Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest from Members or Officers and the Council noted the interests previously declared by Members in Agenda Item No. 12 – Minutes for Noting.

The Chairman advised the Council that the meeting was being recorded and streamed online in accordance with the usual practice.

AGREED             that that minutes of the meeting held on 18 October 2022 and the                 Extraordinary meeting held on 9 November 2022,  be approved as a                          correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman informed the Council that the petition due to be presented under Agenda Item No. 6 would be deferred to the next meeting given Councillor A. Freeman’s absence.

The Chairman informed Members of her honour to attend the memorial mass church service at St. Mary Magdalene Church, Newark for the re-patriation of the remains of the three Polish presidents in exile back to Poland. The Chairman also advised that she received on behalf of the Council a Certificate to mark the Gold Award for the Armed Forces Covenant at an event held at the National Arboretum. She added that the Certificate would be presented to staff representatives at the February meeting of the Council.

The Chairman also advised Members of her plans for a fund-raising event that would be held on Saturday, 25 February 2023 at 7pm, at the North Muskham Rural Community Centre.  The evening would be themed around ‘Songs from the Musicals’ sung by the Soprano Lily Taylor-Ward.

In accordance with Rule No. 3.3.2 the following question has been submitted to the Council from a member of the public, Rowan Cozens

Will the Council support the local community to halt the progression of the current plans to build a housing development on the Lilley and Stone site in order to provide a realistic consultation period for other options to be explored which might better serve the people of Newark and surrounding area? MLN (Land and Properties) are acting as the agent to the trustees of the site and have already drawn up an initial proposal in conjunction with Broadgrove Planning for a development of more than 80 dwellings. Many local people are opposed to such an historic and vital green space in the centre of the town being used for more housing. Several well-attended public meetings have already taken place to discuss how these plans might be stopped and how the townspeople could be involved with alternative options, such as using the listed and other old school buildings as an educational and cultural centre, utilising the existing sports facilities for the townspeople and creating a park on the existing playing field which would provide a tranquil green space for local residents and a much-needed green corridor, linking the Library Gardens with Sconce Hills, for our wildlife. The support of the Council would be very much appreciated so that together we can preserve an extremely important piece of land in the centre of Newark and find a way to achieve the best possible outcome for the beneficiaries of the trust and for our town.

In accordance with Rule 3.3.2, Rowan Cozens  submitted a question to the Council. Details of the question put forward and the response given from Councillor Mrs R Holloway are attached as Appendix A to these minutes.

The Council considered the report of the Assistant Director – Legal & Democratic Services which set out a proposed Schedule of Meetings for the period May 2023 to May 2024, which reflected the Council’s new governance arrangements and the creation of the new Executive Shareholder Committee.

It was noted that the schedule may be subject to change once the new Council was elected in May 2023, and that there was a proposed change to the Annual Council Meeting date to Tuesday 23 May 2023, given the additional Bank Holiday on Monday 8 May and the timing of the District Council Elections.

AGREED      (unanimously) that the proposed Schedule of Meetings for 2023/2024 (attached as Appendix B to these minutes), be approved.

The Council considered the report of the Director – Resources and Section 151 Officer, which provided an update on the activity undertaken by the Audit and Accounts/Audit and Governance Committee during the 2021/22 financial year.

AGREED:          (unanimously) that the report be noted.

The Council considered the report of the Director – Resources and Section 151 Officer which provided an update on the Council’s treasury activity and Prudential Indicators for first half of 2022/2023. The report had been considered by the Audit & Governance Committee at their meeting held on 23 November 2022 and recommended to the Council for approval. 

AGREED      (unanimously) that the treasury management activity and the Prudential Indicators detailed in Sections 6 and 7 of the report, be noted.

Minute No. 23 - Strategic Risk Review

Councillor P. Peacock challenged the use of the term the ‘Cost of Living Challenge’ which had been chosen to describe the cost of living crisis that the country was facing. 

Councillor Mrs S Michael advised that the Audit & Governance Committee had discussed the appropriate term which was considered to be ‘challenge’ rather than ‘crisis’.