Agenda and draft minutes

As the Mayor Councillor J Longcake had felt unwell just before the meeting, the Deputy Mayor Councillor C Ross assumed the chair. She welcomed all councillors, officers and members of the public to the meeting and read out the Mayor’s remarks for this meeting which included – a summary of some recent highlights from over 100 civic and community engagements she had already attended, which emphasised how she had enjoyed meeting some wonderful members’ of the North Lincolnshire’s diverse communities and fully appreciated how much good and creative work was taking place. Favourite examples of this were when attending various events and activities during Interfaith Week when it was fantastic to see everyone coming together, supporting and respecting each other and enjoying themselves. Also, the recent Christmas lights switch on in Scunthorpe, which had to be slightly different because of storm Bert, but it didn’t stop seasonal celebrations, especially with older people leading celebrations in our communities.

The Mayor thanked all those who had already supported her charity appeal over the past year and those who would do so again in the New Year.

Declarations of personal interests were indicated as follows: -

Member                           DeclSubject/Minute

Councillor Ali                     Taxi Licence holder with schools’ transport contract.

Councillor Armiger             Bottesford Town Council

Councillor Armitage           Gunness Parish Council

Councillor Bint                   Crowle and Ealand Town Council

Councillor J Davison          Bottesford Town Council

Councillor Ellerby              Burringham Parish Council

Councillor T Foster            Messingham Parish Council

Councillor Garritt               Kirton in Lindsey Town Council

Councillor Gosling             Gunness Parish Council

Councillor Hannigan          Kirmington and Croxton Parish Council

Councillor Lee                   Broughton Town Council

                                        Scawby Parish Council

Councillor Marper              Winterton Town Council

Councillor Mitchell             Belton Parish Council                           

                                        Epworth Town Council

Councillor Ogg                  Winterton Town Council    

Councillor Patterson          Barton Town Council

Councillor Poole                Messingham Parish Council

Councillor Reed                Crowle and Ealand Town Council

Councillor Ross                 Broughton Town Council

                                        Scawby Parish Council

Councillor Rowson            Winterton Town Council

Councillor C Sherwood      Brigg Town Council

Councillor N Sherwood      Brigg Town Council

Councillor K Vickers          Barton Town Council

Councillor P Vickers          Barton Town Council

Councillor Waltham MBE   Brigg Town Council

Councillor Wells                Barnetby Parish Council

                                        Kirmington and Croxton Parish Council

Resolved – That the minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on 10 October 2024 having been circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the Mayor.

The Director: Transformation and Outcomes submitted a report requesting Council (i) to appoint a Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority Returning Officer (CCARO) for the proposed election of a Mayor for Greater Lincolnshire on 1 May 2025 as set out in The Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority Regulations 2025; and (ii) to appoint a Local Returning Officer (LRO) for the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority Mayoral elections on 1 May 2025.

The report explained that the draft Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority Regulations 2025 laid in Parliament made provision for the establishment of a Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) and for the election of a mayor for Greater Lincolnshire on 1 May 2025. The Combined Authorities (Mayoral Elections) Order 2017 required that an officer be appointed as the Combined County Authority Returning Officer (CCARO) responsible for the effectual conduct of the election in the manner provided by the Order.  The CCARO was personally responsible for a number of specific aspects of the combined county authority mayoral election including:

·       giving notice of the election 

·       the nomination procedures 

·       encouraging participation 

·       ensuring that candidates and their agents comply with therequirements as to the content of candidate election addresses, and with the procedures for submitting them 

·       producing and distributing the booklet containing the candidates’ election addresses to every voter 

·       the collation of local totals and calculation of the result 

·       the declaration of the result 

Provisions in the 2017 order set out that:

·       the CCARO must be an officer of a constituent council or the GLCCA

·       the appointment of the CCARO must be made by the constituent councils or the GLCCA

The Election Regulations permitted the appointment by the Constituent Councils of a Combined County Authority Returning Officer for the mayoral election ahead of the establishment of a combined county authority. It was proposed that Rob Walsh, Chief Executive, North East Lincolnshire be appointed to this role.

