Agenda and draft minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.  No interests were declared.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so. The deadline for registering is 5:00 pm on Friday, 30 April 2010.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 8 March 2010.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Scrutiny Management Committee (Calling In) meeting held on 8 March 2010 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

To consider the decisions made by the Executive on 13 April 2010 with regard to the above item, which have been called in by Councillors D’Agorne, Hudson and Merrett in accordance with the provisions of the Council’s Constitution.  A cover report is attached setting out the reasons for the call-in and the remit and powers of the Scrutiny Management Committee (Calling In) in relation to the call-in procedure, together with the original report to and decisions of the Executive.

Note: The annexes to the Scrutiny Committee’s final report have been made available on-line only and are not included in the agenda pack or the printed copies.

Members received a report which asked them to consider the decisions made by the Executive on 13 April 2010 in relation to the findings of the Traffic Congestion Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee following their review of traffic congestion in York.

Details of the Executive’s decisions were attached as Annex 1 to the report.  The original report to the Executive was attached as Annex 2.  The decisions had been called in by Cllrs D’Agorne, Hudson and Merrett on the grounds that:

“Just noting the Traffic Congestion Ad Hoc Scrutiny's (interim) final report on the terms stated is not an appropriate or adequate response and the Executive should consider the various recommendations and say yes or no to them, or make amended argued decisions as appropriate.”

Members were invited to decide whether to confirm the decisions of the Executive (Option A) or to refer them back to the Executive for re-consideration (Option B).

Cllr Merrett addressed the meeting on behalf of the Calling-in Members.  He re-iterated the reasons given for the calling in and noted that the Officer information and Executive comments attached as part of Annex 1 to the report had not been available at the Executive meeting.  He also noted that the definition of ‘short term’ recommendations referred to in the Executive comments did not appear in the Scrutiny report itself and that some of the comments seemed to dismiss the factual evidence upon which the Scrutiny recommendations were based. 

Cllr Scott then moved, and Cllr Simpson-Laing seconded, that Option B be approved and the matter be referred back to the Executive with a recommendation that they either accept, reject or amend the Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations rather than simply noting them.  On being put to the vote, this proposal was declared CARRIED by 5 votes to 3 and it was

RESOLVED: That Option B be approved and the matter be referred back to the Executive with a recommendation that they either accept, reject or amend the Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations rather than simply noting them.

REASON:      In accordance with the requirements of the Council’s calling-in procedure and the reasons given for the calling-in.