The Mayor was delayed so Councillor Taylor, Deputy Mayor, chaired for minute numbers 68 and 69.

Apologies were received from the Managing Director.

Councillor Watkin declared a disclosable pecuniary interest as he was an allotment holder and left the room for that item.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2017 to be submitted and signed.

Copies of the minutes of this meeting are usually available seven working days following the meeting.

(All minutes are available on the Council’s website.)

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2017 were submitted and signed.

The Cabinet may wish to consider whether there are any items on which there is general agreement which could be considered now, to enable discussion to focus on those items where the Cabinet sees a need for further debate.

Councillor Bell spoke on behalf of the Labour group.

Cabinet received a report of the Head of Corporate Strategy and Client Services which set out the updates to the Tenancy Agreement for allotment tenants following consultation with site supervisors, benchmarking and feedback from the council’s partner, Veolia.

The Section Head – Parks, Open Spaces and Projects explained that the reason for the update to the tenancy agreement was discrepancies in the legal document which tenants signed compared to the terms and conditions of the allotments.  For example with regards to bonfires: in the terms and conditions these were not allowed but they were permitted under the old tenancy agreement. The new tenancy agreement had come to Cabinet as it related to a policy.

In response to a question from the Mayor, the Section Head – Parks, Open Spaces and Projects explained that prohibition of cultivation of allotments for commercial purposes was not in the old tenancy agreement; however, it had been included in item 26 of the new agreement.  There had been consultation with allotment stakeholder panels and site supervisors.

Following a question from Councillor Bell, the Section Head – Parks, Open Spaces and Projects explained that most of the Farm Terrace allotment tenants had been relocated.  Subsequent to prices being received from contractors for moving, the remaining tenants would be relocated in time for the new growing season.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet formally endorses the new tenancy agreement.

The Chair to move: that, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during consideration of the item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Section 100(1) of the Act for the reasons stated below in terms of Schedule 12A.

Note: if approved, the Chair will ask members of the press and public to leave the meeting at this point.

RESOLVED

That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it is likely, in the view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during consideration of the item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Section 100(1) Schedule 12A of the Act for the reasons stated in the report.

Report of Head of Corporate Strategy and Client Services

This report is considered Part B in accordance with paragraph 3 Part 1 Schedule 12 A as the information contained within the report relates to the financial and business affairs of the Council.

A report was received from the Head of Corporate Strategy and Client Services.  Councillor Taylor and the Corporate, Leisure & Community Client Section Head introduced the report and responded to questions from Cabinet.

RESOLVED -

That the recommendations be agreed.