Any other business - Walsall Council decisions on Monday night

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Any other business - Council decisions
The YamYam 11 Nov 09
A meeting of the full Walsall Council meeting took place at 6:00pm on Monday 9th November at the Council House. Here are the main decisions made by Councillors.


Item 7 
Questions from the public and councillors Councillor Robertson asked what the cost has been of seeking external legal advice in the last 12 months for planning, employment and other issues.

Councillor Towe, portfolio holder for finance and personnel, said that a total of £502,651 was spent on external legal advice. £354,757 was spent on employment cases, £90,285 on social services cases and £56,362 on planning cases. Litigation accounted for a total of £356,004 in external legal fees.

In a supplementary question, Councillor Robertson asked how much money had been allocated for external legal advice in next years` budget.

Councillor Towe said that he did not know the figure.

Councillor P Smith asked if the council is fulfilling its mandatory duty and statutory obligations in terms of the Disabled Facilities Grant following a cut of £3.4 million over the last 3 years.

Councillor Andrew, portfolio holder for regeneration, said that the council was fulfilling its mandatory duty and statutory obligations.

YamYam links 15 Oct Walsall disabled ‘punished’ by funding cut

There were no questions from the public.

Item 8 
Licensing and Safety Committee regarding the street trading review
• The criteria for shop displays and advertisements on the highway
• Change of designation to consent streets
• Street trading policy
• Designated street trader sites
• Gambling Act 2005 – revision of statement of principles

All 5 motions were carried.

Express & Star 3 Nov Ban on A-boards is lifted at a price

Item 9 
Local Admission Forum
Councillor Bird proposed that Councillors Walker and Carpenter represent the council on the School Admission Forum.

The motion was carried.

Item 10 
Cannock Chase and Pelsall District Miners Charity
Council were asked to approve a land exchange with the Charities Commission as the result of illegal building on Oak Park. Failure to reach an agreement could result in the demolition of Oak Park Leisure Centre and Walsall Wood Football Club.

Plan A shows the council land to be exchanged.

Plan B shows the existing charity land.

The motion was carried.

YamYam links 29 Oct Council issues statement on Oak Park Leisure Centre

Item 11
To consider the following motion, notice of which has been duly given by Councillors Oliver, Chambers, Wilkes and Sarohi: This Council resolves to establish a cross-party working group to review the constitution in relation to meetings of the full Council, to report in time for recommendations to be considered at the next Annual Council Meeting (2010). We believe that “the full Council meeting should be a showcase for what the Council is doing in its area, and for discussions about the issues and challenges it faces. Councillors are elected as individuals to represent wards, but also as a group to speak for the area and to hold its decision makers to account.” Unfortunately we do not believe that this is achieved under current arrangements, and a brief review indicates that the majority of our Council statutory agendas would provide very short meetings and little or no opportunity for interaction and accountability for the Cabinet executive. We would therefore request that the proposed working party include consideration of the following policy options, in no particular order of priority :


• That Council meetings should revert to (at least) the previous six weekly frequency.

• That individual Cabinet portfolio holders present a report on their work to full Council on a rota basis, to include  questions and debate.

• That Scrutiny Panel reports be presented to full Council by the relevant Chairs, to include questions and debate.

• That consideration be given to a period at each Council meeting of open questions (without notice) to portfolio and other holders of formal position (as in Birmingham City Council).

• That consideration be given to the role of chairing the Council (as separate from the Mayoralty).

• That consideration be given to a fairer and more even distribution of the appointment of Chairs of Scrutiny Panels.

• That there be a more formal and better process of response to public petitions presented to Council.

• That there be a more structured full debate as to the “state of Walsall”, as outlined within the constitution : that the state of Walsall debate (at least) include contributions from other major partners across the Borough, as reflected in the Walsall Partnership (LSP), and the opportunity for all Councillors to contribute.

• That political groups be given additional research facilities / support to foster more informed discussion and policy.

• That an overview of meetings of the Council be factually reported on the Council’s intranet - which at current viewing gives no indication or reference to our “democratic process”.
It is clearly recognised that the above policy proposals are designed to hold the Cabinet and the decision-making process to greater account, and to make the process more relevant to the people of Walsall.

The motion was defeated.

Cllr Ian Shires 10 Nov Failure to make Walsall Council more democratic
Ian Briggs & Andrew Coulson C’llr Magazine July 09 Full Council - we can’t go on like this (page 21) pdf

The meeting closed after 45 minutes at 6-45pm.


YamYam 5 Nov Council agenda for 9 Nov 09
Walsall Council Meeting Mon 14 Sep 09 Minutes

Tags: Council