Agenda, decisions and minutes

Appendix 4 was omitted in error from the principal agenda

With reference to Article 12 of the minute of its meeting of 13 July 2022, the Council had before it a report by the Interim Chief Officer - Governance which responded to the instruction following the approval of the notice of motion by the Co-Leaders proposing changes to the Scheme of Governance and the committee structure in particular.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)         agree, with effect from 14 October 2022, to:-

·      disestablish the Capital Programme Committee

·      disestablish the Strategic Commissioning Committee

·      disestablish the Operational Delivery Committee

·      disestablish the Public Protection Committee

·      rename the Education Operational Delivery Committee as the Education and Children’s Services Committee

·      rename the City Growth and Resources Committee as the Finance and Resources Committee

·      establish the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee

·      establish the Net Zero, Environment and Transport Committee

·      establish the Anti-Poverty and Inequality Committee;

(b)         approve the Terms of Reference for the Finance and Resources Committee, Council, Education and Children’s Services Committee, Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee, Net Zero, Environment and Transport Committee, Anti-Poverty and Inequality Committee and Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee as set out in Appendices 1 to 7, to take effect from 14 October 2022;

(c)          delegate authority to the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, following consultation with the Chief Officer - Governance and the Convener of the Anti-Poverty and Inequality Committee, to determine the process for the selection and appointment of the external advisers to the Anti-Poverty and Inequality Committee and report back to the next Council meeting to seek approval of the appointments;

(d)         agree that the Conveners and Vice Conveners of the City Growth and Resources Committee and Education Operational Delivery Committee become the Conveners and Vice Conveners of the Finance and Resources Committee and Education and Children’s Services Committee respectively, with effect from 14 October 2022, and that the membership of those committees be unchanged;

(e)         appoint Conveners and Vice Conveners to the following committees with effect from 14 October 2022:-

·         Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee

·         Net Zero, Environment and Transport Committee

·         Anti-Poverty and Inequality Committee

(f)           agree the compositions of the new committees as below:-

(g)         agree that there be no change to the Planning Scheme of Delegation (i.e. the Scheme of Delegation for dealing with planning applications for Local Developments) in the Powers Delegated to Officers, as detailed in section 3.3 of the report; instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to draft a procedure to allow all interested parties, including ward members, to make representations at Planning Development Management Committee and report this draft procedure to the November meeting of that Committee for approval; and note that said Chief Officer would continue to develop local engagement on planning matters, including through the network of community councils;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

With reference to Article 5 of the minute of its meeting of 29 June 2022, the Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which brought together a number of different workstreams and presented a recalibrated, place-led, masterplan report for both the City Centre and the Beach.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

City Centre and Beach Masterplan

(a)          note the progress made on the City Centre Recovery Workplan and how this work had, and would continue, to inform the review of the City Centre Masterplan over the short, medium and longer term (Appendix 1);

(b)          approve the City Centre and Beach Masterplan 2022 (Appendix 2), noting that it was a live document and instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to keep the report under review, with progress reported to Full Council after 12 months;

(c)          note that £12,030,000 had been granted by Transport Scotland to Aberdeen City Council to work with partners in the North East Bus Alliance to develop and deliver bus priority interventions (Bus Partnership fund); and that this programme included a specific package for City Centre interventions;

(d)          note that, to address specific issues around vacant buildings, aspects of Empty Property Relief would be devolved to local authorities on 1 April 2023, allowing local authorities to make decisions based on their own local needs;

(e)          note that on 26 May 2022, the Planning Development Management Committee approved an extension of the Affordable Housing Waiver mentioned in Section 4.8 of the City Centre and Beach Masterplan 2022 (Appendix 2) until September 2022 and agree to further extend the Waiver until 31 December 2025;

(f)           note the progress and update in the City Centre and Beach Masterplan 2022 (Appendix 2) in relation to the Union Street building works programme, and the focus on the pilot project between 107-131 Union Street and note that a further update would be reported to the Full Council meeting in December 2022;

Market Streetscape

(g)          note the progress made on design development for Phases 1 and 2 of the Market Streetscape area (Appendix 4) and instruct the Director of Resources to prepare a Full Business Case to be reported back to Full Council by the end of 2022;

(h)          note the engagement that had taken place on the Market Streetscape proposals to date (Appendix 5) and note that the Director of Resources would continue to engage key stakeholders as designs for this area developed; and

Spaces for People

(i)            agree that a question on the temporary Spaces for People measures at the Beach be included in the upcoming public consultation exercise on the Draft Beach Development Framework and report a recommendation on the future of these measures to Full Council in December 2022.

The Council resolved:-

(i)            to approve the recommendations;

(ii)          to instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to proceed to consult on the Beach Masterplan based on the existing red line boundary;

(iii)         to note that the revised Beach Masterplan Area included  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

To instruct the Chief Executive to report to the December 2022 Council meeting on the feasibility of offering free bus travel to every resident of Aberdeen, by fully funding those residents who are not eligible for existing concessionary schemes.

The Council had before it a notice of motion by Councillor Macdonald in the following terms:-

“To instruct the Chief Executive to report to the December 2022 Council meeting on the feasibility of offering free bus travel to every resident of Aberdeen, by fully funding those residents who are not eligible for existing concessionary schemes.”

