• Attendance Details
• Agenda Frontsheet
• Agenda Reports Pack

Minutes: none

• To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes: none

• View Report

• To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 18 October 2018.

Minutes: none

• The chairman to identify any items of urgent business.

Minutes: none

• To receive any declarations of interest in any matter to be discussed at the meeting.  Members and officers are requested to identify the nature of the interest.

Minutes: none

• Chairman's Announcements

Minutes: none

• The chairman to remind members that she will be holding a Carol Concert at Coleford Baptist Church, Newland Street, Coleford at 6pm on Wednesday, 12 December 2018.

Minutes: none

• The chairman to confirm that the Chairman’s Charity Dinner will be held on Friday, 1 March 2019 at Bells Hotel, Coleford at 7pm.

Minutes: none

• The Chairman to announce that Martin Hill has resigned as a District Councillor for the Coleford East Ward.

Minutes: none

• To answer questions asked by members of the public. The constitution requires that questions are received three working days before the meeting (deadline 4.00pm on Monday, 3 December 2018).

Minutes: none

• Member questions

Minutes: none

• When members have a particular issue with the services provided by Publica, is it in order to raise it with the FODDC or is there another approach required?

Minutes: none

• View Report

• Cllr Grant, Cabinet Member for Planning Policy and Health and Wellbeing, to present report PH.388.

Minutes: none

• View Report

• Cllr Leppington, Cabinet Member for Development, Asset Management, Infrastructure and Housing, to present report PH.389.

Minutes: none

• URL name

• Cllr James, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance, Performance and Shared Working, to present report F.420.

• Additional Documents:

• F.420 Annex A 2018-10 mid year report

Minutes: none

• View Report ,http://meetings.fdean.gov.uk/documents/s21577/LD.634%20Council%20Size%20Report.pdf>> Cllr Gooch, Chairman of the Constitution Working Group, to present report LD.634.

• Additional Documents:

• LD.634 Annex A CWG Report 191118 Council Size
• LD.634 CWG Report Annex A - Council Comparisons
• LD.634 Annex B CWG Report Annex B - Financial Calculations

Minutes: none

• Notice of Motions

Minutes: none

• Full Council notes:

• 1.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC's) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, published just 8 weeks ago, describes the enormous harm that a 2°C rise is likely to cause compared to a 1.5°C rise. It informed us that limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities. Ref 1,2

• 2.  The World Meteorological Organisation in their annual bulletin (Nov2018)  state that carbon dioxide levels have hit new highs of 405.5 parts per million (ppm) in 2017, up from 403.3 ppm in 2016 and 400.1 ppm in 2015, levels not seen for millions of years. They warn that “the window of opportunity for action is almost closed.”

• 3.  The world’s leading climate scientists warn that there are only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5oC, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.

• 4.  Global temperatures have already increased by 1 degree Celsius from pre-industrial levels and they are still rising rapidly, with impacts being felt around the world today.

• 5.  The world is on track to overshoot the Paris agreement’s 1.5°c limit before 2050;

• 6.  In order to reduce the very real risk of runaway global warming and the dramatic impacts on the global environment, society and us as individuals, it is imperative that we take the boldest steps to reduce our CO2 emissions from their current 6.5 tonnes per person per year to less than 2 tonnes as soon as possible; Ref 3

• 7.  Society needs to help individuals reduce their own carbon emissions by changing its laws, taxation, infrastructure, policies and plans, to make low carbon living easier and the new norm;

• 8.  Carbon emissions result from both production and consumption;

• 9.  For these reasons, authorities around the country and the world are responding by declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’ and committing resources to address this emergency now.

• Full Council acknowledges that:

• 1.  The consequences of global temperature rising above 1.5°C are so severe that preventing this from happening must be humanity’s number one priority;

• 2.  To meet the urgent challenge outlined in the IPCC report, we all have a part to play. It is important for us all in the Forest of Dean that the local district council commits to carbon neutrality as quickly as possible; FoDDC needs to take a lead and act now.

• 3.  Bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities (as well as improved well-being for people worldwide).

