Agenda and minutes

(a)  The Lord Mayor announced the death of former Councillor Maggie Clay CBE and that Councillor Brett would be absent from this meeting as he was attending her funeral.

(b)  The Lord Mayor announced that Councillor Rafique was not present owing to the death of his grandmother.

(c)  The Lord Mayor and Council offered congratulations to Councillor Mulherin on the birth of a baby boy on the day of this meeting.

(d)  The Lord Mayor welcomed Councillor Schofield to his first Council meeting since his recent re-election to Council.

To confirm the minutes of the Council Meeting held on 25^th February 2009.

It was moved by Councillor Bentley seconded by Councillor Gruen and

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Council meetings held on 25^th February 2009 be approved.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members

The Lord Mayor announced that a list of written declarations submitted by Members was on deposit in the public galleries and had been circulated to each Member’s place in the Chamber.

Following an invitation to declare further individual interests, declarations in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct were made as follows:

(a)  Members declared personal interests in minute 85 of this meeting as follows:

  B Anderson   -  Member, Leeds Initiative Climate Change

  -  Member, Investigation of Air Pollution Standing

  Conference 

  -  Director, Green Leeds

  -  Member, National Society for Clean Air

  Divisional Council

  J Bale  -  Member, Society for the Environment

  S Smith  -  Member of Leeds Initiative Climate Change

  -  Former Member of Greenpeace

(b)  Members declared personal interests in minute 91 of this meeting as follows:

  R Harker  -  Governor of Moortown Primary School

  B Anderson  -  Member, Regional Planning Board

  -  Member, Regional Planning Forum

  J Bale  -  Member, National Trust

  A Carter  -  Member, Affordable Housing Strategic

  Partnership

  -  Member, Strategic Housing Board

  J L Carter  -  Member, Affordable Housing Strategic Partnership

  C Fox  -  Member, Public Rights of Way Forum

  -  Member, Bramhope Village Property Trust

  W Hyde  -  Trustee, Wade’s Charity

  V Kendall  -  Member, Roundhay Planning Forum

  J Procter  -  Country Landowners’ Association

  F Robinson  -  Member, Joint Countryside Forum

  -  Member, National Trust

  S Bentley  -  Green Leeds

  C Campbell  -  Leeds Architecture and Design Initiative

  J Chapman  -  Council Housing Investment Review-Consultation Group

  -  Director of WNW Homes Leeds

  B Chastney  -  Council Housing Investment Review-Consultation Group

  S Golton  -  Director of Aire Valley Homes

  -  Oulton Society

  D Hollingsworth  -  Neighbourhood Renewal Board-Aire Valley

  -  Director of ENE Homes

  -  Council Housing Investment Review-Consultation Group

  G Kirkland  -  Member of Chevin Housing and Harewood Housing Society

  -  Family Member registered blind

  R Pryke  -  Member of ALMO Area Panel Inner East 1

  P Wadsworth  -  Member, Roundhay Planning Forum

(c)  Members declared personal interests in minute 90 of this meeting as follows:

  G Wilkinson  -  Shire View Centre for Visually Impaired 10^th anniversary buffet

  P Harrand  -  North Regional Centre for Sensory Support

  R Downes  -  Aireborough Voluntary Services for Elderly People with Disabilities

  G Kirkland  -  Member of Chevin Housing and Harewood Housing Society

  -  Family member registered blind

(d)  Members declared personal interests in minute 89 of this meeting as follows:

  G Driver  -  ALMO Board Member

  P Gruen  -  ALMO Board Member

  A Blackburn  -  Director of Leeds West North West Homes

  G Hyde  -  ALMO Board Member

  A Lowe  -  ALMO Board Member

  B Anderson  -  Director, WNW Homes Leeds

  -  Member, Holt Park Tenant Compact

  A Carter  -  Member, ALMO West Outer Area Panel

  C Fox  -  Member, ALMO North West Outer Area Panel

  A Lamb  -  Members, ALMO North East Outer Area Panel

  G Latty  -  Member, ALMO North West Outer Area Panel

  M Lobley  -  Director, Renew

  P Wadsworth  -   Director, ENE Homes Leeds

  G Wilkinson  -  Director, ENE Homes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

To receive deputations in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10

Four deputations were admitted to the meeting and addressed Council as follows:

1  The ‘All Means All’ Group  of People with High Support Needs Regarding the ‘Changing Places Campaign’ with Regard to Toilet Accessibility

2  The GMB Trade Union on Behalf of the Private Hire Association with Regard to the Council’s Proposals to Reduce the Permissible Age for Private Hire Vehicles

3  The ‘Hands Off Our Homes’ Group Regarding Their Campaign Against Vacant Housing in Leeds

4  Woodbridge Tenants and Residents Association Regarding the Condition of the Properties on the Estate

RESOLVED –That the subject matter of the deputations be referred to the Executive Board for consideration.

