31 03 2004

A MEETING of the COUNCIL OF THE BOROUGH OF GOSPORT was held in the Council Chamber at the TOWN HALL, GOSPORT on WEDNESDAY, the THIRTY FIRST day of MARCH 2004 at 7.45PM.

The Mayor (Councillor Mrs Binfield) (P) (in the Chair);

The Deputy Mayor (Councillor Edwards) (P);

Councillors Allen (P), Mrs Angus, Mrs Batterbury (P), Bone (P), Burgess (P), Carr (P), Carter (P), Chegwyn (P), Clinton, Mrs Cully (P), Cully (P), Edgar (P), Mrs Elshaw (P), Farr (P), Gill (P), Mrs Gravell (P), Hayward (P), Hook (P), Jacobs (P), Kimber (P), Langdon (P), Redrup (P), Russell M (P), Russell P (P), Mrs Salter (P), Searle (P), Smith (P), Taylor (P), Train (P), Mrs Wright (P) and Wright (P).

Also in attendance: Honorary Aldermen Mrs Bailey, Flory, and O'Neill.

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APOLOGIES

Apologies for inability to attend the meeting were submitted on behalf of Councillors Mrs Angus and Clinton and Honorary Alderman Rushton.

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MINUTES

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Ordinary and Extraordinary Council Meetings held on 4 February and 1 March 2004 be confirmed and signed.

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QUESTIONS PURSUANT TO STANDING ORDER 3.4

(A) Question No 1 standing in the name of Councillor Chegwyn on paragraph 15(c) of the Code of Conduct on declared membership of Freemasons was answered by the Leader of the Council.

(B) Question No 2 standing in the name of Councillor Chegwyn on paragraph 15(d) of the Code of Conduct concerning members of The Liberal Democratic Group declaring membership of the Liberal Democrat Party and Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors was answered by the Leader of the Council.

(C) Question No 3 standing in the name of Councillor Chegwyn on how many official engagements had been carried out since 1 January 2004 by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively was answered by the Leader of the Council.

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STANDING ORDER 4.15.1

The Mayor reported that notice had been received requesting that Standing Order 4.15.1 be moved to enable the Director of Development and Environment and the Chief Executive to present their respective reports related to the Best Value Performance Plan and Membership of Boards, Committees, Sub-Boards and Conduct and Standards Committee.

RESOLVED: That Standing Order 4.15.1 be moved to enable the Director of Development and Environment and the Chief Executive to present their respective reports on the Best Value Performance Plan and Membership of Boards, Committees, Sub-Boards and Conduct and Standards Committee.

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BEST VALUE PERFORMANCE PLAN

Members of the Council had before them a report of the Director of Development and Environment (a copy of which is attached hereto as Appendix "C1") in connection with the above.

It was reported that the full BVPP was normally presented to Council in June. However, due to this year's election timing, a revised approach had been developed to enable the main body of the BVPP to be approved by the present Council. The elements not available at this point in time were Chapter Five (the performance data) and Appendix A (the final version of the Council's Strategic Improvement Plan). It was requested that the Chief Executive be given authority to finalise production and publication of this Plan, in consultation with the Group Leaders.

The Best Value Performance Plan was a Policy Framework Document and was therefore subject to scrutiny. The Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 28 January 2004 had considered that a Working Group should be set up to undertake the scrutiny of the BVPP. The findings and recommendations of the BVPP Working Group were presented to the Committee on 17 March 2004. The Working Group's recommendations were subsequently approved and had been taken into account in the production of the BVPP now before the Council.

RESOLVED: That the draft Best Value Performance Plan (2004-2005) be approved and the Chief Executive be authorised to finalise production and publication of this Plan in consultation with the Group Leaders.

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MEMBERSHIP OF BOARDS, COMMITTEES, SUB-BOARDS AND CONDUCT AND STANDARDS COMMITTEE

Members of the Council had before them a report of the Chief Executive (a copy of which is attached hereto as Appendix "C2") in connection with the above.

The report reminded Members of Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 concerning the "Proportionality Rules" as regards the allocation of seats to Political Groups.