Elections to the County Council would also take place on 1 May 2025 and it intended that the appointment of a CCARO would enable early coordination across the two concurrent elections.  The Elections Regulations also made provision for the CCARO to direct local returning officers allowing for district/borough councils to deliver the mayoral election in the county area. In North Lincolnshire it was proposed that Alison Barker, Chief Executive be appointed Local Returning Officer for the election of a mayor on 1 May 2025 whilst the CCARO would be responsible for the overall coordination of the mayoral election across the 10 count areas.

Once elected, the term of office of the Mayor began on the fourth day after the day of the poll. However, as the 5 May 2025 is a bank holiday, the Mayor would take office on Tuesday 6 May 2025. The Mayor’s term of office was for four years.

Resolved - (a) That the appointment of Rob Walsh, Chief Executive, North East Lincolnshire Council as the first Combined County Authority Returning Officer (CCARO) for the proposed election of Mayor on 1 May 2025,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3036.

The Director: Transformation and Outcomes submitted a report requesting the council to consider and approve the council tax base to be used for each part of the council’s area for formula grant and tax setting purposes.  The key points in the report were to note the council tax base for grant purposes as submitted to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), to set a tax base for setting Council Tax for the council, local parishes and major precepting authorities, and to approve changes to the Council Tax Support Scheme.

The Director in her report explained the above key points, analysed options, addressed financial implications and set out associated information in appendices 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Resolved – (a) That the council tax base for grant purposes be noted (appendix1 refers); (b) that the council tax base for the Council and other precepting bodies in 2025/26 be set at 52,168.20 band D equivalents (appendices 2 and 3 refer), and (c) that the changes to the working age council tax support scheme be approved.

The Director: Transformation and Outcomes providing an overview of the  Council’s treasury performance during the first six months of 2024/2025, and set out national factors that affected the Council’s Treasury activity.

The report fulfilled the council’s legal obligation under the Local Government Act to have regard to both the CIPFA Code and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government  (MHCLG), Investment Guidance.  The CIPFA Code required that full Council received a report at the start of the financial year, mid- year and year end.  The Audit Committee also received regular updates regarding treasury activity, providing assurance on the effectiveness of the Council’s treasury management arrangements.

The Director highlighted the key points of the mid-year report stating that –

·       Investment returns in the first six months amounted to £1.027m The Council had continued to take a cautious approach to investing.

·       Borrowing remained comfortably within the control levels set and no new borrowing was undertaken.

·       Treasury activity was compliant with the Prudential Indicators set for the financial year.

Full details of the mid-year review were attached in appendix 1 of the report

Resolved – That the Treasury Management Mid-Year Report 2024/25 be received and noted.

The Director: Transformation and Outcomes submitted a report seeking approval of amendments to the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) (Part D Rule 7) and Article 14 of the Constitution to accommodate legislative change, and local developments in procurement practice.

The Director in her report explained that mandatory procedures governing how the procurement of goods, works and services should be carried out by officers and elected members were set out in the CPRs, which formed an integral part of the Council’s Constitution. The CPRs were updated to include the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 and were approved by Council on 16 May 2024.  Since this last review, there had been practice developments at local level, and there would be a change in national legislation which could be summarised as follows:

·       Local – practice-based review resulting in a streamlined version, whilst ensuring officers remained clear of their roles, responsibilities and could navigate their way through the procedures compliantly through the introduction of new procurement levels. 

·       National – The Procurement Regulations 2023, it was anticipated, would come into force on 24 February 2025 setting out new requirements for the procurement of goods, works and services.

The following key amendments were proposed to ensure that the CPRs complied with legislative requirements, continued to reflect best practice and enabled the achievement of the council’s themes, outcomes and measures:

·       inclusion of the new requirements to be brought into effect by the Procurement Act 2023 which it was anticipated would come into force on 24 February 2025. The CPRs now reflected the need to consider three sets of legislation; PA 2023, Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 and all existing contracts would continue to be managed in accordance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

·       changes in language and transparency requirements brought into effect by PA 2023.

