Agenda item

Councillor Duncan, the Leader of the Council, presented the following statement:

“This chamber looks very different following the elections in May. We’ve lost long-serving and experienced members, but gained others with new perspectives and new ideas.

We find ourselves yet again in no overall control. But that does not mean no overall vision and direction.

There is lots to do, but I want to focus on four key items we must all urgently take responsibility for:

• We have danced around the future of Ryedale House for too long. I recently toured this building and was shocked by its condition. It is unfit for purpose and quickly deteriorating after decades of neglect. We need to decide what its future will be before time is allowed to take an even greater toll.
• Plans to relocate Malton’s livestock market are controversial and costly. There are strong views around this chamber, but we must work to find a way forward.  This council has pledged to take a look at the business case around the relocation, and what role we should play. It would be premature to end that work at this critical point and without finding the answers we are seeking.
• The Milton Rooms has fantastic potential as a flagship venue in the heart of Ryedale. It should be seen by this council as an asset rather than a liability. We must continue our support, but with due consideration, of course, to ensuring value for Ryedale taxpayers.
• And finally, but most importantly, we must rebuild the trust of our workforce. Ryedale District Council can achieve nothing without its team of staff. Yet we have let them down over recent years. Now we need to demonstrate our appreciation for their hard work and dedication, and remind ourselves that this council’s greatest asset of all is its people.

In order to deliver over the next four years, on these items and others, we need to also look seriously at our own conduct and behaviour. The time for tricks, games, dithering and party political point scoring is over.

I have stated many times, and will state again, that Ryedale requires a “new approach” to doing business. Greater openness and transparency, improved collaboration and goodwill will be vital as we all work together to set policies in the interests of our district.

Finally - I wish every member of this council, in every political group, good luck throughout their term in office.”

The following questions were received on the Leader’s Statement:

1.    From Councillor Paul Andrews

“I have actually given notice of this question. I am very pleased to read Councillor Duncan's statement and note his support for the Milton Rooms.  I wonder if he is aware that the Milton Rooms applied to Ryedale earlier this year, I think in February, for a grant of £40,000 for improvements to the foyer and the toilets at the Milton Rooms which is the grounds for most of the complaints.  The application was deferred for a consultant’s report on various options, however I believe this report has been deferred for many months.  You will be aware that a sum of £400,000 has been earmarked for repairs and improvements to the Milton Rooms and £40,000 would come from this fund.  I now understand that the Council has in mind a £3.5 million scheme for moving the cattle market on the basis of the report that went to Policy and Resources.  Can you please Councillor Duncan, confirm that the fund earmarked for the Milton Rooms is not going to be applied to the cattle market scheme.  Can you also let Members know when you anticipate that the Milton Rooms grant application for the improvements to the toilets and the foyer will be considered and if not at the next meeting, why not and whether or not there is any real issue... and could you also let them know if there is anything outstanding to the Milton Rooms committee in regards to that grant application which we may not have dealt with because I'm not aware of any?”

The Leader replied:

“Thank you for your question Cllr Andrews and thank you for the notice that you provided which has helped enable me to get a full response to your question. In answer to your question, yes there is a budget totalling £476,000. This budget is made up of a capital allocation of £321,000. You may remember and you'll know that this was match funding from Heritage Lottery Fund bid for the Milton Rooms redevelopment project. In addition there was a further £155,000 allocated for future conditions survey works based on a 30 year programme to 2046.  Members will be aware but for the benefit of new members, the HLF bid was sadly unsuccessful and it was resolved that the capital allocation could be used for improvement projects to the Milton Rooms irrespective of the outcome of that HLF bid.  The Milton Rooms Committee subsequently submitted an outline proposal to the Council for an alternative and much smaller project to improve the toilets, foyer and reception area in the Milton Rooms but I'm told that this was an estimated cost of £70,000 not £40,000.  This project will be subject to approval by P&R and Full Council.  You'd asked me in writing before the meeting about the Grants Working Party and the consideration at that meeting.  To clarify, this isn't a grant application, it's through a capital allocation and therefore would come to P&R and then Full Council. I am hoping that this will be considered at a future P&R meeting very shortly. This hasn't happened yet but I would like it to come before us as soon as possible and at that chance we can also discuss more broadly I would hope what should happen in terms of the Council's collaboration with the Milton Rooms Committee trying to make the Milton Rooms into a destination at the heart of Ryedale as I mentioned in my Leader's Statement.  Finally I can say that it is not the Council's intention at this time in terms of the decisions that we've taken to apply the capital allocation to the Milton Rooms to the cattle market scheme and indeed for the avoidance of doubt we have no plan yet decided about where we are heading in terms of the livestock market scheme.  What P&R discussed and decided was that our officers should continue the work to look into what we should do as a Council and what our role should be. I hope that reassures Councillor Andrews that the request by the Milton Rooms Committee will be considered as soon as possible and that the money that has been allocated for the Milton Rooms will stay allocated to the Milton Rooms.”

