Agenda and minutes

To appoint a relief Chairman.

Motion moved by the Lord Mayor and seconded by Councillor Tim Mitchell and resolved that Councillor Judith Warner be elected as Relief Chairman.

To sign the Minutes of the Meeting of the Council meeting held on 24 January 2018.

The minutes of the proceedings at the Council meetings held on Wednesday 24 January 2018 were, with the assent of the Members present, signed by the Lord Mayor as a true record of proceedings.

3.1     The Lord Mayor referred to these as set out in the agenda.

To receive any Declarations of Interest from Members and Officers of the Council.

4.1     Councillor Ruth Bush declared that she was a Board Member of CityWest Homes and would be speaking in the debate on the Notice of Motion.

(a)      Councillor Murad Gassanly to present a petition from residents of Churchill Gardens Estate to call on the Council to replace the derelict Balmoral Castle Public House with sheltered accommodation and community style housing.

(b)      Any other Petitions or Deputations.

5.1     Councillor Murad Gassanly presented a petition from local residents calling on the Council to replace the derelict Balmoral Castle pub with sheltered accommodation and community supported housing.  The petition was referred to officers for reporting to the relevant Cabinet Member.

          Statement by the Leader of the Council

          With the permission of the Lord Mayor the Leader of the Council, Councillor Nickie Aiken, advised the Council that Councillor Robert Davis, who was unable to attend tonight for personal reasons, would, for the duration of the Monitoring Officer’s investigation, be stepping aside from the duties of Deputy Leader and as Cabinet Member for Business, Enterprise and Transport.  The Leader set out how these functions would be covered by Councillors Astaire and Mitchell.

Note by the Head of Committee and Governance Services

With the consent of the Chief Whips of both the Majority Party and the Minority Party it is intended that rather than produce an order of questions by draw these will be sought by the Lord Mayor from Members indicating at the meeting that they have a question.  The Leader of the Opposition will be entitled to ask up to 3 questions during the 45 minutes set aside for questions.

Procedural Motion

Moved by Councillor Tim Mitchell and seconded by Councillor Guthrie McKie and

Resolved:

That Standing Order 9 be suspended to the extent only to allow that rather than Members, entitled to do so, being selected by draw to ask Questions the Lord Mayor call Members entitled to ask a question who indicate when asked by the Lord Mayor by show of hands at the meeting a wish to do so.  The Lord Mayor, when calling Members, may have regard to the proportionality of the political groups on the Council.  The Leader of the Opposition shall still be entitled to ask up to 3 questions during question time which shall be for a maximum of 45 minutes.

The questions, supplementary questions and replies are included on the Council’s website.

(a)    Councillor Karen Scarborough:        Westminster Residents and the London                   Economy

(b)    Councillor Peter Freeman:              Education in Westminster

(a)      Westminster Residents and the London Economy

          Councillor Karen Scarborough spoke and Councillor Nickie Aiken replied.

(b)      Education in Westminster

          Councillor Peter Freeman spoke and Councillor Richard Holloway replied.

With the approval of the Chairman of the meeting, the Leader of the Council may make a statement on an urgent matter and the Leader of the Opposition will have an equivalent right of reply.

There were no urgent matters.

To consider the report of the Cabinet.

1.       2018-2019 Budget and Council Tax (Appendix A)

2.       Capital Strategy 2018-2019 to 2022-2023: Forecast Position for 2017-2018         and Future Years Forecasts Summarised up to 2031-2032 (Appendix B)

3.       Treasury Management Statement for 2018-2019 to 2022-2023 (Appendix C)

4.       Housing Investment Strategy and Housing Revenue Account Business Plan        2018-2019 (Appendix D)

5.       Integrated Investment Framework (Appendix E)

6.       Council’s Pay Policy (Appendix F)

9.1     Following debate on the whole report, to which Councillor Nickie Aiken replied, the Lord Mayor put the recommendations in each of the paragraphs to the vote.  In accordance with statutory provisions the recommendations in paragraph 1 of the Cabinet report – 2018-2019 Budget and Council Tax were put to a roll call vote undertaken by the Chief Executive, there voted:

          For the recommendations:  Councillors Acton, Aiken, Alexander, Arzymanow, Astaire, Beddoe, Bott, Burbridge, Caplan, Chalkley, Connell, Cox, Crockett, Cuthbertson, Devenish, Flight, Freeman, Gassanly, Glanz, Angela Harvey, David Harvey, Holloway, Hyams, Mitchell, Mohindra, Prendergast, Rahuja, Rigby, Robathan, Rowley, Scarborough, Smith, Warner and Wilkinson.

          Against the recommendations: Councillors Begum, Boothroyd, Bush, Dimoldenberg, Grahame, Hug, Less, McAllister, McKie, Qureshi, Roca, Talukder, Taylor Toki and Williams.

