Home > Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: This meeting will be held remotely. View directions

Contact: Simon Trevaskis
0208 7266000  Email: simon.trevaskis@croydon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1/21

Disclosure of Interests

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

 

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest made at the meeting.

2/21

Urgent Business (if any)

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

 

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

 

3/21

CALL-IN: Emission-Based Parking Charges pdf icon PDF 145 KB

To consider and respond to the Call-In in accordance with the procedure set out in the Council’s Constitution.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair of the Scrutiny & Overview Committee, Councillor Sean Fitzsimons introduced the Call-In item, outlining the reason why the ‘Emission-based Parking Charges’ key decisions had been called in. It was confirmed that there were a number of reasons why the call-in had been made which included seeking reassurance that the new charges were not being introduced as a fiscal measure, to clarify the environmental benefits of the new charges, to seek reassurance that there would not be an undue impact on the local economy and to confirm that the decision had been taken in line with the decision-making processes set out in the Council’s Constitution. In response to these concerns a report setting out additional information was provided for the consideration of the Committee.

The Chair explained the process for considering a call-in, confirming that the Committee needed to agree whether to review the decision and if it was decided to proceed, to confirm how much time it wished to allocate for the discussion of the item. The Committee agreed that it would review the decision and allocated one hour and thirty minutes for consideration of the item.

The Chair went on to explain that there were three outcomes that the Committee could reach as a result of the review. These were:-

1.    That no further action was necessary and the decision could be implemented as originally intended.

2.    To refer the decision back to the Cabinet for reconsideration, outlining the nature of the Committee’s concerns

3.    To refer the decision to Council, if the Committee considered that the decision taken was outside of the Budget and Policy Framework.

At the outset of the item the Chair gave Councillor Gareth Streeter, as  the Shadow Cabinet Member for Transport, Environment & Regeneration the opportunity to outline his concerns about the report. Councillor Streeter advised that he held a concern that the decision had not been made in line with the Council’s Constitution as the Cabinet delegation had not referenced the removal of free parking bays. As such there had not been an opportunity for the proposal to receive Member scrutiny. It was also highlighted that the timing of the decision gave rise to the concern that the new charges had been introduced as a fiscal measure. Finally, there was also concern that there was a lack of evidence to determine what the impact would be on local economy from the removal of free bays. Given the unprecedented challenges facing the economy from covid, it was felt the Council should be doing all it could to support local businesses.

The Cabinet Member for Sustainable Croydon, Councillor Muhammad Ali along with council officers were in attendance at the meeting to address the call-in and answer any questions arising.

Prior to answering questions from the Committee, Councillor Ali was provided with the opportunity to respond to the call-in. It was outlined that the Emission-Based Parking Charge Policy had been created in response to national, regional and local policy drivers aimed at lowering car usage including  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3/21

4/21

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

 

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

 

 

Minutes:

This motion was not required.