Agenda and minutes

(A)       The persons aforementioned were admitted into the presence of the Council and passed as Burgesses of Guild in respect of their respective Acts of Admission in the Guild Burgess Book:-

Laurence Alfred, Co-ordinator, Aberdeen

Andrew Murray, Bank Manager, Aberdeen

Paul O’Connor, Community Projects Manager, Aberdeen

David Young, Surveyor, Aberdeen

(B)       The persons aforementioned were admitted into the presence of the Council and passed as Burgesses of the Burgh of Aberdeen of their own craft only:-

            James Strathdee, Baker, Aberdeen

            David Suttie, Shoemaker, Aberdeen

(A)       Councillor John Stewart advised that he had attended the APSE Public Service Awards in Londonderry in September, where the Council had been shortlisted as finalists in four categories, winning the Community and Neighbourhood Initiative category for Transition Extreme. Councillor Stewart added that this was the second national award that Transition Extreme had won in 2010 and congratulated all those involved in its success.

(B)       Councillor Leslie advised that he had attended the RoSPA (Royal Society for the Protection of Accidents) Awards in Glasgow in September, where the Council had been presented with a Gold Award for the third year in succession for occupational health and safety. Councillor Leslie congratulated all staff and thanked the members of the Corporate Health and Safety Committee.

(C)              Councillor Jennifer Stewart highlighted that local swimmer Robbie Renwick had won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, which was a fitting tribute to his coach Eileen Adams who had passed away earlier in the year. Councillor Ironside advised that Aberdeen swimmer David Carry had won a bronze medal and requested that the Council send congratulatory messages to both athletes. Councillor Kiddie added that all four medals that Scotland had won to date had been achieved by athletes from Aberdeen, or the North East of Scotland, after two further medals had been won in shooting.

            (D)       Councillor Collie advised that Jaimie Hunter, aged 15, Councillor Hunter’s daughter, had performed very well in the Under 25 Badminton Horse Trials where she finished in 7^th place out of 72 competitors, and also in the Under 25 Cheshire Horse Trials where she finished in 8^th place out of 76 competitors, with both events attracting entries from across the UK. Councillor Collie congratulated Councillor Hunter’s daughter on her excellent achievement, performing so well against much older competitors.

The Council resolved:-

(i)                 to concur with the remarks of the various members; and

(ii)               to write to all athletes from Aberdeen who had won medals in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi congratulating them on their success.

(i)         Friends of Union Terrace Gardens - in relation to item 8 (e)

The Council had before it, in accordance with Standing Order 10(1), the following requests for deputations:-

(1)              Friends of Union Terrace Gardens, in relation to the report on the City Garden Project (as detailed at Article 13 of this minute); and

(2)              Mr Steven Bothwell, in relation to the report on the City Garden Project.

The Council resolved:-

to accept the request from Friends of Union Terrace Gardens.

Councillor John Stewart moved, seconded by Councillor Kevin Stewart:-

That the request from Mr Steven Bothwell be refused as his proposed deputation on the specific subject of transferring Union Terrace Gardens to a Special Purpose Vehicle did not directly relate to the report the Council had before it.

On a division, there voted:-

For the procedural motion  (23)  -  Lord Provost Peter Stephen; Depute Provost Dunbar; and Councillors Corall, Cormack, Cormie, Farquharson, Fletcher, Jaffrey, Kiddie, Leslie, McCaig, McDonald, Milne, Noble, Penny, Jennifer Stewart, John Stewart, Kevin Stewart, Wendy Stuart, John West, Kirsty West, Wisely and Yuill.

Against the procedural motion  (11)  -  Councillors Adam, Allan, Cassie, Collie, Crockett, Graham, Greig, Hunter, Ironside, Laing and Young.

The Council further resolved:-

to adopt the procedural motion and thereby refuse the request from Mr Steven Bothwell.

The Council had before it the minute of meeting of Aberdeen City Council of 18^th August 2010.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the minute.

The Council had before it a pamphlet of standing committee minutes from 19^th August to 10^th September 2010.

The Council resolved:-

to note the minutes.

The Council had before it the minutes of meetings of the Urgent Business Committee of 6^th August and 13^th and 20^th September 2010.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the minutes.

