Agenda and minutes

Previously circulated.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2014 were presented and the Mayor was authorised to sign them as a correct record.

1.   The Council observed a minute’s silence in memory of the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire who died on Wednesday 24 September 2014 aged 94.

2.   On Friday 19 September the Mayor attended the annual JPK Charity Golf Day at Willingdon Golf Club which usually raises over £10,000 for the JPK Project.

3.   The Mayor was very pleased to be invited to attend the Upperton United Reformed Church Harvest Festival and Luncheon on Sunday 28 September.

4.   The annual Beachy Head Marathon took place on Saturday 25October along with a 10k race and the Mayor was happy to start both races and present the runners with their medals at the finish line.

5.   Between 2 and 11 November the Mayor attended a number of Remembrance events including a concert by Eastbourne Silver Band at Our Lady of Ransom Church on Sunday 2 November, the Eastbourne Schools Remembrance Service at the Redoubt Fortress on Friday 7 November, the Eastbourne Remembrance Service and Parade on Sunday 9 November and the Armistice Day Silence in the Arndale Centre on Tuesday 11 November.  The Mayor also took time to visit the Poppy Sellers around the town on Saturday 8 November.

6.   During the weekend of 15 and 16 November the Society of Eastbourne Artists held an Exhibition and Sale of Art at the Town Hall in aid of the Mayor’s Charity.  The event was very well attended and the amount raised for the Mayor’s charity was awaited.

7.   On the evening of Saturday 15 November a group of swimmers including Robert Ramsden, Marie Campbell, Elizabeth Campbell (age 11) and Jack Metcalfe (age 11) took part in a Swimmathon in aid of the Mayor’s Charity and Eastbourne Lions Club.  Together they swam over 113 lengths combined and hoped to raise over £200.

8.   The Mayor also attended a number of concerts and celebrations over the last few months.

9.   The Mayor drew the Council’s attention to two forthcoming events in aid of her chosen charity.  The Mayor will hold a Cupcakes for Carers Day on Friday 28 November and hopes that many participants will host a coffee morning or afternoon tea to raise funds. The Mayor’s final charity event for 2014 will be a Christmas Concert featuring Concentus Chorale at the Gold Room, Winter Garden on Thursday 18 December, with tickets on sale shortly.

An apology for absence was reported from Councillor Stanley.

Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) by members as required under Section 31 of the Localism Act and of other interests as required by the Code of Conduct (please see note at end of agenda).

·         Councillor Bannister declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in respect of the motion at item 44 below as an employee of East Sussex County Council. She reported that as the employment was not in an area associated with the subject matter she had received a dispensation to participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

·         Councillor Wallis declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in respect of the motion at item 39 below as a member of the Badger Trust.

The council has received the following petition.

We, the undersigned, call on Eastbourne Borough Council to prohibit the culling of badgers on council-owned land and invest in vaccination programmes locally. We ask this because we believe culling to be inhumane, inefficient and unscientific.

The petition comprised 1,842 signatures (1,702 on the paper petition and 140 on the on-line e-petition).  As the number of people signing the petition exceeded 1,500 the petitioners have the right for the petition to be presented to and debated at full council.

The following background information to the petition was provided by petition organiser (Maxine Spilsted):-

This is a national issue which will be of direct concern to the people of Eastbourne when DEFRA "rolls out" its culling policy in 2014. The object of the petition is to ensure that Eastbourne Borough Council's badger population is as safe as possible from slaughter and that the already available injectable badger vaccine against bTB is used in as many cases as possible. We ask this because we believe the culling policy is inhumane (DEFRA's measurement of "humaneness" is to time the screams of wounded badgers), inefficient (previous culls showed an increase in bTB because of badger movement) and unscientific (the majority of scientific opinion hold that a cull will have "no meaningful result").

The petition organiser will be given five minutes to present the petition at the council meeting and the petition will then be discussed by councillors for 15 minutes (or such further time as the Mayor may allow).  The council will decide how to respond to the petition at the meeting (in this regard please see submitted motion set out below).  They may decide to take the action the petition requests, not to take the action requested for reasons put forward in the debate, or to commission further investigation into the matter, for example by a relevant committee.

Where the issue is one on which the council’s cabinet are required to make the final decision, the council will decide whether to make recommendations to inform that decision.

The council’s petitions scheme can be found at: http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/about-the-council/consultations/petitions/)

The following motion has been submitted by Councillor Steve Wallis:

In response to the received petition this council will prohibit the culling of badgers on Eastbourne Borough Council owned land and will instead work with other groups to develop a vaccination programme locally. This council also believes that culling to be inhumane, ineffective and unscientific.

The Council received the following petition comprising 1,842 signatures:

We, the undersigned, call on Eastbourne Borough Council to prohibit the culling of badgers on council-owned land and invest in vaccination programmes locally. We ask this because we believe culling to be inhumane, inefficient and unscientific.

The petition organiser Maxine Spilsted presented the petition to the Council.  She spoke in support of the objective of the petition to ensure that the Council’s badger population is as safe as possible and that the already available injectable badger vaccine against bTB is used in as many cases as possible.  The culling policy is considered inhumane, inefficient (with previous culls showed an increase in bTB because of badger movement) and unscientific (the majority of scientific opinion holds that a cull will have "no meaningful result").

The Council was reminded of the motion passed at its meeting on 21 November 2007 calling on DEFRA not to issue licences to cull badgers and for the government to investigate other, more humane methods of controlling Bovine TB. 

The Council expressed its thanks to Maxine Spilsted for her presentation and to the Council’s Specialist Advisor for the Downland for his informative briefing to Members prior to the meeting.