To consider the following report admitted to the agenda by the Chief Executive under Council Procedure Rule 2.2(f):

(a)  That the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Corporate Governance) on appointments be approved.

S BENTLEY

It was moved by Councillor Bentley seconded by Councillor J Procter and

RESOLVED - That the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Corporate Governance) regarding Appointments to joint authorities be approved

To deal with questions in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11

1  Councillor Grahame to the Chair of the Scrutiny Board (Central and Corporate)

  Would the Chair of the Central and Corporate Scrutiny Board care to comment on the call in meeting held on April 9th concerning the Budget Action Plan and Staffing Issues?

  The Chair of the Scrutiny  Board (Central and Corporate) replied

2  Councillor Cleasby to the Executive Member (Learning)

  Given recent revelations regarding the funding crisis affecting the Learning and Skills Council nationally what implications does their loss of budget control have for further education in Leeds?

  The Executive Member (Learning) replied

3  Councillor Anderson to the Leader of Council

  Does the Leader of Council agree that to promote the economic success of the City Centre adequate parking needs to be available?

  The Leader of Council replied

4  Councillor Wakefield to the Deputy Leader of Council

  Could the Deputy Leader of Council confirm which parties are official members of his administration?

  The Executive Member (Children’s Services) replied on behalf of the Deputy Leader of Council

5  Councillor Dowson to the Executive Member (Children’s Services)

  Would the Executive Board Member for Children’s Services agree with me that it is important to be accurate and honest with the public?

  The Executive Member (Children’s Services) replied

6  Councillor Pryke to the Executive Member (Central and Corporate)

  Would the Executive Board member for Central and Corporate agree that introducing individual registration rather than household registration for the electoral roll, would be a major step forward in combating electoral fraud?

  The Executive Member (Children’s Services) replied on behalf of the Executive Member (Central and Corporate)

7  Councillor Lobley to the Leader of Council

  Would the Leader of Council join me in urging the Government to confirm its commitment to extending high speed rail link proposals to Leeds?

  The Leader of Council replied.

8  Councillor J Lewis to the Deputy Leader of Council

  Does the Deputy Leader of Council stand by his comments that an important part of good leadership is being a change agent?

  The Executive Member (Children’s Services) replied on behalf of the Deputy Leader of Council

9  Councillor Blake to the Executive Member (Central and Corporate)

  Can Councillor Brett explain what steps he has taken to reduce wasteful spending since he became Executive Member for the Central and Corporate portfolio?

  The Executive Member (Children’s Services) replied on behalf of the Executive Member (Central and Corporate)

10  Councillor Hamilton to the Executive Member (Central and Corporate)

  Would the Executive Board member for Central and Corporate care to comment on the key local issues he sees affecting the residents of Leeds at the current time?

  The Executive Member (Children’s Services) replied on behalf of the Executive Member (Central and Corporate)

11  Councillor Gruen to the Executive Member (Adult Health and Social Care)

  Could the Executive Member for Adult Social Services reassure members of council that the standard of care shown on the BBC’s Panorama programme of April 9^th is not the level of care that older people in Leeds experience?

  The Executive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.

That Council approve the Leeds Climate Change Strategy in accordance with the recommendation of the Executive Board as presented in the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Corporate Governance).

A CARTER

It was moved by Councillor A Carter seconded by Councillor Smith and

RESOLVED - That Council approve the Leeds Climate Change Strategy in accordance with  the recommendation of the Executive Board as presented in the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Corporate Governance) 

That the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Corporate Governance) on a recommendation of the General Purposes Committee with regard to changes in the membership of the Standards Committee be approved.

A CARTER

It was moved by Councillor A Carter seconded by Councillor Bentley and

RESOLVED - That the  report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Corporate Governance) on a recommendation of the General Purposes Committee with regard to membership of the Standards Committee be approved

That the minutes submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 2.2(o) be received.