In relation to item 5 (Allocation of Committee Places for the two Conservative Groups) on the Business Statement it has been agreed that the current allocations will continue.

The Council had before it a statement of Council business which had been prepared by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

The Council resolved:-

(i)                 to instruct officers to report to the next meeting on the 50m Swimming Pool;

(ii)               to note that the allocation of committee places between the two Conservative Groups and Councillor Boulton would remain the same; and

(iii)             to otherwise note the statement.

The Council had before it the minute of meeting of the Electoral Boundaries Task Group of 27^th September 2010.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the minute.

The Council heard an oral report by the Chief Executive providing an update on the actions taken by the Leadership Board to address the findings and recommendations of the Accounts Commission for Scotland on Aberdeen City Council: Reports by the Controller of Audit on the Audit of Best Value and Community Planning and on the Property Sales Investigation.

The Chief Executive advised that the Leadership Board had not met since the last Council meeting as a result of a clash with the CPMR (Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions) conference in Aberdeen and the commitments of officers and elected members therein.

The Chief Executive added that officers were to be meeting with Antony Clark of Audit Scotland regarding the Council’s progress and work that was ongoing on a national basis, the output from which would be reported to the Audit and Risk Committee and the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee. 

The Council resolved:-

to note the Chief Executive’s remarks.

With reference to Article 10 of the minute of its meeting of 24^th March 2010, the Council had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which discussed the possibility of continuing the 10.30am start time for Council meetings indefinitely, following a review of the last four ordinary Council meetings.

The report stated that ordinary Council meetings had started at 2.00pm for many years until June 2009, when a 10.30am start had been introduced on trial basis following a succession of lengthy meetings and a particularly turbulent previous meeting. All ordinary Council meetings had started at 10.30am since June 2009.

The report provided data pertaining to the last four ordinary Council meetings, which indicated the number of reports on the agenda, the length of the meeting, the time the meeting finished and the time the meeting would have finished if it had started at 2.00pm. The report commented that the volume of Council business had not been particularly excessive however there had been a number of contentious issues that members had spent a considerable length of time debating.

The report went on to provide further data in relation to the number of members who had contributed to the debates on such contentious issues. The report added that contentious issues frequently attracted requests for deputations and there had been nine such requests across the last four meetings of which seven had been accepted.

The report acknowledged that the 10.30am start time did not favour those members in full time employment, however until such time that it could be demonstrated that Council business could be disposed of within a reasonable length of time, returning to a 2.00pm start was not practical. The report concluded that there was undoubtedly a risk to the Council if vitally important decisions for the city continued to be taken by members towards the end of long meetings late at night when appropriate due diligence could be sacrificed in the interests of bringing the meeting to a conclusion.

The report recommended:-

that the Council agree that Council meetings, with the exception of the Budget meeting in February, start at 10.30am until further notice.

Councillor Jennifer Stewart moved, seconded by Councillor Kirsty West:-

            That the Council approve the recommendation contained within the report.

Councillor Hunter moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Yuill:-

That the Council agree that Council meetings start at 2pm from the December 2010 Council meeting onwards until further notice.

Following contributions from eight members of the Council, Councillor Greig moved, in terms of Standing Order 14, that the question be now put, and was seconded by Councillor McCaig.

On a division, there voted:-

For the procedural motion  (21)  -  Lord Provost Peter Stephen; and Councillors Corall, Cormack, Cormie, Farquharson, Fletcher, Greig, Jaffrey, Kiddie, Leslie, McCaig, McDonald, Milne, Noble, Penny, Jennifer Stewart, John Stewart, Wendy Stuart, Kirsty West, Wisely and Yuill.

Against the procedural motion  (13)  -  Depute Provost Dunbar; and Councillors Adam, Allan, Cassie, Collie, Crockett,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance seeking approval to appoint a replacement for Ms. Karen Shirron who was standing down from Aberdeen Prison Visiting Committee.

The report explained the role of Aberdeen Prison Visiting Committee in acting on behalf of the First Minister as independent observers concentrating on the conditions in the prison and, in particular, the treatment of prisoners. The report advised that every member of the Visiting Committee had the right to enter the establishment at any time and to have access to every part of it, and to every prisoner. The report noted that a visiting rota was arranged, with a minimum of two members visiting every fortnight.