          Absence or not voting:  The Lord Mayor, Councillors Church, Couttie, Davis, Evans, Floru, Hall, Mohammed, Roberts, Summers and Thomson.

          The Lord Mayor declared the recommendations in paragraph 1 of the Cabinet report – 19 February 2018 adopted:

          Resolved:

1.              That the Council note that the local element of Council Tax for 2018-2019 will not increase.

2.              That the Council approve the following:

(i)              The 2018-2019 budget, as set out in the report, and the recommended Council Tax levels as set out in the Council Tax resolution at Annex C to the report and Annex 1 to the Cabine report;

(ii)             That local element of Council Tax be increased by 2% in respect of the Adult Social Care Precept as permitted by Government and anticipated in their Core Spending Power assumptions;

(iii)           That as a consequence of no change in Council Tax and the 2% increase in the Adult Social Care precept the local element for Band D properties be confirmed for 2018-2019 as £416.27;

(iv)           That having had regard to (iii) above, the Council Tax for the City of Westminster, excluding the Montpelier Square area and Queen’s Park Community Council, for the year ending 31 March 2018, be as specified in the Council Tax Resolution in Annex C to the report (Appendix A) and Annex 1 to the report.  That the Precepts and Special Expenses be as also specified in the Council Tax resolution for properties in the Montpelier Square and Queen’s Park Community Council;

(v)             That the Council Tax be levied accordingly and that officers be authorised to alter the Council Tax Resolution as necessary following the final announcement of the Greater London Authority precept;

(vi)           That the Council approves the budget proposals presented to Council on 8^th November 2017 which were approved in principle pending the completion of relevant external consultations as outlined in Section 18 of the report attached to the report as Appendix A.

(vii)          That the views of the Budget and Performance Task Group set out in Annex A of the report (Appendix A) be noted as considered by the Council

(viii)        That the draft estimated cash limited budgets for each service with overall net expenditure for 2018-2019 of £186.163m (as set out in Schedule 3 of Appendix A) of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To be moved by Councillor Tim Roca and seconded by Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg

"Westminster Council notes the deep resident concerns about the current performance of CityWest Homes, particularly following the closure of estate offices, the introduction of the new call centre and the transition to the Morgan Sindall repairs contract. It registers its concern about the Cabinet Member decisions to approve the transformation strategy and other changes that have led to the deterioration in service.

Westminster Council believes that CityWest should be put on final notice that if its performance does not rapidly improve it will be removed from managing Westminster’s Council properties. The council believes that urgent action is required to end the repairs crisis and improve the way CityWest treats its residents.

Westminster Council resolves to undertake an urgent review of CityWest Homes operations and structures, including its funding. Such a review should also focus on how to strengthen the power of residents as part of the management of the Council’s housing stock.

The council further resolves to re-establish a network of local estate offices where residents can speak with housing management staff and therefore give staff better access to local areas. This network would look to utilise previous estate office buildings, other public buildings and new local hubs of council services.

The Council also resolves that any decision on renewing the management agreement with CityWest Homes should be approved by a ballot of tenants and leaseholders.

10.1    The Lord Mayor advised that the Minority Party had selected for debate the Notice of Motion.  The Notice of Motion was moved by Councillor Tim Roca and seconded by Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg.  Following debate to which Councillor Roca replied the Lord Mayor put the motion to the vote.

          A formal roll call vote was demanded and granted by the Lord Mayor.  The Chief Executive conducted the vote.  There voted:

          For the motion: Councillors Begum, Boothroyd, Bush, Dimoldenberg, Grahame, Hug, Less, McAllister, McKie, Qureshi, Roca, Talukder, Taylor, Toki and Williams.

          Against the motion:  Councillors Acton, Aiken, Alexander, Arzymanow, Astaire, Beddoe, Bott, Burbridge, Caplan, Chalkley, Connell, Cox, Crockett, Cuthbertson, Devenish, Flight, Freeman, Gassanly, Glanz, Angela Harvey, David Harvey, Holloway, Hyams, Mitchell, Mohindra, Prendergast, Rahuja, Rigby, Robathan, Rowley, Scarborough, Smith, Warner and Wilkinson.

          Absence or not voting: The Lord Mayor, Councillors Church, Couttie, Davis, Evans, Floru, Hall, Mohammed, Roberts, Summers and Thomson.

          The Lord Mayor declared the motion as LOST

1.1     The Lord Mayor put the recommendation in paragraph 1 of the General Purposes Committee report Members Allowances Scheme 2018-2019 to the vote and on a show of hands declared the recommendation adopted.

RESOLVED: That the Members Allowances Scheme attached to the report of the General Purposes Committee (Appendix G) be approved.