23/06/2009 - Council - Agenda

TO: EVERY MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE ROYAL BOROUGH OF WINDSOR & MAIDENHEAD

YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED TO ATTEND the Meeting of the Council of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead to be held in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall, Maidenhead, on Tuesday 23 June 2009 at 7.30 pm for the purpose of transacting the business specified in the Agenda set out hereunder.

A G E N D A

PART I

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE - To receive any apologies for absence.

2. COUNCIL MINUTES - To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 21 April and the Annual Meeting held on 19 May 2009.

3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST - To receive declarations of interests in respect of any item to be considered at this meeting.

4. MAYOR'S COMMUNICATIONS (16KB PDF)- To receive such communitaions as the Mayor may desire to place before the Council.

5. PUBLIC QUESTIONS - Su Burrows of Coppice Drive, Wraysbury will ask the following questions of Councillor Mrs Knight, the Lead Member for Planning and Development:

a) The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister stated in April 2004, with specific reference to the sub-division of agricultural land into small plots for sale, that 'Some local authorities have had success with timely 5(4) directions to stop the physical subdivision of fields before fences or posts go in, and with 4(1) directions to pre-empt the arrival of caravans.

Can the Lead Member for Planning please explains why, whilst the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister also stated in 2004 that 'Government Offices are encouraged to deal swiftly with requests to confirm directions', the Royal Borough has not yet confirmed Article 5(4) and full Article 4(1) directions on the land in Wraysbury currently for sale in small plots?

b) In recent weeks a field, within Green Belt, in Blackmore, Essex, was illegally intensely developed over a Bank Holiday weekend when the Council's offices were shut. There are other examples of where this has taken place.

Can the Lead Member for Planning please confirm that proper and adequate contingency plans exist to respond quickly in the event that any illegal developments take place on land in the Royal Borough?

6. PETITIONS - To receive any petitions presented by Members on behalf of registered electors for the Borough under Rule A.10. Councillor Beer has given notice that he wishes to hand a petition in.

7. ADULT, COMMUNITY SERVICES AND HEALTH OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY PANEL - To consider a request by the Leader of the Council to increase the membership of this Panel from 7 members to 9. Pursuant to the political balance calculations, this would result in one additional Conservative Group seat, and one additional Liberal Democrat Group seat on the Panel, with the provision for one extra substitute for each Group. Should this request be agreed, Group Leaders are requested to inform the Head of Democratic Services of the names of the additional Members after the meeting

8. MEMBERS' QUESTIONS - To receive Questions submitted under Rule 11.2

a) Question submitted by Councillor Majeed to Councillor Burbage, Leader of the Council: Does the Leader regard the election of certain fringe parties in the European Election as damaging to the reputation of the whole democratic process?

9. MOTIONS ON NOTICE - To consider the following Motions submitted under Rule A12 (procedural note enclosed):-

i) by Councillor T. Bursnall

In January 2007, London Borough of Richmond introduced differentiated pricing for parking permits based on a vehicle's Co2 emissions.

Richmond borough is now planning to expand differentiated pricing to other areas of parking such as On-Street Pay and Display.

This Council Resolves that;

a) This is an extra tax that takes no account of the frequency/usage of the vehicle, the number of people who use it, and the reasons why residents may need vehicles with larger engines.

b) Positive moves should be made by councils to encourage use of public transport where possible, rather than blunt taxation punishments.

c) RBWM agrees with the Automobile Association and condemns CO2 related permit charges as a 'green smokescreen revenue raising' exercise and re-affirms that no such schemes should be implemented in this Borough.

ii) by Councillor Burbage

That this Council is committed to openness in its dealings with Taxpayers Money; notes that there is public concern over politicians expenses; believes that residents want to know details on every expense claim made by Councillors; resolves to publish copies of all claims submitted by Councillors as soon as practicably possible, in addition to the totals that are already available on our website.

iii) by Councillor Mrs Proctor

This Council resolves to provide greater clarity in the information that it publishes concerning councillors' expenses.

iv) by Councillor Werner

Good car parking is essential for the survival of the Borough's town centres. In a time of recession when shoppers have less money to spend and shop keepers are suffering the Borough needs to have an improved strategy to provide low cost and quality car parking.

This Council agrees:

a) To reduce the cost of short term car parking

b) To substantially improve the level of cleanliness especially in the stairwells of the car parks

c) To ensure that all car park equipment works properly including all lifts and ticket machines

How do you rate this information/service?