The report stated that the replacement member had to be an external person as statutory rules stipulated that external members could not be outnumbered on the Visiting Committee and two of the three remaining members were elected members.

The Council resolved:-

(i)                 to appoint Ms. Robyn Warrender to the position; and

(ii)               to thank Ms. Karen Shirron for her dedication to the work of Aberdeen Prison Visiting Committee.

Please note that this is an additional page circulated in connection with the main report

The Council had before it a report by the Chief Executive which detailed the additional work which was required to take account of lessons learnt from recent elections, changes in circumstances and the needs of elections to be held in 2011.

The report explained that Section 16 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 required each local authority to conduct a review of polling districts and polling places for use at parliamentary elections every four years. In doing so, the local authority must ensure reasonable facilities for voting and that polling places were accessible to all electors, including voters with a disability, so far as was practicable. It was highlighted that the most recent review of polling districts and polling places had been completed in February 2009.

The report advised that Returning Officers had been asked to plan on the basis that there would be new boundaries in force for the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, although these had yet to be formally ratified. The proposed new Scottish Parliament boundaries split three existing polling districts within the Aberdeen City area, CN0503 (Woodside), CN0504 (Kittybrewster) and CN0505 (Rosehill), into two parts. Under the new boundaries the vast majority and northern sections of these polling districts would be in the Aberdeen Donside constituency, as opposed to Aberdeen Central, with a small section in the south of the polling district in the new Aberdeen Central constituency.

In addition, the report explained that the new boundaries allowed for the removal of two very small polling districts which had been created to account for the difference in Scottish Parliament and Westminster Parliament constituencies. These were DN0311 (Summerhill Endrick) which could be combined with DN0310 (Summerhill Central), and SN1004 (Fernielea) which could be combined with SN1003 (Summerhill South).

The report set out the following recommendations for changes to polling districts:-

• retain the northern parts of what were CN0503, CN0504 and CN0505 as separate polling districts within Aberdeen Donside;
• take the southern parts of what were CN0503 and CN0504 and create a new district called CN0508 (Kittybrewster) in Aberdeen Central;
• take the southern part of what was CN0505 and create a new polling district called CN0507 (Cornhill) in Aberdeen Central;
• combine DN0311 (Summerhill Endrick) with DN0310 (Summerhill Central) and call it DN0310 (Summerhill Central); and
• combine SN1004 (Fernielea) with SN1003 (Summerhill South) and call it SN1003 (Summerhill South)

In regard to polling places, the report proposed a number of changes, as undernoted, and explained the rationale behind each change.

(A)       In terms of Standing Order 10(2), the Council received a deputation from Mr Mike Shepherd of Friends of Union Terrace Gardens.

Mr Shepherd expressed his belief that the timetable within the report was not logical and was excessively condensed with too many key steps being dealt with at the same Council meeting, which would be likely to lead to big mistakes being made along the way. Mr Shepherd highlighted that significant delays had already been incurred in relation to the project and that the timetable was overly ambitious with numerous omissions and ambiguities.

Mr Shepherd stated that the timetable was distinctly light on information pertaining to the Special Purpose Vehicle, and its legitimacy in legal terms, and questioned how the Council could approve a report which posed more questions than it provided answers.

There being no questions for Mr Shepherd, members thanked him for his contribution.

            (B)       With reference to Article 16 of the minute of its meeting of 30^th June 2010, the Council had before it a report by the Director of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure which presented a timetable for key decisions and arrangements for short-listing design proposals relating to the City Garden project.

The report set out the following indicative timetable:-

With reference to Article 17 of the minute of its meeting of 18^th August 2010, the Council was requested to appoint five members to the Board of AECC on the basis of three Administration members and two Opposition members.

The Council resolved:-

to appoint Councillors Fletcher, Malone and Kirsty West to the Board of AECC as the three Administration members.

CouncillorWisely moved, seconded by Councillor Cormack:-

That Councillor Donnelly be appointed to the Board as one of the Opposition members.