Councillor Paul Andrews then asked the following supplementary question:

“Could Councillor Duncan ensure that statement comes to me and also a copy goes to the press because I have a lot of volunteers and trustees to reassure that the Council is still interested in the Milton Rooms so I appreciate the statement.  Thank you very much but please can we have that in writing? Can I ask if you can't give me a date now, can I please ask for that application which has been in since February to be considered, if at all possible, at the next P&R Committee meeting?”

The Leader then replied:

“I believe that what used to be the practice is that the answers that the Leader gives will be entered verbatim into the minutes - I don't know if that's still a practice? Simon's nodding his head, so that will be there and Councillor Andrews can point his Committee members in that direction. As for a date - it's not on the agenda for the 4 July extra-ordinary meeting of P&R but I will speak to  our officers to see if that could be brought to the next meeting which I believe is the 25 July...I will endeavour that it's on there as an item of discussion at that meeting.”

2.    From Councillor Riby

“Would Councillor Duncan please agree with me that Ryedale District Council represents Ryedale as a whole and my feeling as a new Councillor is that we seem a little bit obsessed. I know Malton is the centre of the area but not much is talked about outside the Malton area. The market for example is a key factor and I understand from the residents of Malton that it is time that it came out from the middle of the town. I have done some research and even the people that are participating in the market are not that eager for the council to put that much money in. With regard to the skulduggery in the past going on I as a new guy find it a bit strange that deals are done to such extent and his suggestion that you are not in control of this Council I would suggest is not quite correct as I watched the allocation of the Committee seats tonight and it seemed to be pretty spectacularly where everything was going to go. So my main point is would you agree that Ryedale District Council represents the whole area of Ryedale?”

The Leader replied:

“I will state very clearly that this Council is here to serve the whole of the district and I would encourage Members from all corners of it to make sure that what they would like to see in their areas is communicated to myself, to the Committee Chairs and to our officers to ensure that that is taken forward in the work that we are doing. If there are particular projects then we need to hear about them and particular work that you would like us to focus on. In answering the second part of your question I will welcome suggestions from all Members regardless of political persuasion and regardless of the group that they may be a part of.”

3.    From Councillor Potter

“I'd just like to refer to the fourth bullet point which says "And finally, but most importantly, we must rebuild the trust of our workforce. Ryedale District Council can achieve nothing without its team of staff. Yet we have let them down over recent years." I'd like to ask, who is "we"? Does this mean iEse, certain Members and senior managers past and present who refused for years to take action on bullying or have we all failed the workforce?”

The Leader replied:

“This bullet point was put in there really to send a message to our workforce that we are there to support them.  I've acknowledged in there as you've said that we must rebuild the trust of our workforce.  This statement has been circulated to all members of staff, I sent it to them directly via email and going forward I would like this statement to be sent to all our members of staff, so that they know what this Council is doing on their behalf and on behalf of the district as well.  I think there has been a disconnect between the officers of this Council, our workforce and also Members in this chamber and we can stand here tonight and debate and point fingers and look back or we can actually say that decisions that have been made in the past may not have been the right ones however, we are now going to look to the future in terms of making sure that our workforce is in the best place it possibly can be and this Council is in the best place as well, that it possibly can be. I hope that answers your question Councillor Potter.”

