Agenda and minutes

Members of the public intending to attend the meeting are asked to

please note that, in the interests of health, safety and security, bags may

be searched on entry to the building. Everyone attending this meeting is

also asked please to behave with due courtesy and to conduct

themselves in a reasonable way.

Please note: if the alarm sounds during the meeting, everyone should

please exit the building via the way they came in, via the main entrance

lobby area, and then the front ramp. Please then assemble on the paved

area between the side entrance of the cathedral and the roundabout at

the Deanery Road end of the building.

If the front entrance cannot be used, alternative exits are available via

staircases 2 and 3 to the left and right of the Council Chamber. These exit

to the rear of the building. The lifts are not to be used. Then please make

your way to the assembly point at the front of the building. Please do

not return to the building until instructed to do so by the fire warden(s).

The Lord Mayor welcomed all attendees to the meeting, and made a safety announcement in relation to the fire/emergency evacuation procedure.

Deferral of agenda items 10 and 11

The Lord Mayor advised Full Council that following the Mayor informing the party group leaders, she had agreed that agenda items 10 (Review of the constitution – Human Resources matters) and 11 (Review of the procurement rules) should be deferred and not considered at this meeting.  It was anticipated that these reports would be considered either at the 20 March Full Council meeting or at the annual Council meeting in May alongside other constitutional changes, after the relevant Cabinet member had been briefed on the reports as per the Council’s decision pathway process.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors B Clark, Hickman, Holland, Jama and Lake.

To be confirmed as a correct record.

On the motion of the Lord Mayor, seconded by Cllr Eddy, it was

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Full Council meeting held on 12 December 2017 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Lord Mayor.

To note any declarations of interest from the Mayor and councillors.

They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the

interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Any declaration of interest made at the meeting which is not on the

register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for

inclusion.

None.

John Readman – Strategic Director - People

On behalf of the Full Council, the Lord Mayor thanked John Readman (who would shortly be leaving the Council) for his services for the Council and the city, and extended best wishes to him as he left his Strategic Director role.  Cllr Massey also paid tribute to John Readman’s work during his time with the Council.

Trevor Cox

The Lord Mayor informed Full Council of the recent death of former Council employee Trevor Cox.  The Full Council then observed a minute’s silence in memory of Trevor Cox.

Bristol Young Heroes Awards

At the invitation of the Lord Mayor, the Mayor encouraged members to submit nominations for these awards, and reminded them of the deadline for nominations.

Please note: Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item. Public forum items

should be e-mailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

Public forum items can be about any matter the Council is responsible for

or which directly affects the city.

Please note that the following deadlines apply to this meeting:

a. Public petitions and statements: Petitions and written statements

must be received by 12 noon on Friday 12 January 2018 at latest.

One written statement per member of the public is permitted.

b. Public questions: Written public questions must be received by

5.00 pm on Tuesday 9 January 2018 at latest. A maximum of 2

questions per member of the public is permitted.

Public petitions:

The Full Council received and noted the following petition:

Petition PP 01 - “PETA petition regarding silent fireworks”

Petition organiser - Luke Steele

Public statements:

The Full Council received and noted the following statements (which were also referred to the Mayor for his consideration/information):

PS 01 - Tony Hall - Wage war on dementia

PS 02 - David Redgewell - Rail/transport issues

PS 03 - Oliver Fortune - Council budgets/services

PS 04 - Michael Owen - Proposed underground line

PS 05 - Julie Boston - Housing

PS 06 - Edward Bowditch - Bristol underground and transport

PS 07 - Matthew Eastlake- Medicinal cannabis use

PS 08 - Sharon Gray - Venturers Academy Autistic School in south Bristol - planning application

Within the time available, statements were presented by individuals present at the meeting.

Public questions:

The Full Council noted that the following questions had been submitted:

PQ 01 - Public toilets - Question from Judith Brown

PQ 02 - Libraries - Question from Judith Brown

PQ 03 - Local bus services - Question from Graham Donald

PQ 04 - City of Sport legacy - Question from Mary Mellett

PQ 05 - Future funding of children’s - Question from David Jepson

PQ 06 - Council budget - Question from Viran Patel

Within the time available, the Mayor responded verbally to questions PQ 01, PQ 02, PQ 03

and PQ 04, also responding to supplementary questions.

Please note: Up to 10 minutes is allowed for this item.

Petitions notified by councillors can be about any matter the Council is

responsible for or which directly affects the city.

The deadline for the notification of petitions to this meeting is 12 noon

on Friday 12 January 2018 at latest.

None notified for this meeting.

ADJOURNMENT – At this point the Lord Mayor advised that the Full Council meeting would adjourn for a 15 minute refreshment break.

The Full Council considered a report on the determination of the estimated Collection Fund deficit as at 31 March 2018.

Cllr Cheney, Deputy Mayor for Finance, Governance and Performance moved the report and the recommendations contained therein.

Cllr D Alexander seconded the report.

Following debate, it was:

RESOLVED (52 members voting in favour, 6 against, with 6 abstentions):

1. That an estimated deficit at 31 March 2018 on the Council Tax element of the

Collection Fund of £37k be declared for 2017-18 and shared between this Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset and the Avon Fire and Rescue Service in proportion to their 2017-18 precepts on the Collection Fund.

2. That an estimated deficit at 31 March 2018 on the Non-Domestic Rates (NDR)

element of the Collection Fund of £13.976m be declared for 2017-18 and shared

between this Council, the Secretary of State, Avon Fire and Rescue Service and the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) in proportion to the appropriate year demands (for 2017-18: Bristol 94%, WECA 4%, Avon Fire and Rescue Service 1%. For prior years, Bristol 49%, Secretary of State 50%, Avon Fire and Rescue Service 1%).

