Agenda and minutes

To approve and sign as an accurate record the Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting and the Special Council Meeting held on 27 January 2010.

The minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting and the Special Council Meeting held on 27 January 2010 were confirmed and signed as an accurate record.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Caroline Ffiske, Ed Owen and Andrew Johnson.

The Mayor’s Announcements were circulated and tabled at the meeting.  (Copy attached as Appendix 1 to these minutes).

If a Councillor has any prejudicial or personal interest in a particular report he/she should declare the existence and nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of the item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a prejudicial interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter. The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken, unless a dispensation has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

Where members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance, then the Councillor with a prejudicial interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration, unless the disability has been removed by the Standards Committee.

The Mayor advised Councillors that, in relation to agenda item 6.4 – ‘Councillors’ Allowances Scheme: Annual Review’, the Standards Board had advised that it was necessary for all Councillors to declare their allowances as personal interests under the Code of Conduct.  In order to manage this with the minimum of disruption, all Councillors present in the Chamber would be deemed as having declared a personal interest in this item (unless the Councillor objects), and this fact would be duly noted and recorded in the minutes.  This was agreed unanimously.

The Leader / relevant Cabinet Member to reply to questions submitted by members of the public.

There are none.

There were no public questions.

This report sets out proposals in respect of the revenue budget for the Council for 2010/11 including Council Tax levels, and deals with the precept from the Greater London Authority (GLA), together with ancillary issues.

7.03pm - The report and recommendations were moved for adoption by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Greenhalgh. An addendum to the Council Tax report on the notification of charges for street traders was circulated to Members.

In accordance with Council convention, the Leader of the Administration, Councillor Stephen Greenhalgh, and the Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Stephen Cowan, were then given unlimited time to speak on the Budget report. Councillor Reg McLaughlin also made a speech on behalf of the Opposition.

Councillor Stephen Greenhalgh (for the Administration) made a speech winding up the debate.  The report and recommendations were put to the vote.  On a motion from the floor that names be recorded, a roll-call vote was taken

            FOR                            27

(Alford, Binmore, Botterill, Bristow, Brocklebank-Fowler, Burley, Chalk, Craig, Donovan (B), Donovan (G), Ford, Gore, Greenhalgh, Gugen, Hamilton, Iggulden, Ivimy, Johnson (D), Law, de Lisle, Loveday, Phibbs, Scott-Russell, Smith, Stainton, Tobias and White)

            AGAINST                   0

            ABSTENTIONS         13

(Aherne, Campbell, Cartwright, Cowan, Dickenson, Harcourt, Homan, McLaughlin, Nandy, Powell, Umeh, Vaughan, The Mayor)

The report and recommendations were declared  CARRIED.

7.54pm -  RESOLVED:

1.      To note the Council Tax decrease, for the Hammersmith & Fulham element, of 3% for 2010/11.  For planning purposes, there will be no change for 2011/12 and 2012/13.

2.      The Council Tax be set for 2010/11 for each category of dwelling, as calculated in accordance with Sections 30 to 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as outlined below and in full in Appendix A:

(a)          The element of Council Tax charged for Hammersmith & Fulham Council will be £811.78 per Band D property in 2010/11;

(b)          The element of Council Tax charged by the Greater London Authority will be £309.82 per Band D property in 2010/11;

(c)           The overall Council Tax to be set will be £1,121.60 per Band D property in 2010/11;

3.   The Council’s own total net expenditure budget for 2010/11  is set as £184.345m;

4.   That fees and charges are approved as set out in paragraph 5.1;

5.   That the Director of Finance and Corporate Services’ budget projections to 2012/13 be noted;

6.   That the Director of Finance and Corporate Services’ statements under Section 25 of the Local Government Act 2003 regarding adequacy of reserves and robustness of estimates be noted (paragraphs 6 and 7);

7.   That the Director of Finance and Corporate Services be authorised to collect and recover National Non-Domestic Rate and Council Tax in accordance with the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (as amended), the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and the Council Schemes of Delegation;

8.   That all Chief Officers be required to report monthly on their projected financial position compared to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.1

This report requests the formal adoption of the new Treasury Management Code of Practice. It also provides information on the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy for 2010/11, including interest rate projections and borrowing and investment activity reports for the period April to December 2009.  Members  are requested to approve the borrowing limits and authorisation for the Director of Finance and Corporate Services to arrange the Council’s cashflow, borrowing and investments in the year 2010/11.

