RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Council Meeting held on 15 October 2012 be signed as a correct record.

All Members of the Council confirmed that their interests as listed in their Declaration of Interests Forms were accurate and up-to-date.

Councillor Lynne Hale declared a personal interest as a general declaration due to the complexity of the agenda as members of her family are employed by Croydon Council.

At 6.34 the Leader moved a procedural Motions under Part 4a 1.11.3 of the Constitution, for a change in the order of business and for the Debate Motions (agenda item 14) to be taken after Public Questions (agenda item 6). Councillor Tony Newman seconded the motion which was put to the vote and agreed.

None

None

The Mayor reported two successful charity events undertaken since the last Council meeting. The Christmas Fayre held in the Arnhem Gallery and a cream tea held at Oak Farm. He thanked the sponsors of the cream tea event. Future events to be held include the Bingo evening on 12th December and an indoor horse racing evening on 25th January. The Mayor also advised Members that a 2013 calendar depicting pictures of Croydon was for sale.

The Mayor spoke of events he had attended including meeting Father Christmas, three times, at the Norbury Hill Nursery Christmas Party, The Croydon Foster Cares Association Christmas Party and The Friends of Haling Grove St Nicholas Celebration.

The Mayor has presented Jack Petchey Foundation Awards for Achievement to Croydon Scouts, school children and to some of their leaders and had visited the Croydon unit of the Sea Cadets where he presented further Jack Petchey awards. He also attended with Councillor Sara Bashford and Lawrence Okoye, Croydon's Olympic Team GB discus thrower, the Awards for the Croydon Team who won this year's London Youth Games. The Mayor also attended The Croydon Guardian Champions Awards and the Croydon Council Awards.

At the beginning of November the Mayor attended the Achievement Awards for Croydon Looked After Children and had been proud to learn that approximately 100 children in Croydon's care are now on University courses. The Mayor went on to say that this was a proud achievement for the young people and for Croydon's Children's services and the children carers. They are role models for all the children that are in Croydon's care. The Mayor presented awards for outstanding achievements awards to four young people three of which were present at Council; Ashleigh Smith, as a 15 year old had published her first novel ‘Just a Daddy's Girl', Matiullah Haider, came to the UK in 2007 and has won a number of sport awards he is a volunteer at the refugee Cricket project and a qualified cricket coach, and Adassa Christie is involved in the youth parliament and the Children in Care Council, the fourth young person, John Fiore, was unable to attend as he was attending an assessment for his Masters degree course.

The Mayor invited Councillor Lynn Hale to make an announcement about the Croydon's float in the New Year's Day 2013 London Parade. The entry would be entitled ‘Croydon - Connecting Cultures' and celebrates the diversity of London's largest borough, the cosmopolitan and vibrant night life, busy markets, bustling shopping centres and quality restaurants, as well as award winning parks and green open spaces.

The Chief Executive as acting Returning Officer for the Parliamentary by-election announced that Steve Reed (Labour) had been elected as the new MP for Croydon North

Councillor Speakman thanked the Mayor for attending 100th birthday of Mrs Lillie Beston in Purley 17 November 2012.

Under the provisions of the Council Procedure Rules (Croydon Constitution, Part 4A), written questions had been submitted and written replies were given by the relevant Cabinet Member. These were placed in the Chamber and Public Gallery, oral supplementary questions were asked by members of the public and oral replies were provided by the relevant Cabinet Members.

Oral Supplementary questions were asked by:
PQ101-12 - Mrs Atkinson
PQ104-12 - Mr Cartwright
PQ107-12 - Mr Samuel
PQ110-12 - Ms Champion
PQ111-12 - Mr Justice.

In each case there was an oral reply from the relevant Cabinet Member.

[Note the written Public Questions and written replies can be found at www.croydon.gov.uk/agenda]

Two motions were submitted for debate in accordance with Council Procedure Rules as follows:

1. Motion for Debate

Proposed by Councillor Ian Parker
Seconded by Councillor Tim Pollard

"This Authority welcomes the improvement in the standard of attainment by pupils in Croydon's schools; an improvement driven by the commitment of this Council and the Government to raising standards."

Councillor Parker opened the debate saying that there was no subject more important than the education of our children; a shared responsibility for parents, politicians and teachers. Parents for ensuring that children are well behaved, well mannered, do their homework and turn up to school on time treat others as they would want to be treated themselves. Politicians also have responsibly for providing the resource for children's education and making sure that it is relevant to the child's abilities. He went on to say that it cost nothing to show respect to teachers, other pupils and the rules of the school. Councillor Parker said that children need to know what they are learning is relevant to their abilities and to the work place, and from their teachers and parents learn a work ethic that will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives and mean they are able to complete in the global economy when they leave school.

