Agenda and draft minutes

It was RESOLVED to note the apologies for absence and absences without apologies as listed above. It was further RESOLVED to accept Cllr Palmer’s apologies for absence for reasons known to the councillors.

(Under the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, made under s30 (3) of the Localism Act, councillors are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting)

Cllr Kelly-Wilson drew attention to his residence in Newton Leys with regard to agenda item 8 (feedback to Milton Keynes City Council on street names in Newton Leys) but did not have a pecuniary interest in the matter.

Cllr Hume drew attention to his role as a member of Milton Keynes City Council (MKCC) through which he had a disclosable pecuniary interest in the agenda item concerning heads of terms for a lease of Albert Street WCs from MKCC.

It was RESOLVED that the draft minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2024 be approved as a correct record of proceedings.

To receive representations from members of the public on items on the agenda and to hear questions from members of the public about council business which may not be listed on the agenda.

Members of the public who wish to present  a spoken or written representation should contact the Clerk no later than 12 noon on the day before the day of the meeting in order to register to be heard or to obtain a link to join the meeting remotely.

The public speaking session will generally last no more than 15 minutes and individuals will be permitted to speak for a maximum of 3 minutes.

Requests to speak or ask questions will be dealt with in the order in which they have been received by the Clerk.

For more information or to register to speak please contact:

Delia Shephard

Town Clerk

01908 649469

clerk@bletchleyfennystratford-tc.gov.uk

Please be aware that meetings may be recorded and live streamed including the representations made by members of the public.

Meetings may be viewed on the town council’s YouTube channel at

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuEj3-xDT_faeAxDSZ8sySg

There were no representations from members of the public.

There were no recommendations for consideration and it was RESOLVED that the draft minutes be noted.

It was RESOLVED that the draft minutes be noted.

There were several recommendations in the draft minutes most of which were specified separately on the agenda. The following recommendation was not included in the agenda in its own right.

Minute reference FC24/25-13 Funding of refurbishment of Albert Street Public Conveniences:

“It was RESOLVED to recommend to full council that half of the underspend for the financial year 2023-2024 be set aside to go towards this project when the year end adjustment to reserves were approved.”

It was agreed that the council would note this recommendation and consider it when the matter of the lease of Albert Street public conveniences was discussed later.

It was RESOLVED that the final internal audit report circulated with the agenda be noted and approved as recommended by the Finance and Governance Committee on 23 April 2024.

It was further noted that there were no questions and no matters brought to the attention of the council within the report and members thanked officer for their work during the year.

It was RESOLVED that the revised Financial Regulations be adopted as recommended by the Finance and Governance Committee on 24 April 2024.

Members reviewed the completed Annual Governance and Accountability Return which had been recommended to them by the Finance and Governance Committee on 23 April 2024. Members were reminded by the RFO and the Chair that they were all responsible for the council’s governance and financial controls and should not approve the prefilled document which had been circulated with the agenda unless they agreed that the information recorded was correct.

It was unanimously RESOLVED to approve both the Annual Governance Statement and the Accountability Return.

MKCC’s contracts for the supply of gas and electricity end on 30^th September 2024. Arrangements are in place for a renewal of the contracts using a framework offered by the Laser Energy Buying Group. Laser’s procurement model has performed better than the market averages over the period and the existing suppliers have been successful in the tendering process for the next four years. The purchasing strategy on this contract is called purchase in advance (PIA), this approach offers access to flexible purchasing whilst also ensuring price certainty for each 12-month period. 

As on previous occasions the town council, which currently uses the framework contracts, must make a clear and explicit decision to remain on the framework contract.  The RFO will sign the appropriate documentation on behalf of the town council if consent is given.

Discussion took place on whether the suppliers within the Laser Energy Buying Group framework were offering sustainable supplies in line with the town council’s own climate change and sustainability goals. Officers were not aware of the full details of MKCC’s procurement policy and therefore could give no definite information about the criteria used in the framework other than price.

