terms and conditions this is not money that we have decided out of the uh goodness of our hearts that we want to pay additionally it is something they are
Entitled to under the terms of conditions beyond what would be the legal minimum so it’s just to make that clear people because I know it’s been asked other than that I have nothing to add to what Duncan has said and I will happily propose uh this thank you Theo I understand that
Fa’s kind enough to Second it is that right Fay thanks chair yeah happy to Second and reserve the right to speak thank you fate okay so let’s open up for members comments have we got anybody who’d like to comment on this motion please members thank you David um so I think the uh
Recommendations here here are um we will support um I think the timing is unfortunate um and particularly the timing with the consultation on the communities which is now set out um identifying a number of redundancy savings I remember a meeting in uh November 20 2019 with two colleagues who are also in
This room who asked me not to announce any redundancies before Christmas and I gladly agreed to that um because I felt that was important as part of the unitary business case that we didn’t talk about redundancies before Christmas understand these redundancies come in a particularly difficult time
For me uh so I regret the timing but I support the initiative thank you David I’ll just look for any other comments Duncan wants to come back but is there any other comments on the floor please no thank you dun thank you and I was purely going to
Agree CH Council of theill we are trying not to do do that unfortunately some of the timings we’ve had we haven’t had a choice in terms of starting processes because we are on 45-day consultation processes I have to say these um redundancies that we’re talking about here were announced quite a long time
Ago this is a culmination of the process so everyone involved in the processes is not an unwelcome Christmas surprise to them obviously the result May well be unwelcome and it is close Christmas um but unfortunately in the position we’re in we’re probably going to have a lot
More of these and they will run over them 12 months we will try as far as we can not to do that to people over Christmas but unfortunately because of the pressure we’re under we can’t promise that right now thank you Duncan I see no other
Hands for members so I’m going to come back to you please faay thank you thanks chair and Council father gills kind of summed up some of what I was going to say particularly I think to to thank these people for their service you know they represent all parts of their
Constituent parts of the council um yes um and it it’s really key in coming together under the uh the unit tree that we have people working together it’s sad to see anybody leaving um but we recognize their contribution and and thank them for their service and you
Will see from from the numbers on this table that that will be many years of service in many cases thanks thank you f back to you Theo as proposer thank you very much chair just to associate myself with most of the comments there made by um Fay uh thank
The colleagues who are departing for their many years of service thank you the so members I’m going to read the read the recommendation here so the recommendations are that the council approve the severance cost for five posts set out in appendix a where full Council approval is required for costs that exceed
£100,000 and to delegate authority to the chief executive to agree the final date of dismissal and the final redundancy packages noting that such settlements will not exceed contractual redundancy pay the payment required under statute to the local government pension scheme or the requirement for full Council approval for any seever
Severance payment that exceeds 100,000 so those members in favor please can I ask you to raise your hands thank you any against no any abstentions one okay thank you Ross okay okay that’s carried thank you members thank you very much indeed okay agenda item nine so this is the reports of the standards
Committee members declaration as gifts and Hospitality so I’m going to uh pass over I think to John Bailey who’s the chair of that committee John good afternoon thank you chair good afternoon and thank you members um Christmas has been mentioned so could I just personally wish confence of the season
To everybody in the room and I hope you have a a good festive season um it’s a it’s a sober and important uh paper this um and it’s been produced across all the parties it’s a cross-party committee along with four Cooperative members and I’d like to thank them for the time and
Effort they put into exploring range of options this was referred to us initially by the Constitution and governance committee and I’m only just you’ve got the papers to read so I’m only going to give a a wee bit of background but it’s largely about the tarish reputation that uh democracy has
Has had across the country and I think we need to be very careful that we’re open and that um we’re clear and transparent about what we do the point was made that we need to look at the um the size of the gift and hospitality and I don’t need to say any
More about what’s on the papers because you can read that um but I would um commend you to take on board the recommendations that are in herent in 2 one in that paper and Brian Smedley is uh secondly thank you John Brian can I pass to you
Yeah thank you I only just need to formally second this in the knowledge that it might have a circular route I’m going to open it up for comments now so thank you Bill uh thank you chair and uh John thank you to your committee for the uh work you’ve done on
This area um I do appreciate the need for transparency around gifts and Hospitality I think it’s really important because an act it’s an issue of public interest which is really important um I’m going to propose that we refer this back to the committee I think there are a number of areas where
I think we just need to take a little bit more time to consult with members and just to Think Through the proposals by reducing it to10 we are taking it to the level of um a buffet or coffee and cake which is which is a significant
Step down from where we are at the moment and I fully appreciate the the need for transparency um my my concern is that we have to declare what we are offered even if we decline it and by taking it down to this level um if we don’t attend an event to which
We are invited and that happens to be um a buffet which is150 ahead we have put on ourselves in a position where this is this this can’t be um enforced and then we put ourselves in danger of being in breach of standards and it becomes incredibly difficult and complicated the other
Problem I have with this is I think we need to understand what the additional impact that will have on the Democratic services staff in order to administer this and the amount of time that will take so while I applaud the intent um I would just ask if the committee could
Have a look at it again maybe the figure could be raised slightly so that it was perhaps 225 maybe that’s the job for the committee to look at um and if we could have an estimate as to what the extra work involved with Dem Services would be
Um I think that would be be preferable so reference back please chair okay thank you Bill I’m going to just take Hazel first Hazel thank you uh chair I do have to say I agree with Bill I think that this was maybe conceived through the very highest motives but if you can
Imagine everybody declaring everything because they aren’t sure the value of which and it would either overload Democratic services or if we have to come into County Hall to fill in a register then we’d all be claiming for travel to County hall because we don’t go there very often to fill in a
Register and it just makes it absolute mockery of of of the situation we’re not talking about Millions we’re not talking about you know very much here but it it just seems that there’s absolutely no trust left in uh public uh servants which is what we are these days and to
Say that it should be10 is an absolute crazy thing I it’s been 225 for many years on Somerset County Council and Somerset West Thon the other councils I guess and and I thought we were moving forward with the 20 with a 50 pound limit um but you know to have
This would be I think can absolute retrogrades that in fact I’m completely surprised that ever got to this stage before it was noticed and I’m surprised that officers didn’t because there’s no impact statement in this paper about the impact of those proposals which I think I think how did it get there without
Somebody picking this up that the impact that that would have so I welcome a reference back and and let’s have a little bit of sity in this please thank you thank you Hazel let’s bring in David I think I’m second in the amendment um so I’m happy to Second the amendment but
Just reserve my right to speak if I made till later hey thanks s we you going to take the comments let’s just bring Martin in please yeah I just like to say on this committee and um it should be viewed from the point of view that co-opted members were very much in
Support of this that’s the impression that is given from the outside of counselors who claim expenses or perhaps don’t declare things gifts I don’t think the idea of a buffet attendance a buffet was ever considered in this but I mean I understand the objections and you know
We support taking it back well it was a logical reason why this decision was made and it was to protect our reputations thank you Martin Connor Thank You chair uh just a couple of points because I think when you go into the detail again it sort of there’s
A there’s a couple of things um my concern would it with the uh with the recommendation would be that if I was refusing um uh to attend a buffet say for example the cotle hunt in in my division might turn around and offer me
A place at a day there and I turn that down um maybe some local campaigners might infer that as me not supporting the hunt or the hunt not supporting them I would not like my uh my affiliation to be decided through what I’m attending and what I’m not attending I don’t know
Whether that’s been considered um the other thing I think as well when would it come into effect does it come into effect once you send an RSPV is that RSPV RSVP that’s the one uh does that does it come into effect when you send that off because I’ve had invites that
Have been in my spam before I mean not for major things just come along and have a chat or whatever but does it come into effect when you reply and say no I can’t come or or you know if you miss something is that oh I should have
Really picked that up that’s when it’s an issue that kind of thing um and then my my only final comment on it would be um that if we’re declaring what we’re uh receiving um that we should be declaring what we’re spending uh in our divisions as well perhaps uh on businesses and and
Some resident groups and things like that I think it’s as important to declare what we’re spending over 1010 pound as it is to declare what we’re receiving over10 pound just a few comments that’s all thank you chair okay thanks Conor we’ve got on amend which
