Agenda and minutes

There were none.

All Members are required to disclose at this point in the meeting or as soon as possible thereafter, any disclosable pecuniary interest or personal interest in any item(s) being considered at this meeting.

Councillor Chegwyn advised that he had a personal interest in the late item as he was a patient at the surgery.

To sign as a true and correct record the minutes of the meeting held on the 30 November 2022.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 30 November 2022 be signed as a true and correct record.

NOTE: The Board is required to receive a deputation(s) on a matter which is before the meeting of the Board provided that notice of the intended deputation and its object shall have been received by the Borough Solicitor by 12 noon on 16 January 2023.  The total time for deputations in favour and against a proposal shall not exceed 10 minutes.

The Chairman put to the Board that a late deputation be heard from Dr Ananadan from the Bury Road Surgery and Keeley Ellis from the Integrated Care Board.

The Board RESOLVED that the deputations be heard.

Dr. Ananadan was invited to address the Board, he thanked the Council for allowing him to speak. He advised that he felt the that the Integrated Care Board (ICB) had tunnel vision, and lacked compassion and were fixed on the closure of the surgery as they had given no consideration to any alternative, viable options including nurse led, and alternative GP cover. He advised that he had offered to rescind his resignation to allow more time to consider the proposal.

He advised that there was a practice willing to take on the Bury Road Surgery lease, contract, patients and staff and that the  ICB had caused worry and stress to patients and staff in announcing the closure to the press. He advised that there had been false and malicious rumours spread about the practice and that work was being undertaken to address the issues raised at the recent CQC inspection. External support had been sought to address issues with record keeping and that they were satisfied that shortcomings had been addressed and that and an improvement in grading would be seen.

The surgery had been rated the best in Gosport through patient surveying and that this should not be ignored and that closure was not in the best interest of staff or patients and was damaging their reputation and that it seemed that all smaller surgeries were being allowed to close, as had happened with the Brockhurst surgery.

Concern was expressed that the options more preferable to patients had been dismissed as unviable and that people were concerned about the legality of the decisions that had been made and that the wishes of the staff and patients had been ignored. The decision would result in a popular, excellent practice being closed.

The Board was advised that a presentation was being arranged for an upcoming Council meeting to address the Council on health matters in the Borough.

A Member sought clarification from Dr. Anandan regarding the two available options.

He advised the Board that there was a proposal for a nurse led model or the option to   satellite from a different GP surgery.

A nurse led approach was currently used in a surgery in London, this method would still utilise the two GPs based at the practice and locums as well as the nurses and the practice manager on site.

If a satellite was set up the GMS contract would be signed by the owning practices and the practice would be renamed as copartners.

The Board was advised that external contractors had been engaged with to address the improvements required for the CQC and that recording polices and clerical records had been vastly improved. The service delivery and the patient satisfaction were high and there had been no consultation with the practice patentisns about the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

NOTE: The Board is required to allow a total of 15 minutes for questions from Members of the public on matters within the terms of reference of the Board provided that notice of such Question(s) shall have been submitted to the Borough Solicitor by 12 noon on 16 January 2023.

There were none.

The Board considers recommending to Council that former Councillor Mark William Paul Hook be appointed an Honorary Freeman.

Consideration was given to a report of the Chief Executive requesting that consideration be given to appointing former Councillor Mark Hook as an Honorary Freeman.

The Board recognised the usual process followed and accepted that the proposal was emotive.

RESOLVED: That the Board does not recommend to Full Council that former Councillor Mark Hook be made an Honorary Freeman.

This report sets out the principles of the commercial property asset strategy, together with a proposal for three new policies covering the leasing and licensing of commercial land and buildings categorised under investment assets, community assets, and a specific policy on beach huts.

Consideration was given to a report of the Chief Executive setting out the principles of the commercial property asset strategy, together with a proposal for three new policies covering the leasing and licensing of commercial land and buildings categorised under investment assets, community assets, and a specific policy on beach huts.

The Board were advised of a number of small amendments to the polices as follows.

Beach Huts Licensing Policy

Paragraph 6.3 – time limit amended to 21 working days.

Numbering needs updating to include paragraph 6.7

It was acknowledged that the asset lists were working documents and would need updating to include such amendments as the criterion being included.

A Member questioned why leases were not subject to increase in line with RPI as many other commercial leases were, this would insure that any annual increases met with inflation and as a result. The Board was advised that leisure assets can and should have appropriate increases added to them but these but that it would be unrearsonable on community assets, most of which were at a reduced rate.

A Member question whether reconsideration of concessions for beach huts was appropriate, given that 50% were allocated as a concession for those over 60. It was suggested that 60 was no longer an appropriate concession age and that it would perhaps be more beneficial to remove a concession reduction, but reduce the cost for all. Members were advised that 60 was the concession age set in the Council’s fees and charges.

Members welcomed the work that had been undertaken to bring the report together and welcomed its presentation to the Board.

Members felt that the statement ‘in consultation with the Leader’ should be removed from the points in the report at which it was felt they were not required, with decisions either being delegated to Council Officers, or requiring approval of the Policy and Organisation Board.

It was agreed that this could be removed from the strategy at point 2.2.2. 2.2.3 and 2.2.4.

Members sough clarification on the process of claiming exemption on business rates and were advised that all non residential properties were liable for non domestic rates. It was recognised that support would need to be offered to ensure that residents were able to complete the exemption request.

The rateable value of the huts was £680 each so would qualify for exemption but it was reiterated how important it would be to support those renting to apply.

It was requested that an amendment be made to paragraph 6.3.1 of the Community Buildings and Land Leasing Policy to add ‘if applicable’ after the Charity Number request as it was recognised that not all Charities had a charity number.

 RESOLVED: That the Board:

1.    Approves the Commercial Property Asset Strategy

2.   Adopts the three policies listed in the report.  

There were none.