Issue - meetings

To consider the decision to delegate authority to Cllr Ranger – Cabinet Member for Communities and Partnerships to make the decision on the requested removal of the payback clause on the grant of £500,000 towards the provision of a running track at Carver Barracks.

The Chairman provided background context relating to the Council’s grant to Carver Barracks for the provision of building a running track. He asked Councillors LeCount and Light to explain why they had called this item in.

Councillor LeCount said it was inappropriate for one person to make a decision of this magnitude and it should instead be made by Committee or Cabinet.

Councillor Ranger said Council had in fact passed a resolution in July 2017 that had given delegation on the terms of the grant to the Head of Legal Services and the Director of Finance and Corporate Services, in conjunction with himself, the Portfolio Holder for Communities and Partnerships.

Councillor Light said she did not have a problem with the running track itself, but rather with the procedure of allowing one person to make such an important decision alone. Before making a decision, the Heads of Terms, a set of clear objectives and construction timeline should be produced.

The Chairman asked whether a written contract had been signed and agreed between the Council and the MOD. He said he wanted to ascertain the current status of any agreements, and whether they had included the ‘clawback clause’.

Councillor Ranger said this should be discussed under the next agenda item. He said this item was concerned with the delegation of authority to make the decision. He reiterated that this course of action had previously been agreed at Full Council in July 2017.

The Assistant Director – Governance and Legal said this item was concerned with the narrow decision on the delegation of authority by the Leader to Councillor Ranger. He asked members to limit their comments to this matter until business was moved on to the next item.

The Committee discussed the scope of the decision before them and what options were available.

The Assistant Director – Governance and Legal Services explained the definition and procedure of a ‘key decision’ and confirmed that the decision to remove the pay back clause was an executive function.

Councillor Light proposed to refer this matter to Full Council. The motion was worded as follows;

“Scrutiny Committee requests Full Council to review the delegation of authority to the Cabinet Member for Communities and Partnerships to make the decision on the requested removal of the payback clause on the grant of £500,000 towards the provision of a running track at Carver Barracks.” 

Councillor LeCount seconded the motion.

The motion was defeated.