We’re reporting live from the Full Council Meeting at County Hall.
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[17:59] And we’re off. Chairman has arrived. Great prayers. Very considered.
Mention of the late John Effemey who passed away since the last meeting.
Chairman’s report is brought forward. An evening of murder and mystery being announced (!) as a charity event.
Declarations of interest. Few people declared interest as trustees.
(BTW spoke to Unison. They said a few hundred people at the demo)
Chair leaving the seat as his wife is connected to Westminster House. Ian Stephens taking over.
[18.10] Update 1
Ian Stephens also standing down as he’s proposing an amendment later. 36 votes for Cllr Mazillius to be chair.
Move to have public questions extended from 15 minutes to 30 minutes.
Written questions.
Mark Dunsford: Challenge proposals on parking increases. Gave 5 or 6 reasons for residents and visitors permits not to be increased.
Cllr Giles: Tonight there’ll be a proposal to remove parking permits. Providing it is discretionary. With people using permits, the turn over in the car park is less. Not as good for the shops.
Less than 1% of visitors bought parking permits.
[18.20] Update 2
Hazel Wyld: Question on carers. Have comparisons been made?
Cllr Bingham: A move away from building-based provision. £15k / year to keep someone in residential care. £6k if from home.
Hazel Wyld: Smoke and mirrors. My daughter is severely disabled, so can’t make her own choices. I’ve been waiting three months for details of personal budgets.
Cllr Cousins: I personally look into your case.
John Rosenthal: Westminster House. Many people there won’t be able to care for themselves. £100k for a life time vs £90 – £100k per year
Cllr Bingham: The stopping of Westminster House for respite isn’t on the agenda tonight
Rosenthal: How can you carry out a comparison when Westminster House is unique?
(Applause)
Cllr Cousins: (quite a lot) then, Westminster House not closing on agenda tonight
David Miller: Comment on class sizes
Cllr Pugh: not sure we can give a guarantee that class sizes won’t exceed 30.
[18.30] Update 3
Supporting People Forum – Naomi Somerville: Is the SP underspend correctly assigned? (Questions in the email)
1. Can the local authority confirm that they acted within the 2008/09 grant conditions when carrying forward to 2009/10 any unspent Supporting People grant funding accumulated up to April 2009?
2. What form of consultation has been used, given that some service users with learning disabilities have communication difficulties and where do parents, service users and advocates access the records of meetings.consultations held to ensure their views have been noted?
3.If the council decide that the recommended budget proposals for Supporting People funded services are to be ratified, therefore reducing funding available and affecting service delivery to vulnerable island people, how will they be able to:
a)justify such an action before an Equality Impact Assessment has been properly finalised and the due process required by the Disability Discriminations Act legislation properly carried out, and
b) allow any contingency for later refurbishment of support services if any mishaps are found in the finalised Equality Impact Assessment?”
Cllr Bingham: Grant conditions for SP – consulted with legal, says that the decision “is sound”. “Could be argued” that the money is being spent 2010. £3.6m total spent. SP is only one service. Money for it would have to be taken away from other services
Changes to proposal shows that we’ve listened. Impact Assessment will be taken, once the decision is made in Full Council. They are covered by overall assessment.
(written question) Mrs Susan Pocock: Could the Cabinet Memeber please advise whether Equality Impact Assessments have been carried out in relation to the proposals to:
1. Move services delivered by Westminster House, Newport to Adelaide, Ryde and the Gouldings, Freshwater and
2. Phased withdrawal of financial support for Meadowbrook Learning Disability day centre
(Applause)
Cllr Cousins: Yes we will.
[18.40] Update 4
Lisa Rodriguez: What do you think about the no confidence vote?
Cllr Pugh: We’ve had meeting … Helpful dialogue … Consultation …
John Wortham: £11.1m is the PFI commitment yearly. This is the same as the money IWC gets roughly that from government. What happens to the surplus?
Cllr Giles: Will provide a written answer.