I’m going to come back to but let me just bring in Mark if I can first thank you chairman um I totally support what uh Council Reverend has said and what David fathergill second what Springs to mind to me chairman have we been to the
LGA and ask their bring on it as well what they feel because you know look at the comment that the counselor made behind me about reputation in tff I think my reputation is worth 25 quit more than10 pound and and as you say we now have to declare whether we’re going
To do it or we’re going to have to clar whether we don’t do it you know what you’ll get in a minute it’s democracy g b it here and that’s where we are so um I don’t know whether the chief EXA or maybe maybe councilor F can answer that
Question he’s on the LJ it’s just something i’ I’d like to know thank you okay thanks Mark let’s just bring in Martin we got one more hand I’d like to bring that one in thank you it’s really a point on the um recommendations it says elected members does this refer to
All elected members I.E chairman or when we are representing the council in an official capacity um I would think uh Mike Bust or his Deputy up there are going to get thinner then because uh they’re gonna they they will be writing uh report to democratic surges every week at least
Once a week and it makes no sense whatever Jer okay thank you Martin we have had an amendment here proposed by Bill and second by David would would you like to say any more before we vote on that Amendment David I I think this is uh has
Got in an enormous amount of in unintended consequences to this this recommendation I just an example about two weeks ago I was invited to stes and Gregory um carol singing in the village hall which I didn’t attend but subsequently found out that they provided mold wine and mint SK I would I
Would have gone if I know but but it would have been something that would have taken me over1 pound and I wouldn’t have known about it really so I I do think you know we’ve got to be very realistic about this you know we all come into this role to do the very
Best for our communities we have to put that first foremost we’re not here to line our pockets the vast majority I’d say virtually everybody I’ve met does not have that view and therefore we’ve just got to I think take a very mature approach wither it back he thank you
David anything more from you Bill uh yeah I think just to say I think there is the best of intentions um behind this I think the visibility and transparency on where we are given gifts and Hospitality um is important for it to be registered for for for that public
Perception I just think the proposal as it’s as it’s written at that level I think gives us a um a difficulty if that goes through and it just needs some reconsideration as for the point about things that we spend in our community my goodness I have to declare every raffle
Ticket I get mugged for when you go to an event I think um I think life might get get get far too interesting so I hope that that proposal isn’t taken up uh thank you chair thank you Bill so members we’ve got um okay let’s just Hugh okay
Hugh CH excuse me I sit on on this commit um I was totally against you getting anything so I’ll put that out to you all but what I what I Rose was I would suggest that you withdraw everything at the moment and bring it back to the next meeting because I think
You should discuss with the chair the reason why this figure was brought about and and David fugo has touched on it but he hasn’t touched on it or he doesn’t know he’s touched on it but there are reasons why and very big reasons so I
Ask you to withdraw it and look at it again thank you chair okay thank you Hugh yes bill so for clarification this isn’t an amendment it’s it’s a reference back um which I believe is is is um permissible under outstanding orders as well it is yes so it’s technically Amendment but
You are permitted an amendment to the motion to refer to a relevant committee which is what is being proposed here to refer it back to standards committee okay members we’re sorry I’m just seeking some advice here so we’re we’re voting on the amendment to refer it back to the standards committee okay that’s
What we’re voting on what bill has proposed and David has seconded to refer it back to the standards committee which John shares so can I have those in favor please thank you those against no any abstentions one two thank you okay that’s carried thank you member bear with me a
Second yeah John let’s bring John in thank you John you chair just um I’m perfectly happy to to take this back to standards Committee just a few comments um there was nobody implying that anybody was l in their pockets and I think that’s inherent in all the um the current legis legislation anyway
Secondly that um just the the committee is completely sane and has been verified as that so rest assured on that one and could I just say in terms of widening the consultation I’m more than happy to accept comments from all the members um and that’s probably the best way to go
Forward so we collect these before the next meeting which is on the 24th of January for memory please fire them to me is that best or to the monitoring officer could I just seek clarification on that to the monitoring officer please John and members comments and then we’ll
Pass it to John okay thank you very much thank you so we’ve now got a substantive motion then that we’re going to be voting on members if we can so that is to send this uh back to the standard committee can I just have those in favor please lovely those against any
Abstentions one two okay thank you very much indeed members thank you okay we’re moving on nicely here members to number 10 on the agenda report of the Licensing and Regulatory committee um so I’m going to ask the Vice chair of the licens and regulat committee Marcus kravis to introduce a
Report if Marcus is still here over to you Marcus thank you thank you thank you chair um it’s quite a simple recommendation this one um the council has recommended to approve the statement of principles Dash the gambling policy obviously if you look above that um line
In your um agenda 2.1 you’ll see it refers back to paper a and the appendices I’m sure you’ve all taken great joy in reading paper a and all the appendices and note word for word um a little bit of History here I mean I would a little bit of History here
Obviously with unitary um part of the order was that we had to merge the policies such as licensing for licensing and gambling policies within the first 12 months um obviously you I think it was last four Council Council before we did the licensing policy um I wasn’t
Here for that meeting but here there was a few members of the public here that one um the gambling policy hasn’t been quite so stimulating to members of the public um on the consultation I think the well I think you can see there weren’t very many consultations at all
There could actually be a reason for that is because um the gambling policy is because the gaming act in or the gambling act in 2005 um was then all the gambling policies come up for review every three years so actually what will happen is that all the expensive licensing lawyers
That works for National companies will having their diary that they need to consult on the licensing policy um at a certain date but obviously this has maybe taken them all by surprise and I think it’s very noticeable there’s only one National operator that’s commented on this um on this statement of um of
The gambling policy um so the history that’s the history of it um it was consulted upon I think it was over six seven week period um there was it went to the licensing committee on October the 12th that the papers that you got in front of you um and there was very
Little discussion I must admit at that licensing meeting um it’s been passed um and it’s now in front of you or it’s been sent to you for for passing um the only other thing I would say is that if there are any questions um the um I have Jack Godley here from the
Licensing team obviously each of your District councils if you on them had a had a gambling policy they all much the same some were slightly different to the other I think the team’s an excellent job of merging them together um if you look at all the gambling policies
Throughout the country there is quite a lot of influence from the gambling Commission in them but that said I think ours is um a very good one at this moment as it stand so I’m take pleasure in um moving that or putting it for you for recommendations I’m here for any
Questions I think I’ve got a second of feder Smith and Jack Godley is being sat very patiently today um for any questions that I we answer thank you thank you Marcus you’re right we’ve got fed to Second over to you fed um I just will reserve my right to
Come in at the end thank you so can I open this up to members comments then has anybody got any comments they’d like to raise on this motion please no nothing at all back to you then fed um I just want to thank the team for
The work that they’ve done on this and pulling this together doing the consultation work and bringing it forward and thanks to the license ing committee as well thank you anything more from you Marcus no I’ll quit while I’m ah head thank you chair let’s take a vote then
Please members those in favor to recommend and approve the statement of principles gambling policy hands up if you would thank you very much those against no any extensions okay that’s carried unanimously thank you members so Moving On We’re on uh agenda item number 11 here which which is a motioned on notice
Is it on pages 485 to 486 of your pack uh and this is a motion on the immediate bilateral ceasefire in Israel Gaza conflict um so we’re being asked to consider the motion here that’s been proposed by by Helen K and seconded by Habib so I’m going to invite Helen uh to
Present the motion to councel thank you Helen chair um firstly on a personal note um only a few of you will know that I am actually part Jewish uh one quarter to be exact my great-grandparents were Jewish refugees from Odessa fleeing the pograms in 1905 my grandfather was a
Businessman in the 30s and changed his name to K due to anti-Semitism my surname is actually K hyen kryman but I don’t use it as I’ve experienced lots of know a little bit of low-level anti-Semitism in the past so though I don’t identify as Jewish I do feel some
Connection to Israel and I’ve been very shocked by the attacks on innocent civilians on the 7th of October and of course I condemn the actions of Hamas however I’m equally shocked at the disproportionate response of Israel in killing so many in innocent civilians in Gaza and the destruction of so many
Buildings and infrastructure in the quest to disable the military capacity of Hamas but while this war has commanded our attention since 7th of October I’m sure you’ll know there’s been tension between the Palestinian and Jewish communities for about 100 years mainly for land rights the problem for
Me is that Hamas also represents an ideology if it is seen to represent the Palestinian cause for land rights and freedom and there is something of a political vacuum where other political parties representing this cause then sadly there are likely to be further waves of milit militancy in future which
