Agenda and minutes
PDF 147 KBVenue: County Hall
Contact: Jisa Prasannan or Huma Younis
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Minutes: Apologies were received from Jan Mason, Robert Evans, Mary Lewis, Chris Pitt and Denise Saliagopolous.
Mike Bennison substituted for Mary Lewis, Eber Kington for Jan Mason and Tim Hall for Chris Pitt. |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.
Notes: · In line with the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, declarations may relate to the interest of the member, or the member’s spouse or civil partner, or a person with whom the member is living as husband or wife, or a person with whom the member is living as if they were civil partners and the member is aware they have the interest. · Members need only disclose interests not currently listed on the Register of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests. · Members must notify the Monitoring Officer of any interests disclosed at the meeting so they may be added to the Register. · Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest. Minutes: There were no declarations of interests.
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CALL-IN OF CABINET DECISION: 23 JULY 2013
Purpose of Report: Scrutiny of Budgets/Policy Development and Review
To scrutinise the Cabinet decision of 23 July 2013 to agree the outline Magna Carta Partnership Masterplan, its additional project funding, and delegation of project oversight.
Additional documents: Minutes: Declaration of interest: None
Witnesses: Helyn Clack, Cabinet Member for Community Services Susie Kemp, Assistant Chief Executive Rhian Boast, Programme Lead for Legacy and Magna Carta Peter Milton, Head of Cultural Services Susan Smyth, Strategic Finance Manager
Key points raised during the discussion:
1. With apologies being received from the Chairman of the Communities Select Committee, the Vice-Chairman of the Committee chaired the meeting.
2. The Vice-Chairman introduced the extraordinary meeting of the Communities Select Committee to consider the Cabinet decision of 23 July in respect of the Magna Carta 800th anniversary. He explained that the Cabinet decision was to agree the outline Magna Carta Partnership Masterplan, its additional project funding, and delegation of project oversight. The Vice-Chairman went on to explain that four members of the Committee had called-in this Cabinet decision for re-consideration.
3. The Vice-Chairman explained the procedure for considering Cabinet decisions which have been called in by a Select Committee and how the meeting would be administered. The Vice-Chairman also highlighted key pages of the agenda and reports for the benefit of the public and Committee Members. The Vice-Chairman reminded the Committee of emails received from members of the public in respect of this issue.
4. Members who had called-in the decision were given the opportunity to present their concerns to the Committee. One Member reminded the Committee of their discussions around this issue at the Communities Select Committee meeting of 11 July 2013. He considered this to be a full and wide ranging debate, which led to serious concerns being raised with the Cabinet. He stated that whilst these concerns were noted, he did not feel that Cabinet had taken these concerns into account when making its decision on 23 July 2013. The Member stated that in his view no real discussion had taken place at the Cabinet meeting, especially with regards to the lack of a business case and detailed Masterplan. The Member queried whether budget decisions had been made on the basis of an outline plan. He expressed concern over whether there would be potential extra costs involved. The Member stated that we should be clear on what we were getting in return for spending taxpayers’ money. The Member stated that he understood the national importance of this event, but questions remained over how much funding was being contributed by others including Runnymede Borough Council and central government. The Member concluded that the Committee had a duty to explore these issues and some of those raised by the public, for example restrictions on carrying out works on the common land by the Magna Carta site, before the Council backed this considerable expenditure.
5. The Vice-Chairman invited the Cabinet Member for Community Services and the lead officers to respond.
6. The Cabinet Member for Community Services responded to the concerns raised by the Member. She reinforced the importance of the anniversary celebrations for both the Country, the County and internationally, and explained the duty of the Council to fully support such an occasion. ... view the full minutes text for item 3/13 |
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DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Committee will be held at 10am on 26 September. Minutes: The next meeting will be held on 26 September 2013. |