• 4.  The Forest of Dean is well-placed to champion rural decarbonisation. The district has huge carbon sequestration potential with 27,000 acres of public forest estate (21% of the total district area), and abundant clean renewable resources (solar, wind and tidal lagoons) to become 100% self-reliant on zero-carbon energy.  ...  view the full agenda text for item 12.1

Minutes: none

• The use of sky, or Chinese, lanterns is growing in popularity and they are often seen in the night sky at festivals, weddings and other celebrations such as Christmas and New Year.A sky lantern is a simple paper bag over a rigid frame, perhaps of metal or bamboo and underneath a fuel source, which when lit lifts the lantern up to the sky. It must be said they can look beautiful. 200,000 of them were released in the UK last year. But while they may be beautiful in the sky, on the ground they are deadly.The paper becomes litter, the frame perhaps a snare for a wild bird or it is ingested by a farm animal that could suffer terrible injuries.And the flame may start a fire on a thatched roof or a field of crops and, most memorably in the West Midlands, 100,000 tonnes of plastic. That fire took 200 firefighters to put out.The National Farmers Union has received numerous reports of harm to livestock, and in some instances death, caused by cattle ingesting the metal wires contained within the lantern frames. The danger and the repercussions of digestion are not realised until after the animal falls ill, usually ending in a slow and painful death unless destroyed by a vet. The small pieces of metal wire the lanterns are made of are not detectable by the metal detectors on the silage making machinery. The lanterns are often seen as a gentler alternative to fireworks, but the potential risks they carry are high and although they are not banned, there is already a complete ban on the lanterns in Germany and Australia.I move that in line with many other  local authorities across the country, Forest of Dean District Council resolves to ban the release of Sky lanterns from Forest of Dean owned land and  does not recommend their use because of the fire hazards and risks they pose to property, crops, livestock and the environment.We will also provide advice and guidance to organisers of events and use the Licensing regime to promote a voluntary ban on the use of lanterns.

Minutes: none

• On the 14 Oct this year Franchise responsibility for the Cheltenham - Gloucester- Cardiff - Maesteg (and return) Rail Service transferred from Arriva Trains Wales to Transport For Wales a subsidiary of the Labour controlled Welsh Assembly.

• Since the 14 Oct, frequency and reliability of the Rail Service that serves Lydney has deteriorated rapidly with cancellations seemingly being the norm. Having been willing to take over this Franchise, I propose that this Council write to the Welsh Assembly and ask for a detailed explanation as to why they are failing. 

Minutes: none

• This council views with concern the increasing number of local residences within the district being used as holiday lettings. This has several detrimental effects including: ·         inflating prices, making it less affordable for young families, with strong local connections, to purchase homes within the district.·         depopulating rural settlements with a consequent loss of community and local facilities. This council urges government to seek to address the issue, possibly by fiscal measures such as higher council tax on holiday lettings. This motion should be copied to our MP, the Local Government Association and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Minutes: none

• With reference to the damning report by the United Nations which condemns the British Government's 'punitive, mean spirited and often callous' treatment of the country's poorest and most vulnerable, and the 'End Child Poverty' report which clearly indicates that 22.58% of children in the Forest of Dean are living in poverty, this Council instructs the Chair and Leader of the Council to write to the local MP demanding an explanation and asking what, if anything, he intends to do to alleviate this problem?

Minutes: none

• In the recent budget the Chancellor reduced the retention of Business Rates from 100% to 75%( which directly affects the finances of this Council) in order to help local businesses, and altered the New Homes Base rate. Both of these changes will put the Council's budget in a more difficult position for the coming financial year.This Council asks the MP and relevant representatives of the LGA to make representations to Government regarding this shortfall, bearing in mind that the Gloucestershire Authorities are part of first tranche of this retention of Business rates process.

Minutes: none

• View Report

• The Leader of the Council and the chairman of the scrutiny committee to report on recent activities, followed by questions from members. Depending on time the Chairman will rule and only take one question per member relating to reports.

• a)    Cabinet

• b)    Strategic Overview and Scrutiny Committee – no meeting

Minutes: none

• Thursday, 21 February 2019 (Budget and Council Tax)

• Thursday, 4 April 2019

Minutes: none