I assume no one wants and the actions of Israel are going to compound that this motion therefore calls on our government or any future government to take more responsibility to firstly facilitate an immediate ceasefire in order to release hostages and to get humanitarian humanitarian Aid into Gaza urgently and
Furthermore to make a more serious effort starting now to work for long-term political settlement that gives the people of both Israel and Palestine the hope for a peaceful future the world cannot keep kicking this C down the road there is a real danger that the conflict could spill over into
The wider region and even Beyond and we’ve already seen some evidence of that with ships being attack attacked in the Red Sea in the medium term we’re likely to see increased Refugee pressure on the rest of the Middle East and Europe and the UK as so many Palestinians will have
No homes or hope to go back to also locally the actions of Israel have stoked anti-Semitism as some people wrongly conflate being Jewish with being pro anything the Israeli government does and the IDF does just like some people wrongly conflate being Muslim with supporting H Hamas as I say this is
Already having repercussions with a rise in hate crime in the UK both towards the Jewish and the Muslim communities and towards individuals for that reason I have had some concerns about my personal safety in declaring my Jewish Heritage and in proposing this motion however when I knew that councelor Habib bah bahai was
Seconding it I felt more confident because this reinforces the message that whatever our background ethnicity or religions we agree this situation cannot continue and the killing has to stop we also all have a role as Community leaders in speaking across these racial and religious divides and attempting to reduce tensions in our communities
Whenever possible it feels very relevant to bring this motion to full council at this time of year when we wish for peace and goodwi to all men and likewise I urge you to support th the motion with those sentiments in mind thank you thank you Helen uh khabib where are you in the
Room khabib is is is seconded it uh indeed H happy to Second it very happy to Second it and reserve my right to speak thank you abib so let’s open up open up for comments from Members um uh on this motion please would anybody like to comment on this motion one yes
John thank you chair um firstly I didn’t know Helen actually that you were oh lordy am I too close to the the speaker let’s try that how’s that turn that how’s that that’s better let me got here is that better that’s better yes so firstly I
Didn’t know uh Helen well I don’t think we’ve spoken in the past but I I’m very surprised to find you’re Jewish and you’re very Brave to stand up and speak today I’m well done for that khabib obviously I’ve known for for many years now and know his background well and I
Now understand why the proposer and seconder because I couldn’t quite work that out beforehand um so I think it’s good news that you’ve come together to put this forward I have to say if you’d asked me this question a month ago um I would have uh voted against uh what
We’re asking for today uh because clearly we need to remove this uh the Hamas element uh as it is at the moment um clearly what happened in October in Israel is absolutely um abhorent uh no one in their right mind would agree with agree with the with Hamas doing what
They did um and they clearly need to be squashed in how however way that works my view two months ago would have been let’s let’s do that not at any cost however I think now things have changed uh the Netanyahu and his government’s position on this um I thought was a
Two-state solution um he’s he and many of his uh um fellow members of his Parliament have said that it no longer is what they want um I don’t know and I don’t think that is what all the Israelite people Israeli people want um it’s clearly a very right-wing
Government um and in my opinion I I think the two-state solution is probably the only way I can’t think of another solution and I’m sure it’s would be a very difficult one to Arise at it’s going to be even more difficult if we allow this war to continue as it stands
Um I cannot see I mean again two months ago I saw the point I’m beginning to not see the point I don’t really see how we can continue with that as as it is and I fully support this motion which is a surprise to me today but it is it is
Fully support and I’m very happy to do that and I think it would be nice to see or albeit that perhaps some ass at council’s view would have little impact on the situation but if we can do our very small part particularly at this time of year um then I think we should
And I fully support it thank you chair thank you John I see no other comments right I do now there’s some hands going up Diego you caught my eye first over to you thank you chairman I don’t want to say too much but I just feel like in my
Heart I do have to say something um I feel quite strongly about what’s happening in Israel so many of us in this room no doubt do I have my partner’s family part Jewish mother-in-law’s parents um father and his side of the family they fled the Nazis as well the attacks on the seventh
Were absolutely horrid and three days later my cousin who lives near the Garen border and her two children were airlifted by the Portuguese military and taken to Portugal for safety I feel hugely about this issue however I also feel so strongly that it’s not the place of a council to make decisions or
Make recommendations about foreign policy that is for our elected members of parliament I would much rather had seen some sort of resolution that puts our ideas or sentiments solely to our MPS to raise in Parliament I feel so strongly I Shan vote against against nor for but I shall be
Abstaining okay thank you dieo uh we’re now going to Brian Smedley thank you very much I’ll certainly be voting for this and I welcome the introduction of of this motion uh removing the Hamas element has now led to 20,000 deaths in the Israeli Defense Force response 70% of which are
Women and children uh that’s well over the top of the kind of response you’d have expected for a country defending itself which it had to do after the 7th of October attacks uh there’s been vigils and demonstrations across Somerset and most of the towns of Somerset I attended wning Bridgewater
This week organized by the peace group and by the trades Council uh I think we should be supporting this and everybody across the country should be supporting this as well thank you thank you Brian for your comments we’ll go to Graham Oaks please Graham uh thank you
Chair it’s rare that an event actually has the effect that the attacks of October the 7th had on me I found it hard to believe uh watching the coverage coming in um not the fact that Hamas had attacked Israel again but the fact that the way that that attack was carried out
Um the murdering of babies uh reminded me of events of a hundred years ago and in a various European Wars uh I’m not at all surprised at how Israel reacted however their level of stupidity is mindblowing if you really want to keep a war going there’s nothing like going in
And killing a lot of young men whose younger brothers or Sons or daughters then pledge their life to fight you uh fighting rarely solves anything and in this case there are only victims um I think the politicians on both sides personally should be going to jail uh I’d like to see the leadership
Of Hamas tried I’d like to see the leadership of Israel tried because I believe they’ve broken international law the right to defend yourself doesn’t involve how far they’ve gone and I’m really pleased that this motion has come before this council tonight I have to disagree with my
Friend across the chamber there um it was Burke who said all it I think it was Burke who said all it takes evil to Triumph is for good men to stay silent and Diego you are meant to be a good man you cannot stay silent every everybody should speak up
On an issue like this we cannot leave it we don’t name members like that I’m afraid I meant it in a friendly Manner and he should he knows me I think well enough to know that um that this I would welcome this this was a unanimously passed motion on the grounds that it
Really matters um and it will be a stronger message to send to our MPS um who can then do their job thank you J yeah we don’t sorry grahe we don’t members uh name members like that I’m afraid that’s uh not not how we play the
Game Sorry CH I was quite impressed I could remember it to be honest let’s let’s go to Connor you’re next Connor uh I just wanted to put it on the record I will be abstaining from this today um purely because I do not feel as
Though I am at all qualified to be able to talk on International matters like this I came into local politics to deal with potholes um and bins I didn’t want to come here and talk about you know and I mean this in a genuinely respectful
Way I do not feel as though I’m at all qualified you know uh I look at the news I see it every morning I do not know the situation well enough I cannot vote on something I don’t know a great deal about um but also working in a school
Something like that as well I’ve got St students and I would hate to place myself in a certain situation on such a complex thing so I wanted to put it on the record I’ll always fight against um anti-Semitism in islamophobia uh it’s deplorable but uh for the record yes
Abstaining for those reasons thank you thank you Connor uh Mark you’re up next yeah thank you chairman it’s a very emotive subject of this of course and it takes a lot of guts I think to stand you know sit there and say how you feel but ladies and gentlemen also there’s
Another conflict going on in the world isn’t is called Russia and Ukraine what I’ve not heard today in this chamber through you chairman is them condemning the Russians for the you know the slaughter the murder Etc I won’t go into the the wording that so am I allowed to
Make an amendment because I will not vote on this I’m ex military I fought for this country so I’ve got a moral uh uh way going about this so can I put an amendment in are we going to condemn Russia as well at the same time
Just a second Mark yes Theo is it not the case that amendments needed to be put to clear working days before the meeting just bear with us a second members we’re getting the Leal legal on this one just bear with us yeah so dat Mark we’ve just got a view
Here from the monitoring officer for you well well amendments to the motion can can be put without without notice I think in this instance it’s too far removed from the substantive motion it’s introducing apologies while amendments to the motion can be introduced without notice those those amendments need to
Relate to the substantive motion I think to introduce another conflict or another unrelated issue is too far removed from the original motion to do so at this time so so through you chairman if I may come back because I say it’s a very emotive subject and and I do feel very
Strongly about this one so what we’re saying is in this chamber if you’re going to vote for this you can vote for a ceasefire in Palestine can you but we can’t vote for a ceasefire in a war torn country of Ukraine I find that not quite
