Agenda and draft minutes

Prayers were led by the Reverend Sharland.

On behalf of the Council, the Mayor thanked Reverend Bradish for his service as Chaplain to Mayors’ of Test Valley Borough Council over the years, and for his outstanding service to the Council and its communities as he was moving to a parish in the Isle of Wight.

Reverend Bradish returned thanks and led prayers.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors K Brooks, G Cooper, Donnelly, L Lashbrook, P Lashbrook and Yalden.

Mr Burley had registered to speak in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme under item 11 – Appointments to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 17 April 2024 and Annual Council held on 22 May 2024.

The minutes of the Council meeting held on 17 April 2024 and the Annual Council meeting held on 22 May 2024 were proposed by Councillor P North and seconded by Councillor Flood.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meetings of the Council held on 17 April 2024 and the Annual Council held on 22 May 2024 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Worshipful The Mayor announced that one of his mayoral charities for his civic year would be the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Trust. Details of his other charities would be announced at a future meeting.

The Mayor asked Councillors to save the date for his Burns Night Mayoral Charity event which would be held on Saturday 25 January 2025.

To receive and, where necessary, adopt reports of Committees.

Minutes of Meetings

The minutes of meetings were proposed by Councillor P North and seconded by Councillor Flood.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the following Committees and Cabinet meetings be received:

There were no recommendations to consider from Cabinet or Committees.

There were no questions under Procedure Rule 11.1.

Councillor Gwynne asked the Democracy and Governance Portfolio Holder the following Question:

‘At the February 29^th 2024, Council meeting – on page 127 of the meeting papers, para. 1.4 – it was stated that a broadcasting system should “allow footage to remain online for later viewing by the public”. Subsequent to that, it was agreed that recording would only be audio, rather than video. However, it would also appear to be the case that the requirement to keep recordings available for use after the day of the meeting itself has been dropped. Can it be clarified whether this is the case and, if it is, what the reasons are?’

Councillor Lodge responded to confirm that at the Council meeting on 29 February 2024 an amendment to the recommendation was made with Council resolving that ‘the Council commits to install an audio only solution in all 4 current meeting venues’.

The audio only solution had now been in place since the Annual Council meeting held on 22 May this year, providing a ‘live’ stream of meetings for anyone who wished to access them. Now that the system had been embedded and fully tested across all venues to ensure a good quality audio stream and following direct from the Leader to the Chief Executive before the submission of Councillor Gwynne’s question, the Council would from this meeting be publishing the audio streams following the end of meetings.

This meant that recordings of meetings would be available for members of the public to access at any time should they wish to do so from the Council’s website. The published audio streams would be available in-line with the Council’s retention schedule for a period of 6 year plus current.

Councillor Gwynne asked a supplementary question enquiring as how the recordings could be easily accessed and how they would be communicated to the public?

Councillor Lodge responded that recordings would be available on the website and welcomed Councillor Gwynne’s views on their accessibility and the development of appropriate communications outside of the meeting.

Councillor Parker asked the Community and Leisure Portfolio Holder the following question:

‘Towards the end of last year, the Council received the report on tourism that was commissioned from Blue Sail. That report recommended the TVBC develop a clear tourism strategy and tourism town plans for Andover, Romsey and Stockbridge.

Can the portfolio holder advise whether TVBC has agreed to follow this advice and, in particular, what progress has been made on developing the three town-based tourism plans?’

Councillor Swain responded that the tourism sector was a small but important one for the economy of Test Valley.

One of the actions within the adopted Economic Development Strategy (2024 – 2029) was to develop Destination Management, Marketing and Development activities for Test Valley in line with the Tourism Review and that the Andover, Romsey and Stockbridge town plans were identified as a potential action as part of this work.

The economic strategy set out that those activities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 130.

The Overview and Scrutiny Chairman will present the Committee’s Annual report.

Councillor Jeffrey, as Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in 2023/24, presented the Annual Report which set out an overview of work undertaken from May 2023 to May 2024.

During 2023/24, the Committee had contributed to policy development and had engaged with external partners on key issues affecting communities in Test Valley.  Areas the Committee’s work programme had focussed on included water pollution, progress on Andover Vision and Romsey Masterplan, Anti-Social Behaviour, youth services and amenities, cost of living and Climate Action in the community.

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor Jeffrey and seconded by Councillor Dass.

Resolved:

That the Overview and Scrutiny Chairman's Annual Report 2024 be received and endorsed

To consider proposed change in the number of members who sit on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

In accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme, Mr Burley made a statement in respect of Appointments to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Consideration was given to a report of the Democracy and Governance portfolio Holder which proposed a reduction in the size of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. A smaller Committee would allow for a more streamlined committee that would be able to operate in a more efficient and effective manner to consider items of business and engage in task and finish reviews.

It was noted that should the Overview and Scrutiny Committee require additional support, it was able to appoint Councillors from the wider membership to particular reviews with agreement of the Committee. 

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Lodge and seconded by Councillor Daas.

Resolved:

1.  That the membership of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be reduced from 18 to 15 seats.

2.  That Councillors Borg-Neal, K Brooks, Budzynski, Cattell, Daas (Chairman), Gidley, Gillies, Gregori, Hasselmann, Hughes, Leech, Matthews, MacDonald (Vice Chairman), Parker and Yalden be appointed to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

To consider changes to the Contract Standing Orders section of the Constitution.

Consideration was given to a report of the Finance and Resources which introduced changes required to the Contract Standing Orders, contained within the Council’s Constitution, as a result of new legislation that would come into effect in October 2024.

The report proposed further changes to Contract Standing Orders to update thresholds and purchasing requirements for different levels of procurement values to reflect the inflationary impact on existing value thresholds; managing procurement using email; and, more generally, to make the content more accessible.

It was confirmed that a track-changed version of the CSO would be circulated to Councillors.

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Flood and seconded by Councillor P North.

Resolved:

1.  That the updated Contract Standing Orders, as shown in the Annex to the report, be approved with effect from 28 October 2024.

2.  That the Head of Legal & Democratic Services be authorised to make the required changes to the Constitution.

There were no Motions to consider under Procedure Rule 12.

The following item is confidential.

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor P North and seconded by Councillor Flood.

Resolved:

That, pursuant to Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following reports on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following Paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended, indicated below. The public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the Public interest in disclosing the information for the reason given below:

Estate Property Matters    Paragraph 3

It is considered that this report contains exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.  It is further considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information because the report and annexes necessarily disclose commercially sensitive financial and commercial information, relating to the Council and other third parties.

To consider a report relating to an estates property matter.

Consideration was given to a report of the Finance and Resources Portfolio Holder in respect of Estate Property Matters.

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor Flood and seconded by Councillor P North.

Resolved:

That Council approves the sum of £600,000 to be added to the Capital Programme for the works described in the report, to be funded from the Capital Receipts Reserve.