4.    From Councillor Clark

“Just to add to the end of that, I feel very strongly on the "we have let them down". Some of us were in this Council Chamber, fighting and creating so some of the things that were happening didn't happen. We have a reference later on which I'll pick up here and that is iEse did something. No - you cannot hide behind iEse did something.  It is those of you who voted for it and to put us all into the collective "we" I personally object to.  That out of the way, we did say to you before you took the leadership post that it would be very difficult to represent a Council that didn't have one party in overall control.  Yet you state here the four key items we must all urgently.  That's implying we're all together and all agreeing on the priorities.  Don't think we are.  Don't think I have the same priority that this should be Malton centric, as Councillor Riby spotted earlier on.  I don't think this is a trick, dithering, game or party politics at all.  If anyone thinks that what I'm saying is party politics, good luck to them but dithering is something I've never been accused of but this might be the first one.  Your priorities are not our priorities because if they were our priorities, top of the list you would have climate change and not a mention, and not a mention, not a mention of climate change.  Affordable housing, not a mention of affordable housing.  Not a mention of the A64, which we warned you of - oh no, that's hidden later in the papers.  And not a mention of the bypass, circular road whatever it is for Malton at a mere £20 million that the Leader of this Council, representing all of us, supports.  Now that's fine, I hope I'm not doing this again at the next Full Council meeting, so on that basis would you reconsider your… where we all urgently need to do and look at putting at the top of them, things for people, the people of Ryedale who aren't mentioned in this lot  at all.  And on that basis, would you please include climate change, would you please include affordable housing and would you please include services for the people of Ryedale.”

The Leader replied:

“There are hundreds of possible items that could have been included in this statement.  I have selected four things that I think are dominating our discussions at the moment as a Council, which are dominating our discussions at Committee meetings and which I think we need to actually have a decision made on as soon as possible.  Lots of these we've decided in the past a certain course of action, we've then changed our minds and we're now left in the position where we don't have view as a Council and I would hope that we can make a decision on those as soon as possible.  He mentions climate change, he mentions housing, he mentions services for the people of Ryedale.  They are of course priorities for this Council but at the moment these are the things that I believe as Leader of this Council we need to be focussed on and that is what is represented in this statement.”

Councillor Clark then asked the following supplementary question:

“These four items here in your reply, you said were items presumably that we've dithered on because we've changed our minds.  My concern is that taking something like climate change, affordable housing etc. you may again change your mind.  And on that basis we're asking you to not draw up where, and to quote your  "these are four areas that dominate our discussions".  Why are those four areas dominating your discussions and not ...and then the list of things that Council voted for unanimously and aren't in the four things that we should be doing.”

The Leader then replied:

“Very shortly members of this Council will be involved in drawing up the Council Plan.  Now previously our Council Plan ran to roughly one page of A4, it did not in any depth describe the priorities that we had as Members.  That will soon be coming forward for revision and at that chance all Members of this Council will have the opportunity to be able to feed into via our Committee what we should be focussing on as a Council and those are our priorities that our officers will work to deliver and ourselves as Members will be responsible for. I look forward to inviting all Members of this Council to be involved in that process when it comes round so really in terms of those priorities he's mentioned, that opportunity will be there and I welcome Councillor Clark's involvement.”