The Council resolved:-

to refer the notice of motion to the budget process.

That the Council:- 

1.    note that many Aberdeen citizens, like citizens from other cities, towns and villages in Scotland are reliant on food banks;

2.    note the good work that is done by many community leaders and volunteers within Aberdeen, who offer foodbank facilities within their communities, thus helping those most in need;

3.    note that falling incomes and inflation has left many food banks struggling to survive, however, thanks to the prudent financial management of the last Administration the Council achieved an underspend of £1.3m last year and therefore additional funds are available to the Council that hadn’t been anticipated when the budget was set for 2022/23 and has not been allocated as part of the Quarter 1 Financial Performance Report.  In addition, over £35m of cashable reserves are retained within the Common Good.  All in all, cash is available to help struggling food banks if the political will is there;

4.    agree that with many citizens being unable to feed their families sufficiently and properly due to the high cost of food and with food banks in the city complaining that they are running out of food to help the most needy and vulnerable in Aberdeen, the time has come for the Council to stop counting the interest on its money and put some of that money into helping the most vulnerable in our city;

5.    agree therefore to allocate £500,000 from the General Fund 2022/23 contingency budget to be distributed to the various food bank charities within the city to allow them to help protect our most needy and vulnerable citizens; and

6.    agree to delegate authority to the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, following consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance, to make appropriate arrangements for the urgent distribution of £500,000 from General Fund contingencies for the mitigation of food poverty across Aberdeen.

7.    appoint a Food Champion to focus on this crucial and complex issue in the immediate and longer term for the benefit of all Aberdeen citizens.

The Council had before it a notice of motion by Councillor Tissera in the following terms:-

            “That the Council:-

1.    note that many Aberdeen citizens like citizens from other cities, towns and villages in Scotland are reliant on food banks;

2.    note the good work that is done by many community leaders and volunteers within Aberdeen, who offer foodbank facilities within their communities, thus helping those most in need;

3.    note that falling incomes and inflation has left many food banks struggling to survive, however, thanks to the prudent financial management of the last Administration the Council achieved an underspend of £1.3m last year and therefore additional funds are available to the Council that hadn’t been anticipated when the budget was set for 2022/23 and has not been allocated as part of the Quarter 1 Financial Performance Report. In addition, over £35m of cashable reserves are retained within the Common Good. All in all, cash is available to help struggling food banks if the political will is there.

4.    agree that many citizens being unable to feed their families sufficiently and properly due to the high cost of food and with food banks in the city complaining that they are running out of food to help the most needy and vulnerable in Aberdeen, the time has come for the Council to stop counting the interest on its money and put some of that money into helping the most vulnerable in our city;

5.    agree therefore to allocate £500,000 from the General Fund 2022/23 contingency budget to be distributed to the various food bank charities within the city to allow them to help protect our most needy and vulnerable citizens;

6.    agree to delegate authority to the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, following consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance to make appropriate arrangements for the urgent distribution of £500,000 from General Fund contingencies for the mitigation of food poverty across Aberdeen; and

7.    appoint a Food Champion to focus on this crucial and complex issue in the immediate and longer term for the benefit of all Aberdeen citizens.”

The Council resolved:-

to refer the notice of motion to the City Growth and Resources Committee.

Aberdeen City Council:-

(1)    congratulates England’s Women’s Football team on winning the European Championship.

(2)    agrees that the Lionesses are an inspiration to all girls and women right across the United Kingdom.

(3)    acknowledges the work that Sport Aberdeen is currently doing and agrees that the Council continues to work with Sport Aberdeen, Aberdeen Football Club’s Women’s Team and other women’s football teams to promote girls’ and women’s participation in football and sport in our schools and communities, thus helping with the mental well-being of all those participating in sport.

The Council had before it a notice of motion by Councillor Tissera in the following terms:-

            “Aberdeen City Council:-

(1)      congratulates England’s Women’s Football team on winning the European Championship.

(2)      agrees that the Lionesses are an inspiration to all girls and women right across the United Kingdom.

(3)      acknowledges the work that Sport Aberdeen is currently doing and agrees that the Council continues to work with Sport Aberdeen, Aberdeen Football Club’s Women’s Team and other women’s football teams to promote girls’ and women’s participation in football and sport in our schools and communities, thus helping with the mental well-being of all those participating in sport.”

The Council resolved:-

to approve the notice of motion.

In accordance with Article 2 of the minute of its meeting of 24 August 2022, the Council considered the following items of business with the press and public excluded

The Council had before it a report by the Chief Officer - City Growth which provided an update on the submission of a bid to the Scottish Government and the UK Government on 20 June 2022 for the North East of Scotland Green Freeport (NESGF); and sought approval of the Council’s contribution to the NESGF if the bid was successful.

The Council resolved:-

(i)           to approve the recommendations contained within the exempt report; and

(ii)          to note that, if the bid was successful, monitoring reports would be prepared and submitted for consideration by the Council once the NESGF company was established and operational.

With reference to Article 1 of this minute, the Council had before it Appendix 12 to the report by the Interim Chief Officer - Governance.

The Council resolved:-

to refer to the decision at Article 1 of this minute.