Agenda item

To receive the report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services on any Notices of Motion received by him (Lilac pages).  Councillors are asked to note that any Notices of Motion must be received by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services no later than noon on Thursday, 7 January 2016.

The Council had before it a Notice of Motion standing in the names of Mrs E B Tucker, Prof J W Raine, Mrs F M Oborski, Mr T A L Wells, Mr M E Jenkins and Mrs S Askin.

The Notice of Motion was moved by Mrs E B Tucker and seconded by Mrs F M Oborski who both spoke in favour of it.

The Council then agreed to consider and deal with the Motion on the day.

An amendment was then moved by Mr C J Bloore and seconded by Mr P M McDonald to add:

"Council recommends that in the spirit of localism the £2millon set aside for footpath maintenance is then devolved to elected members so they can work with local residents to ensure money is spent where it is needed the most".

The mover and seconder of the original motion agreed to the addition of this wording and so the motion as altered became the substantive motion.

An amendment was then moved by Mr J H Smith and seconded by Mr S E Geraghty to replace the substantive motion with:

"Council requests that Cabinet gives careful consideration in its preparation of a draft Budget and Capital Programme to recommending that a proportion of spend of the proposed £12m "Driving Home" highway infrastructure improvement programme be invested in maintaining and improving public footways across the county".

In response to a procedural query the Head of Legal and Democratic Services gave advice on the validity of the amendment stating that it did not negate the original motion as altered but was a valid amendment.

The Council then debated the amendment during which the following principal points were made:

·           the heart of the argument was that a significant sum should be made available for footway maintenance to deal with much urgent and necessary work.  The proposal was not specific to an amount only that it should be significant and realistic

·           that a good standard of footways was essential if the Council was to achieve its health promotion aims for overall fitness.  Moreover a number of user groups relied on well-maintained footways, not least people with a disability, a visual impairment or the elderly infirm

·           that local members had an important role to play in ensuring efficient and effective use of resources.  The amendment now before Council sought to reduce this role and was indicative of how the local member was perceived generally

·           the subject needed serious consideration and should not be dismissed lightly

·           the request would be considered as part of the budget-setting process but it would be imprudent at such an early stage to suggest a definitive figure

·           a scrutiny exercise was currently being undertaken in this area and it would be premature to talk about specifics before that evidence had been considered

·           the amendment was not dismissive of the important role of the local member but professional expertise of officers was impartial and that specific mechanisms were in place for local members to influence maintenance and other work schedules and these should not be bypassed

·           more money was to be spent in this area and we could build upon work already underway.

On being put to the meeting the amendment was carried and became the substantive motion.

RESOLVED - Council requests that Cabinet gives careful consideration in its preparation of a draft Budget and Capital Programme to recommending that a proportion of spend of the proposed £12m 'Driving Home' highway infrastructure improvement programme be invested in maintaining and improving public footways across the county.