Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Bridgett, Carr, Dunbar, Foster, Humphrey, Nisbet, Robinson and Towns.

Minutes of the annual meeting of County Council held on Wednesday 17 May 2023, as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record (see pages 11-20).

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Annual Meeting of County Council held on Wednesday 17 May 2023, be confirmed as a true record subject to Minute No. 7 (page 14) being amended to confirm that Councillor Waddell was elected as Vice Chair of Tynedale LAC, not Councillor Kennedy. This had been notified to Democratic Services.

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required where a matter arises at a meeting;

a.       Which directly relates to Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (‘DPI’) as set out in Appendix B, Table 1 of the Code of Conduct, to disclose the interest, not participate in any discussion or vote and not to remain in room. Where members have a DPI or if the matter concerns an executive function and is being considered by a Cabinet Member with a DPI they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with the matter.

b.       Which directly relates to the financial interest or well being of a Other Registrable Interest as set out in Appendix B, Table 2 of the Code of Conduct to disclose the interest and only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak at the meeting but otherwise must not take part in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not remain the room.

c.        Which directly relates to their financial interest or well-being (and is not DPI) or the financial well being of a relative or close associate, to declare the interest and members may only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak. Otherwise, the member must not take part in discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room.

d.       Which affects the financial well-being of the member, a relative or close associate or a body included under the Other Registrable Interests column in Table 2, to disclose the interest and apply the test set out at paragraph 9 of Appendix B before deciding whether they may remain in the meeting.

e.       Where Members have or a Cabinet Member has an Other Registerable Interest or Non Registerable Interest in a matter being considered in exercise of their executive function, they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with it.

NB Any member needing clarification must contact monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk. Members are referred to the Code of Conduct which contains the matters above in full. Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

The Chair reported with sadness the passing of former County Councillor Anthony Murray, who had represented the Wooler Electoral Division from 2008 until 2021. Councillors Sanderson and Dickinson both spoke in fond tribute to Anthony and members stood for a minute’s silence as a mark of respect.

The Leader also reported that Cabinet had recently received the results of the consultation exercise on devolution. This had received a positive response. One of the issues which had come out was the ability of Northumberland to maintain a strong voice in the region. However, he did not feel this was a concern as all authorities worked well together. The full process should begin in May next year and Northumberland would have Cabinet responsibility for Rurality and the Environment.

The Leader then paid tribute to Chief Fire Officer Paul Hedley who was retiring from the Fire and Rescue Service. He had been an integral part of the Fire and Rescue Service for many years and a fantastic officer and friend. The Leader then also paid tribute to Suki Binjal who had acted at the Interim Head of Governance and MO since 2021. She had brought a level of professionalism and integrity to the Council and had turned round a significant amount of work during her time with the Authority. He wished both officers all the very best.

Councillor Horncastle added that he had learned a lot from Paul Hedley since assuming responsibility for the portfolio. He led a very professional team and he would be sorely missed.

Councillor Bawn advised members, on behalf of the Scrutiny Chairs, that as part of the review of Scrutiny just undertaken, there would be quarterly reports to Council from September on the work of their Committees.

To receive questions provided on notice from and to provide answers to the public in accordance with the Council's Procedure Rules.

No public questions had been received.

To receive questions provided on notice from and to provide answers to Members of the Council in accordance with the Council’s Procedure Rules.

Question 1 from Councillor Wilczek to Councillor Riddle

Due to ongoing parking issues across Bedlington, and with the upcoming Active Travel Corridor and Northumberland Line, can the administration reassure residents that the town centre car park (next to Aldi) will remain under Northumberland County Council control?

Councillor Riddle replied that the land that comprised the new Aldi store and store car park was sold to Aldi by Advance Northumberland. The remaining car park and development land was still owned by Advance Northumberland. He anticipated this would be required to provide dedicated car parking as and when these sites were developed as part of the regeneration of Bedlington Town Centre. The County Council retained ownership of the car parks adjoining Bedlington Library and there was no intention that the situation would change.

Question 2 from Councillor Hill to Councillor Horncastle

In the last 15 years, how many bodies have been buried in the wrong graves in Northumberland due to errors by this authority? How many bodies have been exhumed as a result?

Councillor Horncastle replied that the new Unitary Northumberland County Council came into effect in 2009 at which point it took over responsibility for 23 active cemeteries across the County from its predecessor District Councils. During the period from 2009 to date, there had been one instance of a body being buried in the incorrect plot, in this instance the plot was empty but had already been purchased by a family for future use. The error was quickly identified and following dialogue with both of the affected families and with the consent of the Church of England, the Council arranged for the exhumation of the grave and reburial in the adjoining correct plot. The Council accepted that even one error of this nature was not acceptable and had taken further measures to mitigate the risk of any reoccurrence and had apologised unreservedly to both of the families affected by this unfortunate error.

He added that these unfortunate errors were certainly not unique to Northumberland. Similar instances in other places were widely reported across the country. For example, in October the Northern Echo had reported on seven burial errors in other authorities in the South of the region and these appeared to be largely down to human error. He pointed this out, not to excuse the one mistake made in the County. This was, of course, deeply regrettable and was taken very seriously. However, he reassured colleagues and residents that these errors were not unique to Northumberland, and the Authority was not an outlier in this.

