To notify the Chairman of any items that appear in the agenda in which you may have an interest.

Members had no interests to declare.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 12^th January 2006.  (To be circulated)

The Minutes of the meeting held on 12^th January 2006 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Report of Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer.

Consideration was given to a report which in addition to assessing the impact of the above Order, provided advice on the steps to be taken to afford appropriate protection for those Members and officers who might be subject to civil claims and set out the basis for the terms of that protection.  (For copy see file of Minutes).

RESOLVED :      1.      That the report and the action of the Director of Finance in arranging insurance cover be approved.

                        2.      That the Standards Committee be appraised of the report as it relates to Local Hearings and Determinations under Part III of the Local Government Act 2000.

                        3.      That Council be advised to amend the Officer Scheme of Delegation in the Constitution to give the Director of Resources power to provide appropriate insurance cover.         

Report of Director of Resources.

The Lead Member for Performance Management presented a report regarding the above. (For copy see file of Minutes).

Members were reminded that the County Durham e-Government Partnership of all eight Councils within County Durham, had been established to deal specifically with the joined-up development of electronic service delivery across County Durham.

It was explained that the Partnership’s Joint Committee at its meeting on 30^th November 2005 had agreed to revise its constitution to reflect the changes and inclusions detailed in paragraph 3.1.11 of the report, subject to the formal agreement of each Local Authority.

Members’ attention was drawn to the change to the quorum from five councils represented to four and the implications for those authorities that were not represented when the key decisions were made.

RESOLVED :         That the changes to the Joint Constitution which was supportive of Article 11 (joint working) of the Council’s own Constitution be approved.

RESOLVED:             That the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined by Paragraphs 7, 9, 12 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act.

Report of Director of Leisure Services.

Consideration was given to a report regarding the construction of the Gymnastics Centre at Spennymoor Leisure Centre.  (For copy see file of Minutes).

RESOLVED :         That the recommendations detailed in the report be adopted.

Report of Director of Resources.

Consideration was given to a report seeking approval to sell 1.45 hectares of land to the east of Barratt Way, West Cornforth for residential development.  (For copy see file of Minutes).

RESOLVED :         That the recommendation detailed in the report be adopted.

Published on 20^th January, 2006.

The key decisions contained in these Minutes will be implemented on Monday 30^th January, 2006 five working days after the date of publication unless called in by five Members of the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee in accordance with the call in procedure rules.