Mrs Wareham: Ask Cllr Bingham has he visited and consulted with those affected by the proposed cuts?
People in the gallery (service users) say they weren’t consulted (Talking in the gallery)
Cllr Bingham: I haven’t visited all of them as I deal with the whole budget.
Cllr Cousins: I have Westminster House and most of the other premises
(Mention of a meeting she attends) (Gasps and disquiet from gallery)
-End of question time-
Geoff Lumley: 1,451 people signed petition about Westmister House. 669 Facebook group. 52z(?)
Cllr Cousins accepted them.
[18.50] Update 5
Paper B: Budget
Cllr Pugh: Proposals had the most scrutiny for years. Have to work within increasingly limited budgets. As challenging, if not more so next year. We’ve been listening, hence the revisions. Once we’ve made the decisions, we can then start working on making the changes. Thanks to everyone who has written, we’ve read them all and considered them.
Anxiety about the transformation to personal budget. Overall thrust of our proposals is sound. Additional £750k to Adult services. Impact assessment, once done, will inform us.
Opposition attacks: Crude political attacks over previous weeks. We have a strong track record for older residents.
Much of additional money down to removing parking permits. Parking permits has generated lots of letters. Large number of current permit holders told us they wouldn’t buy them.
Lib Dem proposals say £1m savings, we say £600k as we don’t including business parking permits. Parking charges won’t go up.
[19.00] Update 6
Car parks are free 6pm – 8am, can park there. Well done to other parties for putting their alt budgets in so early.
Member involvement: Would like to let Cllr review the budgets during the year available to us.
Review after the first quarter. Hope to deliver a freeze in council tax in the following two years.
Cllr Bingham: (2nd) very difficult choices. Money come from gov and local taxes. IW grant from gov reduced by ~£3m due to damping. Pension costs are also rising. Gap is now £11.4m (wasn’t it £11.6 last time?)
(I’m not really keeping up with this – feeling tired)
Plans to reduce staff by 200 over the next 3 years. More efficiency.
We are at the start of a review process. The number of buildings will probably reduce 47% of budget on Adult Social care.
[19.10] Update 7
£750k will be allocated for possible usage. £300k listed is a “reduction in the provision for ‘doubtful debts'” after discussions with Finance Dept.
There will be a monthly Star Chamber to review changes “during a very challenging year”. This is a budget for all Islanders.
(Alt proposals being discussed)
Cllr Lumley: Sharing with Cllr Stephens. Worked with Independents.
Started the process at the start of the year. Economically difficult times.
Proposals suggested were quite scary (here, here from balcony)
[19.20] Update 8
Tories have squandered the £50m reserves that they inherited. Like to be £2.5-£3m over spend _this_ year. Not been spoke about yet. Focus of our budget – Eco +. Communication budgets too large for a tiny council like this
(applause)
Salary over £90k give back 15%
(applause)
Westminster House would stay open
(cheers from gallery)
We know personalisation is coming, just it shouldn’t be Armageddon. Every survey of Islanders says that they want to keep parking permits. We double the cost of them, not abolish them. We seek to protect and defend the most vulnerable people in society.
Cllr Stephens now. We think that supporting business is important
[19.30] Update 9
Smart street lighting schemes. Many other UK councils have done this. Dimming and turning them off during the middle of the night. Put the flavour into Eco Island that it currently doesn’t have.
We as a council are very keen to say that we want them to get their houses in order, but we don’t have our own house in order (IWC)
Ports, ferries, moorings. There’s a grey area about music tuition.
Westminster House will continue and we’d like to look at expanding it.
If there’s a cut in service, we may never get it back to the standard. Possibily ever.
(Applause)
We’re trying to be a Can Do council, not a Cannot Do one
Applause)
_debate on the amendment
Cllr Bacon: major concern Supporting People. The measure of a good society is how it looks after the weakest members of it. I’ve not heard from anyone who says the original proposals are a good idea.
[19.40] Update 10
People running the services are concerned.
