Agenda and minutes

            Apologies for inability to attend were reported from the Councillors Mullan and Newton.

            The minutes of the meeting of 13th February were taken as read and signed as correct.  It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Council at its meeting on 2nd March.

            No declarations of interest were reported.

            The Committee was advised that the undernoted request for the use of the City Hall and the provision of hospitality had been received:

Appendix 1

            The Committee approved and adopted the minutes of the meeting of the Audit Panel of 10th March.

            It was reported that, in accordance with Standing Order 55 and the authority delegated to him, the Director of Finance and Resources had authorised the appointment of an individual who was related to an existing officer of the Council.

Noted.

            The Committee approved and adopted the minutes of the meeting of the Good Relations Partnership of 9th February.

            In considering the minutes of the meeting of 9th March, a Member drew the Committees attention to the decision of the Partnership in relation to the Review of the Bonfire Management Programme to defer the matter to a future meeting of the Partnership.  He pointed out that that would provide a limited timeframe for the Committee to consider the options contained within the report and he expressed a view that the report should be submitted to the meeting of the Shadow Strategic Policy and Resources Committee which was being held the following week on 20th March.

            The Chief Executive pointed out that, should the Committee be minded to agree to that course of action, there would not be sufficient time to obtain the information which had been requested by the Good Relations Partnership and, therefore it would be the original report which had been submitted to that Group which would be submitted to the Committee.

            Accordingly, it was

            Moved by Alderman Robinson,

            Seconded by Councillor Kennedy,

      That the report on the Review of the Bonfire Management Programme by submitted to the meeting of the Shadow Strategic Policy and Resources Committee scheduled to be held on 20th March.

            On a vote by show of hands eight Members voted for the proposal and six against and it was declared carried.

            Adoption of Minutes

            Subject to the aforegoing amendment, the minutes of the meeting of the Good Relations Partnership of 9th march were approved and adopted.

            Bicentennial of Battle of Waterloo

            In considering the minutes of the meeting of the Diversity Working Group, a member drew the Committees attention to the decision in relation to the Bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo and suggested that, in addition to approving the free use of the City Hall for such events, on the condition that funding for the events would be found elsewhere, that a commemorative tree be planted at an appropriate location to mark the event.

            The Committee agreed to this suggestion.

            Adoption of Minutes

            Subject to the aforegoing amendment, the minutes of the meeting of the Diversity Working Group of 3rd March were approved and adopted.

            The Committee was reminded that the Council, at its meeting on 2nd February, had passed the following motion, which had been moved by Alderman R. Patterson and seconded by Alderman Kingston:

Notice of Motion

Northern Ireland Driving Licences

Moved by Alderman R. Patterson,

Seconded by Alderman Kingston,

      “This Council:

1.      expresses concern at the way in which the decision was taken by SDLP Environment Ministers to exclude Northern Ireland from the reforms currently taking effect in relation to the appearance of the Union flag on UK driving licences;

2.      believes that such a decision is likely to harm community relations and cause hurt and  offence to those citizens who would like to see such changes apply to their own driving licence;

3.      calls upon the Minister to reverse his position and allow the changes to be implemented here;

4.      believes that if the Minister is unwilling to embrace such change he should, as an absolute minimum, introduce an ‘opt out’ scheme, whereby those who do not want to have the flag appear on their licence can choose not to have it and everyone else can; and

5.      recognises that failure to implement such a scheme would be unfair to those citizens who want the Union Flag to appear on their driving licence.”

            The Committee was advised that a letter had been forwarded subsequently to the Environment Minister, Mr. Mark H. Durkan MLA informing him of the Council’s decision.  A response had been received on 18th February.

            In his response, the Minister had pointed that Great Britain and Northern Ireland driving Licences were issued by separate and independent licensing authorities and that there was no UK licensing authority.  In Northern Ireland, that function was transferred, under the Northern Ireland Act 1988, to the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Department of the Environment had granted responsibility under the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 for a range of matters relating to the licensing of drivers, including the form of driving licence.

            The Minister had then referred to correspondence which had, in 2012, been forwarded by the Department for Transport Minister, Mike Penning MP, to the then Environment Minister, Alex Attwood MLA, advising him of the Government’s intentions to display the Union Flag only on driving licences issued in Great Britain.  Minister Penning had proposed, giving the sensitivities around symbols that the D.V.L.A. continued to print under contract Northern Ireland driving licences without any change to their existing design and had sought the Environment Minister’s views in the regard.  Minister Durkan had pointed out further that the Department of the Environment officials had, subsequently, engaged with the D.V.L.A. to determine if it would be possible to offer applicants from Northern Ireland the option of either including or excluding the Union Flag from their licence.  It had confirmed that the cost of making the required changes to the existing system to cater for Northern Ireland applicants would render that suggestion prohibited.

            The Minister had concluded by stating the Department of the Environment had received  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11a