An Amendment was moved by Councillor Kathy Bee and Seconded by Councillor John Wentworth as follows:

Delete everything after Croydon's schools, and insert "an improvement driven by the commitment of school leaders and teachers, governors, parents and officers, building upon the educational investment of the last Labour Government".

Amended motion read
"This Authority welcomes the improvements in the standard of attainment by pupils in Croydon's schools. An improvement driven by the commitment of school leaders and teachers, governors, parents and officers, building upon the educational investment of the last Labour Government".

Councillor Kathy Bee in moving the amendment said that the improving education results in Croydon are welcomed and this should continue until Croydon children get best results in the country. Councillor Bee questioned the wording of the original motion saying it ignored the contribution of parents, teachers, carers and governors. She went on to say that pupils attaining GCSE results in August would have been in the education system for 12 years, 10 of which would have been under a Labour Government. She spoke about the investments made under Labour including Sure Start and Building Schools for the Future. She went on to question the current government polices of downgrading GCSE and questioned the promotion of EBAC as a return to the 1950's, EBAC for instance excluded IT.

Councillor Marshall in supporting the original motion spoke of the commitment to improving the standards and attainment of Looked after Children (LAC). All Members are Corporate Parents and with over 700 LAC was a large ‘family' to share. She thanked the many foster carers and spoke about the Council's ‘virtual' school whose primary focus was to track the attainment and progress of each LAC. She went on the say that she had attended the recent award ceremony for LAC and thanked the Mayor for inviting four of the young people to this Council meeting. Councillor Marshall said that the Council adhered to the 1989 Children's Act, that the needs of the child are paramount. She said that every child looked after must have opportunity to achieve their full potential and by the commitment to this all Members would continue to welcome the improvement in standards of attainment by pupils in Croydon schools.

Council Hall, speaking to support the amended motion, opened by saying that he celebrated the rise in standards that have been seen over a number of years and congratulated the pupils. He went on to say that the proposed amendment to the motion recognised the work of all the different stakeholders and the investment put into education by a Labour government. He expressed concern over proposed government targets, cuts to building school funds, youth service cuts and cuts to other community services all of which would have an adverse effect on schools and pupils.

Councillor Gray, speaking to support the amended motion, said that this council is happy to see the hard work invested by Croydon children and their family has been borne out. She went on to say that previous government investment in education was justified by the results. She spoke of Labour lead initiatives such as academies, investment in school infrastructure and teaching staff. Councillor gray questioned why Free schools where being set up across county with not enough children to fill whilst Croydon where having school places squeezed. Councillor Gray also questioned the cuts to school funding for rebuilding and supplementary grants.

Councillor Tim Pollard in supporting the original motion said that the motion did recognise the achievement of everyone involved in education. He went on to say that Croydon had no empty schools and the Boroughs expanding population meant that schools of all types were welcome in Croydon. He questioned the investment by the previous Labour administration being aimed at mainly secondary schools whilst ignoring primary school requirements. Councillor Pollard said that he was proud of the achievements in terms of GCSE results where Croydon had been 2-3% below average in 2006 to 4-5% above national average now meaning that the Council policies were working.

The amended motion was put and lost.

The original motion was put and carried.

2. Motion for Debate
Proposed by Councillor Timothy Godfrey
Seconded by Councillor Tony Newman

"This Council opposes the privatisation of Croydon Libraries."

Councillor Godfrey opened the debate saying that the Labour group were proud to put forward this straightforward motion because it set the battle lines for the next election. Labour standing up for quality public services delivered effectively and efficiently, the Tories privatising core public services to second rate providers and private companies. He questioned the Council's record on privatisation and spoke about the street cleaning contract. Councillor Godfrey went on to say that should Labour be successful in the next local election they would cancel the libraries contract and that contracts would be published including the contract for the Corporate Hub.

Councillor Bashford in opposing the motion said that she was proud that Croydon had kept open all of its branch libraries and assumed that the Labour group in Croydon wanted to close libraries and follow in the footsteps of Labour run Newcastle who are closing 10 of 18 libraries and Labour run Brent closing 6 of 12 libraries. Councillor Bashford said that following the Comprehensive Spending Review in December 2010 a Cabinet report was presented saying that there would be consultation on closing 6 libraries across the borough. She spoke of the responses from residents at public meetings, through petitions and face to face meetings indicating that hey wanted the libraries to remain open. She went on to say that government monies were being reduced and the Council still had as many statutory services to provide, meaning that other options needed to be considered to keep the libraries open and still make the saving required. Following market testing options were considered to keep the libraries open and it was felt that finding an alternative provider to run the libraries would be the best solution. Councillor Bashford said it was not about privatisation per se but what residents wanted, to keep their libraries. The process has been a long one, but Councillor Bashford said that residents don't mind who runs their library as long as it offers what they have now or more.