The SP originally-ringfenced amount should still be used in Supporting People, not used to plug gaps in other finances. Fear is that many of the services that could be lost might have to be taken over by the council, costing the IWC more money.
(Hear, hear from the public)
“Don’t harm people, help people.”
Cllr Webster: Free over 80s care and other services very good, why do you run it down.
(Rubbish the gallery shout)
Cllr Giles: Street lighting, will be dealt with PFI, most likely LED. Dimming and CCTV will be controlled centrally. 12,068 lighting columns on the Island a small. £430k a year spent on power for lights and ticket machines.
Saving put forward wouldn’t be possible to achieve with our current equipment.
[19.50] Update 11
Harbour fees could go up it’s suggested. Ryde has just gone up, so no scope for increase. Car parking to £150 suggestion. We’ve modeled this, but cannot see where £100k+ on this would come from.
Cllr Churchman: There’s 3 years wait for the PFI. We could save money. What are we waiting for? Public realm cuts. We cannot stop improving the Island. Euro is high, we need to get it while we can.
How can we possibly cut from the RCC? They’re a voluntary organisations.
ENO – it’s a layer of people that we cannot afford. The duties should be done by the councillors. Community Wardens were half the cost and just as good.
Cllr Jones-Evans: Which parts of budget being cut.
Cllr Cousins: Very aware that many of our children are placed off the Island. We aren’t targeting the vulnerable.
Cllr Abrahams: Pickup on ENO. They do a useful job. It’s not the role of a councillor to walk around the town and notice everything. ENO also do enforcement.
Guess Geoff hasn’t spoke to Unison, as they’re supporting the retention of ENO.
Wait until next year, it will be tough. UK like Greece. We’ll be virtually bankrupt next year.
Cllr Humby: People who have to go to the mainland for work won’t be able to park. There’s 8,000 people on the Island doing voluntary work who need to have parking permits. They won’t be able to afford to do their free work.
Cllr Welsford: We’re here to challenge. Leader called us questioning the budget as an affront to democracy.
(Muttering among the Conservatives)
I did wonder if 3.5% council tax would be like. (Applause from gallery at the end of Welsford’s talk).
[20.00] Update 12
Cllr Pugh: We need to look how to integrate services area more. We have some of the most challenging population in the country. Ageing population. We do have an overspend on older residents.
Housing and homelessness – reducing as we’ve done well in reducing it so well. (Gallery asked Pugh to stop as he’d run over)
Cllr Ward: This is not a cut, it’s a change of funding system. The government is imposing this on us. Does everyone realise this?
Cllr Brown: Cllr Lumley has created a slick budget. Plausible too. There are elements in the budget that have influenced our budget. Alternative budgets skate over a few things. If money is cut from comms budgets, there goes the events that support business. Your not serving the community properly with those budget. More harm than good.
[20.20] Update 13
Cllr Hunter-Henderson: Comms at £1m include events, etc.
£648,000 is the comms budget. If design was out of house, 400+ publications would cost £750k. We’ll cut publications by 1/3. One Island magazine will have advertising and sponsorship.
One Island magazine will have advertising and sponsorship. Grants also for One Island.
Cllr Stephens: Cllr Webster there’s more than one way for us to do it. Yes, I’ve spoke to the fire service.
Cllr Lumley: This is the first. Lies and distortions from the people opposite.
(Yells from Tories)
Asked for a named vote and got others. First time Lumley has been not been given a chance to give a proper response.
(All opposition voted for amendment)
Vote: 15 for. 20 against the amendment
[20.40] Update 14
(Sorry – was a break there)
Cllr Reg Barry: In Five years financial devastation has happened. The Chest is empty. It does seem a little carless to rackup an £11m hole. We used to do budget reviews weekly not yearly. Only 20% of the Island’s resident bought parking permits. Why should the other 80% of the Island have to pay for them?
(Reg Barry was the former leader of the council – Lib Dem)
Cllr Giles: Concessionary bus fares – (Reg Barry) were in his document on VB) Lots of stats about bus use.
