Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Baker, Canver, Griffith Gmmh Rahman Khan, Patel, Reid and Whyte and from the Chief Executive.

On behalf of the Council the Mayor expressed his best wishes for a speedy recovery to the Chief Executive following her recent operation.

See Minutes 79, 81 and 84.

A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member's judgment of the public interest and if this interest affects their financial position or the financial position of a person or body as described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct and/orif it relates to the determining of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration in relation to them or any person or body described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct.

Councillor Adje declared a personal interest in Item 6 – Council Tax Base for 2009/10 by virtue of being an employee of the LFCDA.

Councillor Jones declared a personal interest in Item 13 - Motion M by virtue of being a member of the Electoral Reform Group.

The Mayor declared a personal interest in Item 13 – Motion O by virtue of being an employee of the North Middlesex Hospital.

There were no declarations in relation to unpaid Community Charge or Council Tax liability.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 24 November, and extraordinary meetings held on 9 and 17 December 2008 be signed as a true record.

1. The Mayor congratulated Joe Goldberg on his election as the new Labour Councillor for the Seven Sisters Ward at the by-election held on 15 January 2009. The Mayor welcomed Councillor Goldberg to the Council and wished him every success.

2. The Mayor also congratulated all those local residents who had been honoured in the New Year honours list including May Richards,  who had received an MBE for her work since retiring, raising thousands of pounds for Sickle Cell and Thalassemia, as well as organising the annual Haringey Gospel Festival. Also to PC Elizabeth Kenworthy, a serving police officer in Haringey, who had received an MBE for her efforts helping injured passengers during the July 2005 tube bombings; as well as to other honoured residents charity workers Tamsila Tauqir, Narendra Mehta, Jennifer Bell, and pianist and composer Howard Shelley.

3. The Mayor expressed his sadness at the sudden death of the serving Mayor of Croydon, Councillor Jonathan Driver. The Mayor reported that he had got to know Councillor Driver at a number of engagements over the past year and had sent his condolences to the family and colleagues at his untimely death.

4. The Mayor reported that, on behalf of the Council, he had passed on sincere condolences to the family and colleagues of Cadet Corporal Anthony Smith a member of the 16F Wood Green and Hornsey Cadets who had died in a tragic accident in Scotland.

5. The Mayor wished good luck to Councillor Matt Davies and Councillor Emma Jones who would be running in the forthcoming London Marathon. He expressed the hope that all his Member colleagues would show their support and sponsor them for their respective charities.

(a)   Council Tax Base for 2009/10

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this item as urgent business. The report was not available at the time of despatch as the calculation of the tax base was usually agreed by the Chief Financial Officer exercising delegated authority. However, it was urgent because of the need to agree a revision to the policy for locally defined discount for second homes which required a decision of the full Council. The deadline for providing this information to levying authorities was 31 January 2009.

RESOLVED:

1.      That in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Tax Base) Regulations 1992, the amount calculated by the Council of the London Borough of Haringey as its tax base for the year 2009/10 be set at 85,060.

2.      That the level of discount for second homes (Class A and B) be set at 10%.

(b)  Changes to Political Groups and Appointments to Committees and Sub Committees

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this item as urgent business. The report could not be circulated earlier as information was awaited from recent party Group meetings. It was urgent in order to permit changes to be made to Council body appointments.

RESOLVED:

1.      That it be noted that following a by - election on 15 January 2009, Joe Goldberg had been elected to represent Seven Sisters Ward and that he was a member of the Labour Group.

2.      That the following changes to the Labour Group memberships of committees be agreed:

•         Councillor Santry to replace Councillor Khan on the Standards Committee.

•         Councillor Santry to Chair the White Hart Lane and Northumberland Park Area Assembly.

•         Councillor Goldberg to fill the vacancy on Tottenham Hale and Seven Sisters Area Assembly.

RESOLVED

1. That the recommendation from Standards Committee that the Membership of the Standards Committee be increased by one independent member, to 5 in total, with this additional position being recruited to as part of the recruitment process for independent members to be embarked upon in February 2009, be agreed.

2.  That the relevant  part of the Council’s Constitution (Part Two – Articles of the Constitution – Article 9.02 (a) Membership) in relation to the Independent Membership of the Standards Committee be amended accordingly.