The following motion was moved by Councillor Wallis and seconded by Councillor Thompson:

In response to the received petition this Council will prohibit the culling of badgers on Eastbourne Borough Council owned land and will instead work with other groups to develop a vaccination programme locally. This council also believes that culling to be inhumane, ineffective and unscientific.

Resolved: (With 1 abstention) That this motion be approved.

Report of Senior Local Democracy Officer.

You can view the full consultation document, together with maps showing the ward and polling district boundaries at

http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/about-the-council/consultations/

The Council considered the report of the Senior Local Democracy Officer regarding a review of the Borough’s polling districts and polling places. The Council had a duty to undertake a full review at intervals of not less than 4 years and a recent amendment to the legislation had required a full review prior to the parliamentary elections on 7 May 2015.  A 6-week consultation had been held ending on 7 November 2014.  All representations received to the Council’s proposals were set out in the report along with proposed responses and final recommendations.

Councillor Tester proposed that the Acting Returning Officer’s proposals as set out in the appendix to the report be approved subject to the following amendments:

i) That the polling station for DVB be retained at EODS at present and for the May 2015 elections and a move to other premises be consulted upon with electors in that polling district before a decision is made after May 2015.

ii) That the Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club be retained as the polling station for SVC and an additional polling district (SVD) be created comprising Kingsmere and Kings Park with a polling station at Conqueror Hall. The Council believes that this solution will provide the best access for residents in both the North Harbour area as well as those in Kingsmere and Kings Park.

The Council was advised that at this stage the availability of Conqueror Hall could not be confirmed and that the polling place may need to revert back to the previous arrangements.  It was noted that although there would be insufficient time to amend the polling district boundaries before the publication of the new register on 1 December, a revised register for the redrawn district SVC and new district SVD would be published early in 2015 and the changes put into effect in time for the May elections.

It was moved by Councillor Tester and seconded by Councillor Jenkins and:

Resolved:

(1) That the Acting Returning Officers proposals as set out in the appendix be approved subject to the following amendments:

i) That the polling station for DVB be retained at EODS at present and for the May 2015 elections and a move to other premises be consulted upon with electors in that polling district before a decision is made after May 2015.

ii) That the Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club be retained as the polling station for SVC and an additional polling district (SVD) be created comprising Kingsmere and Kings Park with a polling station at Conqueror Hall. The council believes that this solution will provide the best access for residents in both the North Harbour area as well as those in Kingsmere and Kings Park.

2) That the Electoral Services Manager, on behalf of the Acting Returning Officer and Electoral Registration Officer, be authorised to implement the Council's decisions in respect of the review.

Report of Councillor Bannister on behalf of the Cabinet.

This matter was proposed by Councillor Bannister on behalf of the Cabinet and seconded by Councillor West.  Members conveyed their thanks to all partners involved in the achievements of the Eastbourne Community Safety Partnership.

Resolved: That the Eastbourne Community Safety Plan be approved.

Report of Councillor Tester on behalf of the Cabinet.

This matter was proposed by Councillor Tester on behalf of the Cabinet and seconded by Councillor Howlett.  Members conveyed their thanks to the Strategic Organisational Development Manager for the work undertaken on the revised policies.

Resolved: That the amended Human Resources polices in respect of disciplinary action, attendance management, drugs and alcohol in the workplace and capability procedure be approved.

Report of Councillor Bannister on behalf of the Cabinet.

This matter was proposed by Councillor Bannister on behalf of the Cabinet and seconded by Councillor Elkin.

Resolved: That the 2014/15 Local Council Tax Reduction scheme, with the minor amendments referred to in the report to Cabinet at its meeting on 22 October 2014, be adopted as the 2015/16 scheme.

Motion submitted by Councillor John Ungar:-

In light of the failure by ESHT to provide adequate transport for patients and relatives who, as a result of their change in policy, are now required to travel between Eastbourne and Hastings, Eastbourne Borough Council calls on East Sussex County Council to fund a return Shuttle Bus service between Eastbourne District General Hospital and the Conquest Hospital.

Eastbourne Borough Council believes that East Sussex County Council should do so as part of their Public Health and Transport responsibilities.

The following motion was proposed by Councillor Ungar and seconded by Councillor Elkin:

In light of the failure by ESHT to provide adequate transport for patients and relatives who, as a result of their change in policy, are now required to travel between Eastbourne and Hastings, Eastbourne Borough Council calls on East Sussex County Council to work with all relevant authorities and partners to explore all opportunities to develop a sustainable shuttle bus service between the DGH and Conquest.

Eastbourne Borough Council believes that East Sussex County Council should do so as part of their Public Health and Transport responsibilities. The Council to receive a report back on the outcome within 8 weeks.

In supporting the motion Members referred to this Council’s commitment to continue the campaign for the return of essential core services to the DGH.  The importance of recognising that the provision of a sustainable transport arrangement was the responsibility of statutory authorities and not the voluntary sector was also indicated. 

Note:  In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13.14 the wording of the above motion was amended from the version published on the agenda with the consent of the meeting.  

Resolved: (Unanimously) That this motion be approved.

Members of the Council who wish to raise items for discussion (council procedure rule 14) on any of the minutes of the meetings of formal council bodies listed below must submit their request to the Head of Corporate Development no later than 10.00 am on Wednesday 19 November 2014. A list of such items (if any) will be circulated prior to the start of the meeting.

The following are appended to this agenda:-

The minutes of the following Council Bodies were submitted to this meeting:-

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 14, Members raised the following items for discussion:-

1.   Conservation Area Advisory Group, 7 October 2014 – minute 24(9) – Traditional Lighting Scheme – Raised by Councillor Taylor.

2.   Planning Committee, 28 October 2014 – minute 86 – Sea Houses Square – Raised by Councillor Wallis.

Further to Council Procedure Rule 14.3 it was;

Resolved: That the minutes of the above Council Bodies be accepted.