It was RESOLVED that the town council would continue to be included in the Laser Energy Buying Group framework offered by MKCC for the supply of gas and electricity.  It was further RESOLVED that officers would undertake investigations as to the sustainability of the supplies offered and to report back on this.  It was agreed that future procurement decisions should take into account both price and carbon emissions.

A copy of the draft annual report for the year 2023-2024 had been tabled at the meeting.  The report would be published and made available at the annual meeting of electors on 14 May 2024. Meanwhile it was RESOLVED that members would read the draft report after the meeting and contact he Clerk or the Deputy Clerk with suggestions for any revisions or insertions.

The published agenda of the annual meeting of electors was also tabled and members were invited to take part in the presentation of the annual review of the town council’s work over the past year.   It was RESOLVED that this year chairs and vice-chairs of committees would take part in the presentation of the council’s work with the chair of council.  The clerk offered to assist with production of any presentation materials on request.

Members had been consulted by MKCC about street names for the new development in Newton Leys and a list of pre-approved and unapproved names had been provided.

It was RESOLVED to respond to MKCC that the town council approved the use of any of the following island street names suggested below:

·         Singapore

·         Finey

·         Puerto Rico

·         Jamaica

·         Pewit

·         Burrow

·         Horsea.

butthat the council objected to the use of the unapproved names “Coral”  and “Moonstone”which were generic and were not in keeping with the agreed theme of “islands of the world”.The town council also objected  to the use of the street name “Mersea” as a street name because it believed this could lead to confusion with the existing Mersey Way in West Bletchley.

It was RESOLVED to advise MKCC that the town council supported the application made by ReturnMK for the Bletchley Working Mens Club to be listed as an asset of community value.

A report on the community consultation work undertaken by Breakthrough Communications for the town council had been circulated with the agenda. 

In addition, a written report from the clerk was tabled summarising progress with the project since the resolution made on 30 January 2024 (Minute reference FC23/24-111) to proceed with the next stage of the project.  This had involved a 12 week period of detailed pre-contract survey, design and tender specification work.  It was noted that most of the specification work was completed; the independent project lead would be meeting with the quantity surveyors on 4 May 2024 and it was expected that a revised programme of work would be produced after that meeting. (The timetable had slipped slightly due to additional necessary investigations.) Officers had met with the architects (SOA) on two occasions to discuss progress (notes available to members  on request). There had also been an informal meeting of councillors to discuss potential changes to the building design though no changes had been agreed to be brought forward to council at this stage.

It was RESOLVED that the detailed outcome of the community consultation in the report be noted and that the council believed it had sufficient community support to proceed to the next stage of the project.

The clerk and RFO had undertaken further work in preparation for a resolution to borrow and this would be brought to council at the earliest opportunity.  The clerk reminded the council that there were no delegated powers allocated in respect of this project and all future decisions would continue to be made at either the Finance and Governance Committee or Full Council.

(Cllr Hume left the meeting for discussion of this item of business and took no part in debate or voting.)

Revised draft heads of terms for a 5 year lease with MKCC for continued occupancy of Albert Street public conveniences had been circulated with the agenda.

The chair drew attention to the changes negotiated in the draft heads of terms document following the resolution at the Finance and Governance Committee on  23 April 2024 (Minute reference FC/2425-13).

Following discussion it was unanimously RESOLVED that the draft heads of terms be approved and the clerk to proceed with the necessary work as quickly as possible.

(Cllr Hume returned to the meeting following the voting on the resolution.)

i       Eaton North Ward (single vacancy)

ii      Eaton South Ward (two vacancies)

iii     Fenny Stratford Ward (single vacancy)

iv     Manor South Ward (single vacancy)

v      Newton Leys (single vacancy)

vi     Queensway and Denbigh North (single vacancy)

The chair of council thanked Cllrs Bedford, Khanom, Palmer and Segebrecht for their public service as members of the town council.  These councillors were now standing down from the council for different reasons and the council expressed their appreciation of their work and wished them well in future ventures.