Right yeah I’m going to move on Mark but the decision you know you’ve heard the decision I’m going to move to Mandy please if we bring Mandy in I was just going to suggest before much more said that the Motions put chair I is there a second for that M I
Would be happy to second that I don’t know how many people you’ve got on your list and whether any new substantive points that would make a difference to the debate are going to be put I’m happy but um I’m I’m happy we we’ve had some very good speeches I I wonder whether
Councel F high would like to we’ll move I’ll bring inhib to say yes Habib would you like to sum up please uh if I may thank you thank you very much Mr chairman I’m actually grateful to Helen for bringing this timely motion to our Council and her passion to see an end to
This tragic War especially as a of Jewish faith and Heritage it is truly exemplary life is precious especially human lives whether you are a Christian Jew Muslim Hindu or a person of no faith the humanity within us demands that we all work proactively together to bring about a lasting peace especially in the
Birthplace of most religions Jerusalem there are no justification for violence as it has no religion ethnicity or morality it is the Betrayal of our basic Humanity the hammer Le attack on Israel on 7th of October has to be condemned so does the constant bombardment of innocent men women and children in Gaza
This war has to stop the Carnage against innocent people on both sides has to stop I urge my colleagues to work hard with our par representatives to bring an end to this tragedy I ask the chair of this Council on behalf of all people of Somerset to
Write to the prime minister in support of this motion Wars are lose lose scenarios peace is a real commitment to each other to work and live together for the sake of our children and grandchildren as a persan poet Sadi stated human beings are members of a whole in creation of one Essence and
Soul if one member is Afflicted with pain other members uneasy would remain if you have no sympathy for human pain the name of human you cannot retain Mr chairman can I can we please observe a moment of silence for all innocent lives lost in this tragic thank you thank you Hab we just
Taking some advice just one second member so thank thank you chair just be clear so everyone’s uh sure what’s just happened Council chilot proposed a closure motion that the vote be now put which would move us to the vote if it was seconded which it was by Council
Rever we should have had a vote at that point on the closure motion to see if Council wants to Cil the debate so we need to take a vote on the closure motion if the closure motion is carried there will be no more debate we will go
To councelor k to some up because counselor for sorry khabib thank you um has already SE um made his comment if a closure motion isn’t carried we will then go back to the order of questions which I think the next speaker was councelor LEL if a closure motion is carried then no more
Speakers will get no more members will get to speak apart from Council K as a proposer thank you members for clarity chair I think my comment was I’d be happy to second but I’d like to hear from Council far first um and so I’m now formally second propotion to
Close Okay so we’re going to vote on the closure motion then members okay so those in favor of the closure motion please raise your hand any against please any extensions two three okay thank you that’s carried thank you very much indeed thank you Helen sorry for the
Delay can come back to you to sum up as proposer thank you yeah thank you for all your comments I I don’t have much to add because I think the motion stands on its own um i’ just like to say that I’m not the kind of person to go on
Demonstrations I have in the past but I don’t anymore so I think that um a motion from a Grassroots organization like Somerset Council that represents the people of Somerset that is taking this message to our government by writing a letter to Rishi sunak and possibly David Cameron um that this is
An important thing that we can do to say and it might help them nudge them to uh actually make more of a stand and and get the government off the fence um and um and as as for the impact of this war and how it might spread I think that
It’s um enlightened self-interest to see an end to the war because of the ramifications that this could have around the world okay thank you very much for your listening thank you Helen thank you members for the way you’ve discussed that so can we we’re going to
The motion uh those in favor of the motion please raise your hand thank you those against the motion and those abstaining please thank you so that’s carried isn’t it that’s carried um and I’m happy uh it with khabib’s request if members are happy please to stand in a minute
Silence to reflect your request to be thank you members we’ll start the minute thank you members okay moving on to item 12 then uh and we’ve got reports for information this is the report of the leader and executive so I’m going to hand over to bill now to introduce the report over to
You Bill only to briefly and formally introduce the report which contains the decisions that have been taken by executive by lead members and officers and as always we welcome questions or comments thank you so thank you Bill if I can invite questions and comments from members to the executive then please
Yeah um might I suggest you you move down the line but leave counselor D till last okay let’s thank you annual report we’ll start with Liz then questions to Liz please it was Marcus I think you were up first young man yeah I got a question for Bill actually if you don’t
Mind so I mean no disrespect what I’m going to say right but about no because I’ve already asked bu the question but I want it made public and I really do want to make this public because a month ago or two months ago you sent out a letter asking Parish
Councils to do more you’re asking Parish Council to take on more responsibility for grass cutting street cleaning taking on Parks taking on everything um and our Our Town CLK da Farah tried to have engagement with this Council and when he talks about street cleaners he gets told
That oh you don’t need to do anything about that because ID ver got the contract to 2015 so you you won’t need to take that on when it comes to Green spaces you don’t really need to do anything because we’re carried that on and it just seems that who’s actually
Running this council is it you or is it your officers because there just seems to be mixed signals coming out of this Council to say you’re asking one question to for Parish Council to take on more responsibility and get on and do things but then on the other hand we’re
Being told don’t worry about it we take care of that we do this and we do that so it just seems that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand’s doing and I’m just we’re really confused at Wellington thank you thank you Bill uh thank you so much for your question and
Um I thank you for your assurance that there was no disrespect um involved in that question at all um I fully take on board the the point uh around Devolution we’ve had the comment that we be both moving too fast and too slowly today um so that that probably averages it out a
Little bit I don’t know um I do take on board if you are are getting mixed messages from our officers we happily take that up um and uh make sure that we get a response I’m obviously not in a position to comment on a conversation that your tank Clark has had with with
With officers at the moment but uh we we are in a position where we have extent contracts that we that we won’t be able to get out out of instantly but if we can adjust them um and so parish and town and City councils can take on those responsibilities then then that’s
Exactly the agenda that we should be moving to so thanks that’s so much for your question thank you Marcus any more questions for Bill no questions for Liz yes Michael uh thank you I think this is for you Liz um I’ll just get this bit nearer the funding you mentioned for spark and
The um CA sorry I’m feeding back here uh but you didn’t mention any funding for the center of sustainable energy the csse who we are hopefully funding hopefully funding this year um and next year and in the into the future can you comment if there’s any funding for that
Organization I think probably chair my comment is that we have to wait for January to see what comes forward as we start to get towards setting a budget uh I realized there will be a number of organizations concerned at this stage I don’t know whether feder can help at all
Through communities I know Chris Phillips one of our officers has done a tremendous amount of work both before and since vesting day in establishing exactly what each of the predecessor councils did Fund in the way of Grants and some of those were very straightforward and some of them were
Not I don’t know fed whether you can come in at all with any further information at this stage um I think it’s best to take it away and I’ll find out the detail and come back and provide a written response thank you thank you Martin
Diego yeah just a quick one um happy to get response to thise sure we have the information to hand um when I following off from question from Richard Brown earlier about council tax collection when I sat on S on SED more scrutiny um we often yearly got the kind of council
Tax collection rates um I just wondered if is it possible to have that whatever information you have from previous District councils um yearly um distributed for us to have a look at that will be in each of the district council’s corporate performance monitoring reports that’s where I used
To see it at MIP quarterly so those performance reports every quarter from each of those councils should be available um I’m quite sure that that someone maybe not me but somebody could put those figures together uh and I know that we have talked about um in the future considering how we can better
Report to scrutiny and executive and full Council on fees charges collection fund uh I think there’s a huge amount of interesting detail for us because now that we’re a council providing all of those Services we’ve obviously got a much wider range and I I think at districts if I recall correctly um from
My time at mendip that was one of the most interesting things and over covid particularly car parking income and then how government covered that with grants was of particular interest so we didn’t get it it stay at the county no we we did get some we did get some grants that
Covered car parking but it was only 75% of what we were putting as as lost income but I think you’re absolutely right that there is a piece of work to be done in how we monitor Fe and charges and the collection fund I think that’s one actually for Sarah krey in her work
And I’m very happy to um I think I’ve got performance in my job title so I think you are talking to the right person and I think I need to do more thank you thank you Liz any more questions for Liz yes sorry just one um I don’t know if it’s