7.55pm - The report and recommendations were moved for adoption by the Leader, Councillor Stephen Greenhalgh.

The report and recommendation was put to the vote:

            FOR                            27       

            AGAINST                   0

            ABSTENTIONS         12

The report and recommendation was declared  CARRIED.

7.55pm -  RESOLVED:

1.      To adopt the new CIPFA’s Treasury Management in the Public Services Code of Practice, with effect from 1^st April 2010;

2.      To adopt the Treasury Management Policy Statement and clauses as per paragraphs 2 and 3 of the report;

3.      To approve the future borrowing and investment strategies;

4.      In relation to the Council’s overall borrowing for the financial year 2010/11, approve the Prudential Indicators as set out in Section 3 of this report;

5.      To approve the methodology for establishing credit criteria;

6. To delegate future amendments to the  credit criteria methodology to Cabinet.

This report sets out proposals in respect of the Capital Programme, together with ancillary issues.

7.56 pm - The report and recommendation was moved for adoption by the Leader, Councillor Stephen Greenhalgh.

The report and recommendation was put to the vote:

            FOR                            27

            AGAINST                   0

            ABSTENTIONS         12

The report and recommendation was declared  CARRIED.

7.56pm -  RESOLVED:

1.      To approve that the General Fund Capital Programme is £32.768m for 2010/11;

2.      To approve that any new receipts which exceed the target of £2.5m per annum be set aside for debt redemption;

3.      To approve new borrowing, up to the level of the minimum revenue provision, from 2011/12 onwards;

4.      To approve that 25% of future receipts generated for the decent neighbourhoods programme be used to support general capital investment;

5.      To approve the following initiatives within the capital programme:

·               The continuation of the rolling programmes for Corporate Planned Maintenance (£2.5m), repairs to carriageways and footways (£2.1m), private sector housing grants (£0.45m) and Disabled Access Works (£0.25m);

·               The establishment of new rolling programmes for Parks Investment (£0.5m), IT infrastructure (£0.8m) and a contribution to the Invest to Save Fund (£0.75m).

6.      To note that use of the new rolling programmes will be subject to a formal evaluation process;

7.      To approve, subject to agreement of the overall programme, prudential borrowing of £5.6m regarding Building Schools for the Future;

8.      To note the level of resource forecast (Table 5) and indicative expenditure for the decent neighbourhoods programme as detailed in Appendix 2.

9.      To note the level of resource forecast and indicative expenditure for the Housing Revenue Account as detailed in Appendix 3;

10.To approve that the capital contingency of £2.5m and unused sums regarding the reserve set aside for Imperial Wharf be placed in a capital reserve;

11.To approve the prudential indicators as set out in Appendix 4 to the report;

12.To approve the following annual Minimum Revenue Provision: (Appendix 5);

·               For debt which is supported through Formula Grant this authority will calculate the Minimum Revenue Provision in accordance with current regulations (namely 4% of the Capital Financing requirement net of adjustment A).

·               For debt which has arisen through prudential borrowing it should be written down in equal instalments over the estimated asset life.  The debt write-off will commence the year after an asset comes into use.

This report performs the statutory annual review of Councillors’ allowances for the 2010/11 financial year.

7.57pm - The report and recommendation was moved for adoption by the Leader, Councillor Stephen Greenhalgh.

            FOR                            Unanimous

            AGAINST                   0

            ABSTENTIONS         0

The report and recommendation was declared  CARRIED.

7.57pm -  RESOLVED:

That the Councillors’ Allowances Scheme 2010/11, as set out in Appendix 1, be approved with all allowances frozen at the levels agreed in May 2008.

To consider and determine any Special Motions.

There are none.

There were no special motions.

There were no information reports to this meeting of the Council.

* * * * *   CONCLUSION OF BUSINESS    * * * * *

This report presents details of decisions taken by the Leader or Cabinet under the special urgency provisions of the Constitution (decision not in the Forward Plan).  The report covers the period 1 October 2009 to 31 January 2010.

Special Urgency Decisions - Quarterly Report

7.58pm - The Mayor noted the information report on special urgency decisions taken between 1 October 2009 to 31 January 2010.