To confirm the Open and Exempt Minutes of the Meeting held on 23 November 2022.

The Open and Exempt Minutes of the Meeting held on 23 November 2022 were agreed as a correct record.

The following comments/queries were raised on the Minutes:

·       It was queried whether any feedback had been received from Overview Committee relating to the request for further scrutiny on carbon reduction.

·       The response in relation to a review of Members’ Allowances was noted but it was not considered that it answered the question.  It was highlighted that if a review was to be held there needed to be harmonisation across the Partnership and would need to be part of the budget process.  Further clarification was requested, together with a timescale.

·       The Chairman referred to the three bullet points relating to questions raised, page 8 of the Minutes refer.  It was acknowledged that these were passed over to Overview Committee, following which it was queried where these would be recorded.  The Section 151 Officer responded that the detail to these would be contained in the Overview Committee Minutes.

·       In response to the question on the £690k allocated in the budget for a traveller site, Members were advised that this would be removed from the capital programme but a note would be included in the accounts to reflect this.  Following a brief discussion, and on the basis that the Local Plan had clearly identified a need for transit sites a Member considered that there was still a requirement for this and a need to include this in the budget.

·       Following a query on information being made available on exemptions, page 14 of the Minutes refer, the Section 151 Officer advised Members that this would be picked up as part of the procurement report.