CouncillorFarquharson moved, seconded by Councillor Kevin Stewart:-

That Councillor Milne be appointed to the Board as one of the Opposition members.

Councillor Crockett moved, seconded by Councillor Young:-

That one member of the Labour Group, to be determined, be appointed to the Board as one of the Opposition members.

The Acting Senior Democratic Services Manager advised the Council that, in accordance with Standing Order 16(3) which addressed the situation where the number of candidates exceeded the places to be filled, a vote should be conducted with members being allocated two votes, following which the candidate with the fewest votes would fall from consideration. The Council was advised that this would require to be undertaken by roll call due to the limitations imposed on a vote of this nature by the electronic voting system.

On a division between the three nominations, there voted:-

For Councillor Donnelly  (14)  -  Lord Provost Peter Stephen; and Councillors Cormack, Fletcher, Greig, Leslie, McCaig, Penny, Jennifer Stewart, John Stewart, Kevin Stewart, Wendy Stuart, Kirsty West, Wisely and Yuill.

For Councillor Milne  (22)  -  Lord Provost Peter Stephen; and Councillors Corall, Cormack, Cormie, Farquharson, Fletcher, Greig, Jaffrey, Kiddie, Leslie, McCaig, McDonald, Milne, Noble, Penny, Jennifer Stewart, John Stewart, Kevin Stewart, Wendy Stuart, John West, Kirsty West and Yuill.

For one member of the Labour Group to be determined  (16)  -  Councillors Adam, Allan, Collie, Corall, Cormie, Crockett, Farquharson, Graham, Hunter, Jaffrey, Kiddie, Laing, Milne, Noble, John West and Young.

Declined to vote  (1)  -  Depute Provost Dunbar.

Absent from the division  (2)  -  Councillors Cassie and Ironside.

The Council further resolved:-

thatCouncillor Milne and one member of the Labour Group to be nominated be appointed to the Board of AECC as the two Opposition members.

Please note that Councillor Corall has intimated that he will not be accepting a Senior Councillor allowance for the role.

The Council was requested to approve the appointment of Councillor Corall as Vice Convener of the Housing and Environment Committee following the resignation of Councillor McDonald. The Council was requested to note that Councillor Corall would not be accepting a Senior Councillor allowance for the role.

Councillor John Stewart moved, seconded by Councillor Kevin Stewart:-

That the Council approve the appointment of Councillor Corall as Vice Convener of the Housing and Environment Committee and note that he would not be accepting a Senior Councillor allowance for the role.

Councillor Collie moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Young:-

That the Council agree to the appointment of Councillor Corall as Vice Convener of the Housing and Environment Committee, note that Councillor McDonald already receives a Senior Councillor allowance in his role as Vice Convener of the Grampian Joint Fire Board and agree that given the abnormal financial pressures facing the Council, the Council agree to remove allowances from all Vice Conveners.

On a division, there voted:-

For the motion  (22)  -  Lord Provost Peter Stephen; Depute Provost Dunbar; and Councillors Cormack, Cormie, Farquharson, Fletcher, Greig, Jaffrey, Kiddie, Leslie, McCaig, McDonald, Noble, Penny, Jennifer Stewart, John Stewart, Kevin Stewart, Wendy Stuart, John West, Kirsty West, Wisely and Yuill.

For the amendment  (9)  -  Councillors Adam, Allan, Collie, Crockett, Graham, Hunter, Laing, Milne and Young.

Declined to vote  (1)  -  Councillor Corall.

Absent from the division  (2)  -  Councillors Cassie and Ironside.

The Council resolved:-

(i)                 to adopt the motion; and

(ii)               to note Councillor McDonald’s gratitude to a number of officers for their support during his time in the role as Vice Convener.

Robert Gordon’s College have requested that the Council makes no appointment at this time.

The Council was requested to consider appointing a replacement member to the Robert Gordon’s College Board of Governors following Councillor Kirsty West’s recent resignation, however Robert Gordon’s College had asked that the Council make no appointment at this time.

The Council resolved:-

to defer consideration of the matter in accordance with the wishes of Robert Gordon’s College.