A CARTER

It was moved by Councillor A Carter seconded by Councillor Bentley and

RESOLVED – That the minutes submitted to Council in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 2.2(o) be received.

(During the debate on this item Councillor Lancaster declared a personal interest as a member of the West Yorkshire Police Authority)

During the debate under minute 87 above it was moved  by Councillor Gruen seconded by Councillor Taggart

That under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 22.1, Procedure Rule 3.1 be suspended to allow the debate on the minutes to continue until all comments to the conclusion of the Adult Health and Social Care Portfolio have been heard.

Upon being put to the vote the motion was declared lost

On the requisition of Councillors Gruen and Taggart the voting on the motion to suspend was recorded as follows:

YES

Armitage, Atha, Beverley, Blake, Congreve, Coulson, Coupar, Davey, Dobson, Dowson, Driver, Dunn, Gabriel, Grahame, Gruen, Hanley, Harington. Harper, A Hussain, G Hyde, Illingworth, Iqbal, Jarosz, J Lewis, R Lewis, Lowe, Lyons, A McKenna, J McKenna, Morgan, Mulherin, Murray, Nash, Ogilvie, Parker, Renshaw, Selby, Taggart, E Taylor, Wakefield, Yeadon

  41

NO

Anderson, Andrew, Bale, Bentley, A Blackburn, D Blackburn, Campbell, A Carter, J L Carter,  Castle, Chastney, Cleasby, Downes, Elliot, Ewens, Mrs R Feldman, R D Feldman, Finnigan, Fox, Gettings, Golton, Grayshon, Hamilton, Harker, Harrand, Hollingsworth, K Hussain, W Hyde, Kendall, Kirkland, Lamb, Lancaster, Latty, Leadley, Lobley, Matthews, Monaghan, Parnhan, J Procter, R Procter, Pryke, Rhodes-Clayton, Schofield, Shelbrooke, Smith, A Taylor, Wadsworth, Wilkinson, Wilson

  49

(Due to an error a vote was recorded for Councillor Mulherin who was not present at the meeting)

(The meeting was suspended at 5.00 pm and resumed at 5.20 pm)

That this Council recognises the adverse impact that anti-social tenants can have on communities and the very real misery that can be caused. Therefore Council welcomes the changes to letting’s policy agreed by Executive Board in October 2008; following a review of the Choice Based Lettings System.

However, this Council believes that this review did not do enough to protect the rights, freedoms and cohesion of existing tenants and their communities. Therefore Council instructs the Director of Neighbourhoods and Housing to bring a paper to a future Executive Board meeting to address these concerns.

R LEWIS

Under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 14.10, with the consent of the seconder, leave of Council was given to Councillor R Lewis to amend the motion in his name by the deletion of the word “instructs” in the second paragraph of the motion and its replacement with the word “requests”.

It was moved by Councillor R Lewis seconded by Councillor J McKenna and

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY - That this Council recognises the adverse impact that anti-social tenants can have on communities and the very real misery that can be caused. Therefore Council welcomes the changes to letting’s policy agreed by Executive Board in October 2008; following a review of the Choice Based Lettings System.

However, this Council believes that this review did not do enough to protect the rights, freedoms and cohesion of existing tenants and their communities. Therefore Council requests the Director of Neighbourhoods and Housing to bring a paper to a future Executive Board meeting to address these concerns.

That this Council welcomes the announcement of the extension of the higher rate mobility component to blind people from 2011 and congratulates all groups and individuals who successfully campaigned for this change.

R FINNIGAN

It was moved by Councillor Finnigan seconded by Councillor Parnham and

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY – That this Council welcomes the announcement of the extension of the higher rate mobility component to blind people from 2011 and congratulates all groups and individuals who successfully campaigned for this change.

That this Council notes the recent admission by the Housing Minister that her Government’s housing target, to build 3 million affordable new homes by 2020, is unattainable under the present economic conditions and whilst the circumstances surrounding this admission are regrettable, this Council welcomes this acknowledgement of economic reality and believes that these ill thought out targets represent a very real threat to the Green Belt in Leeds.

Given this background Council expresses its concern at the comments made by  the planning inspector dealing with Leeds City Council’s successful appeal against proposed Greenfield developments in Oulton. The inspector’s comments once again appear to raise the possibility of Government backed planning inspectors forcing through Greenfield development at the expense of Brownfield inner city regeneration aims.