For you Liz really um but uh my my Parish councils have been told sort of oh we’ve been asked to put up the preset by so much next year I’m just wondering uh if if there’s anywhere that that’s been sort of uh publicly made available I how much is Somerset Council telling
Our Parish councils to put up the preset buy I’m not sure I mean I I don’t know excuse my naivity if that’s the case but it’s an odd thing to be told sort of we’ve been asked to put up the precept by this um I can seek clarification and come
Back to you on what they mean by that but I was just wondering is some Council telling Parish councils what they or advising them what they should be doing thank you um I’ll I’ll I’ll just pick that one up um City town and Parish councils are their own Sovereign bodies
Um we would not tell them how to set their precepts what we have advised them is that there may be services that we currently provide that we will be discontinuing next year and if they are interested in taking them on to have that dialogue there was a suggested list
Of Services of which to have a dialogue abouts and it was an invitation to be partners um however I would stress we are they are sovereign bodies we are not telling anyone to put their precept up what we are advising them is that if they wish to take over a service that we
Can no longer carry on then they would be wise to have precept for that eventuality thank you Bill moving on there no more for Liz let’s go for questions for Ros please any questions for Ros No Hands we’re missing Dixie at this stage because we’re gonna come on to
Next so we’re going to you Adam any questions for Adam yeah we’re gonna come back she’s got on the agenda in just a second any for Adam no Tessa anything for Tessa no Mike anything for Mike Dean anything for de yes andyman can you don’t know relieve my kids we’ll acknowledge the Christmas
Present we’ve all just given chairman can I just say thank you to my rig before answering all the questions in previous meetings but we are saving them all up for Richard at the next meeting which is why we’ve all been quiet today well done David over to you Andy thank
You chair and um questioning kind of three parts triggered by uh of your comments to one of our public speakers uh earlier today uh you mentioned the Newton Europe costs were guaranteed by Newton to return 1.3 times the initial diagnostic costs um are those those Diagnostics will lead to uh improvements
And changes we need to make within the council those will incur transformation costs are those transformation costs costed into the current budget or at risk of uh Cuts in the coming budget following on from that if we do not action the recommendations that Newton presents to us are we still liable for
Those costs and therefore not liable for the savings because we’re not acting on because we don’t have the transformation budget to make the improvements um and if that transformation budget is at risk at the moment at what point will we find out so that officers energies time and
Energy uh can be redirected to to other important tasks okay but the transformation I’ll go I’ll do it in reverse the transformation program is regularly monitored its scrutiny okay so I’ll let let you know that for sure um the costs are in the current budget okay
And I can tell you that we are on track at the moment to to deliver those those savings and what was your second one uh the second question was if there’s recommendations that we don’t feel we can afford to make are we still liable for Newton’s Bill uh because they’ve
Made the recommendation they’ve done their work uh We’ve Just Not actioned it so the the guarantee that you mentioned earlier wouldn’t necessarily apply there I I can understand your second bit but I I think actually at the moment we’re okay I I don’t think there’s a problem I
Understand where you’re coming from um and it’s something that I’ve I’ve actually regularly talked about but I think we’re actually okay for that so I think we’re fine thank you Dean any more for Dean members no we moved down the line to Fed any more for fed yes F thank you and fed
I hope this is is you and I didn’t miss it being Ros it’s about the Octan theater um as as one of the local members for the theater I’m inundated with questions from residents asking please can we have it reopen um so just some indication as to whether there’s
Any plan at all to reopen the doors um while whatever else is going on is going on um and then the second part to that is really about the the process under which it closed um my understanding is it closed we had some surveying work done and having had a tour around there
That was extremely destructive surveying work um one why did we go ahead with that destructive surveying work at a time when interest rates were already high and then the subsequent decision was based on interest rates and two is there any recourse on the company that
Did that um work did they need to be as destructive as they were and I appreciate you you probably can’t answer those questions now but I’d really appreciate some kind of indication for residents on the first half and just a bit of detail about how we got to where
We are on the second point thanks um so in relation to the first question um when will the Octagon reopen we don’t have a definitive date but we are working um alongside Partners such as dcms with Arts Council England and with the oval Town Council to look to
See um what we can do in relation to getting um that reopened and what what the kind of final figures would look like in relation to your and I will keep you up to date and make sure that the team keep you up to date as well in
Relation to um closing and the surveying we were working to the business case that was there at that time and it was the right in my view you know the thing to do to look at what needed to be done internally I can look at the Contracting arrangements with regards to recourse
But I don’t think that this is my personal view there would be any because they would doing what they were instructed to do by us but I can take that offline and update you thank you f thanks fed Gill uh thank you um a question for feder um uh Community scrutiny last week
Um we had a very interesting uh presentation on on rough sleeping and and the key takeaway for that was actually the role of prevention in in stopping people getting anywhere near the streets in the first place uh and then the point was made that of course
Prevention that part of the work that we do is non-statutory and actually our statutary responsibilities kick in far too late for the individual so returning to my earlier theme about well what happens after the the agony of the next 18 months we’re getting straws in the wind
About uh money for the voluntary sector and the charitable sector and it occurs to me that this new slim down Council that we’re looking forward to is actually going to be highly dependent on this voluntary and charitable sector on the other side and so therefore any decisions about reducing their funding at the
Current time have to be taken with a view to their long-term survival because if they’re not there and we’re down to the sort of bare bones or there’s just the head of the skeleton left then there’s going to be the landscape in somerset’s going to be well A Wasteland
So I think and I’m not underestimating at all the decisions that are going to have to be taken in cutting back and reducing it and cutting our cloth and balancing the budget and this kind of thing but what I would ask is that any decisions particularly taken affecting bodies outside Somerset Council itself
Really do take a take account of the long-term plan and the long-term implications um sorry this is a bit more of a statement rather than a question for feder so I would just in order to um tail it with a question I would like her view on that as a as the portfolio
Holder or executive member thank you very much thank you quill carry on fed um quill you raised a really important question here because we see the pressures in Somerset Council in relation to care where we are a unitary Authority but we are also seeing I guess across the
Country in District councils that being pressures in relation to homelessness and we are facing those here we do have a heising crisis in Somerset we are seeing increased numbers of people presenting to us and we are not seeing the support from national government in supporting us us to face those
Challenges both in the wider economic picture as to the challenges people face in keep making ends meet but also then the support you know we do get support grants in relation to doing buff sleeping but it’s not enough and we’re not getting that money to do further
Prevention work that I think should be key I think as a council we need to keep the scrutiny on our homelessness Provisions so that all of us the members are aware of quite the impact on our population so that when we’re walking up our high streets and seeing rough
Sleepers they’re not necessarily those that perhaps have been stereotypically there in the past we’ve got people coming to us who are low you know low income not facing addiction and needing further support because it isn’t there and we are in need of the voluntary sector there to support them so I’d like
It if you as chair of scrutiny keep that pressure on keep the eye on the numbers challenge us as to what we’re doing but most importantly all of us challenge our MPS to make changes to the economic situation that people face thank you fed Andy saton thank you chair um another
Question for fed really on the Octagon theater as I’m as PID opposite number in in that division um as a counselor for yo Town counselor and suet Council um when do you intend to talk to Y Town Council again about any of the proposals that may have been put forward so far
Um I know that officers have been there recently um Andy so thank you for the question I’m more than happy to pop along to any public meeting that you have or for us to go offline and for me to come along alongside um Chris Hall
And Liz Dawson to talk to you about the what we need to do there thank you fed um that’s all any other questions for fed please no okay so members we’re coming up four hours we’ve been here so under the Constitution I’ve got to get your
Permission to for us to extend for half an hour um are you all happy just to we haven’t got long to go here guys but are you happy for us to carry on over far and above six o’clock is everybody okay with that yeah brilliant that’s fine
That’s good enough for me lovely um we don’t have to take a vote I’m told we don’t have to take a vote so we can carry on CH I was just wondering whether we could we could have that any lower and and I don’t want to have a higher lower debate with right
[Laughter] I know you can do a great w be too much longer okay questions for Theo please members thank you sue thank you chairman um it’s a question for for Theo because it’s sort of HR related but it also might knock into planning so it might overlap with
Ross um I recently had an out of office reply from one of the planning team from South stating that they will only worked a 4 day week so I’m curious to know how many officers do we have in total working a 4 day week how many do we have in planning bearing
