Full Council – The rest

In addition to consideration of issues around the budget, the full council considered a number of other issues, starting off with two questions from members of the council one around concerns over lobbying by developers on planning applications, the other around New Mills Town Council.

Following on from that were four recommendations from the council’s audit and regulatory committee, one around changes to council’s committee structure which will reduce and refine the current number of select committee, a second on the council’s rules around the ‘regulation of investigatory powers act’ (essentially when and how the council can spy on you), the third on the council treasury management strategy and the first on the code of corporate governance review for 2010 / 11.

In addition to the budget report there was also a recommendation from the executive around updates to the housing allocation policy to bring it fully into line with current legislation.

Last up in the public businesses of the meeting were other motions, one from the Lib Dems over the sale of forests which was withdrawn and one welcoming the proposals of Bolsover and North East Derbyshire on setting up a strategic alliance, followed by a report around the forthcoming elections and the connection with voting referendum.

I say in the public business of the meeting, because there was one final confidential report around the current management restructure proposals, the details of which whilst highlighted as supported by the unions at the council still leave me with some concerns particularly around how some of the service responsibilities will be grouped together in the future.

Full Council – Budget setting

Tonight saw a meeting of the full council to effectively finish off this years budget process with the approval of the council’s budget process.

As is traditional at the budget meeting, a certain amount of the debate is one side calling the other, which is not entirely productive when national issues are flagged, but it is a certain part of the process, and unfortunately this evening at least in my view (and from the reaction of others) at least one of the controlling group member went a little two far.

That said aside from that one little blip, the general content of the debate was good, and in contrast to previous years we were able to make the controlling group see sense and instead of imposing a charge on residents to call for ‘rats’ to be dealt with there was no charge introduced.

In general terms because of the size of the cuts from government the scope for changes to this years budget was limited and whilst there are a variety of elements that will need detailed and careful review as the year goes forward, if we had have being in control of the council we may well not have much room for alternatives.

That said, the net effect of the budget passed tonight means that there will be no change to the borough’s council tax, but there will be on average a 5.91 % rise in the cost of renting a council house, in line with the governments determination on rents.

Some of the other impacts of the budget passed tonight though will have a more concerning effect that at current (in my view at least) cannot be fully reviewed with the effects of increase to fees and charges, the 15.2% cuts to the management fee being paid to High Peak Community Housing being of particular concern.

Cllr Tony Bingham

My deepest sympathies to the family of Blackbrook Ward Conservative Councillor Tony Bingham who has passed away.

Whilst Tony was a relative new councillor (elected in 2007) he had made an impact on the council with his recent election to the post of Mayor of the Borough in May this year.

During his time on the council he has served on a number of committee's, including the Environment Select and Audit and Regulatory both of which I am also a member and during the time on those committees he has made a number of useful contributions.

Details for the funeral will be posted when available.

Cllr Cynthia Mitchell

My deepest sympathies to the family of Tintwistle Conservative Ward Councillor Cynthia Mitchell who has passed away yesterday.

Whilst Cynthia was a relative new councillor (elected in 2007) and from the ‘other side’ politically, she had long been involved in housing issues from the days of the tenant panels to the various bodies that have replaced them, and she fought hard for local residents first both within Hadfield where she lived and elsewhere in the borough. That spirit continued when she moved to Tintwistle and I’m sure her loss will be deeply felt by those that knew her.

During her time on the council she had served on a number of committee, including Development Control with the other Cllr Mckeown, and most recently as deputy Mayor of the borough a post she took over in May this year.

Details for the funeral will be posted when available.

September Full Council Meeting

Last Tuesday evening saw a meeting of the full council. As previously noted there wasn’t much on the agenda with the main item of business been the consideration of the designated public places order for Glossop and Gamesley.

In terms of the various questions and announcements, the Mayor highlighted a question time that will be taken place during local democracy week in the council chamber, followed by a range of questions some of which just seemed to be for the purpose of complaining about the performance of our ‘partners’ at the County Council over issues around footpaths and gully’s.

As expected and in common with the two orders already agreed by the council there was much support for the Designated Public Places Order, with several Glossopdale members welcoming it.

As well as joining with the Glossopdale members welcoming the order I also made the comment that it was nice to see the council implementing something on anti social behaviour that was not just solely aimed at children.