5.    From Councillor Thackray

“I want to jockey for position with Councillor Clark for number one spot on this list if I might.  Currently we have HGVs passing two primary schools on Highfield Road putting children and their parents in danger for their life and personally I think that, and it may be a big ticket item but I think that two new roundabouts - one at Broughton Road and the other at Musley Bank should take priority over grandiose schemes for dualling the A64 or the southern bypass of Norton and Malton.  Because this Council has sat in its hands, together with NYCC and allowed that to happen.  It was predicted in 2011 that the HGV restriction, once in place, would reroute vehicles over Highfield Road and the officers took no action to avert that happening.  It’s now happening on a daily basis.  It's demonising legitimate businesses who have been accused of putting people lives in danger when they can't get to their destination via any other route and I think that priority should be given immediately to dropping everything to resolve that problem.  I can assure you that resolving that problem will not occur by reintroducing the HGVs into the centre of Malton over the level crossing.  If you do that you will be breaking the law. You will be breaking European law and UK law and I say on your head be it if you think you're going to go down that road. Secondly, and this has come about really through a two hour conversation with a gentleman who will be familiar to many people here today, Mr Pat Foxton, who has been contacting me for the last couple of weeks - we keep missing each other but today we managed to have at least two hours on the telephone and over the period - I mean I met Mr Foxton here at a P&R meeting last year - and he's filled me in on a lot of the detail on the background of the livestock market scheme.  Some Members will know the background to this, others will not.  I think it's important that new Members do learn about the history of this scheme which has been going on for a long, long time and has mutated over that period of time from a relatively small Malton Livestock Market relocation scheme to something which I can only describe as now, having studied these documents very carefully ... I feel as though new Members may have fallen through a rabbit hole and we're into the mad hatters tea party...  We have been told as new Members that the purpose of investing in this livestock market is to make a return on our investment.  It's clearly fraught with danger but what I'd like to ask you tonight and you may have the authority or it may be somebody else that has the authority, please make these documents public property so that the people of Ryedale can know what this Council is proposing.  I would go further and say not only make the document public so that people can comment on it but if this Council goes so far as to risk investing tax payers money, please hold a referendum.  Please ask the people of Ryedale what they would like their tax payers stockpile of money at Ryedale District Council invested in.  My suspicion will be it will not be this scheme.  Just to close, Mr Foxton told me that he came to Ryedale District Council asking for a contribution towards a modest scheme and was then told by Councillor Luke Ives that there was a £3.2 million underspend which could be diverted to this scheme.  Mr Foxton assured me that the farmers do not want that money, did not want that money and if I interpret the timeline correctly… but I do want to ask the question, the question was from Mr Foxton, could you please organise a meeting for Members of P&R and other Members who wish to be present, to meet again with the farmers so that they can explain to the new Members, first and foremost, what it is they'd like us to do?”

The Leader replied:

“I think there were a few questions in there but I will try and address the points that you've raised.  There will be a full discussion about the HGV ban tonight, this evening and Members will have the opportunity to air their views.  There will also be a full discussion, or many discussions about the potential of Ryedale District Council investing money in a livestock market.  You were there at the P&R meeting the other night which lasted 3 1/2 hours.  We had a thorough discussion about all the items that were on the agenda and we will do so at other opportunities. You mentioned the report.  As much information as can be released into the public domain - that will happen - I'm keen for that to happen.  The reports that have been circulated to Members at the moment are marked as exempt, that is the judgment of our officers that they should be marked as that but as I say, as much information as can be should be released.  I think that's just a general principle which we should abide by. You mentioned about a meeting with the farmers. I have had correspondence from…the same organisation and I have said…that at the moment I felt that a meeting might be too premature but I will be welcome for the Council to do that, so that all Members of Council have the opportunity to actually ask them about their proposal and they can state clearly what they are after in terms of co-operation from this Council.  I hope that answers your question Councillor Thackray.”

Councillor Thackray then asked the following supplementary question:

“It does but not to my satisfaction.  I would like this document to be made public.  I don't think that there's a single item in it that should be exempt. It's talking about what the profitability or lack of profitability of the scheme is.  It gives a lot of background to the farming markets in the country, the markets regionally…What I'd like to know is, there's a list of people in here who've been consulted, list of organisations, farmers, interested parties.  According to Mr Foxton, they don't have this report - they contributed to the report but don't have the report.  Could we ensure that the people who actually contributed to the actual creation of it are actually shown it.”

The Leader then replied:

“This report was commissioned by the Council, you weren't a Member of this Council, I wasn't the Leader of this Council and I wasn't Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee.  It was commissioned, the results are now here, we are digesting those and we have to come to a conclusion on the basis of the information that we've got.  The key point here is this report was commissioned by this Council, it's there for the Council to use in terms of making its decision and if you are concerned about who should have access to this document then that would be something that you should take up with the officers of this Council, it is not my decision over what information should be disclosed.”