·       a section on roles and responsibilities of officers and the introduction of procurement levels giving greater clarity on the requirements ensuring compliance.

·       new sections detailing when it is appropriate for the CPRs to be waived for below threshold procurements and when it was permitted for a direct award to be made for above threshold procurements, and when a contract could be modified or extended.

Whilst the new CPRs looked different to the previous version, the main changes were outlined above, and the full document was included in Appendix 1 to the report.

Resolved - That Option 1 be approved and the proposed amendments to the CPRs and Article 14 of the council’s Constitution as detailed in the Director’s report be approved, adopted, and incorporated into the council’s Constitution with effect from the date the Procurement Act 2023 comes into effect, anticipated to be 24 February 2025.

The Director: Communities submitted a report seeking Council’s approval of the Statement of Principals in accordance with section 349 of the Gambling Act 2005.

The report stated that the Statement of Principles was initially approved by this Committee in 2006 and then is required to be reviewed every three years thereafter. The revised statement must be agreed by full Council prior to 31st January 2025. The review of the policy has been carried out and a copy of the policy was attached as Appendix A to this report.  The key changes to the Statement of Principle were:-

·       To update the NLC population information in line with 2021 Census data

·       To change titles and roles to reflect Council Structure

·       Licensing conditions suggested by the applicant must be contained in a separate local risk assessment

The reviewed Statement of Principals had also been considered at the Licensing Committee meeting on 14th November 2024, which recommended to council that it be approved and adopted.

Resolved - That the Statement of Principles attached as an appendix to the Director’s report be approved and adopted.

Further to minute 2929, the Director: Transformation and Outcomes submitted a report which presented the final recommendations of the Governance Scrutiny Panel which, on behalf of Council, had carried out a Community Governance Review of North Lincolnshire parish councils commencing in January 2024. If the Council was minded to approve the final recommendations, or amend them accordingly, then they would be implemented ahead of the 2027 local elections, subject to the implementation of a Re-organisation Order.

The Director in her report explained that North Lincolnshire Council had authority to take decisions about parish electoral governance arrangements under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.  The Council was required to monitor these arrangements, with good practice indicating a formal review should be undertaken every 10-15 years to enhance local democracy.  This formal review process was known as a Community Governance Review (CGR). The last review held in the council area was in 2017 which considered the electoral arrangements of the eight Town Councils, as well as the electoral arrangements for the parish of Holme.  It was therefore important that the remaining parish areas in North Lincolnshire were also subject to a CGR. A CGR reviews only parish-level electoral arrangements and does not consider or amend ward-level governance arrangements.  This could only be reviewed by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE), the independent body responsible for reviewing council ward-level arrangements, with the last carried out in 2021.

The report stated that the Terms of Reference for the CGR were broad, allowing for a review of all aspects of community governance within the borough (of North Lincolnshire) that were not considered during the 2017 review.  This included, for example, the creation or naming of a parish, the establishment of a separate parish from an existing parish, alteration of parish boundaries, abolition or dissolution of a parish, change to parish electoral arrangements or parish grouping. The timescale of the stages of the review, criteria, and required use of 2010 government guidance used throughout the CGR were also outlined.

In addition, the Director’s report set out how required public consultation periods were carried out to inform the final recommendations of the Governance Scrutiny Panel. The Panel’s proposed final recommendations were detailed in an accompanying comprehensive appendix to the report for council’s consideration and approval, and contained relevant associated responses received during the consultations.  The Director also presented the rationale and evidence for the proposed final recommendations.

The East Riding and Northern Lincolnshire Local Councils Association had commented on the review, specifically the consultation period, scope of the review, council size methodology, electorate forecasts and parish council communication.

Resolved - (a) That having considered the final recommendations of the Governance Scrutiny Panel set out in the appendix to the report of the Director, following the Community Governance Review of parish councils and parish meetings in North Lincolnshire, they be approved and adopted, and (b) that the Director: Transformation and Outcomes be authorised to issue a reorganisation order to implement with effect  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3041.

