(Please note that it is the responsibility of individual members to declare an interest prior to the item if they arrive late for the meeting)

(A printed copy of the questions and replies will be available at the meeting)

To confirm the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2017.

Purpose - To consider the appointment of the Chief Finance Officer and Section 151 officer

Purpose - To agree the appointment of Independent Persons in accordance with the code of conduct outlined in the Localism Act 2011 which was unanimously adopted by Council on 19 June 2012.

Purpose - To consider and agree the pay policy statement for 2017-18.

Proposed by Councillor Harris and seconded by Councillor Bremner

Council acknowledges the Government has recognised that the "Housing Market is broken" in the Housing White Paper.

Council resolves to:-

1. Acknowledge that the Housing White Paper has failed to provide comprehensive solutions

2. Ask the relevant portfolio holders to make the following recommendations to the Minister for Housing as a response to the White Paper consultation:

a) Flexibility around Right to Buy (RTB) receipts so that the council can maximise investment in the new supply of homes.

b) Local discretion around scope and implementation of RTB (or even the right to suspend this in certain market conditions), particularly extending the qualification period for new build.

c) Reverse the 1% rent cut for social landlords to support future investment in existing stock and new supply.

d) Relax the borrowing cap on the Housing Revenue Account.

e) Provide greater flexibility on setting rent, within affordable limits, to reflect higher build cost and local market conditions.

f) Stronger compulsory purchase powers to allow the full cost of compulsory purchase to be recovered from land value where urban sites have been derelict or under used for several years.

g) Reverse the decision to strip housing benefit entitlement from single people aged 18 to 21.

h) Providing new funding to address the increase in rough sleeping in Norwich exacerbated by upcoming reduction in supported and sheltered housing, resulting from cuts in the county’s adult social care budget.

3. Asks the Leader of Norwich City Council to invite Gavin Barwell MP, Minister of State for Housing, Planning and Minister for London at the Department for Communities and Local Government, to visit Norwich for discussions about how the City Council can help the Government mend the broken housing market.

Proposed by Councillor Bogelein and seconded by Councillor Raby

During the debate over the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, the government has repeatedly refused to offer any guarantees to the 2.9 million nationals of other EU countries currently living in the UK. This use of people as “bargaining chips”, as Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat peers described it during the Lords debate, is causing concern and uncertainty for many people who fear they or their families might be forced to leave the country.

Council resolves to:

1) Acknowledge the value of our fellow EU citizens living in Norwich, and the difficult situation created for them through the uncertainties resulting from the vote to leave the European Union.

2) Urge the government, by asking group leaders to write to the Home Secretary, to immediately grant EU citizens currently living in the UK the right to remain in the country.

3) Ask group leaders to write to Norwich’s MPs asking them to support the amendment guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens when the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill returns to the Commons.

4) Ask the Councillor Development Group to provide training for all councillors on immigration rights and related issues.

5) Ask cabinet, in the event that the government does not guarantee EU nationals’ right to remain, to liaise with local support services to ensure emergency assistance is in place for those affected.

Proposed by Councillor Schmierer and seconded by Councillor Carlo

Fly-tipping is a scourge affecting communities across England and is getting worse, with councils spending more than £67m to clean up public land and prosecute anyone they catch, according to official figures.

There were 936,000 incidents of fly-tipping recorded in England in 2015-16 - up by almost a third on three years ago. In Norwich there were around 4000 incidents of flytipping last year.

With council budgets being squeezed, it is important to learn what we can from elsewhere about what approaches are most effective in tackling this issue.

Council resolves to ask cabinet to consider:

1) setting up a taskforce involving key stakeholders – including councillors, city and county council officers, the police, the Environment Agency and residents’ groups – to identify approaches that can help tackle fly-tipping in different areas.

2) publishing tips for residents on how to prevent fly-tipping, to be added to the information already provided by the council about waste collection.

3) looking at what other cities have done both in the UK and across Europe to tackle the problem of fly-tipping, especially given the potentially wide-ranging changes in the approach to dealing with waste collection.

4) actively seeking out opportunities to apply for grants for trialling new approaches and strategies in the city to tackle the problem of fly-tipping.

5) conducting a thorough, objective review of the effectiveness of the council’s new area-based structure in tackling fly-tipping once the system has been in place for six months.

Purpose - Consideration of exclusion of the public.

• This report is not for publication because it would disclose information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) as in para 3 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.