Annual Council (or full council part two)

Following on from the normal full council meeting was the annual council meeting, as expected despite strong opposition from both Labour and Liberal Democrat members of the Council Robin Baldry was elected as Mayor of the Borough for the forthcoming year.

One of the reasons for those concerns was around how people view the role of the mayor with many viewing the role as been ceremonial which may not suit some such as Robin who have strong political views with Cllr David Lomax of the Lib Dems even commenting that Robin would make a wonderful leader of the council due to his outspoken nature as a representative for the Conservatives.

That controversy aside we moved on to the deputy mayor, with all member present able to support Cllr Tony Bingham from Chapel as deputy mayor, and the vote of thanks for the retiring Mayor Jean Wharmby

Onward to the election of the leader and deputy leader of the council and executive next, with as predicted previously Councillor’s Tony Ashton from New Mills and Emily Thrane from Buxton taking the top two spots, with Cllr’s Tony Kemp (Buxton), John Haken (Simmondley) and Andrew Bingham (Chapel) returning to the executive been joined by Linda Baldry (Buxton) former Chair of the Social Inclusion Select Committee and current mayoress to make up the Executive.

Committee places and Chairs of Development Control, Audit and Regulatory and Licensing were elected next with very little change from last year, except for the changes in John Faulker leaving the executive and Linda Baldry joining the executive, finishing off for the evening with the co-option of two new members onto the council’s standards committee.

An unusual evening, at least in terms of the annual full council meeting where things are usually less controversial, but one which now it is over I hope that despite the controversy in which the new Mayor was appointed, all members of the council will feel able to support the role even if they don’t want to support the current occupant, and hopefully one in which the current occupant won’t fulfil the concerns that opposition members had in opposing his appointment.

Full council – Part one

Last Tuesday evening saw a meeting of the full council, well two in fact an ‘ordinary’ one and the annual meeting.

The ordinary meeting considered amongst other items a number of recommendations that have previously been through the select committees and executive including the asset management plan, pay and workforce development strategy, street trading consents along with agreeing to sign the councillor development strategy.

The meeting also considered a number of local plan policies which have been kept on the book following concerns raised by Labour members including amongst others the housing moratorium in Glossopdale and a variety of other polices including the transport and access section which includes continued support for the Gamesley station proposals, a new station in New Mills and support for rail freight in Buxton.

A notice of motion from the Labour Group on the conduct / role of the position of mayor in chairing meetings was amended by the Conservatives, to congratulate the current mayor, meaning that Labour Group were unable to support our motion which was intended to clarify the role of the mayor in chairing council meetings rather than naming or shaming as the case may be any particular mayor.

The first meeting then finished off with the annual report from the select committee chairs on the work of the select committees during the previous year, along with a report on approving / confirming the appointment of Simon Barker as the Council’s full time – part time chief executive in partnership with Staffordshire Moorlands District Council.

The decision on the Chief Executive was one which although the Labour Group supported it on the night, we still have concerns on how some of the practicalities of working both across the two councils, two regions and so on will actually work, and one which we will continue to monitor as it continues to develop.

Full Council

Tonight (Tuesday) as flagged up last week sees a meeting of the full council, I expect as predicted a few weeks ago that Tony Ashton will become leader of the council, as he is now leader of the Conservative Group on the borough council. With Emily Thrane one of the new group of councillor’s elected last year taking up the deputy leader spot for the Conservative Group and expected to be made deputy leader of the council tonight

(Edit / apologies from the wrong spelling of Emily Thrane's name)

Tour of the borough

Saturday saw a group of local councillors take part in a tour of part of the High Peak looking into a number of regeneration issues across the area.

Our tour started in Whaley Bridge looking at concerns over the canal transfer shed and Bingswood Industrial Estate along with the long running issues around getting a second bridge across the Goyt River to improve access to the Bingswood Industrial Estate.

New Mills was next with a look at the Torr Vale Mill and the many issues and concerns around what will happen to it and how the council can influence this to both recognise the heritage of the Mill whilst at the same realising that an alternative use needs to found for it, before it falls into a state of complete disrepair.

Glossop was next, with a spot of lunch in Glossop Town, whilst considering what the future holds for that building, which officers are now looking at in a more complete manor, by taking into consideration what options there are for redevelopment of the whole site including the Market Hall and Municipal Building’s rather than the Town Hall on its own.