Councillor Mansell, in supporting the motion said that successful decision making requires good information expertise on the service and good process. She questioned why the council ignored this and rejected its own in house expertise. She went on to question the outsourcing to another Borough, the tender process and the final choice of provider for Croydon.

Councillor Kellett in opposing the motion said that the subject of library provision in Croydon should be a consensual one. Whilst all members would accept the budgetary restraints being faced by the Council they should also accept the common goal of keeping all libraries open and the need to be imaginative and open minded to find alternative ways of service provision. To do anything less would fail the hardworking library staff and let down library users. Councillor Kellett said that this contract would keep all the libraries open, the Council would retain the freeholds, there would be no reduction in opening hours, a complete refresh of IT services and wi fi, an increase in book fund and expansion of e books, in short something for everyone.

Cllr T Pollard, in opposing the motion questioned the arguments put forward by the Labour speakers saying that to publish all contractual details could be unlawful and companies may not come forward with tenders if they believed that commercially sensitive information was made available to their competitors. He went on to say that services had already been rearranged in house but the Council had now reached the point where that was no longer an option. Councillor Pollard went on to say that if the library service was retained in house there may be no alternative other than to close branches. With this contract residents will find the excellent branches they have always had offered more efficiently

Councillor Newman in seconding and supporting the motion questioned the decision to privatise the libraries and said that the Administration had failed to listen to the residents. He went on to say that the consultation on the library service future had not mentioned a possible ‘sell off' of the service. He also questioned the procurement process results. Councillor Newman said that Labour believed libraries should be at the centre of local communities and be free to reflect local needs and priorities, and that the proposed contract would not do this. Councillor Newman also raised questions on other subjects such as the proposed incinerator, the new Council HQ and street cleaning.

Following the debate a show of hands was requested. The motion was put and lost.

For 31, against 36.
 

Petitions were presented formally by Councillors as follows in accordance with Council Procedure Rules:

1. A petition presented by Councillor Badsha Quadir on behalf of residents regarding Christchurch Road.

2. A petition presented by Councillor Carole Bonner on behalf of residents regarding additional parking in Alford Green.

3. A petition presented by Councillor Tony Newman on behalf of residents regarding CCTV at Norwood Junction Station and surrounding area.

These petitions were referred to the relevant Cabinet Members. In accordance with the Council's Constitution the reply to this petition will be included in the agenda for the next Council meeting.

In accordance with the Council procedure rules, the printed responses were open to questions from Councillors

There were no questions.

Councillor Steve Hollands, Chair of Scrutiny & Strategic Overview Committee, presented a written report to Council summarising the proceedings of that Committee since the last ordinary meeting of the Council, including matters considered by the Scrutiny Sub-Committees.

The following Councillors asked questions
Councillor Kellett -regarding recent police attendance at a Scrutiny meeting
Councillor H Pollard - regarding the overspending of NHS Croydon enquiry and non attendance of key personnel from the NHS.

In each case the Chair of the relevant committee gave an oral reply.

Council RESOLVED that the report of the Scrutiny & Strategic Overview Committee be noted.
 

Councillor Chatterjee said that Shirley ward, is a part of a larger area and that the boundary looked like a ‘spotty' dog. He went on to say that is was an honour and privilege to serve as one of the Ward councillors, together with Cllr Fisher and Cllr Marshall. Shirley has its own character and neighbourhood is of course determined by its neighbours and the people of Shirley tend to be good neighbour. He went on to say that there were many locally based voluntary groups, residents associations, Guides and Scouts, together with many churches and local schools that flourished without Council assistance.

Councillor Hay-Justice said that Addiscombe Ward was a vibrant and community spirited ward and home to many people who care and collectively contribute to the good of the ward. She went on to say that an increasing population and limited provision for affordable housing gave rise to poor quality living accommodation in the ward with some residents in unacceptable bed and breakfast at the cost to the taxpayer. She also spoke of her concern regarding the employment possibilities for residents following the departure of Nestles, Bank of America and the closure of Allders.

Councillor Winborn spoke to the regeneration that was being undertaken in Fairfield Ward. She highlighted the new footbridge at East Croydon Station that will provide a new east west link, Wellesley Road benefiting from regeneration funding from the Mayor of London and an award of £100k grant to be a ‘Portas' pilot to revitalise old town for the benefit all communities. Councillor Winborn also spoke about the newly formed Old town Business Association and the South End food festival attended by 4000 people. She went on to say that consultation had ended on the Fairfield Masterplan, a scheme that will transform the area.

