Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be found at:-

http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=122&MId=2866&Ver=4

Please note that if any changes are made to this minute at the point of approval, these will be outlined in the subsequent minute and this document will not be retrospectively altered.

The Council had before it a joint report by the Director of Corporate Governance and the Director of Housing and Environment which presented the 2014/15 General Fund revenue budget along with indicative five year budgets.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          approve the revenue budget for 2014/15 as at appendix 1 to the report, along with an indicative five year budget;

(b)          approve the continuation of a Risk Fund to mitigate against any in year cost pressures;

(c)          approve the Council’s Workforce Plan as at appendix 4 to the report;

(d)          agree to freeze the level of Council tax for 2014/15 at the same level as 2013/14; and

(e)          continue to retain uncommitted revenue reserves in accordance with the Reserves Strategy, which presently showed a requirement for £11.3million to be held.

Councillor Crockett moved, seconded by Councillor Boulton:-

            That the Council -

(1)      approve the recommendations contained within the report;

(2)      note the significant cost of living challenges faced by our employees and instruct officers, in consultation with trades unions, to gather evidence on the cost of this and other relevant factors affecting City Council employees and present this evidence to a future meeting of the Finance, Policy and Resources Committee for consideration;

(3)      in the interim, instruct the Chief Executive to write to the Cabinet Secretary of Finance and Sustainable Growth to request the Scottish Government to consider funding for an Aberdeen Weighting Allowance;

(4)      instruct the Chief Executive to write to COSLA before 31 March 2014 to advise that the Council would terminate its membership of the organisation with effect from 1 April 2015 but reserved its right to withdraw such notice at any point during 2014/15 in view of the impending review of the COSLA Constitution and Standing Orders; and

(5)      instruct the Chief Executive to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth seeking an assurance that as part of the next three year settlement starting in 2015/16, no local authority would receive less than a minimum of 85% of the Scottish average in terms of revenue support.

During the course of his budget speech, Councillor Crockett:-

• announced that an additional £200,000 was contained within the budget to deliver on strategic procurement, and instructed all Directors to report back in terms of how a reduction of approximately £1.5million could be achieved in contract pricing;
• highlighted that to deliver on the priority of smarter living (quality of life), the following items were contained within the budget:-

• highlighted that to deliver on the priority of smarter people, the following items were contained  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which provided details of the Non Housing Capital Programme for 2014/15, along with indicative investment levels for the five year business plan period and incorporating the recently approved Strategic Infrastructure Plan.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          approve the capital investment programme of £394million over the five year business plan life-cycle, as at appendix 1 to the report, which incorporated the recently approved Strategic Infrastructure Plan;

(b)          approve the new self-financing investment bid for the Tenanted Non-Residential Property Portfolio to be included in the capital programme;

(c)          note the content of the updated Corporate Asset Management Plan contained within appendix 4 to the report; and

(d)          approve the Prudential Indicators contained within appendix 5 to the report.

Councillor Crockett moved, seconded by Councillor Boulton:-

            That the Council -

(1)      approve the recommendations contained within the report; and

(2)      instruct the Director of Education, Culture and Sport to report back to Council with a proposal to further develop the sports pitch and ancillary services at Aberdeen Sports Village which would provide the North East with a true Olympic style village.

Councillor McCaig moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Noble:-

            That the Council -

(1)      approve the amended capital investment programme of £413million over the five year business plan life-cycle as detailed below;

(2)      approve the new self-financing investment bid for the Tenanted Non-Residential Property Portfolio to be included in the capital programme;

(3)      note the content of the updated Corporate Asset Management Plan contained within appendix 4 to the report;

(4)      approve the Prudential Indicators contained within appendix 5 to the report; and

(5)      instruct the Director of Education, Culture and Sport to bring a report to committee detailing the works required to deliver new primary schools in Tillydrone and Torry, and a further report on how to utilise the £3million identified for the school estate with priority given to schools with capacity issues, and the £2million identified for alterations at Mile End Primary.

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which provided details of the budget included in the 2014/15 General Fund budget which related to the NESPF and an indicative budget for 2015/16 to 2018/19.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          note the provision contained within the Council’s General Fund budget for 2014/15;

(b)          note the 2015/16 to 2018/19 indicative budget;

(c)          instruct the Head of Finance to recover the actual costs from the NESPF; and

(d)          note the progress on the introduction of a service level agreement.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

Councillor Kiddie declared an interest in the following item of business by virtue of his position as a Council appointed member to the Board of Aberdeen Performing Arts and withdrew from the meeting.

The Council had before it a report by the Chief Executive which presented the draft Common Good budget for 2014/15 and indicative budgets for 2015/16 to 2018/19.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          approve the Common Good budget for 2014/15 as detailed in appendix 1 to the report;

(b)          consider and decide upon the grant to Aberdeen Performing Arts in relation to the additional rental space of the Lemon Tree;

(c)          consider and decide upon the notice of motion in the name of Councillor Greig in relation to the requested allocation of £20,000 towards the costs of work at the Queen Mother Rose Garden, Hazlehead Park;

(d)          note the decision of Police Scotland to introduce cost recovery arrangements for events policing; and

(e)          note the 2015/16 to 2018/19 indicative Common Good budgets set out in appendix 1 to the report.