The streets of Glossop were next with a quick tour round the recent paving works along with other scheme been done to offer a range of different types of workspace within Glossop, finishing off with a quick look at the works on the stairway up to the station and the progress of the works at Howard Town Mill.

Off to Edale next, via a quick look at the Woods Mill site and officers hope for the regeneration of this area along with the proposed Riverside Walk which will one day link Manor Park to Wren Nest Mill via Woods Mill, Howard Town Mill and Harehills Park.

The photo above shows our final point of call on the Tour which was to have a quick look at the Moorlands Visitor Centre in Edale. The Centre which was opened in August 2006, is both a visitors centre and the UK’s first Moorland Research Centre, investigation issues around regeneration of the moors.

The building for the Centre aside from been in a very nice location (as long as the weather is good !) incorporates a number of Green Features including a green roof, a ‘ground source’ heat system, and the waterfall system, which aside from providing a nice focal point as can be seen from the picture also works to keep the building cool.

All in all, a interesting days tour, giving us a useful opportunity to see some of the sites that the council and it’s partners are working on to improve for the benefit of local residents, and in the case of schemes such as the Moorlands Visitor Centre for visitors from across the world.

Further information on the Moorlands Visitor Centre is available from www.peakdistrict.gov.uk and www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk

Full Council

Last Tuesday evening saw a meeting of the full council, which was a little more lively than the 'post' summer break meeting has been.

Once the usual formalities had been dealt with the meeting moved on to considering two question from the leader of the Lib Dems group on the council, one based on recent exam results (apparently raised because of a less than complementary remark about the successes of High Peak school kids by the Deputy Mayor on High Peak Radio) the other on encouraging recycling in school.

The business then moved on to consider two recommendations from the executive one on the capital strategy which despite containing some goods bit locally the Labour Group was unable to support. Unsurprisingly however the Lib Dems and Independents of the former Coalition had no problems supporting.

The asset management plan for the next few years was then considered and again the Labour Group along with Linda Leather of the Lib Dems were unable to support the plans.

During both of the items a number of members asked questions on the items which the Council's new executive were either unwilling or unable to answer claiming a lack of prior notice despite in the case of a question from Cllr Jacqui Wilkinson on the Market Hall in Glossop been asked at a previous meeting, now whilst detailed answer's can't be expected with out prior notice there be at least a willingness to debate the issue's that they are putting forward.

A procedural issue on substitutes then followed with the rules apparently being changed by the controlling Conservative group without the rest of us been informed.

The meeting then considered the first of two motions submitted. The first was on the forthcoming congestion charge in Manchester and in making sure that the Council gets into early discussions with the GMPTE and others to get the best deal for local residents and ensure that the improvements are put in place before the charges kick in. After a good debate and a quick amendment almost all the members of the council were able to give it their support.

The final item was a motion regarding a decision by the Controlling group to put a none Councillor as a Councillor on to the board of High Peak Community Housing, a lively debate with one or two members getting perhaps a little to excited before the matter was referred to the audit and regulatory committee for further consideration.

All in all an interesting evening, even including some bits of humour particularly when the Mayor called me to speak as "Cllr Mckeown Junior" which caused laughter all round the council chamber.

Council of the year

Whilst not all local residents would necessarily agree, last night at an awards ceremony in London, High Peak Borough Council, was recognised by the Local Government Chronicle along with Wychavon District Council as been joint Council of the Year.

The LGC Awards recognise excellence in local councils who take their work beyond the normal level of service provision, and High Peak along with Wychavon came top of a short list of five councils vying for the coveted title.

The recognition of winning ‘Council of the Year’ is a great achievement for the borough and show’s that the steps put in place by the previous Labour administration, have been well used by the current administration and is a credit to the management and all the hard working staff at the Council.

Food Hall Dropped

Following a review by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), the proposals for part of the Pavilion Gardens in Buxton to become a food hall have been dropped.
emda reached it decision after considering changes in the way supermarkets nationwide are looking at offering a wider range of locally produced food.

Whilst what will happen next with the Pavilion Gardens is unclear, emda have stated that they recognise that the Pavilion Gardens are an important 'heritage venue' which contributes a lot to the community of the Peak District and Buxton, and that they will be keen to investigate how the complex can be enhanced and improved.

