23/02/2010 - 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 February 2010 2010 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 8 December 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 (18kb PDF) - To receive such communications as the Mayor may desire to place before the Council.

5. PUBLIC QUESTIONS

a) Mr Ewan Larcombe of Lawn Close, Datchet will ask the following question of Councillor Mrs Quick, the Lead Member for Children's Services:

The DCSF has recently published the Secondary School (GCSE and equivalent) KS4 achievement and attainment tables for 2009. Can you please explain how the performance of Churchmead School in Datchet compares with the other schools in the Borough?

b) Mr Ewan Larcombe of Lawn Close, Datchet will ask the following question of Councillor Rayner, the Lead Member for Highways and Streetcare:

The Flood Risk Regulations 2009 came into effect on 10 December 2009. Can you please explain how these regulations will reduce the probability of flooding downstream of Windsor?

c) Mr Talib Aziz of Laggan Square, Maidenhead, will ask the following question of Councillor Bicknell, the Lead Member for Public Protection:

The Council decided to remove the waiting lists for Hackney carriage licence plates. What process will be in place in the future that would allow residents and business people like me who were high up on the lists to have the chance of being issued a plate and provide a service for Maidenhead People?

6. PETITIONS - To receive any petitions presented by Members on behalf of registered electors for the Borough under Rule A.10. Councillors D. Wilson and Baskerville have given notice that they wish to hand a petition in.

7. AMENDMENT TO COUNCIL CONSTITUTION (Report: 19KB PDF) - To consider a report on a proposal from the Berkshire Pension Fund Panel to amend the delegation to officers for the Pension Fund. (Appendix 15KB PDF)

8. COUNCIL BUDGET 2010/11 (Report: 19KB PDF) - To Consider the budget as recommended by Cabinet. (Appendices: 335Kb PDF)

9. MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

To receive Questions submitted under Rule 11.2

a) Question submitted by Councillor James Evans to Councillor Maxwell, Lead Member for Policy and Performance:

Following Conservative initiatives to introduce Smart Metering in Borough Buildings and the 10:10 Motion recently approved by Council, can the Lead Member advise us on the progress made by the Borough in reducing our energy consumption?

10. MOTIONS ON NOTICE

To consider the following Motions submitted under Rule A12 (procedural note enclosed):-

i) by Councillor Walters

This Council opposes the introduction of Labour's new Equality Bill. This Council therefore resolves to:

a) note that such a Bill would legally force local authorities, such as the Royal Borough, to promote the reduction of inequality of people which results from socio-economic disadvantages. In doing so the Bill would wrongly attempt to use local authorities as social engineering tools.
b) note that Professor Tony Travers, an expert in local government, has said that the Bill would inevitably influence the way public servants make policy decisions moving Council taxpayers money from one part of the country to the other with rural and suburban Councils likely to be particularly hard hit.
c) ask the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive to write to the relevant Minister and the Royal Borough's Members of Parliament not to support the further passage of this Bill through Parliament.

ii) by Councillor Dudley

This Council notes the recent discussions in local government about the Government's Personal Care at Home Bill; further notes that many local authority leaders are concerned that the Government's proposals remain unfunded and could lead to cuts in service or council tax rises; believes that the Government should give a serious rethink to this policy; resolves to ask the Leader to write to the Secretary of State for Health, and the Shadow Secretary of State reiterating our concerns about this issue.

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