PLANNING COMMITTEE –

Resolved – That  the minutes of the meetings of the Planning Committee held on 4 September, 2 October and 30 October 2024 be received with the exception of minute 2727b -

With regard to the excepted portion it was -

Moved by Councillor N Sherwood and seconded by Councillor C Ross -

That the minute be received.

Motion Carried

Resolved - That the minutes of the meetings of the Licensing Committee held on 12 September (x2), 19 September, 8 and 17 October and 14 and 21 November be received with the exception of minute 2127 –

With regard to the excepted portion it was -

Moved by Councillor K Vickers and seconded by Councillor P Vickers-

That the minute be received.

Motion Carried

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 18 September and 20 November 2024 be received.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Standards Committee held on 7 November 2024 be received.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Governance Scrutiny Panel held on 30 September, 6,7 and 12 November 2024 be received.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Place Scrutiny Panel held on 25 September and 23 October 2024 be received with the exception of minute 228 -

With regard to the excepted portion it was –

Moved by Councillor J Kennedy and seconded by Councillor T Gosling -

That the minute be received.

Motion Carried

Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel held on 18 September and 23 October 2024 be received with the exception of minute 61 –

With regard to the excepted portion it was –

Moved by Councillor T Foster and seconded by Councillor L Yeadon -

That the minute be received.

Motion Carried

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Health Integration and Performance Scrutiny Panel held on 18 October 2024 be received.

The Executive Director: People submitted a report informing the Council that the Council, Healthwatch North Lincolnshire, NHS Humber Health Partnership (HHP), and Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (HNYICB) had recently been in a process of seeking a local resolution for the decision HNYICB presented on 10 July 2024 regarding proposed changes impacting on the services delivered at Scunthorpe General Hospital, and requested members to consider options presented in paragraph 3 of the report and to agree next steps.

The Executive Director in her report explained that on 10 July 2024, Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (HNYICB) had made a series of decisions arising from their Humber Acute Services Review. The proposed service changes primarily impact on two acute hospitals operated by Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust:

·       Scunthorpe General Hospital and

·       Diana Princess of Wales Hospital Grimsby.

The decision made was to transfer some services from Scunthorpe Hospital to Grimsby Diana Prince of Wales, and surgical ophthalmology care to Hull.  The services concerned were detailed in the ICB decision paper Item-15b-Humber-Acute-Services_DMBC_FINAL_updated.pdf

Consequently, in autumn 2024, North Lincolnshire Council established a Leadership Group, comprising elected members (cross party), senior officers, and Healthwatch North Lincolnshire.  The Leadership Group had been in discussion with Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (HNYICB) and NHS Humber Health Partnership, to understand the assumptions made in the business case regarding the proposed changes, confirming the impact for local residents, and seeking to mitigate these impacts in order to protect local services for the residents of North Lincolnshire. The Leadership Group, HNYICB & HHP established three themed groups, with joint lead officers from the Council, HHP and the HNYICB.  Themes were identified as follows-

Sustainability – to ensure that there was no adverse impact on other services, such as social care, and to explore what impact the decision may have on future NHS services within North Lincolnshire - Lead Officer for NLC – Director of Adults and Health (DASS)

Health Inequalities - to ensure that local people were not disproportionately disadvantaged by the HNYICB decision, and to ensure that the ICB were meeting their legal requirement to (a) reduce inequalities between persons with respect to their ability to access health services, and (b) reduce inequalities between patients with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of health services – Lead Officer for NLC, Director of Public Health.

Transport and other proposed mitigations - to understand the challenges that would be faced by residents receiving treatment in Grimsby and to ensure that mitigations were put in place to prevent North Lincolnshire residents being disadvantaged- Lead Officer for NLC, Executive Director People.

Following two meetings for each of the theme groups existing mitigations were discussed.  However, no new mitigations that could be assessed for impact had been identified during this process and there are no proposed changes to the original decision made by the ICB in July. This was reported back to  joint meetings on 7 October and 18 November 2024.

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3054.