In mind the enormous pressure we are under in planning South and are you intending to follow the um example of South Cambridge her libdem L Council which brought in a four day week um the first two parts of the first two questions um I’m perfectly happy to get
A written answer for you Su on the exact numbers I don’t have them to hand uh uh but no we’re not uh proposing to introduce a four-day week across the council thank you Theo and in terms of officers in the planning department on a 4-day week I’m afraid that does fill me
With concern and I just have to record it again Ross recently was copied into a reply over a school planning application and again it is it is resourcing in the planning team particularly in South s South that I’m increasingly concerned about because it is causing stalling of applications a very important business
One that is critical to my division has actually been stalled to an extent that they may seriously consider whether they have or have in a future here and I gather it’s it is something of concern to businesses thank you Sue I just need to bring in the chief executive just for
One second to follow that Sue before I bring in David thank you I’d just like to clarify thank you for the opportunity chair the council has no one working four days instead of five which is I think the model you were um taking from that the council has many people who
Work part-time some of them will work four days a week but they’re being paid for four days a week that is their contracted hour so we have no one who is paid for 5 days a week and only working four days a week we may have some colleagues on compressed hours so they
Are still doing all the hours but maybe over a different pattern of days but we haven’t got anyone who’s on the experimental four day week instead of five just for clarity and I accept the comments that Council were made about um difficulty in recruiting and qualified planners particularly um you know we
Will keep doing our best to do that can I just come back on that it doesn’t seem as though the problem is necessarily recruiting it’s the problem and perhaps retaining or extending the contracts of those we’ve got um because it looks like we’re going to be losing two more planners experienced people in
Planning South um imminently and that has been going on for quite some time and as I say I am concerned the impact on our performance figures and that if we fall short or we see people going to appeal because they cannot get a decision then that could impact on our
Performance with government and the risk we could wind up with the planning department in special measures okay thank you sh that’s uh that that’s certainly noted David thank you it’s it’s one Theo but I don’t think it’s the work Theo to work but could I just ask for a review of
Starting these meetings at two o’clock particularly in the winter it just feels that we’re finishing going to finish at 6:30 after 4 and a half hour meeting we’ve got some people are going to have to drive two hours home in the dark which could be very bad weather in the
Winter time I do think that we need to review the the start time for these meetings particularly for winter um for the winter hours and and and it would seem to be more sensible to have a morning start between the clocks going back and the clocks going forward I don’t mind
But I just feels tonight there’s going to be a lot of very tied people driving home in quite poor conditions thank you David I think I can take that I think the monitor monitoring officer is going to take that away and consider those options okay if it
Helps oh yeah Alan Alan sorry I nearly forgot you Alan how could I over to you it not a good time to be a councelor I don’t think at at times I find it very frustrating I got particular issues a lot with highways I live in a rural area and it’s
Very often very often forgotten the rural area areas there’s so much there’s so much that ain’t quite right at the moment and it’d be very nice to speak to people people rather than even message and nothing happens all you get is more moans and groans I have to be honest you know it’s
Not a happy time to be a counselor the last three months I’m involved with planning at se more I’ve been at over 16 years I’m quite a man of the people I know a lot of rural people and I know a lot of irant people as well but the
Rural area area been let down left right in center because of maintainance it hasn’t just started now it’s a it’s been an ongoing problem but it has got worse in the last little period of time I I have to I don’t thr no anybody in their jobs it’s a difficult situation to
Handle but I think was about time we got back the more people using their hands like it used to be years ago on the roads and doing some of these things everybody’s around sat pressing the pict doing this and doing that and nothing gets done sorry Mr chairman that’s the
Way I feel I’m a practical man and if I had a budget in the villages to go around and sort things out within three months by God it look a lot different than it does now thank you very much okay thank you Alan for your Merry Christmas to you all Merry Christmas to
You Alan Merry Christmas to you um thank you for your thank you for your comments um okay I think that all questions for exact members so count does note uh note that report thank you very much indeed okay we are moving on now to agenda item 12
Which is the annual report of lead member for environmental and climate change hence Andy uh we’ve got the chance now to ask Dixie questions so I’m going to hand over to you Dixie to take the floor over to you Dixie does anyone I I hope members have
Um read the report report and if you haven’t had time then some good Christmas reading boxing day perhaps um happy to take any questions and if I can’t any answer anything on the spot I can always have a conversation afterwards thank you Dixie I’m gonna go
To Andy first because he had his hand up previously thank you very much chair thank you very much um so it’s it’s a a question actually about papers that came out uh recently about the removal of provision of sandbags for residents across the across the county so one of
The things I noted is a question in two parts uh one of the things I noticed was under Community safety considerations the report stated that there was no impact on community safety which felt a little counterintuitive to me um sandbags were provisioned for the safety of communities what was also missing
From the report was any sort of impact statement or or uh risk assessment so I presume that was done would it be possible to share the risk assessment that led the paper to say um that there’s no uh no impact on community safety the second part of the question
Is the paper also confirmed a strategic stock part of sandbags would be maintained for somet Council assets uh could you confirm whether or not the housing stock that we own counts as um some assets both in homes in sedore and in uh the west of the county and how the
Council might avoid the perception of a postcode Lottery when it comes to safety for flooding for others in not in those regions where we don’t own the housing stock thank you thanks Andy I’m very happy to talk about sand sandbags for quite a long time as
My colleagues know so uh as a new Council we do not yet have uh a policy on sandbags four districts operated different policies and the County Council didn’t have a policy um we have been listening to feedback that has come through given that decision paper that
Went out and um as a result of that we’re in the process of producing ucing a community flood resilience options appraisal and there will be a number of options on the table I do want to talk about some other problems with sandbags though because I think they’re often
Perceived as kind of what you do when it floods and there are some issues with sandbags so following the 2007 floods um the pit review concluded that sandbags have limited Effectiveness in protecting properties and the environment agency currently recommends purpose made flood protection products as a much better alternative some other problems include
The fact that sandbags degrade quite quickly and we’ve had those degrading in depos they make kind of a terrible mess and you can’t do anything with them they do leak water they’re heavy to move um and they can trap sewage and contaminated water however they are much cheaper than flood protection products
So by those I mean things like flood flood barriers self-closing air bricks all of those kinds of things um and they can help diver divert water from driveways and provide short-term protection the key issue is that if householders and businesses are going to use sandbags they need them before or at
The beginning of a flood event so the model of collecting fied bags from a council Depot or delivering them when roads are flooded and demand is high over a wide area quite possibly at 4:00 on a Sunday morning when we haven’t got offices in in um in in the office is
Unlikely to be effective even if we had those resources we want to work with communities to support them increase their resilience and preparedness the somerset prepared Grant scheme provides local communities the opportunity for funding for resilience schemes for local needs for example marok has had Hydro snakes um in Sanford Brett they’ve had
Sandbags and storage sheds and shovels and I also know that there’s excellent multi- agency work um in some parishes involving um the farming and Wildlife Advisory Group the environment agency and local farmers looking at ways to minimize flooding through lad management so I think those things those longer
Term things rather than the sticking plaster are really important in terms of a potential policy we’ve got a number of options on the table including supporting parishes with the cost of sandbags through B purchase and ensuring parishes who want them have sandbags as part of their preparedness rather than
Reacting to a flood event currently there is no budget for sandbag so any decision will depend on finding those funds however despite the fact that there’s no statutory requirement for councils to provide sandbags and the legal responsibility for flood protection lies with the homeowner we are committed to supporting communities
Develop flood res resilience in the face of climate related um flood events so that’s the first question the second question is about Council assets I’m I I’m pretty sure that um C our Council homes come under C Council assets and therefore there would be that provision
Uh and I will I’ll kind of like check on that I think in in terms of a postcode lottery I think you know so I’ve been I’ve gone to the uh Somerset prepared event for the last three years and I would urge all of you to attend I
Would urge your parishes to come up with emergency plans to get support from the Civil contingency units to assess your risk come up with emergency plans and I know a number of members have been like really active involved in supporting those communities when they’ve had really unfortunate um flood events but
It is all about um kind of being prepared kind of rather than the kind of the the you know the kind of what we do afterwards and we need to do that as well but getting people prepared is the key thing okay thank you Dixie okay let’s bring in