It was RESOLVED to note that due to an insufficiency of candidates for election the following vacancies now existed on the council with effect from 7 May 2024

i       Eaton North Ward (single vacancy)

ii      Eaton South Ward (two vacancies)

iii     Fenny Stratford Ward (single vacancy)

iv     Manor North and Eaton Leys (single vacancy)

v      Manor South Ward (single vacancy)

vi     Newton Leys (single vacancy)

vii    Queensway and Denbigh North (single vacancy)

and the new council would be free to co-opt to the council from that date onwards.  Arrangements had been made to advertise the vacancies and co-option would remain as a standing item on the agenda until the seats were filled.

Cllr Khanom and Segebrecht noted that they had enjoyed their time on the town council and thanked their colleagues for their support.

The clerk noted that owing to the casual vacancies the current committee structure in use by the council might not be appropriate during the next year. One option for the new council to consider was to return to full council meetings every month but there were drawbacks to this. An alternative was to persist with the current scheme but to amalgamate the Community and Environment and Planning committees. The committee membership could be reduced to 7 with a quorum of 3 or to 9 with a quorum of 3. These options were discussed and a potential draft calendar based on this was tabled. There was broad agreement to the amalgamation of committees and the clerk agreed to develop a new structure and scheme of delegations document based on this option for discussion and approval at the annual meeting of the new council on 7 May 2024.

i       Neighbourhood Plan

ii      Bletchley Town Deal

iii     Bletchley Pathfinder

iv     MKCC Parishes Forum

i       Cllr Hussein (Chair of NP Steering Group) gave an oral report on work on the Neighbourhood. As previously notified to councillors it had been decided to extend the timetable for the delivery of the plan to synchronize with the development of the New City Plan. The steering group was taking note of the technical information now being provided by AECOM and a site visit for work on design codes was due to be confirmed shortly.  Cllr Hussein noted that officers were working hard on the project but that more input from councillors and residents was needed and he encouraged councillors to support this work.

There were no questions and it was RESOLVED to note the report.

ii      The clerk gave an oral report on progress with the Town Deal.  The last board meeting had been held on 22 April 2024 and the substantive issues discussed were two projects from the investment plan: the  Transport Hub and the  Public Realm Improvement Project.   Public consultation on both these projects was planned for the period 17 June to 8 September 2024 (dates not final).  It was likely that there would be a high level display of what the future Bletchley will look like and a focus on a “whole picture”/vision for Bletchley following advice community engagement consultants Hemingway.  The board had been positive about what was proposed for the projects and for the consultation and the advisory group would be involved in determining how the consultation would be  undertaken.

Network Rail was now doing more work on costing an eastern entrance to the station but there was still no commitment to fund this aspiration

A Bletchley parking study with recommendations for future actions had been completed for MKCC by AECOM and the findings of this work had been taken into account in the planning for the public realm project. It was not yet clear whether a formal Bletchley parking strategy would be adopted by MKCC as requested by the town council.

There would be presentations at the annual meeting of electors on 14 May 2024 on the work of the Town Deal and on parking and traffic management and members and residents were encouraged to raise their questions with the relevant spokespeople at the meeting.

There were no questions and it was RESOLVED to note the report.

iii     The clerk gave an oral report on involvement with Bletchley Pathfinder.  As well as work on  Bletchley Clubs and public health interventions on stopping smoking and healthy eating,  the Pathfinder delivery  board was currently developing a model for a pilot to support complex families through a joined up multi disciplinary service approach.  The clerk has been involved in this strand of work in a sub-group looking at the involvement of voluntary and community sector services.  There was considerable enthusiasm for the project within the delivery board and the next meeting was scheduled for 15 May 2024. 

There were no questions and it was RESOLVED to note the report.

iv     An oral report from the  ...  view the full minutes text for item FC24/25-14