This Council finds the disparity between the Housing Minister’s statement and that of the Government’s Planning Inspectorate to be both unhelpful and confusing and resolves to resist all efforts to allow Greenfield and Green Belt development in Leeds.

A CARTER

Under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 14.10, with the consent of the seconder, leave of Council was given to Councillor A Carter to amend the motion in his name by the deletion of the words “Government backed” in the second paragraph, by the deletion of the word “Government’s” in the third paragraph and by the deletion of “resist all efforts to allow Greenfield and Green Belt development in Leeds” and replacement with “lobby Government not to allow inappropriate Greenfield and Green Belt development in Leeds”.

Under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 14.11 leave of Council was given to Councillor Blake to withdraw the amendment in her name.

It was moved by Councillor A Carter seconded by Councillor Golton and

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY - That this Council notes the recent admission by the Housing Minister that her Government’s housing target, to build 3 million affordable new homes by 2020, is unattainable under the present economic conditions and whilst the circumstances surrounding this admission are regrettable, this Council welcomes this acknowledgement of economic reality and believes that these ill thought out targets represent a very real threat to the Green Belt in Leeds.

Given this background Council expresses its concern at the comments made by  the planning inspector dealing with Leeds City Council’s successful appeal against proposed Greenfield developments in Oulton. The inspector’s comments once again appear to raise the possibility of planning inspectors forcing through Greenfield development at the expense of Brownfield inner city regeneration aims.

This Council finds the disparity between the Housing Minister’s statement and that of the Planning Inspectorate to be both unhelpful and confusing and resolves to lobby Government not to allow inappropriate Greenfield and Green Belt development in Leeds.

(The provisions of Council Procedure Rule 3.1(d) were applied at the conclusion of the vote  on this motion)

That this Council underlines its commitment to the Leeds Kirkgate Market. Furthermore this Council condemns the current administration for its lack of support  and promotion of the market and for the way the market has been managed. Council resolves therefore to do everything it can to support the current  traders and encourage people to visit the market and consider opening new businesses there.

K WAKEFIELD

Under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 14.11, with the consent of the seconder, leave of Council was given to Councillor Wakefield to withdraw the motion in his name.

That this Council expresses its concern at the effect the worst recession in post war British history has had on the City of Leeds which has led to:

·  Increasing unemployment and decreasing growth in the city

·  Business closures

·  A collapse in the housing market both in terms of new builds and house sales

·  Stalling regeneration projects

·  Major city centre developments put on hold

·  Falling Council Revenues

Council notes the role played by the government in the ongoing recession, characterised by economic mismanagement, irresponsibility and a refusal to apologise to the public, and further regrets the disparity in funding between Leeds and other core cities which could have been used to support business and jobs leaving Leeds £1 billion worse off every 4 years in comparison to Liverpool or Manchester.

This Council will invite all MPs and representatives of the business community to a round table conference to discuss these most important issues which affect the residents of Leeds.

This Council is working towards reducing the effects of the recession by:

·  Introducing a rapid payments scheme for smaller businesses

·  Purchasing houses from builders to enable work to continue on the EASEL scheme

·  Setting up a Council Wide Apprenticeship Scheme for up to 250 apprentices

·  Introducing the lowest Council Tax rise for 14 years

·  Making a commitment to pass on the full benefit of the recent council house rent reduction to council tenants.

This Council resolves to continue to do all it can to help the people of Leeds through these difficult economic times and place Leeds in the best possible position to recover when the recession ends.

M LOBLEY

Under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 14.11, with the consent of the seconder, leave of Council was given to Councillor Lobley to withdrawn the motion in his name.

That this Council welcomes Armed Forces Day on the 27^th June 2009, in particular plans to hold an event in Leeds in conjunction with veterans organisations and pledges its support to such an event.  Council also recognises the support of Adult Social Services in setting up a regional veterans forum.

B LANCASTER

It was moved by Councillor Lancaster seconded by Councillor Grayshon and

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY – That this Council welcomes Armed Forces Day on the 27^th June 2009, in particular plans to hold an event in Leeds in conjunction with veterans organisations and pledges its support to such an event.  Council also recognises the support of Adult Social Services in setting up a regional veterans forum.

Council rose at 7.05 pm