However whatever the future use of the building is, the council (which only a few month approved the study which would have removed the Octagon from public use) have assured locals that the future use of the Octagon for concerts and exhibitions etc is assured.

Interestingly whilst the plans have now been abandoned will the political damage which saw the departure of 2 'high ranking councillor’s’ from the Conservative's, along with much of the blame for the proposals been placed on the Liberal Democrat part of the Liberal, Conservative and Independent coalition be consigned to history as quick ?

Full council

Thursday evening saw 2 meetings of the full council.

The first a special meeting to confer the honour of freeman of the borough on Ray Davies from Charlesworth.

I'm sure the local papers will cover the various deeds of Mr Davies, but as one of founders of the Glossop Mountain Rescue and a continued volunteer with them for the last 50 years the honour is well deserved.

The main business of the normal council meeting was setting the council's budget, corporate plan and council tax.

As detailed in the press earlier, the council tax will rise by 3.2%, with a number of other charges also rising including rents by up to 4.95%, rents for garages by 4.95% to £4.82, and the carelink service by 2.5%.

Along with the Labour group, I abstained from voting on the budget, plan, and council tax, due to concerns that the budget is not as 'robust' as it should be, with a number of items of savings still to be identified.

Fairtrade Fortnight – action requested

I previously posted about the Fairtrade motion that went to the Christmas Council Meeting.

The motion which had been put forward by fellow Glossopdale Labour Councillor Roger Wilkinson, received the support of most of the council at the meeting, with members from across the various political groups speaking in favour.

Well now Glossop’s Fairtrade Group, have contacted the leader of the Council Dave Lomax, to see if the ‘general good feeling’ to the idea of Fairtrade will be backed up with ‘real’ support from the council.

The group are not looking for much, mainly support / assistance from the council to hold a number of events during Fairtrade Fortnight which starts on the 26th February and runs until 11th March.

I hope that some support will be forthcoming, and as soon as I know the details I will post more.

If you would like to get involved in the Fairtrade Glossop Group, they have a website at www.fairtradeglossop.org.uk, and can be contacted via email to : info@fairtradeglossop.org.uk

Christmas Spirit !

As reported previously, Tuesday 19th December saw the pre Christmas Council Meeting.

The majority of the Council supported the motion on fairtrade, with a number of members from the various political groups speaking in favour.

However not everyone in attendance at the meeting was full of ‘Christmas spirit’ with rumour’s going round about troubles in the Conservative group.

The rumour, which has now been confirmed in this week’s Buxton Advertiser was that Cllr Alan Wells the leader of the Conservative Group and Deputy Leader of the council had effectively been sacked from the Conservative Group / Party, following a summons to a meeting of the Buxton West Branch of the Conservative Association to answer a grievance.

From the report in the paper, the grievance to which he was summoned to answer was effectively over his stance supporting the proposals for the food hall, something that as executive member in charge of this area he had taken the lead on.

The meeting apparently did not go well and after finding out that following the meeting he would probably not be selected as a candidate for the next elections Alan resigned from the Conservative Party, closely followed by his partner Cllr Glennis Kirk (Executive member for the Environment).

Interestingly his ward colleague Cllr John Faulkner, the only one of the Conservatives to vote in favour of the food hall, is not only facing no sanction from his local branch, but has also taken his former colleagues job as leader of the Conservative group !
Overall it is likely the departure of these two former top Tories will have little effect on the council as they are been allowed to keep there jobs until the elections in May.

Christmas Council Meeting

Tonight (Tuesday) sees the pre Christmas council meeting, which will consider a report from the audit and regulatory committee looking at some of the council’s rules and procedures for amongst other thing’s representatives to outside bodies. Recommendations from the executive considering the council’s Gambling policy and the council tax base, and final a motion from fellow Glossopdale Labour Councillor Roger Wilkinson on Fairtrade.

The motion from Roger look’s to support the work that is already been done in Glossop, Buxton and elsewhere within the High Peak by local group working to get ‘Fairtrade town’ status for town’s across the area.

As a member of the Co-operative Group, the motion is one that I look forward to been able to support, and I look forward (hopefully) to seeing the Borough Council, working with local groups to support the aims of Fairtrade. Including I hope some sort of event during the next Fairtrade fortnight which will take place between the 26th February and the 11th March 2007.