Agenda Document Pack - South Lanarkshire Council - 17/05/2023
South Lanarkshire Council · 17 May 2023
Back to South Lanarkshire Council — 17 May 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Council Offices, Almada Street Hamilton, ML3 0AA Tuesday, 09 May 2023 Dear Councillor South Lanarkshire Council In terms of Standing Order No 3, the Members listed below have requested a special meeting of the Council to be held as follows:- Date: Wednesday, 17 May 2023 Time: 11:30 (or immediately following the Executive Committee, whichever is the later) Venue: Hybrid - Council Chamber, Council Offices, Almada Street, Hamilton, ML3 0AA The business listed in the councillors’ request to be considered at the meeting is set out overleaf. Yours sincerely Cleland Sneddon Chief Executive List of Members Requesting Special Meeting: Councillor Calikes Councillor Chalmers Councillor Clark Councillor Dewar Councillor Donnelly Councillor Ferguson Councillor Ferguson-Miller Councillor Frame Councillor Fulton Councillor Horsham Councillor Loudon Councillor Macdonald Councillor Marrs Councillor McAllan Councillor McDougall Councillor Nugent Councillor Ross Councillor Toner Members Margaret Cooper (Provost), Bert Thomson (Depute Provost), Alex Allison, John Anderson, Ralph Barker, John Bradley, Walter Brogan, Robert Brown, Archie Buchanan, Mathew Buchanan, Janine Calikes, Andy Carmichael, Maureen Chalmers, Ross Clark, Gerry Convery, Poppy Corbett, Andrea Cowan, Margaret Cowie, Maureen Devlin, Colin Dewar, Mary Donnelly, Joe Fagan, Allan Falconer, Grant Ferguson, Gladys Ferguson-Miller, Elise Frame, Alistair Fulton, Ross Gowland, Geri Gray, Lynsey Hamilton, Celine Handibode, Graeme Horne, Mark Horsham, Martin Hose, Cal Johnston-Dempsey, Gavin Keatt, Susan Kerr, Ross Lambie, Martin Lennon, Richard Lockhart, Eileen Logan, Katy Loudon, Hugh Macdonald, Julia Marrs, Monique McAdams, Ian McAllan, Catherine McClymont, Kenny McCreary, Lesley McDonald, Elaine McDougall, Mark McGeever, Davie McLachlan, Richard Nelson, Carol Nugent, Norman Rae, Mo Razzaq, Kirsten Robb, John Ross, Dr Ali Salamati, Graham Scott, David Shearer, Helen Toner, Margaret B Walker, David Watson 1
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BUSINESS 1 Declaration of Interests Item(s) for Decision 2 Councillors' Request in Terms of Standing Order No 3 Request received electronically on 26 April 2023 from the councillors listed on the agenda front. (Copy attached) 3 - 4 For further information, please contact:- Clerk Name: Susan Somerville Clerk Telephone: 07557323097 Clerk Email: susan.somerville@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 2
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Agenda Item Councillors’ Request in Terms of Standing Order No 3 “Purpose of meeting The purpose of the Special Council Meeting is to; 1) Request a suspension of Standing Orders to enable the reversal of decisions taken at the Special Council Meeting held on 22nd of February 2023 2) Subject to a vote on item one on the suspension of Standing Orders, reverse the Council’s decision on the following recommendations that were approved at Full Council on 22nd February 2023, at Agenda Item 6; “The Council is asked to approve the following recommendations: - (1) To approve the following recommendations made by the Board of SLLC: a. That the individual general concession for SLLC services be amended from 50% to 25% of the adult rate. b. That the additional U16s Club discount (75% of the adult rate) reverts to 50%. c. That the Halls under 5’s and over 60’s group discount (75% of the full rate) reverts to 50%.” Statement of reasons When the changes to concessionary rates were decided, in practice some clubs and teams faced price rises of 114%. There was no consultation with them before this decision was taken. Many have expressed their fears that their organisations will no longer be sustainable, or that they will have to pass on price rises to club members – again threatening their sustainability if members have to withdraw their membership as a result. There have been mass protests over the lack of consultation and engagement of these changes, attended by hundreds of club members and organisers, parents and children, and a petition which has garnered over 8,000 signatures. The promised ‘engagement’ with clubs and teams after the decision was taken to pause the implementation has been highly unsatisfactory. The sessions were not advertised by SLLC as a chance to discuss the situation but rather as workshops on other topics. They were scheduled to take place in only one geographical area – far removed from the areas of largest protest - and many clubs have reported that they were not aware of the sessions’ scheduling or apparent purpose. There has been no attempt to co-design the engagement process with stakeholders, nor engage directly with young people affected. These changes were unadvertised, unwelcome, and threaten the sustainability of grassroots sports and activities across South Lanarkshire. 2 3
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Council have recently vetoed another recommendation they received regarding price rises, concerned about their potential effects. Now that the full impact of the decision to change concessionary rates is apparent, Council cannot allow these rises to take place and threaten access to physical activity, and its associated wellbeing benefits, for thousands of South Lanarkshire’s residents.” 4