Agenda and minutes
Venue: Conference Chamber, West Suffolk House, Western Way, Bury St Edmunds IP33 3YU
Contact: Claire Skoyles (Democratic Services Officer)
Email: claire.skoyles@westsuffolk.gov.uk
Items
No. |
Item |
12. |
Chairman's Announcements
Minutes:
Under this item, the Chairman
invited Councillor John Griffiths,
Leader of the Shadow Council, to speak.
Councillor Griffiths stated how it had been an
honour and a privilege to have been elected Leader of the Shadow
Council and he would work closely alongside Councillor James
Waters, present Deputy Leader of the Shadow Council, to make West
Suffolk an even better place to live, work and visit as the two
councils continued in their journey towards the creation of West
Suffolk Council.
He thanked councillors and staff for their
contributions towards getting the Councils to this historic point
in the transition process.
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13. |
Apologies for Absence
To receive announcements (if any) from the
officer advising the Chairman (including apologies for absence)
Minutes:
Apologies for absence were received from
Councillors Michael Anderson, John Bloodworth, Simon Cole, Jason
Crooks, Mary Evans, Brian Harvey (Vice-Chairman), Robin Pilley,
Clive Pollington and Anthony
Williams.
Councillors Andrew Appleby, Simon Brown, Carol
Lynch, Louise Marston, Colin Noble, Barry Robbins, Reg Silvester
and Peter Thompson were also unable to attend the meeting.
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14. |
Declarations of Interests
Members are reminded
of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary or local non
pecuniary interest which they have in any item of business on the
agenda no later than when that item is reached and, when
appropriate, to leave the meeting prior to discussion and voting on
the item.
Minutes:
Members’ declarations of interest are
recorded under the item to which the declaration relates.
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15. |
Public Participation
(Shadow Council Procedure Rules
Section 6) Members of the public who live or work in the West
Suffolk area are invited to put one question of not more than five minutes duration about the
work of the Shadow Council to members of the Shadow
Executive. A person who
wishes to speak must register at least fifteen minutes before the
time the meeting is scheduled to start.*
(Note: The maximum
time to be set aside for this item is 30 minutes, but if all
questions are dealt with sooner, or if there are no questions, the
Shadow Council will proceed to the next business.
Each person may ask
one question only. A total of five
minutes will be allowed for the question to be put and
answered. One further question will be allowed arising directly
from the reply, provided that the original time limit
of five minutes is not exceeded.
Written
questions may be submitted by members of the
public to the Interim Monitoring Officer no later than
10.00 am on Monday 11 June 2018. The written notification
should detail the full question to be asked at the
meeting of the Council.)*
*For further
information, see Public Information Sheet attached to this
agenda.
Minutes:
No members of the public in attendance had
registered to speak.
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16. |
Referrals Report of Recommendations from the Shadow Executive (Cabinet) PDF 117 KB
Report No: COU/SA/18/003
(A) Referral from Shadow
Executive (Cabinet):
5
June 2018
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1.
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Implementation Plan for the
Creation of a New Council for West Suffolk
(The
referral has been compiled before the meeting of the Shadow
Executive (Cabinet) on 5 June 2018 and is based on the
recommendation contained within the report. Any amendments made by
the Shadow Executive to the recommendation will be notified prior
to the Shadow Council meeting)
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Shadow Executive (Cabinet) Members:
Cllrs Ruth Bowman J.P. and
Carol Bull
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Additional documents:
Minutes:
(Report No:
COU/SA/18/003)
The Shadow Council considered the Referrals
Report of Recommendations from the Shadow Executive (Cabinet)
contained within Report No: COU/SA/18/003.
(A) Referrals from Shadow Executive
(Cabinet) : 5 June 2018
1. Implementation Plan
for the Creation of a New Council for West Suffolk
Approval was sought for the
Implementation Plan for the Creation of a New Council for West
Suffolk.
