Agenda item - Procedural Business

(a)  Declaration of Substitutes: Where Councillors are unable to attend a meeting, a substitute Member from the same Political Group may attend, speak and vote in their place for that meeting.

(b)  Declarations of Interest:

(a)      Disclosable pecuniary interests;

(b)      Any other interests required to be registered under the local code;

(c)      Any other general interest as a result of which a decision on the matter might reasonably be regarded as affecting you or a partner more than a majority of other people or businesses in the ward/s affected by the decision.

In each case, you need to declare

(i)        the item on the agenda the interest relates to;

(ii)      the nature of the interest; and

(iii)     whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest or some other interest.

If unsure, Members should seek advice from the committee lawyer or administrator preferably before the meeting.

(c)  Exclusion of Press and Public - To consider whether, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, or the nature of the proceedings, the press and public should be excluded from the meeting when any of the following items are under consideration.

NOTE: Any item appearing in Part Two of the Agenda states in its heading the category under which the information disclosed in the report is exempt from disclosure and therefore not available to the public.

A list and description of the exempt categories is available for public inspection at Brighton and Hove Town Halls.

42a)   Declarations of Substitutes

42.1    There were no substitutes.

42b)   Declarations of Interests

42.2    Councillor Druitt declared an interest in Item 50 – Proposed Selective Licensing Scheme for Privately Rented Homes as his wife has a privately rented flat. Councillor Gibson declared an interest in Item 50 as he is the joint owner of a property in Portslade which was leased to the council to house homeless households. He had taken advice and was permitted to speak and vote.

42c)   Exclusion of the Press and Public

42.3    In accordance with section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it was considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of any items contained in the agenda, having regard to the nature of the business to be transacted and the nature of the proceedings and the likelihood as to whether, if members of the press and public were present, there would be disclosure to them of confidential or exempt information as defined in section 100I (1) of the said Act.

42.4    Councillor Mears referred to Item 58 – Appendix 3 to the New Homes for Neighbourhood – Rotherfield Crescent report. Councillor Mears considered this item should be considered in Part One of the agenda. The Chair replied that the appendix contained commercially sensitive information which would not be appropriate to put in the public domain. The Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture stated that in the past officers had sometimes included estimated costs in Part One reports. That had tended to be in circumstances where officers had already engaged with a contractor. In this case, officers had not already engaged with a contractor and therefore on balance, it was felt it was better to leave the costs information in Part Two to ensure competitive pricing. There had been cases where the final price was lower than the estimated price. The Executive Director suggested that if the Committee wished to publish the Part Two paper they should do so in consultation with the Head of Law, in order that any commercially sensitive information could be redacted.  Councillor Mears considered that there were issues within the paper that were relevant for Part One, bearing in mind that tenants money was being spent and that a great deal of the work had already been carried out.

42.5    The Chair invited members to vote on whether Item 58 should be considered in Part One of the agenda. Members voted by six votes to four to move item 58 to Part One of the agenda. 

42.6    RESOLVED - That the press and public not be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the appendix at Item 50.