Cllr Cousins: Dispute your calculations.
[21.00] Update 15
Cllr Howe: Why was the large amount of money that was left in 2005 frittered away? They were good times. Now it’s bad times and we’ve got no money in reserve.
Cllr Abrahams: Lib dems didn’t modernise the council. You failed to deliver. We’ve been spending the money that you avoided. Looks like you’ve picked the figures out of the air. They’ve coned people out of the money. Little more than pick pockets.
Cllr Ward: What happened to the money? It was all hidden away in departments budgets. We spent it on the people of the Island
Cllr Hollis: What is the rate of inflation he’s using. ENO budget.
Cllr Knowles: You’ve removed the essential careworkers car allowance. They’ve gone from seeing people. 4 people before the cut, now they’re seeing one. Will you pick in a panel who is the most worthy?
(Applause)
Cllr David Whitaker: £8.14m taken by this government next year £11.6m
Cllr Lumley: What have you done? You’ve made me vote with the LibDems. You’re distorting things. Dawn, you’re getting stitched up, because of the trouble in the leadership.
[21.10] Update 16
Cllr Bacon: Lib Dem budget has it’s faults, but I’m voting for it because it’s better than the Conservative one
Cllr Pugh: Car scheme has been cut, it’s been fundamentally reformed
Cllr Knowles: Point of Order. Can we hastily have the review of services.
Cllr Barry: Summary. What’s the point in setting the council tax at 2% if you’re taking £20m out of the reserves.
_move to the vote
5 abstained
10 against
20 for
2nd amendment lost
[21.20] Update 17
_Conservative’s amendment
Cllr Lumley: This is like the hokey cokey budget – in, out, as they put stuff in and take it out.
The £750k fund introduced will just be dipped into. It’s not clear how it will be used.
Cllr Whittle: I represent the people of this Island, not a party. We’ve got to work together. We should act a bit more like adults. We’ve got to search every single avenue.
It’s people who voted us here. We should think of them.
Cllr Fuller: Mid year review. Can we have an assurance of no further cuts from it.
Cllr Bacon: What happens if the new system doesn’t work. Reference to banner outside county hall “F***ing leave us alone.” Don’t know where that came from. We need to work with people.
[21.30] Update 18
Cllr Stephens: Listening to Cllr Whittle – there was a glimmer of sense. Much better than us all having a pop at each other. We worked well together on the Fire services – why can’t we do it for Social services?
Bus Scheme costs the Island a little short of £3m a year.
Cllr Ward: Transition. I expressed concerns about this in our joint meeting. £750k is to cover that. I worked bringing in the parking permit. It does make me sad that we’re taking this away from the Island. I ask the cabinet, “Think very carefully when you do your review.”
We’re here to look after the people of the Island.
Cllr Jones-Evans: Why is Ventnor precept going up by 50%? (She’s sitting next to Cllr Scoccia)
[21.40] Update 19
Cllr Churchman: Seriously concerned at the damage we can do to the Island. The supermarkets will love this, with their free car parks.
Appalled to see that we might be removing the funding from the unions. There’s 1,800 people as a member of the union here. What will it cost the council if we get rid of him? It’s short-termism.
Cllr Barry: This is why it will only cost £13k to allow free bus use between 8:30 and 9:30.
_Leader summing up
Cllr Pugh: Concessionary fares is a changing figure as it varies on usage.
(He’s answering a lot of the questions that have been posed)
We won’t give any assurance on further cuts
[21.50] Update 20
_vote
Cllr Wyatt-Millington abstained(!)
104 against
19 for
Cllr Churchman: Would like assurance that we won’t be employing external consultant over parking.
Cllr Giles: I have no intention of that at this moment.
(Discussion on cabinet papers)
Cllr Humby: Parades need road closure notices. IS there a truth that the council will charge for lost parking revenue?
Cllr Giles: will write answer.
-end of event
(Night, night)