The Implementation Plan,
attached as Appendix A to the Shadow Executive report, outlined the
plan for transferring Forest Heath District Council’s (FHDC)
and St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s (SEBC) functions and
responsibilities to the new single district-level council for West
Suffolk. It focused on the following
areas:
(a) the principles of
implementation;
(b) areas of
decision making that the West Suffolk Shadow Council and West
Suffolk Shadow Executive would be required to make; and
(c) other key areas of
implementation; and
(d) programme governance.
Councillors Ruth Bowman and
Carol Bull, FHDC and SEBC Portfolio Holders for Future
Governance respectively, drew relevant issues to the
attention of the Shadow Council, including reiterating the five key
principles outlined in the Plan which would enable the
implementation of the transition to the new West Suffolk
Council.
The FHDC/SEBC shared services
partnership had been established for several years which had
generated significant savings during that period and it was
recognised that the creation of a single West Suffolk Council was
about much more than the financial position. However, at the Shadow
Executive meeting, it was felt that clarification should be
documented within the Implementation Plan regarding the annual and
total amount of savings made during FHDC and SEBC’s shared
services partnership.
This amendment had been made under
officers’ existing delegated authority and was highlighted to
the Shadow Council.
Shadow Council also noted that the Shadow
Executive had agreed the Central Implementation
Team, as outlined in paragraph 16 of Appendix A, whose role was to
assist the Shadow Executive in delivering the Implementation
Plan.
In response to a question from Councillor
Trevor Beckwith regarding the transfer of
heritage assets to the new West Suffolk Council and whether there
was an inventory for the paintings etc, including those stored at
West Stow, and whether this was available to see, Shadow Council
was informed that Councillor Beckwith would be provided with a
written response following the meeting.
This would subsequently be provided for all Members’
perusal.
On the motion of
Councillor Ruth Bowman, seconded by Councillor Carol Bull, and duly
carried it was
RESOLVED:
That
the Implementation Plan attached at Appendix A to
Report No: EXC/SA/18/001, be agreed.
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17. |
West Suffolk Council: Councillor Remuneration PDF 142 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
(Report No:
COU/SA/18/004)
The Shadow Council considered the above
report, which sought approval for proposals to developing a
Members’ remuneration scheme for the new West Suffolk
Council.
The West Suffolk (Local Government Changes)
Order 2018 required the Shadow Council to formulate a Scheme of
Members’ Allowances. This Scheme would then be recommended to
the new West Suffolk Council to adopt when it would begin to meet
after 1 April 2019.
Councillors Ruth Bowman and Carol Bull, FHDC
and SEBC Portfolio Holders for Future Governance respectively, drew
relevant issues to the attention of the Shadow Council, including
that the supporting case for proposing a future council size of 64
Members highlighted the need to continue to build on the existing
Families and Communities Strategy, which emphasised the role of
councillors as community leaders and enablers.
The future Scheme of Members’ Allowances
for West Suffolk would be set against this backdrop; but would also
need to bear in mind the evolving nature of an entirely new
Council, whereby committee and leadership roles subject to Special
Responsibility Allowances were to be defined, and public
expectations on the levels of remuneration that were appropriate
for democratically elected individuals.
Before adopting any Scheme of Allowances, the
Shadow Council was required to form an Independent Panel, which
would prepare recommendations on the level of remuneration,
allowances and expenses for Councillors. A minimum of three persons must sit on the Panel
and the remit and requirements of that Panel was summarised in
Section 3 of the report, which included appointing a non-voting
advisor to the Panel who would act as a conduit between officers,
elected Members and the Panel. The process for appointing Panel
members was set out in Section 4 of the report, which included the
formation of a Selection Panel, which would comprise the existing
Forest Heath District and St Edmundsbury Borough Councils’ Portfolio
Holders for Future Governance, a Member who was not part of the
majority political group; a West Suffolk Director; the interim
Monitoring Officer and the Shadow Council’s independent
persons (on the condition that they did not wish to be members of
the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP).)