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this item as urgent business. The report could not be circulated earlier as information was awaited from recent party Group meetings. It was urgent in order to permit changes to be made to outside body appointments.

RESOLVED:

That the appointments to outside bodies as set out in the attached appendix be approved.

The Council received a deputation from Mr Adam Jogee on behalf of the Haringey Youth Council.

Members asked questions of the deputation and received responses thereto.

Councillor Reith as Cabinet Member for Children and Young People congratulated the Youth Council, in particular the joint Chairs Adam Jogee and Alisha Bartlett, on the work they had undertaken during the year.

The Mayor thanked the deputation for attending.

The Opposition gave notice of their wish to debate “the recession”

Councillors Gorrie and Allison spoke on behalf of the Opposition Group and Councillor Amin as Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Enterprise responded.

The Mayor thanked Councillors for their contributions.

Oral Question  1 - To the Leader of the Council from Councillor Gorrie:

Which of the major decisions, or decisions on individual cases, taken by the now discredited previous senior management of Children's Services, are going to be reviewed in the light of the JAR and Ofsted report on the poor quality of that decision making?

Oral Question 2 – To the Cabinet Member for Housing Services from Councillor Bull:

Can the cabinet member update us on the implementation of Introductory Tenancies and; what impact they feel this will have on antisocial behaviour?

Oral Question 3 - To the Cabinet Member for Resources from Councillor Williams:

With regard to the published summary of Standards Board for England case SBE21513.08, can he explain in what circumstances he feels it is appropriate to obtain independent legal advice while discharging his duties a Haringey Cabinet member?

Oral Question 4 - To the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion and Involvement from Councillor Jones:

Will the cabinet member let us know what actions he has taken, or will be taking to improve the service provided by the council’s customer service centres following his visits to them in late December?

Oral Question 5 –To the Leader of the Council from Councillor Winskill:

In response to a question I posed to the Leader at December's OSC about the press and PR arrangements during the baby P case, the names of three PR and media companies were declared exempt because one did not want to have its identity revealed for fear of the negative impact of being associated with Haringey. Are there any other suppliers, contractors, consultants or others, who do or wish to do business with Haringey, that have made the same or similar conditions about revealing their name(s)?  If so, how many and what areas of the council services do they represent?

Oral Question 6 - To the Cabinet Member for Environment and Conservationfrom Councillor Dodds:

Will the cabinet member provide some detail about the proposed action plan to address non-compliant lines and signs?

Oral Question 7 - To the Cabinet member for Environment and Conservationfrom Councillor Weber:

Will the Cabinet Member for Environment please explain for public accountability purposes why residents CPZ petitions, requesting inclusion or exclusion of the slow CPZ process or the Fast Track CPZ process are not placed in the public domain for all to see? 

Oral Question 8 – To the Cabinet Member for Environment and Conservation from Councillor Demirci:

Can the cabinet member outline what improvements will be made to public footpaths following the announcement of the Council’s rights of way improvement plan?

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this Item as urgent business. Under Standing Orders, notice of questions was not requested until eight clear days before the meeting, following which matters raised had to be researched and replies prepared, in order to be given at the meeting.

There were 8 oral questions and 25 for written answer.

Oral Questions 7 and 8 were not reached in the allotted time and written answers would be supplied to these questions.

a)     Cabinet – Report 8 & 9 – 2008/9

Cabinet Reports Nos. 8 and 9  2008/09

The Leader gave a brief resume of the reports of Cabinet which were before the meeting for consideration. Other Members questioned details of the reports and the Leader responded accordingly.

RESOLVED:

1.      That the Cabinet Reports Nos. 8 and 9 be received and adopted. That the recommendation concerning saving Unitary Development Policies (report no.9 item 2) be agreed.

2.      That Councillor Gorrie be supplied with a written answer to his question concerning the award of the contract for childcare litigation services to the London Borough Islington (Item 14 of Report No. 8 – 2008/09 refers).

Motion M (2008/09)

Councillor Alexander has given notice that she will move in the following terms:

“This Council notes:

·        that 16 and 17 year olds can leave school, get married, have a full-time job, must pay taxes on their income, and can join the armed forces, but are not allowed to vote in public elections;

·        that 16 and 17 year olds have been calling for the right to vote for many years through the Votes at 16 coalition;

·        that disconnection between young people and the political establishment is growing.