Sue thank you chairman I’m just referring to page 504 which is covering the suet Tre strategy um and I was delighted that one of my one of the groups in my division um green ilminster was invited to present on their concept of a community Woodland so I’m delighted to see on page
504 that funding has been confirmed to create a new Woodland on our own councel land sites currently being identified I sincerely hope that one of the sites you are seriously considering and one of the groups you are working with and I know I have had meetings with staff and green
Ill minister is actually that particular group to develop a community Woodland as a pilot project in order to demonstrate to others just what can be achieved and how this strategy can be delivered so I’m very much delighted and welcome seeing that on board and I would be even
More delighted if the group you selected was the group in my division and it was on part of the donat estate but not a question I think I think it’s more a statement but I think what I’d love as well is what is your time scale for delivering that
Particular element of this strategy so what is the type of time scale you are expecting the group and the officers working together to actually bring forth a proposal that can be taken through a decision made and if necessary voted on as pay your policies um we have our two tree
Officers that have been funded by this for two years and we hope that we might be able to get funding to extend that um they are working with a number of community groups they are also working with our um I always want to call them a& OBS but they’re not called that
Anymore um naal par national uh National National landscape groups um and and and the trust so there’s it isn’t it’s some of it is about involving Community but not all of it in terms of planting on Council land there’s a great deal of work going on which relates to
Biodiversity net gain phosphate credits and carbon sequestration so we need to look at what is the most appropriate use for our Council land and we are working very closely with the assets team uh to ensure that we make the best decisions about that that and I will I will
Actually make no promises about that because it’s not entirely in my court the uh you know those are kind of joint decisions across directorates that need to be made but I’ve definitely heard what you’ve had to say okay thank you Dixie and I look forward to working on
Delivering this project with you thank you sue thank you Dixie Mandy can I bring you in please uh thank you very much and uh just to pick up on the flooding I think the challenge preparedness is a real challenge if you haven’t been flooded in 40 or 50 years
You don’t have those things to hand and I will say there was very some very inventive uh flood deterrents used when the floods happened and I think all s went indoors to help protect but my question actually is on the somerset tree strategy um it’s great to see that
There’s been some funding gained but it seems to be mainly around Woodland planting um for those of you who don’t know and I’ve said it lots of times mine head has more urban trees in the town than any other town in Somerset beautiful treelined Avenue that’s really
Central to the town and my question really um there’s talk here of urban tree planting sites for me we’ve got a lot of trees that been cut down they’re just cut off we’ve probably got 20 in the town and left so my question is you know if they are integral to an urban
Environment and well-being um in our urban areas is there a plan where Urban trees are cut down where they’re absolutely integral that they will be replaced as opposed to just finding lots of new places to plant thank you um thanks Mandy I know that um the district council’s had different
Policies about kind of replacement stre tree strategies and in a way with the the somerset tree strategy we’re kind of looking a bit more holistically at that and urban tree planting is part of that so um I think on the um document it talks about the um Urban Tree challenge
Funding and the work that we’re doing to secure that so there’s quite a lot of mapping going on around um Open Spaces but in an Inver in an open in an urban environment if you know what I mean to look at uh what we can do about increasing um Urban tree planting we
Have lost a lot of trees especially around Ash dback and drought and unfortunately we’re going to continue to do so because some of the predictions are that some of our native species are not going to survive long term the kind of uh extended drought that we have so
Whereas we’ve always been looking at native trees before that’s always been the thing to kind of re replant with we might have to um think differently so there’s not a policy around this tree comes out we you know we put one in immediately but there is certainly uh
Work going on to look at um Urban tree planting and attracting funding for that and planting trees in towns is more difficult I think than in um you know on kind of like green green spaces but uh we very much recognize the benefits in terms of cooling in terms of
Recreation all those kind of advantages that Urban tree planting brings if I could just respond I just urge you to consider a lot of trees planted in our towns were planted or say a 100 years ago um you know if you don’t have a replanting process in place and
Policy you’ll end up with none as they will go one by one so I just leave that with you thank you thank you thanks got five more people want to speak we’ve got another paper after this so I want to try and crank it up a little bit um but
Fed you wanted to come in quickly thank you chair I just wanted to clarify something in relation to what um was asked around the h ra and providing um I guess a two-tier approach to Somerset residents just to remind everyone the H is a ring fenced account
So you’ve got to treat it like as if it was another registered provider so if it was looking to provide sandbags it would be doing so because it’s the HRA providing it to its tenants to protect its own assets so I’m not um we will
Take it away just to confirm what we do do but again it’s a choice for the HRA and if we didn’t protect those homes we would probably be causing a damage to our assets and having to house those individuals elsewhere but it we’ve got to remember it’s separate to the general
Fund and the provision that we do as a council um to other residents thank you fed for clarifying okay we’re going to go to Helen thanks for your patience Helen um thank you very much um I’ve got three questions and I’m happy to take written answers but I would like to get
Them please um first of all um under the tree strategy when we were discussing it and it was an open to consultation at scrutiny I believe it was found to be weak on protecting existing trees and woodlands and um I’m just hoping that that has actually been addressed um
We’ve got for example U uh again looking forward to where we are in the financial crisis um enforcement planning enforcement is nonstatutory apparently um and at the moment where we’ve got people that chop down more than five cubic meters I believe it is of Woodland um you can enforce against that um if
They haven’t got planning permission to do it or change of use I think um and if we don’t have the Enforcement Officers then we’re not going to be able to protect that Woodland so it’s just something in future to to to to think about um secondly the paper says that um
Counselors have been uh had training in biodiversity net gain I don’t believe that we have unless I’ve missed it um and so it would be great if we did have training in biodiversity net gain those of us that are on the planning committee and lastly um I already put a written
Question in about how we managed to get as a council a new unitary Council how we managed to get an A rating it’s in your first paragraph I think about how we managed to get an A rating for leadership on the from the carbon disclosure project for our performance
In 20 it’s for our performance in 2023 or is it our ambition um if it was our ambition and we’ve got great plans and strategies that’s one thing but I’m just concerned about how that was actually assessed what perform forance management measures were used and I did write and
Ask several people for an answer a written answer to that about six weeks ago and I haven’t had that yet so it’d be great to find out how we got an A thank you thanks Helen Dixie would it help if you obtained written answers for Helen on those three questions would
That help I think in the light of time I could I could talk for quite a long time but I just think in the of timeing we’ve got more agenda items absolutely I’ve made a note of them Helen thank you Dixie thank you let’s go to Ros
Please thank you two quick things first of all BNG um training as part of planning is coming to all members I think in January um it it’s has planning implications as well as the wider issue and the second one is we always talk about Urban tree planting but everyone
Who lives in a village and I live in a community for the last 20 years where every time a tree is cut down with a planning application a let goes from the parish council encouraging supporting appropriate tree planting in small gardens mediumsized Gardens in villages and can I suggest the rural members here
That you get your parach us to do the same um it does make quite a difference over a period of time because you’re talking about trees which been planted long time ago if you take photographs of my community 100 years ago there wasn’t a tree in sight you take photographs
Today and it’s overwhelmed I think trees do go in cycle and fashion but I I do recognize the point you were making thank you Ross thank you Norman thank you um Dixie great report good read enjoyable um one of the pet subjects is as far as I’m concerned 240
Hectares as a target of Woodland planting and you know me I’m quite keen on Woodland planting um just reading a number of bits and pieces there I couldn’t readily put together how many hectares we”ve managed to achieve so far this year do you have any idea always do this
Um actually Norman tracking the number of trees that we have planted is very difficult and when I say we have planted uh tracking the number of trees the increase in tree cover or canopy cover in Somerset is very difficult and one of the reasons for that is because there is
Tree planting govern going on by groups like reimagining the levels there’s tree planting going on on private land there’s all sorts of things happening and one of the things that at the offices that we have are not out planting trees they are they’re working at a strategy level and one of the
Things that they’re working on um is a is a central website and hub where we can track all of that data and people can access information and we can get a much better picture around um tree coverage so um they they are gathering data from like those kind of different
Groups and and Council uh related or Council kind of um directed planting but one of the whole aims of the tree strategy is to be able to have much better intelligence and data on where we are with um tree coverage so I hope that
In like a year’s time I’ll be able to be give you a much clearer answer okay we just and and the other thing is that those um those staff members came to us in July so they’re big whilst there is some planting going on in this season