Councillor Lawlor congratulated Steve Reed on his recent success in the Croydon North by election. South Norwood is an area rich in character, history and potential and Councillor Lawlor said he was proud and privileged to serve the people of the ward. He spoke of concerns about fly tipping, street cleaning and asked that street scene officers be reinstated and weekly bin collection be reintroduced. He spoke about policing in the ward and the threat of closure of the local police station saying that crime levels are increasing and that police cuts send the wrong signals to petty criminals.

Councillor Helen Pollard said she was proud to represent Heathfield Ward and spoke of the community spirit shown during the summer with some residents being ‘games makers' at the Olympics and Addington Village residents championing the cause of their village cricket club, one of the oldest in the country. Local residents had resisted a development on a wooded area behind Shirley gardens where developers wanted to erect a three storey building which was turned down on appeal following residents and councillors' opposition. Councillor Helen Pollard spoke about the Edgecoombe Community Centre that was being redevelopment following consultation with residents.

Cabinet Members replied orally to matters raised.

Councillor Gatland, Chair of the Licensing Committee presented a written report to Council detailing the revised Statement of Principles.

Council agreed to adopt Croydon's Statement of Principles under the Gambling Act 2005 as detailed in the Appendix to the report circulated to the Council.

The Leader presented the Business Report summarising the proceedings of the Cabinet since the last meeting of the Council, including matters considered by Cabinet Committees.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rules, written questions had been submitted in advance by Council Members and written replies had been given by the relevant Cabinet Members. The questions and answers had been placed in the Chamber. Supplementary questions were asked by Members of the Council and replies were given by the relevant Cabinet Members.

Each Cabinet Member was asked in turn if they had anything to add to their report. Questions were then invited from the Chamber for each Cabinet Member who replied orally to the questions asked by Members of the Council on specific paragraphs or submitted questions.

The following Members asked questions on the Business Report

Cabinet Member

Leader: Councillors Newman, Chatterjee, Collins, Lenton, Smith, G Ryan and Chowdhury.
Councillor Hoar: Councillors Parker and Smith
Councillor Bashford: Councillors Kellett, G Ryan, Buttinger, Lenton and Avis

Councillor Mohan: Councillors Letts, Quadir, Woodley, Cummins, Avis and Chatterjee.

Councillor Perry: Councillors Neal, Collins, Winborn, George-Hilley and S Khan.

Councillor D Mead: Councillors H Pollard, B Khan, Marshall, Butler, Buttinger and Chowdhury.

The following Cabinet Members made announcements on their business reports.

Councillor Hoar made three announcements:

• The Best Bar None Awards held for the 10th year. Large venue winner - Tiger Tiger. Small venue - Orchard Pub in Shirley. Best Pub - Ship of Fools. Overall winner was Tiger Tiger. Councillor Hoar congratulated all the winners and the 40 establishments that received accreditations.
• Councillor Hoar also advised Members of an Area Enforcement operation targeting environmental offenders, particularly fly tipping and commercial waste at three sites along the London Road. During the operation 12 people were apprehended.
• Councillor Hoar advised that a consultation exercise would be undertaken on Cumulative impact zones for licensed premises.

Councillor Bashford advised Council that she had attended the 2012 Croydon Council Staff awards celebrating the excellent work of staff. This was the 5th year of the awards and she thanked all staff for the work they do and thanked the gold sponsors Veolia and Interserve.
Difference Award - Victor Docherty, Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Coordinator Proud to Serve Award - Waste and Recycling Service who assisted the police during the search for Tia Sharp.
Employee of the Year - Anthony Botting - Direct payments officer
Manager of the Year - Sonia Isaacs, Tenancy manager.
Councillor Bashford asked the Chief Executive to pass on the Councils thanks to all staff.

Councillor Perry - 3rd Develop Croydon Conference was held end November private sector lead and financed highlight the opportunities' Croydon has to offer. Booklet launched - ‘Croydon, London ready for business' highlighting the benefits of being in Croydon.

Councillor T Pollard - drew Members' attention to the new opportunity for a secondary school outlined in Cabinet report on Schools Estate.

Councillor M Mead - Announce that it was International Day of Disability and that 1st Jan 2013 would be ‘Love your Liver' day

Councillor Mead welcomed the new director of Public Health Dr Mike Robinson.

Councillor Mead congratulated staff in Adult Services and Housing following the Staff Awards and congratulated Pauling French on her appointment as Managing Director of Croydon Care Solutions.

Following the announcements by Cabinet Members the recommendations contained in the business report were put and it was RESOLVED to:

1. Note the business report of the Leader and Cabinet; and

2. Approve the Cabinet recommendations set out in the Leaders Business Report relating to the Tenancy Strategy

There were none.