Agenda Document Pack - North Ayrshire Council - 18/01/2023
North Ayrshire Council · 18 January 2023
Back to North Ayrshire Council — 18 January 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Ayrshire Council, Cunninghame House, Irvine KA12 8EE North Ayrshire Council A Special Meeting of the North Ayrshire Council of North Ayrshire Council will be held in the Council Chambers, Ground Floor, Cunninghame House, Irvine, KA12 8EE on Wednesday, 18 January 2023 at 13:00 to consider the undernoted business. Meeting Arrangements - Hybrid Meetings This meeting will be held on a predominantly physical basis but with provision, by prior notification, for remote attendance by Elected Members in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003. Where possible, the meeting will be live-streamed and available to view at https://north-ayrshire.public- i.tv/core/portal/home. 1 Apologies 2 Declarations of Interest Members are requested to give notice of any declarations of interest in respect of items of business on the Agenda. 3 Motion In terms of Standing Order 3.4, a written requisition, signed by nine Members of the Council, has been submitted to call for consideration of the undernoted motion: 1
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North Ayrshire Council, Cunninghame House, Irvine KA12 8EE (1) a motion by Councillor Foster, seconded by Councillor McDonald, in the following terms: “North Ayrshire Council expresses its extreme disappointment with the budget settlement for local government and with its presentation which the Labour Group believe is both unethical and dishonest and is in no way consistent with a partnership approach. Council notes that most of the supposed £550m additional funding is for existing commitments and that the £71m of uncommitted funding goes no way towards meeting the identified budget gap in council funding of £612m due to inflation, energy prices and demand pressures, and the requirement for more than £400m likely to be needed for pay settlements in the coming year to address recruitment and retention issues and avoid understandable industrial action by trade unions. This budget settlement means another massive real terms cut in councils’ core funding, after more than 10 years of real terms cuts, and will lead to socially harmful cuts to vital local services and the loss of jobs within local authorities and from local companies that rely on councils for their employment. Council further notes the additional burden on council finances from revaluation of non-domestic properties and condemns the threat by the Scottish Government to cut grant funding if councils were to be successful in appealing against redeterminations. For North Ayrshire Council, the initial assessment of the local government settlement by the Council’s finance team estimates a budget gap of over £10million in 2023/24. Council therefore agrees: 1.That the Council should make a robust public response to the budget statement, challenging in the strongest possible terms the presentation of the supposed £550 additional funding and highlighting the massive real terms cut in funding for vital local services; 2.That the CEO writes a letter to the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister on behalf of the Council that rejects that this is a fair settlement; highlighting the massive real terms cut to the council's funding and the impact this budget settlement will have on vital local services and demanding a fair settlement to defend vital local services and jobs; 3.That the Council undertakes an assessment of the likely job losses within the council and local economies that will result from this budget settlement; and 4.The Council agrees to offer a meeting of group leaders with the local government trade unions to set out our assessment of the impacts of this 2
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North Ayrshire Council, Cunninghame House, Irvine KA12 8EE budget settlement and seek to undertake joint action to defend vital local services and jobs.” 4 Urgent Items Any other business which the Provost considers to be urgent. Webcasting Please note: this meeting may be filmed/recorded/live-streamed to the Council's internet site and available to view at https://north- ayrshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/home, where it will be capable of repeated viewing. At the start of the meeting, the Provost/Chair will confirm if all or part of the meeting is being filmed/recorded/live-streamed. You should be aware that the Council is a Data Controller under the Data Protection Act 2018. Data collected during the webcast will be retained in accordance with the Council’s published policy, including, but not limited to, for the purpose of keeping historical records and making those records available via the Council’s internet site. Generally, the press and public seating areas will not be filmed. However, by entering the Council Chambers, using the press or public seating area or (by invitation) participating remotely in this meeting, you are consenting to being filmed and consenting to the use and storage of those images and sound recordings and any information pertaining to you contained in them for webcasting or training purposes and for the purpose of keeping historical records and making those records available to the public. If you do not wish to participate in a recording, you should leave the meeting. This will constitute your revocation of consent. If you have any queries regarding this and, in particular, if you believe that use and/or storage of any particular information would cause, or be likely to cause, substantial damage or distress to any individual, please contact dataprotectionofficer@north-ayrshire.gov.uk. 3
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North Ayrshire Council, Cunninghame House, Irvine KA12 8EE North Ayrshire Council Sederunt John Bell Timothy Billings Marie Burns Eleanor Collier Joe Cullinane Scott Davidson Anthea Dickson Stewart Ferguson Todd Ferguson Robert Foster Scott Gallacher John Glover Tony Gurney Alan Hill Cameron Inglis Margaret Johnson Amanda Kerr Christina Larsen Shaun Macaulay Jean McClung Nairn McDonald Matthew McLean Louise McPhater Davina McTiernan Tom Marshall Jim Montgomerie Ian Murdoch Donald Reid Donald L Reid Chloe Robertson Ronnie Stalker Angela Stephen John Sweeney Chair: Apologies: Attending: 4