The Full Council considered a report on the determination of the council tax base for 2018-19.

Cllr Cheney, Deputy Mayor for Finance, Governance and Performance moved the report and the recommendation contained therein.

Cllr Jackson seconded the report.

Following debate, it was:

RESOLVED (51 members voting in favour, none against, with 12 abstentions):

That in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012, the amount calculated by Bristol City Council as its Council Tax base for the financial year 2018/19 shall be 125,798.

Item deferred. 

Item deferred. 

The Full Council considered a report seeking approval of the appointment of Cllr Hiscott to serve on the Licensing Committee.

The Lord Mayor moved the report and the recommendation contained therein.

Cllr Lovell, Deputy Lord Mayor seconded the report.

RESOLVED:

That Cllr Hiscott be appointed to serve on the Licensing Committee.

Note:

Under the Council’s constitution, 30 minutes are available for the consideration of motions.  In practice, this realistically means that there is usually only time for one, or possibly two motions to be considered.  With the agreement of the Lord Mayor, motion 1 below will be considered at this meeting, and motion 2 is likely to be considered, subject to time.  Details of other motions submitted, (which, due to time constraints, are very unlikely to be considered at this meeting) are also set out for information.

Motion 1 - Planned Bristol Metro

Motion to be moved by: Cllr Mark Weston, Conservative, Henbury & Brentry ward

“This Council acknowledges the ambition behind the recently announced plan for Bristol to have its own underground metro system but is concerned over the lack of detail on how this idea is to be delivered, particularly around its price and build window.

Council notes that included in the Mayor’s manifesto he gave a commitment to achieving greater accountability and transparency in the priorities for capital spending of the West of England Joint Transport Board.  Yet, to date, he has not been forthcoming in sharing information around this proposed major infrastructure project.

As a result, Members and the public are being asked to blindly support a scheme upon which they have no basis to judge whether this idea is a realistic proposition or a political flight of fancy.

Accordingly, Council calls on the Mayor to provide members of the public and this Council, via the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, with a report containing the following information:

• The results of the geological survey that apparently concluded widespread tunnelling was possible.

• How the price estimates have been arrived at including why the cost has already risen from £2.5bn to £4.5bn.

• How the proposed passenger numbers have been calculated.

• The results of discussion that must have been had with neighbouring authorities on this project since the Mayor’s plans clearly show the routes and stations reaching beyond our boundaries.

• Explanation of how the proposed three routes were determined.

• A detailed account (including dates/minutes) of any meeting(s) held with key stakeholders in any such project, particularly local authority leaders in the West of England Partnership.

• What the actual time frame for delivery is and how this has been estimated, and

• What expressions of interest the Mayor has received so far in financing this project.

Unfortunately, without this information, Council cannot reasonably be expected to support such a large capital spend.”

Motion 2 - Safer Bristol Partnership multi-agency learning review

Motion to be moved by: Cllr Mark Brain, Labour, Hartcliffe & Withywood ward

“This council is shocked and appalled that the Safer Bristol Partnership report into the 2013 murder of Bijan Ebrahimi found that, using the definition set out in the Macpherson Report into the 1999 murder of Stephen Lawrence, there was 'evidence of both discriminatory behaviour and institutional racism on the part of Bristol City Council and Avon and Somerset Constabulary.'

The murder itself was ghastly  ...  view the full agenda text for item 200.

Motion 1 – Planned Bristol Metro

Councillor Weston moved the following motion:

“This Council acknowledges the ambition behind the recently announced plan for Bristol to have its own underground metro system but is concerned over the lack of detail on how this idea is to be delivered, particularly around its price and build window.

Council notes that included in the Mayor’s manifesto he gave a commitment to achieving greater accountability and transparency in the priorities for capital spending of the West of England Joint Transport Board.  Yet, to date, he has not been forthcoming in sharing information around this proposed major infrastructure project.

As a result, Members and the public are being asked to blindly support a scheme upon which they have no basis to judge whether this idea is a realistic proposition or a political flight of fancy.

Accordingly, Council calls on the Mayor to provide members of the public and this Council, via the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, with a report containing the following information:

• The results of the geological survey that apparently concluded widespread tunnelling was possible.

• How the price estimates have been arrived at including why the cost has already risen from £2.5bn to £4.5bn.

• How the proposed passenger numbers have been calculated.

• The results of discussion that must have been had with neighbouring authorities on this project since the Mayor’s plans clearly show the routes and stations reaching beyond our boundaries.

• Explanation of how the proposed three routes were determined.

• A detailed account (including dates/minutes) of any meeting(s) held with key stakeholders in any such project, particularly local authority leaders in the West of England Partnership.

• What the actual time frame for delivery is and how this has been estimated, and

• What expressions of interest the Mayor has received so far in financing this project.

Unfortunately, without this information, Council cannot reasonably be expected to support such a large capital spend.”

Councillor Goulandris seconded the motion.

Following debate, upon being put to the vote, the motion was LOST (31 members voting in favour, 32 against, with 1 abstention).

At this point in the meeting, on the motion of the Lord Mayor, it was agreed that standing orders be suspended to allow the consideration of motions to continue for a further 15 minutes.

Altered Motion 2 – Safer Bristol Partnership multi-agency learning review

Councillor Brain moved the following altered motion:

“This council is shocked and appalled that the Safer Bristol Partnership report into the 2013 murder of Bijan Ebrahimi found that, using the definition set out in the Macpherson Report into the 1999 murder of Stephen Lawrence, there was 'evidence of both discriminatory behaviour and institutional racism on the part of Bristol City Council and Avon and Somerset Constabulary.'

The murder itself was ghastly and council is pleased that the murderer was caught and is now serving a life prison sentence. Another neighbour, who assisted the offender, was given a four-year custodial sentence. Whilst most of the blame for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 200.