They will be much more ready to get planting going in next autumn and winter if you like thank you Dixie we’ll bring in Connor Thank You chair um I just wanted to uh ask a couple questions really and generally just say something that I i’
I’d quite like to here uh to note um I I when I was um shadowing Sarah um I asked a question about how many trees we’ve been cutting down um or how how many we’re aware of uh through development that we’ve been clearing uh I’m just
Wondering I know you said that that’s a very difficult figure to uh you know to find um um but whether or not there’s anything on that yet because it’s been a been a decent while since I asked that question um I wanted to really really thank as well the team um uh in
Environmental services for uh the black bag trial that’s coming to chart I think that’s a really really fantastic and interesting opportunity that I’ll be really excited to see how it turns out as well um and uh and I think that’s worth noting as well um and uh as well
The the the respon for flooding in Char and tatworth we’ve had some really really bad floods recently and actually the work of local organizations such as CH area resilience group uh in clearing the drains in Char has been phenomenal and we didn’t have anywhere near as bad
Of an impact a flood as we as we had in 2021 um but no I I wanted to wish you all the best I’m I’m regret I regret that uh that I’m not able to Shadow you due to other commitments um uh but but thank you to the team for all the work
As well I really enjoyed working with you and our briefings as well I would have liked to said that to um to Sarah Dyke but I suppose like many of the residents of summon and fr haven’t seen her since she won the by elction thank you everyone Merry Christmas thank you
Thank you Conor um Dixie I think there was a question at the start sorry Mr chairman I think that needs to be retracted and apologize for that not that’s not acceptable yeah Mr chairman if you would mind Conor sorry chair I I redact and apologize for that remark
Thank you Dixie I think the start there was just one question amongst that um in terms of like counting trees that have been removed again if it’s on private land we don’t you know we don’t have kind of access to that so I think it emerges around planning but you know I’m
I’ve had several comments from people about um tree removal and tree replacement and I will definitely take that one forward thank you thank you Dixie Martin um councelor rans got there before me surprisingly enough I was going to defend councelor Dyke thank you Martin okay no more questions for Dixie so the council
Excuse me is requested to note uh that report so we’re going on to the final item now which is report of the scrutiny committees that you’d have all had in your pack um and I’ll refer you to that report I’m going to invite questions on block to the chairs of scrutiny Lee Mar
Lee Redmond Martin dimri will REM uh Bob filmer Richard Wilkins is standing of him and Jill slokum of which greme Oaks is standing and so we’ve got the five here have we got any questions for the chairs of scrutiny we have let’s start with David so it’s now gone past 6:30 do
You need to extend the meeting again chair don’t think we do by the signs of it Mandy thank you I’ll be very quick and I knowe this is a very new format for the scrutinies um everybody will know what a huge advocate of scrutiny this Council I have always been and will
Continue to be um I am just concerned at this sort of compressed presentation that their value um there might be things that they’re voting on Etc that are missed because they’re not reported to us um and I have a had a conversation I think with the leader offline to say
You know quite often at the moment scrutiny comments are not feeding through I think the work they do is great it’s really valuable and I hope that the momentum on that can be picked up again thank you thank you Mandy um Dave Manel thank you chair I have to say I
Too was surprised that the the thinness of the the scrutiny reports um considered what’s been going on at those meetings I’ve got to though but i’ I’ve got just a minor matter to to raise and I did raise it in advance of the meeting hoping it could be dealt with outside of
But I’ve I’ve been told I need to mention it at the meeting to get it done um so it concerns the um uh report on climate in place scrutiny um in the first paragraph uh the second sentence it says each of the meetings had a standing agenda item of a forward plan
Etc well actually at those meetings we’ve been asking for a forward plan and we haven’t had a forward plan so it’s been a constant gripe ever since the meeting started and including at the last meeting so for this is inaccurate I’m afraid it’s and it’s complete
Opposite of what the situation is um so I did raise this before the scrutiny manager said you’re quite correct um it needs to be deleted and was happy to do so but I’m told I need to mention at the uh meeting today for that to to be
Achieved thank you thank you Dave and uh I’ve just referred to um David here and he’ll pick it up with the head of uh Democratic services to ensure there’s a forward plan going forward in those in those meetings thank you Dave uh Hillary Bruce thank you chair um my question
Relates to the adults and health scrutiny um and in particular stroke services in Somerset um it’s not mentioned in detail in the scrutiny report we have today but at the last meeting the adults and health scrutiny committee had a final presentation on the preferred option selected to go
Before the NHS Somerset board in January 2024 for the acute Hospital based stroke services in Somerset um the committee felt very strongly that they have concerns that the proposal as it stands is not in the best interest for all residents of Somerset and a letter was sent to the
Leader of council to ask him to make clear to the somerset NHS board that this decision needs to be delayed and other options considered in the absence today of the chair of the adults and health scrutiny committee I’d like to ask if the vice chair of that committee or the leader of
Council can confirm if a response has been given to that letter and what the response was because I’m very concerned that that we are running short of time before the decision is due to be made in January thank you thank you Hillary bill would you like to take that or do you
Want me to ask Graham chair just to say that the committee voted unanimously that I should send a letter to the leader of the council uh that was done with the help of uh Jenny Murphy and that letter was sent within 24 hours um and um perhaps the leader of the council can
Tell us what’s happened after you got the letter thank you thank you uh yet i’ pass that directly on to the chair of the integrated care board and to the chief executive and sumerset so so that they were apprais of the views of the committee immediately uh we had a
Meeting of the somerset board um schedule courtly meeting um a few days afterwards and I raised as chair of that board directly with them to express the concern that not only do does stroke need um fast intervention it needs expert intervention and that that both those criteria need to be met for the
Residents of all of Somerset um and that was received um I believe I’ve seen an email com in during this meeting which may be a direct response to that and I’ll if that is the case I’m happy to forward that on to the chair of that committee for dissemination um but as
You’re aware this is a decision that NHS Somerset will make and we can influence but uh but our powers are unfortunately Limited in their decision making thank you Bill uh let’s bring in Steve my meeting was my my message was the same as that but uh following the
Letter I had a meeting with the lead stroke specialist in YoVille and he expressed exactly the same concerns that this was Ill considered and the option that was being brought forward was was not not particularly supportable thank you Steve uh Sue Osborne um thank you chairman um I think
I endorse what previous speakers have said that I don’t think this report does full Justice to the work that these SC um scrutiny committees have done across all of them and particular climate in place it is inversely proportional to the to the excellent report that Dixie has just presented so whilst I don’t
Want to read through blowby blow accounts of minutes for the last 12 months I don’t want something that is so brief that it underplays the vitally important role that scrutiny plays in holding the council to account assisting with formulating policy and giving Grassroots members who are backbenchers a chance to engage with Council
Processes and perhaps further their concerns and ideas on behalf of their residents I do have a question for Martin dimery though and I’m afraid it’s about the sandbag policy and I’m curious to know why you chose not to bring this to scrutiny bear in mind that it would give concerns particularly to low-lying
Communities um and in terms of how we are going to communicate with communities and potentially look at the option of do we still supply for the next 12 months but we actually do that as a transition period before we we cease so I’m curious to know Martin
Because it had time to go to scrutiny you signed it off on the on about the 9th of September thank you Mar do you want to answer that I’m sorry to contradict you there I don’t recall signing that off on that particular date I thought it came to me later than
That but um I mean I’m prepared to look into that I certainly did consider the matter from the point of signing it off I uh listened to what councelor Dar had to say about it um reluctantly um I would prefer that we did provide whatever provision was
Necessary for flooding I think under the circumstances of making budget cuts I had very little Choice other than to to support that thank you Martin Habib far you’re on oh okay no problem Lee redond thank you CH a very quick comment really just didn’t support of some of the comments
That been made earlier about how seriously this Council takes scrutiny as what the chairs looking around the room at the moment as the desert of empty spaces is a little bit frustrated and if anyone would I’ve apologize for anyone online who’s looking to see the fact that that this Council potentially gives
This much respect to scrutinies Etc what I will ask though in relation to the report I don’t dispute the fact that we could bring that make the report a little bit smaller but perhaps it may be worth uh at ask bringing it to the chairs of scrutiny to have a look at how
We can better represent the scrutiny committees at this meeting either that or we move it as I did my forward work plan to the beginning of the meeting so that at least people will be here where they when we talk about it and decide thank you chair thank you Lee we’ve got
No other questions so I’m GNA note that uh report and before we close the meeting it just remains for me to say thank you for your patience today members merry Christmas happy New Year and thank you Tessa and Mike for your executive uh positions as you go on to other things thank you
Members