To ask the Chair of the Pensions Panel, who if anybody, declared an interest at the Pensions Panel when discussing the pension arrangements for Oakbank School and to further ask, if nobody declared an interest at the Pensions Panel meeting, does the chair of the Pensions Panel remember an Elected Member declaring an interest at Council regarding Oakbank School by virtue of their position as Chairperson of the Pensions Panel and stated that he considered that the nature of that interest required the Elected Member to leave the meeting and take no part in the Council’s deliberations thereon and if so can he confirm if this Elected Member is also a member of the Pensions Panel and if so can he confirm the Elected Member’s name and the position he holds within the Pensions Panel?

Councillor Young has requested that the above question be placed on the agenda, in terms of Standing Order 20(2)(i), as he is of the opinion that that the elected member has not answered the question. Councillor Young stated that he specifically asked for the name and position the elected member holds within the Pensions Panel and this information is not contained within the answer. Councillor Young added that it would not be unreasonable to expect that the Chair of the Pensions Panel, who receives an enhanced payment from the Council for being the Chair of the Pensions Panel, should be aware of his brief and provide the name of the elected member.

The Council had before it one question, of which due notice had been given in terms of Standing Order 20(2), which had been placed on the agenda as Councillor Young had indicated that he was unhappy with the response.

Councillor Young

QUESTION -

To the Convener of the Pensions Panel

“To ask the Chair of the Pensions Panel, who if anybody, declared an interest at the Pensions Panel when discussing the pension arrangements for Oakbank School and to further ask, if nobody declared an interest at the Pensions Panel meeting, does the chair of the Pensions Panel remember an elected member declaring an interest at Council regarding Oakbank School by virtue of their position as Chairperson of the Pensions Panel and stated that he considered that the nature of that interest required the elected member to leave the meeting and take no part in the Council’s deliberations thereon and if so can he confirm if this elected member is also a member of the Pensions Panel and if so can he confirm the elected member’s name and the position he holds within the Pensions Panel?”

ANSWER (by Councillor Fletcher) -

Declarations of interest are matters recorded in minutes, and so are publicly available. I believe it inappropriate to use questions to ask a member to justify a declaration, as the Code states that it is a matter for each individual member.

I am also astonished that the Chairman of Oakbank School, an organisation that has debts to the Pension Fund of between £2M and £3M, believes it is justifiable to use Council resources to put a question to the Convener of the Pension Fund, about matters pertaining to Oakbank. That the question relates to declarations of interest is particularly ironic.

However, in an attempt to keep officer costs to a minimum on this question, I will add the following:

No elected member on the Pension Panel has declared an interest at the Panel when Oakbank has been regularly discussed.

I declared an interest at Council as Chair of the Pensions Panel, when a planning application for Oakbank's site was discussed.

If I had voted on Oakbank's planning application, which would have affected the value of its land, and hence Oakbank's ability to pay its debts, it would not have been outwith the suspicion of an ordinary member of the public that any decision I took on the application may have been affected by my Pension Fund responsibilities.

In accordance with Standing Order 20(4), the Lord Provost ruled that the question had been answered satisfactorily.

The Council resolved:-

to note the details.

At this juncture the Lord Provost vacated the Chair, and left the meeting, and was replaced by Depute Provost Dunbar.

“That this Council deplores Councillor Young’s remarks about the Lord Provost, reported in the ‘Evening Express’ on 18^th September, and calls upon Councillor Young to make an immediate public apology to the Lord Provost.”

Councillors Yuill, John Stewart, Kevin Stewart, Donnelly, Cormie, Dean, Jennifer Stewart, Leslie, May, Noble, Greig, Corall, McDonald, John West, Wisely, Malone, Milne, Farquharson, Jaffrey, Penny, Wendy Stuart, Reynolds, McCaig, Fletcher, Robertson, Cormack and Kirsty West, pursuant to notice, moved:-

“That this Council deplores Councillor Young’s remarks about the Lord Provost reported in the ‘Evening Express’ on 18^th September, and calls upon Councillor Young to make an immediate public apology to the Lord Provost.”

The Council resolved:-

(i)                 to approve the terms of the motion; and

(ii)               to thank the Lord and Lady Provost for the vast amount of work they carry out representing the city.

- JACQUELINE DUNBAR, Depute Provost.