Agenda and minutes

Special meeting, Internal Scrutiny Committee - Thursday, 22nd September, 2016 3.00 pm

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.

Venue: Committee Room 'B' - The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Wendy Broadley Email: wendy.broadley@lancashire.gov.uk

Media

Webcast: View the webcast

Items
No.	Item
	County Councillors Geoff Driver CBE and Gina Dowding replaced County Councillors George Wilkins and Liz Oades respectively for this meeting
1.	Apologies Minutes: None
2.	Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Interests Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda. Minutes: County Councillor Alyson Barnes declared a non-pecuniary interest in Item 3 as the Leader of Rossendale Council and a Trustee of the Crawshawbooth Community Association.
3.	Request to consider a Call In – The Property Strategy – Responses to Consultation PDF 108 KB View item 3. as DOC 158 KB View the background to item 3. View the decision for item 3. Additional documents: Annex A - Report to Cabinet , item 3. PDF 321 KB View as DOC (3./2) 376 KB Appendix A - Consultation Proposals , item 3. PDF 1 MB Appendix B - Revised Proposals , item 3. PDF 137 KB View as DOCX (3./4) 48 KB Appendix H - Draft library strategy for Lancashire 22 08 16 , item 3. PDF 204 KB View as DOCX (3./5) 273 KB Appendix I - Library Planning and Needs Assessment 22 08 16 , item 3. PDF 2 MB View as DOC (3./6) 12 MB Minutes: Following a request by seven County Councillors in accordance with the "Call In" procedure rules, the Committee considered a report outlining the decision of the Cabinet on 8 September 2016 in relation to the Property Strategy. The Committee welcomed County Councillor Kim Snape; Mrs Jane Porter; Fylde Borough Councillor Richard Redcliffe; Lancaster City Councillor Tim Hamilton-Cox; County Councillor David Borrow, Deputy Leader of the Council; County Councillor Marcus Johnstone; Cabinet Member for Environment, Planning and Cultural Services; County Councillor Matthew Tomlinson, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools; Mel Ormesher, Head of Asset Management, Ian Young, Director of Governance, Finance and Public Services; Neil Kissock, Director of Financial Resources; Debbie Duffell, Head of Wellbeing, Prevention and Early Help; and Julie Bell, Head of Libraries, Museums, Culture and Registrars attending to present evidence to the Committee. The following Councillors also spoke in accordance with Standing Order 19(1): County Councillors Andrea Kay, County Councillor Susie Charles, County Councillor Anne Cheetham, County Councillor Albert Atkinson, County Councillor Keith Sedgewick, County Councillor Michael Green, County Councillor Keith Iddon and County Councillor Alan Schofield. The Committee considered a number of issues in connection with the original decision, including the financial information provided, the methodology behind the decisions, and the consultation process, as well as hearing further representations on behalf of individual buildings. Following the debate, the committee Resolved: That the cabinet be asked to reconsider its decision of 8 September 2016 in relation to the Property Strategy, on the following grounds: · Both the consultation and the cabinet decision were based on incorrect financial information and the decision does not meet the Council's own priorities to support the needs of the residents of Lancashire, particularly the more deprived communities · The Scrutiny Committee also sought assurances that the methodology was applied consistently and fairly
4.	Urgent Business An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member's intention to raise a matter under this heading. Minutes: There was no urgent business
5.	Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee will be held on 23 September 2016 at 10:00am at the County Hall, Preston. Minutes: It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would take place on Friday 23 September at 10am at County Hall, Preston.