Attached to the report were the following
appendices:
Appendix A: Proposed Terms of Reference for
the IRP
Appendix B: Person Specification for IRP
members
Appendix C: Person Specification for the Panel
advisor
Councillor Ruth Bowman then explained that
Councillor David Nettleton had put himself forward as the
non-majority group Member to sit on the Selection Panel for the IRP
and that she wished to correct a minor typographical error in
Recommendation (2) listed in the report. The second recommendation would therefore now be
amended to read:
‘That the
West Suffolk Shadow Council nominates Councillor David Nettleton as
a Member who is not part of the majority group, to serve on the
Selection Panel for the Independent Remuneration Panel.’
Councillor Ruth Bowman proposed approval of
Recommendations (1) and (3) contained in the report, together with
the amended Recommendation (2) above.
This proposal was duly seconded by ...
view the full minutes text for item 17.
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18. |
Civic Leadership Review PDF 128 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
(Report No:
COU/SA/18/005)
The Shadow Council considered the above
report, which sought approval for the proposed Terms of Reference
(ToR) for a working group which would be tasked with reviewing the
future of Civic Leadership within West Suffolk.
In April 2018, Forest Heath District (FHDC)
and St Edmundsbury Borough Councils’ (SEBC) Leaders announced
that a specific working group would be established to review the
future of Civic Leadership in West Suffolk.
Councillors Carol Bull and Ruth Bowman, SEBC
and FHDC Portfolio Holders for Future Governance respectively, drew
relevant issues to the attention of the Shadow Council, including
that Civic Leadership was wider than one individual and was
concerned with how:
·
residents engaged with and understood the Council;
·
the Council demonstrated the support for its communities right
across the new district area;
·
the Council encouraged civic pride in its area and promoted local democracy; and
·
Civic Leadership supported the aims and ambitions of the
Council.
The proposed new Civic Leadership Working
Group would help advise the Council on the priorities for its
future Civic Leadership, and evaluate how the Council should reward
and recognise the outstanding contributions that individuals and
organisations made to civic life within West Suffolk. Specific focus would be given to matters
summarised in paragraph 1.3 of the report.
Subject to the views of the Working Group on
how their work should progress, it was envisaged that the review
should be concluded by autumn 2018, with a report subsequently
being presented to the Shadow Council on their
findings.
The composition of the Working Group was set
out in the proposed ToR. Membership
would be appointed following this meeting under the existing
delegated authority of the interim Monitoring Officer, on the
nominations of the existing FHDC and SEBC Group Leaders.
Councillor Carol Bull proposed approval of the
recommendation contained in the report.
This proposal was duly seconded by Councillor Ruth Bowman.
During the debate, Councillor Trevor Beckwith
proposed an amendment to the Terms of Reference, attached as
Appendix A to the report, in respect of the proposed composition of
the Working Group. Where it had specified that at least one member
of the Group each from FHDC and SEBC must be a former Chairman or
Mayor (as applicable), Councillor Beckwith wished to also specify
that at least one member of the Group each from FHDC and SEBC must
not be a former Chairman or Mayor (as applicable). This amendment to the substantive motion was duly
seconded by Councillor Paul Hopfensperger; however, upon being put
to the vote, the amendment was defeated.
The majority of Members present supported the
proposed remit and Terms of Reference of the Civic Leadership
Working Group, recognising the need to engage with the public and
other stakeholders about civic life and its relevance and
importance to the community, whilst promoting the brand of West
Suffolk.
In response to questions from Councillor Terry
Clements regarding the operation of the Future Governance Steering
Group; and from Councillor David Nettleton regarding the procedural
rules and voting mechanism should ...
view the full minutes text for item 18.
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19. |
Urgent Questions on Notice
The Shadow Council will consider any urgent
questions on notice that were notified to the Interim Monitoring
Officer by 11am on the day of the meeting.
Minutes:
No urgent questions on notice had been
received.
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In this section
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