Councillor Hill  replied that she was aware of several instances in Berwick where such things had happened. In light of this information, the failure to apologise to families and the impact on them, she asked whether the Cabinet Member would call for a full review to ensure that these errors weren’t repeated.

Councillor Horncastle responded that officer research had only identified one instance and he could therefore not comment any further than that.

Leader of Council Annual Portfolio Report

This is the Leader of Council’s Annual Portfolio Report.  The Report contains issues that set the context for delivery of the Leader’s Portfolio.  It highlights achievements over the past year and, outlines the areas of focus for the coming year (see pages 21-28).

Leader of Council Annual Portfolio Report

The Leader of Council’s Annual Portfolio Report contained issues that set the context for delivery of the Leader’s Portfolio. It highlighted achievements over the past year and, outlined the areas of focus for the coming year.

The report was presented by the Leader. The report detailed achievements against the Council’s three key priorities. A second Equalities conference was scheduled to take place in July which would discuss the Action Plan and action points. He detailed the support which had been provided through Northumberland Communities Together and the major investment programmes with the help of North of Tyne and Government funding throughout the County.

Support for business included free car parking and new car parks, support for better public transport and larger projects such as JDR Cables in Blyth, as well as support for skills training.

On value for money, the budget had protected front line services. The elderly had been looked after and education results were very good. Investment was being made to amenities such as public toilets and parks and open spaces and there would be more investment in the environment going forward. There had been significant investment in leisure centres and new schools and while these were not cheap, they were essential to show that the Council was providing value for money.

He was also very pleased to see the way the new Executive Management Team, led by the Chief Executive, had transformed things and were working well as a team and with members.

Councillor Dickinson referred to comments he had made at the last meeting on the Corporate Plan about the need for KPIs to be included. There was nothing in the Leader’s Report to indicate that anything was being measured and he asked when this evidence would be available, and when would the Authority be working on this type of plan.

Councillor Kennedy looked forward to seeing the new public facilities in Hexham which had been long awaited and reiterated the points made by Councillor Dickinson regarding KPIs which would be helpful to assess performance.

Councillor Hill agreed on the need for more detail, particularly on tackling inequalities with respect to social housing.

Councillor Ball asked for more support for Ashington. Whilst people were using foodbanks and could not afford the rent or council tax, she would continue to lobby for this support.

Councillor Scott asked about the investment planned for Waterworld in Prudhoe.

Councillor Dale commented that the draft Statement of Accounts showed that 62% of KPIs were showing red. She felt it was important that this information be included in the Corporate Plan, although it was available on line.

The Leader responded that Cabinet members would each be giving an annual report to Council. He agreed with Councillor Kennedy’s points regarding Hexham and the work which had gone on there, adding that partnership working was very important. He assured members that there would be progress in Ashington and members would be kept involved. Social housing would be discussed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Challenge Board Report

To consider and respond to the Challenge Board Report (dated 14th June 2023) which is attached at Appendix 1 (see pages 29-47).

Challenge Board Report

Council was asked to consider and respond to the Challenge Board Report (dated 14th June 2023) which was attached at Appendix 1. The following members of the Challenge Board were present at the meeting: Pat Ritchie (Chair), Mark Edgell, Wallace Sampson, Stephen Houghton and Gillian Marshall.

The Leader introduced the report, highlighting that one of the recommendations from the Caller Report had been to invite in a challenge board to help the Authority deal with the matters which had been raised in the recommendations. Lee Rowley MP, the Minister at DLUHC had recently commended the Authority for the work they had done so far and the Leader’s intention was that a peer review should take place.

Regarding the point in the Challenge Board report about female voices struggling to be heard, he found this disappointing. No member should struggle to be heard whether male or female so some work would be done anonymously to identify where the problem was and how it could be alleviated. The results would be reported to the next Group Leaders meeting and the Group Leaders could then take this forward. He then proposed the report’s recommendations, which was seconded by Councillor Reid.

Pat Ritchie thanked the Council for inviting the Challenge Board in and all of those who had engaged so well with the process. Two interim reports had been presented so far and this third report was a stock take report. It was important to focus on the report as a whole, as it contained a lot of detail, and not just on the recommendations. It was the Board’s assessment of where the Council was following Caller. A huge amount of progress had been made in a short period of time but there was still a long way to go on an improvement journey that could take quite a while. The most important thing was to consider the work which had been done, and how it was embedded to drive change and improvement.

She drew members’ attention to Section 3 of the report which contained a commentary on progress against each of the Caller recommendations. Members needed to be clear on how the changes were embedded in the organisation and how they would impact on the Council going forward through the Corporate Plan and the Code of Conduct.

Paragraphs 3.18 and 3.19 drew out the importance of a clear improvement plan so members could identify progress made against the various actions. Paragraphs 3.23-3.29 dealt with the need to ensure that all members were heard across the Council as a whole and that all members were supported with the right tools to do their jobs.

She encouraged the Authority to continue to be self-critical but also to celebrate success and the three recommendations would support that. She also drew attention to recommendations 5 and 6 and the recommendation that the Authority have a corporate peer challenge before the end of the municipal year. Finally, she thanked the Challenge Board members for their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.