The balance of the seats on the Council between the Political Groups following the resignation of one Member and the formation of a new Political Group was as follows: -

	CONSERVATIVE	LABOUR	LIBERAL DEMOCRATS	NEW LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
No of Seats	11	12	7	3
Proportion	32.35%	35.29%	20.59%	8.82%

The Council had four Boards and two Overview and Scrutiny Committees and therefore 60 seats had to be allocated in accordance with the "Proportionality Rules". It was not possible to allocate 60 seats in exact proportion as each Political Group had on the Council as could be seen from the table below:

Boards/Committees 60 seats

	CONSERVATIVE	LABOUR	LIBERAL DEMOCRATS	NEW LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
Seats	19.41	21.17	12.35	5.29
Proportion	32.35%	35.29%	20.59%	8.82%

As there had been no change to the proportion of seats of the Conservative and Labour groups, it was not proposed to alter their allocations. Therefore, the number of seats to be allocated to the remaining Political Groups was 18. It was proposed that 13 be allocated to the Liberal Democrat Group and five be allocated to the New Liberal Democrat Group. This would mean that the allocation of seats on the Boards and Committees would be as follows: -

	CONSERVATIVE	LABOUR	LIBERAL DEMOCRATS	NEW LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
P&O Board	3	4	2	1
C&E Board	3	4	2	1
Housing Board	3	5	1	1
Regulatory Board	3	4	2	1
Policy O&S	4	2	3	1
Services O&S	4	3	3	0
TOTALS	20	22	13	5
	(33.33%)	(36.67%)	(21.66%)	(8.33%)

It was also necessary to review the allocation of seats on the Sub-Boards. Again, it was not proposed to change the allocation of seats to the Conservative and Labour Groups. This meant that 13 seats had to be allocated to the remaining Political Groups. As the Liberal Democrats proportion was rounded up for the Boards, it was proposed that in the case of the Sub-Boards, it would be the New Liberal Democrat Group's allocation which would be rounded up.

The proposed allocation was 15:16:9:4 as set out below: -

Sub-Board	CONSERVATIVE	LABOUR	LIBERAL DEMOCRATS	NEW LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
Personnel Sub-Board	2	3	1	0
Gosport Coastline Editorial Panel	2	2	1	1
Gosport/Royan Twinning	3	3	1	1
Emergency Sub-Board	2	2	2	0
Grants Sub-Board	2	2	1	1
Priddy's Hard Heritage Area Sub-Board	2	2	2	0
Appeals Sub-Board	2	2	1	1
TOTALS	15	16	9	4
	(34.09%)	(36.36%)	(20.45%)	(9.09%)
	+ 1.74%	+ 1.07%	- 0.14%	+ 0.27%

The proportionality rules did not apply to the Conduct and Standards Committee. However, the Council had previously agreed that in addition to the two independent members, each Political Group should be allocated two seats. With a fourth Political Group Members may wish to allocate seats to all Groups given the rule of this Committee. The seats could be allocated 2:2:1:1.

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APPOINTMENT OF BOARDS, COMMITTEES, SUB-BOARDS AND CONDUCT AND STANDARDS COMMITTEE

RECOMMENDED: That –

(i) the determination of the allocation of seats to Political Groups on the Boards and Committees be as set out;

(ii) the determination of the allocation of seats to Political Groups on the Sub-Boards and Conduct and Standards Committee be as set out in paragraphs 4 and 5 respectively of the Chief Executive's report; and

(iii) the Boards, Committees, Sub-Boards, Conduct and Standards Committee and nominated deputies for the Regulatory Board be appointed as outlined below to serve for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

MOTION: That the recommendations contained in the Chief Executive's report be approved and adopted.

AMENDMENT: That the recommendations contained in the Chief Executive's report be approved and adopted subject to deletion of the words "… as set out" in recommendation (i) and the substitution of the amended table set out below, for the one on page 4 of the report:

	CONSERVATIVE	LABOUR	LIBERAL DEMOCRATS	NEW LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
P&O Board	3	4	3	0
C&E Board	3	4	3	0
Housing Board	3