Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Freeman and Lawn.

Councillor Williamson declared a personal interest in the item relating to the confidential Compulsory Purchase and Loan request in his capacity as Chairman of the Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust. Councillor Williamson also declared a personal interest in the item relating to the Phoenix Pool and Gym Car Park extension in his capacity as a member of the Sentinel Leisure Trust Partnership  

Councillor Wells declared a personal interest in the item relating to the confidential Compulsory Purchase and Loan request in his capacity as a Member of  the Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust.

Councillor Hacon declared a personal interest in the item relating to the confidential Compulsory Purchase and Loan request in her capacity as a Member of  the Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust.

Councillor Fairhead declared a personal interest in the item relating to the confidential Compulsory Purchase and Loan request in her capacity as a Member of  the Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust.

Councillor Flaxman-Taylor declared a personal interest in the item relating to the Phoenix Pool and Gym Car Park extension in her capacity as a member of the Sentinel Leisure Trust Partnership.

There were no items of urgent business to be discussed.

His Worship the Mayor advised Members that item 8 had been removed from the agenda and would now be considered by the Policy and Resources Committee.

Members were reminded that the Civic Carol Service and Freedom Ceremony would be held on the 9 December at 6:30 in the Minster, His Worship asked Members to ensure that they advise the Events Manager of attendance to the event. 

His Worship advised that due to the General Election being held, no electioneering or political speeches should take place during a Council meeting.

His Worship reminded Members that when requesting to speak during the meeting, these should only be made once using the request buttons.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 12 September 2019 were confirmed.

Proposer : Councillor Smith

Seconder : Councillor Candon

CARRIED 

Councillor considered the following question from R Hudson :-

Can the Leader of the Council explain how the proposed sculpture of a herring, will improve and enhance the town.

The Leader commented that whilst he had agreed that the sculpture was a good idea, he advised that the Borough Council did not own the roundabouts, these were the responsibility of Highways England. The Leader stated that the main priority for the Council was the dualling of the A47 and for the works to be completed on the roundabouts, he advised that work was currently being undertaken to look at the road infrastructure.

Mr R Hudson hereby asked a supplementary question :-

Would the Council be funding the sculpture.

The Leader responded and advised that the Council would not be funding such a sculpture and that should the sculpture be introduced this would be funded from a private funding source.

Proposer : Councillor Smith

Seconder : Councillor Grant

That Councillor Smith replace Councillor Plant on the Great Yarmouth Town Centre Partnership.

CARRIED

Proposer : Councillor Smith

Seconder : Councillor Wainwright 

That Councillor T Wright replace Councillor G Carpenter on the Great Yarmouth Transport and Infrastructure Steering Group.

CARRIED

This item was removed from the agenda and will be considered by the Policy and Resources Committee.

Council considered the Head of Property and Asset Managements report which asked Council to consider amendments following the Policy and Resources Committee held on the 15 October 2019.

The Leader presented the report to Members, he advised that the report formed part of a review of the Market occupation over the last year but also reviewed fees in relation to the 2 day market. He reported that the occupation of the 2 day market had reduced significantly since the change in rate which happened in April of this year, the recommendation to Council represented a proposal to reduce the footage rate with a view to increasing the incentive for traders on the two day Market.

Members were advised that overall there had been a 25% reduction in the footage occupied by traders since April this year. The Leader reported that the recommendation for consideration proposed by the Policy and Resources Committee was equivalent to that of the previous offer and is hoped to encourage traders to both continue to support and bring new traders to Great Yarmouth Market for the future.  he also reported that to further encourage casual traders to become permanent the rate for casuals is recommended to increase by 20% this will bring the permanent trader footage rate to 50p per foot and the casual trader rate to 75p per foot.

Councillor Wainwright referred back a previous Council meeting whereby an amendment to the recommendations to reduce the fees and charges for the two day markets to a year round rate of 50p per foot was lost and therefore proposed an amendment to the recommendation as follows :-

That the fees and charges for the two day Markets year round rate for permanent traders of £0.50 per foot (depth calculations will remain unchanged) with a 50% addition for casual traders be backdated to April 2019 and continue through to March 2021.

Councillor Smith stated that no costing had been undertaken on this amendment and therefore he could not support the amendment without appropriate costings, Councillor Plant agreed with Councillor Smith and commented that there was a need for Members to be aware of the cost to the budget.

Councillor C Walker commented on the recommendation and stated that traders within the town were suffering and people were not shopping in the the Town Centre. Councillor T Wright commented that there was a need to send a message to traders to show that the Council were looking to make the market thrive once again.

Councillor Talbot asked if the backdated recommendation was to be approved, how this would be given back to the traders and it was advised that this matter would be looked into if the amendment were to be approved.

A recorded vote was taken on the amendment as follows :-

For the amendment :- 

Councillors Borg, Cordiner-Achenbach, Fairhead, Jeal, Martin, Robinson-Payne, Scott-Greenard, Smith-Clare, Wainwright, B Walker, C Walker, C M Walker, Waters-Bunn, Williamson, B Wright and T Wright.

Against the amendment :-

Councillors Annison, Bensly, Bird, Cameron, Candon, G Carpenter, P Carpenter, Flaxman-Taylor, Galer, Grant, Hacon, D Hammond, P Hammond, Mogford, Plant, Smith, Stenhouse, Thompson and Wells

Abstentions :-

Councillor Talbot

The amendment was LOST.

Councillor Smith proposed a further amendment to the recommendations :-

That the amendment as proposed be taken back to the Policy and Resources Committee on the 26 November 2019 for discussion.

Proposer : Councillor Smith 

Seconder : Councillor Plant 

CARRIED

Council considered the Monitoring Officer's report which proposed amendments to the Constitution regarding Motions on Notice.

Proposer : Councillor Smith 

Seconder : Councillor Candon 

CARRIED 

Council considered the Strategic Director's report which provided recommendations to address the issues of car parking at the Phoenix site.

The Leader reported that the success of the Phoenix Pool & Gym following its refurbishment in 2016 has resulted in additional car parking pressures which have impacted on neighbouring residential properties. In addition to this the footfall through the Phoenix is set for further increase due to the closure of the Marina Centre on 31st October 2019.

Attempts to mitigate the parking of people using the pool and gym in the surrounding residential area have been made by Sentinel Leisure Trust and the Council but the 63 spaces available are just not enough to meet the increasing demand.

Sentinel, officers of the Great Yarmouth Borough Council and representatives from the Lynn Grove Academy (part of the Creative Education Trust) have been looking at options of extending the current Phoenix Pool & Gym car park onto the adjacent school playing field land and come up with a viable option which is before Council today.

Proposer : Councillor Smith 

Seconder : Councillor Plant

That approval be given to the recommendations within the report as follows :-

1. The proposed car park extension detailed within the report is approved subject to agreed terms between the Borough Council, Sentinel Lesuire Trust with Lyn Grove School and subject to planning permission.

    

2. A planning application for the car park extension is submitted, once the final specification for works is confirmed.

    

3. Maximum funding of £130,000 is allocated to progress this project as a capital project.

    

4. The project is overseen by the Council’s Partnership Board, which meets regularly with Sentinel Leisure Trust.

CARRIED

RESOLVED :-

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 2,3 and 6b of Part I of Schedule 12(A) of the said Act.