·        the continuing good work by Haringey’s Youth  Council and its members

This Council believes:

·        that young people are interested in politics and have valid views on issues that affect them;

·        that 16 and 17 year olds are old enough to have the right to vote in public elections;

·        that refusing to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote is likely to further depress turnout and encourage young people to give up on formal political structures.

This Council resolves:

·        to support the moves to lower the voting age for all public elections to 16;

·        to call on the Government to establish the Youth Citizenship Commission with a clear remit to develop the necessary framework for reducing the voting age to 16.

·        that the leader of the Council write to Bridget Prentice MP, minister in charge of reform in electoral administration, to show the Council’s commitment to pushing for votes for 16 and 17 year old and requesting that the government seriously considers decreasing the voting age”. 

Motion N (2008/09)

Councillor Scott has given notice that he will move in the following terms:

“This Council: 

1. Welcomes the introduction of the Sustainable Communities Act, which became law in October 2007. It also welcomes the establishment of the principle that ‘local people know best what needs to be done’.

2. Notes the cross party support in the House of Commons that the Act received.

3. Notes that the Act gives local authorities the power to make proposals to government on the action government must take to reverse community decline and promote sustainable communities.

4. Notes that the Act also gives local authorities the power to argue for a transfer of public money and function from central to local control.

5. Notes that the Act also requires central government to produce "spending reports" detailing the expenditure of all government bodies in each local area.  The Act requires that the first arrangements for the spending reports should be taken by April 2009.

6. Views the Act as an opportunity to further the empowerment of local communities in seeking local reforms regarding Economic, Social and Environmental issues.

7. Appreciates the need to be fully committed to the process to ensure that the residents of Haringey have a chance to have their say on local services.

This Council therefore: 

1. Resolves, when invited to by central government in autumn 2008, to use the Act by preparing and submitting proposals on how central government can help promote sustainable communities in Haringey.

2. Seeks to establish a representative  ...  view the full agenda text for item 86.

Motion M (2009/10):

With the consent of the Council an alteration was made to Motion M in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 15.9 by the deletion of the second bullet point of the proposed resolution ‘to call on the Government to establish the Youth Citizenship Commission with a clear remit to develop the necessary framework for reducing the voting age to 16’.

Itwas then movedby Councillor Alexander andseconded byCllr Davies that:

This Council notes:

·        that 16 and 17 year olds can leave school, get married, have a full-time job, must pay taxes on their income, and can join the armed forces, but are not allowed to vote in public elections;

·        that 16 and 17 year olds have been calling for the right to vote for many years through the Votes at 16 coalition;

·        that disconnection between young people and the political establishment is growing.

·        the continuing good work by Haringey’s Youth  Council and its members

This Council believes:

·        that young people are interested in politics and have valid views on issues that affect them;

·        that 16 and 17 year olds are old enough to have the right to vote in public elections;

·        that refusing to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote is likely to further depress turnout and encourage young people to give up on formal political structures.

This Council resolves:

·        to support the moves to lower the voting age for all public elections to 16;

·        that the Leader of the Council write to Bridget Prentice MP, Minister in charge of reform in electoral administration, to show the Council’s commitment to pushing for votes for 16 and 17 year old and requesting that the government seriously considers decreasing the voting age. 

The substantive motion as altered was then put to the vote and declared CARRIED unanimously.

At this juncture there was a general disturbance and in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 24.2 the Mayor called for the public gallery to be cleared. The meeting was then adjourned.

Motion N (2008/09)

On re-convening itwas movedby Councillor Scott andseconded byCllr Rainger that:

This Council: 

1. Welcomes the introduction of the Sustainable Communities Act, which became law in October 2007. It also welcomes the establishment of the principle that ‘local people know best what needs to be done’.

2. Notes the cross party support in the House of Commons that the Act received.

3. Notes that the Act gives local authorities the power to make proposals to government on the action government must take to reverse community decline and promote sustainable communities.

4. Notes that the Act also gives local authorities the power to argue for a transfer of public money and function from central to local control.

5. Notes that the Act also requires Central Government to produce "spending reports" detailing the expenditure of all Government bodies in each local area.  The Act requires that the first arrangements for the spending reports should be taken by April 2009.

6. Views the Act as an opportunity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.