Agenda and minutes

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To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 30 October 2015 (previously published). 

Cabinet noted that Councillor Debby Hallett had contacted the officers as she believed that one paragraph in the draft Cabinet minutes of 30 October 2015 was inaccurate.  She requested that the paragraph at the end of page Ca.4, in minute Ca.17, should be amended to better reflect the questions she had put to Councillor Roger Cox and his replies.  As a result, the officers tabled amended text for Cabinet’s consideration.  Cabinet noted that Councillor Hallett had been consulted on the amended text but continued to object on the grounds that it was incorrect. 

Cabinet supported the proposed amendment. 

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 30 October 2015 as a correct record and agree that the Chairman signs them as such, subject to replacing the paragraph at the bottom of page Ca.4 within minute Ca.17 with the following text:

“Councillor Debby Hallett asked Councillor Cox why he was excused from the Planning Committee meeting in December 2014 for the determination of the Doric planning application on this site.  Councillor Cox reported that he did not participate in the Planning Committee meeting because he had been briefed on property aspects of the application, which could be interpreted as bias.  Councillor Hallett asked what had changed between then and now, to allow him to be considering planning issues now.  In response, Councillor Cox stated that he had not been involved in property issues since that time, so that he could be involved in the supplementary planning document and any future planning application.” 

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Dr Les Clyne asked the following question to Councillor Matthew Barber:

“How is the Council ensuring that the reported one million pounds paid by Cranborne, the developers of the Old Gaol Abingdon, to get out of the commitment to build affordable rented housing, is used to build or acquire the same number of affordable rented housing units elsewhere in the Vale, rather than being vired to some other part of the Vale's housing budget?” 

Councillor Barber thanked Dr Clyne for his question and replied as follows:

“The payment for off-site affordable housing made by Cranbourne Homes will be retained in the Council’s designated Affordable Housing reserve.  This is identified in the Council’s annual budget reports and can be overseen by the Audit and Governance Committee as well as Cabinet.  The Council will seek to use these funds to directly support appropriate affordable housing schemes to meet the needs of the district.” 

To consider the report of the head of legal and democratic services.   

Cabinet considered the report of the head of legal and democratic services regarding a review of the council’s gambling policy.  The council was required to review the policy every three years.  Feeding into this review, there had also been a legislative change requiring:

• local area profiles - councils must publish information on their areas with regard to geography, population information and economic data. This would allow operators of gambling businesses to complete risk assessments of their operations

·         operator risk assessments - all operators of gambling businesses must complete a risk assessment of their activities and operations on the local area within which they are based

The Licensing Acts Committee had considered the draft policy and was content with it.  The committee recommended the draft policy to Cabinet.  Cabinet was invited to consider the policy and recommend its adoption to Council. 

Cabinet noted that there had only been one response to the public consultation, which requested minor changes but also provided some additional clarification without impacting upon the council’s policy direction and aims.  Cabinet believed that the low level of consultation responses demonstrated that the policy could be recommended for adoption subject to the identified responses and minor wording changes set out in the report, which had been incorporated into the policy. 

Cabinet supported the draft policy. 

RECOMMENDED to Council to:

(a)       adopt the proposed Joint Gambling Policy;

(b)       authorise the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to make minor editorial changes to the Joint Gambling Policy; and

(c)       authorise the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to publish the Joint Gambling Policy in accordance with the Gambling Act 2005 (Licensing Authority Policy Statement)(England and Wales) Regulations 2006. 

To consider the report of the head of economy, leisure and property. 

Cabinet considered the report of the head of HR, IT and technical services. The report reviewed car parking fees and charges and invited Cabinet to consider whether any changes should be made in 2016/17.

Cabinet considered the options: to increase the fees and charges or keep them at the current level, to increase the price of permits, or to introduce a charge on Sundays. 

The Cabinet member with responsibility for car parks recommended that the council did not increase its car park fees and charges for 2016/17.  However, he suggested that in early 2016, Cabinet considered introducing free parking in all car parks on Saturdays in December 2016.  Cabinet agreed with this view.

RESOLVED: to

(a)          not increase the car park fees and charges for 2016/17 but leave them at the levels as set out in the appendices to the report; and

(b)          consider early in 2016 introducing free parking in all car parks on Saturdays in December 2016. 

To consider the head of finance’s report.

Cabinet considered the head of finance’s report on the council tax base for 2016/17.  Before the council tax could be set by the council, a calculation had to be made of the council tax base, being an estimate of the taxable resources for the district as a whole and for each parish area.  Cabinet was invited to consider the report and recommend the council tax base to Council. 

Cabinet noted that the parish tax base figures for five parishes had changed due to a recalculation of the number of properties in each parish.  An amended appendix 1 was tabled setting out the corrected figures.  Cabinet noted that to correct this discrepancy in relation to new developments, the inspector would check the alignment of parish boundaries with the council’s geographic information database. 

Cabinet agreed to recommend the amended figures to Council for adoption.

RECOMMENDED: to Council

(a)       that the report of the head of finance for the calculation of the council’s tax base and the calculation of the tax base for each parish area for 2016/17 be approved;

(b)       that, in accordance with The Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012, the amount calculated by Vale of White Horse District Council as its council tax base for the year 2016/17 be 48,176.9; and

(c)       that, in accordance with The Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012, the amount calculated by Vale of White Horse District Council as the council tax base for the year 2016/17 for each parish be the amount shown against the name of that parish in Appendix 1 to these minutes.