Councillor Crockett moved, seconded by Councillor Boulton:-

            That the Council -

(1)      approve recommendation (a) as set out in the report;

(2)      in relation to recommendation (b), approve a grant of £10,000 a year to Aberdeen Performing Arts towards the costs of rental of office space on Shoe Lane;

(3)      approve the funding allocations set out below;

(4)      take no action in respect of recommendation (c);

(5)      approve an allocation of £150,00 towards the costs of maintenance and upgrade works at Hazlehead Park with £30,000 of the sum being made available during 2014/15; and

(6)      note recommendations (d) and (e).

Councillor McCaig moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Noble:-

            That the Council -

(1)      approve the amended Common Good budget for 2014/15 as set out below;

(2)      take no action on the recommendation regarding a grant to Aberdeen Performing Arts in relation to the additional rental space of the Lemon Tree;

(3)      take no action on the recommendation regarding the requested allocation of £20,000 towards the costs of work at the Queen Mother Rose Garden, Hazlehead Park;

(4)      note the decision of Police Scotland to introduce cost recovery arrangements for events policing; and

(5)      note the 2015/16 to 2018/19 indicative Common Good budget as set out below.

The Lord Provost advised that the urgent motion by Councillors Crockett, Young, Boulton and Forsyth would be considered as the next item of business as it had been brought to his attention first, although the urgent motion by Councillor Greig had been submitted to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services ahead of it.

The Council had before it the following urgent notice of motion by Councillors Crockett, Young, Boulton and Forsyth:-

“That Council:-

1)    deplores the decisions of the Boards of the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to close the area control rooms and service centre function in Aberdeen;

2)    notes with disappointment the dismissive attitudes of the two SNP Scottish Government Ministers who failed to help Aberdeen fight its case in its hour of need;

3)    agrees that Aberdeen is the SNP’s forgotten city;

4)    calls upon the Scottish Ministers to direct in terms of section 5 of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 that these decisions be revoked and a formal programme of public consultation undertaken; and

5)    instructs officers to examine the feasibility and likely success of the Council seeking a judicial review of these decisions, with like-minded Councils and other organisations being invited to participate.”

Councillor Young moved, seconded by Councillor Yuill:-

            That the terms of the urgent motion be approved.

Councillor McCaig moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Jackie Dunbar:-

            That the Council -

(1)      disagrees with the Police Board and Fire and Rescue Board’s decision to close the control rooms in Aberdeen; and

(2)      agrees with Kevin Stewart MSP that the two boards should pool their resources and look at creating a joint Police and Fire control room in Aberdeen, as this would allow the two organisations to make office cost savings whilst retaining experienced personnel in Aberdeen.

Following contributions by nine members to the debate, in terms of Standing Order 14(1), Councillor Delaney moved as a procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Malone:-

            That the question be now put.

On a division, there voted:-

For the procedural motion  (5)  -  Councillors Delaney, Greig, Malone, Jennifer Stewart and Yuill.

Against the procedural motion  (32)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Allan, Boulton, Cameron, Carle, Cooney, Corall, Cormie, Dickson, Donnelly, Jackie Dunbar, Lesley Dunbar, Finlayson, Forsyth, Ironside, Jaffrey, Kiddie, Laing, Lawrence, MacGregor, McCaig, Malik, Milne, Jean Morrison, Nathan Morrison, Samarai, Sandy Stuart, Taylor, Thomson, Townson and Young.

Absent from the division  (6)  -  Councillors Blackman, Crockett, Graham, Grant, May and Noble.

The procedural motion having been defeated, the Council resumed the debate followed by summing up.

On a division, there voted:-

For the motion  (24)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Allan, Boulton, Carle, Cooney, Delaney, Donnelly, Lesley Dunbar, Finlayson, Forsyth, Greig, Ironside, Laing, Lawrence, Malik, Milne, Jean Morrison, Nathan Morrison, Jennifer Stewart, Taylor, Thomson, Young and Yuill. 

For the amendment  (13)  -  Councillors Cameron, Corall, Cormie, Dickson, Jackie Dunbar, Jaffrey, Kiddie, MacGregor, McCaig, Malone, Samarai, Sandy Stuart and Townson.

Absent from the division  (6)  -  Councillors Blackman, Crockett, Graham, Grant, May and Noble.

The Council resolved:-

to adopt the motion.

The Council had before it the following urgent notice of motion by Councillor Greig:-

“In light of the announcements since the Council took its decision on control rooms in December, that this Council now agrees to oppose robustly closures of local Police contact centres by calling on the Scottish Government, Police Service of Scotland and Scottish Police Authority to work together to retain the control room and contact centre in Aberdeen. Furthermore that this Council agrees to run a vigorous campaign to keep these vital local services in the area.”

Councillor Greig moved, seconded by Councillor McCaig:-

            That the terms of the urgent motion be approved.

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

            That no action be taken.

On a division, there voted:-

For the motion  (17)  -  Councillors Cameron, Corall, Cormie, Delaney, Dickson, Jackie Dunbar, Greig, Jaffrey, Kiddie, MacGregor, McCaig, Malone, Samarai, Jennifer Stewart, Sandy Stuart, Townson and Yuill.

For the amendment  (20)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Allan, Boulton, Carle, Cooney, Donnelly, Lesley Dunbar, Finlayson, Forsyth, Ironside, Laing, Lawrence, Malik, Milne, Jean Morrison, Nathan Morrison, Taylor, Thomson and Young. 

Absent from the division  (6)  -  Councillors Blackman, Crockett, Graham, Grant, May and Noble.

The Council resolved:-

to adopt the amendment.

- GEORGE ADAM, Lord Provost.