Shropshire Council website

This is the website of Shropshire Council

Contact information

E-mail

customer.service@shropshire.gov.uk

Telephone

0345 678 9000

Postal Address

Shropshire Council
Shirehall
Abbey Foregate
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY2 6ND

Agenda

Venue: Council Chamber, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY2 6ND. View directions

Contact: Tim Ward  Committee Officer

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

2.

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Members are reminded that they must declare their disclosable pecuniary interests and other registrable or non-registrable interests in any matter being considered at the meeting as set out in Appendix B of the Members’ Code of Conduct and consider if they should leave the room prior to the item being considered. Further advice can be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 398 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 26 September 2024

4.

Announcements

To receive such communications as the Chairman, Leader and Head of Paid Service may desire to lay before the Council.

5.

Public Questions pdf icon PDF 202 KB

To receive any questions from the public, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14. Deadline for notification is 12.00 noon on Friday 6 December 2024

Additional documents:

6.

Questions from Members pdf icon PDF 279 KB

To receive any questions from Members, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2. Deadline for notification is 12.00 noon on Friday 6 December 2024

Additional documents:

7.

Shropshire Corporate Parenting pdf icon PDF 389 KB

Report of the Executive Director of People attached

 

Contact Tanya Miles Tel: 01743 255811

 

Additional documents:

8.

Annual Report of the Portfolio Holder for Children and Education pdf icon PDF 771 KB

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Children and Education is attached

9.

Setting the Council Tax Taxbase for 2025/26 pdf icon PDF 612 KB

Report of the Executive Director, Resources is attached

 

Contact:  James Walton.  Tel. 01743 258915

 

10.

Treasury Strategy 24/25 – Mid Year Review pdf icon PDF 396 KB

Report of the Executive Director, Resources is attached

 

Contact:  James Walton.  Tel. 01743 258915

 

Additional documents:

11.

Gambling Act 2005 Policy Statement 2025 to 2028 pdf icon PDF 220 KB

Report of the Transactional and Licensing Team Manager is attached.

 

Contact: Mandy Beever (01743 251702)

 

Additional documents:

12.

Shrewsbury Movement and Public Space Strategy pdf icon PDF 676 KB

Report of the Executive Director of Place is attached

 

Contact Mark Barrow Tel: 01743258919

 

Additional documents:

13.

Interim Polling District, Polling Place and Polling Station Review 2024 pdf icon PDF 249 KB

Report of Returning Officer is attached

  

Contact:  Andy Begley, 01743 258675

 

Additional documents:

14.

Electoral Services - Scale of Fees 2025/26 pdf icon PDF 372 KB

Report of Returning Officer is attached

  

Contact:  Andy Begley, 01743 258675

 

15.

Response to Government Consultation on Remote Attendance/Proxy Voting pdf icon PDF 300 KB

Report of the Assistant Director – Legal and Governance is attached

 

Contact Tim Collard  Tel: 01743 252756  

 

16.

Constitution of Committees and Allocation of Seats pdf icon PDF 550 KB

Report of the Assistant Director – Legal and Governance is attached

 

Contact Tim Collard  Tel: 01743 252756  

 

Additional documents:

17.

Motions

The following motions have been received in accordance with Procedure Rule 16:

 

 

17a

Motion received from Councillor Duncan Kerr and supported by the Green Group

It has been widely reported that Oswestry Post Office is one of 115 in the country at risk of closure by the Post Office. This office provides a much needed and valuable service particularly for the elderly and other people with protected characteristics under the Equalities Act.

 

This Council expresses it absolute opposition to any closure or diminution in services from the Oswestry Post office and calls on the MP for North Shropshire to express in the strongest terms the opposition of residents to this proposal

 

17b

Motion received from Councillor Andy Boddington and supported by Councillors Richard Huffer, Tracey Huffer and Rob Wilson

Preamble 

Council will be aware of the concerns of farmers over the imposition of Inheritance Tax (IHT) now that the threshold for Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) has been set at £1 million. This has caused distress among farm owners in Shropshire and beyond, especially those who run smaller and family farms. They fear that payment of IHT by their successors will lead to land being sold to larger farms and investors, ending the centuries old tradition of family farms proving food and protecting the landscape of our county.

 

Farmers tend to be capital rich and cash poor, especially small farmers. Estimates of the number of small farms with land and business assets valued at £1 million vary from 33% (Treasury) to 66% (Defra). However, the most recent estimate from the NFU suggests that 75% of farms will be affected. It also showed that medium sized farms will not be protected by the ten-year payment window because the IHT payments would be higher than the income on those farms. The average farm sees a 1% return on capital.

 

The policy IHT will relentlessly erode small family farms. Our future farm landscape will be increasingly large landowners who manage for profit or tax avoidance, not as a livelihood. 

The £1 million threshold is unrealistically low and would damage the small family owned farms in Shropshire. In 2021, Shropshire had 3,686 farms. Of these, more than four in five are under 100 hectares. Agriculture is one of the counties largest employers.

 

Family farms are important to our county. They are the places in which transfer of knowledge and skills needed to manage farms is inherited from generation to generation. The new IHT regime as proposed would cause irrevocable erosion of that knowledge and the irrevocable loss of family farms.

 

Motion

 

This Council supports the family and small farmers of Shropshire. It recognises the important contribution they make to providing food and renewable energy, protecting the county’s ecology and the beauty of Shropshire’s landscape. It recognises that the farming community is a critical part of the social, economic and environmental fabric of rural Shropshire.

Council agrees that:

 

  1. The Leader writes to the minister for farming and secretary of state for Defra urging them to deploy a fairer tax regime for farmers that ensures that small and medium size farms remain viable and that family farms can remain in family ownership.

 

  1. The Leader writes to Shropshire’s MPs asking that they use their best endeavours to support family and smaller farms affected by the proposed IHT regime, including lobbying the government to develop alternatives to the 20% at £1 million threshold put forward in the October budget.

 

18.

Exclusion of Press and Public

To resolve that, in accordance with the provisions of schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and Paragraph 10.4 [3] of the Council’s Access to Information Rules, the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items

19.

Exempt Minutes

To approve as a correct record the exempt minutes of the previous meeting held on 26 September 2024

20.

Chief Executive and Chief Officer Pay Award 2024/25

Exempt report of the Executive Director Resources is attached

 

Contact:  James Walton.  Tel. 01743 258915

 

 

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