Agenda for Shadow Council on Tuesday 20 November 2018, 6.30 pm

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

40.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 105 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2018 (copy attached).

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

41.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

No announcements were made by the Chair on this occasion.

42.

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 Anderson, Barker, Beckwith, Simon Brown, Tony Brown, Chung, Fox and Ridgwell.

 

Councillors Appleby, Crooks, Hailstone, Lynch and Williams were also unable to attend the meeting.

43.

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.

44.

Leader's Statement (Paper No: COU/SA/18/012) pdf icon PDF 62 KB

Paper No: COU/SA/18/012 TO FOLLOW

 

(Shadow Council Procedure Rules 8.1 – 8.3)  The Leader will provide a written statement summarising important developments and activities since the preceding meeting of the Shadow Council where these have arisen.  These developments and activities will solely relate to the development of the Shadow Council, and matters related to the future West Suffolk Council.

 

Members may ask the Leader questions on the content of both his introductory remarks and the written statement itself.

 

A total of 30 minutes will be allowed for questions and responses. There will be a limit of five minutes for each question to be asked and answered. A supplementary question arising from the reply may be asked so long as the five minute limit is not exceeded.

Minutes:

Councillor John Griffiths, Leader of the Shadow Council, presented his Statement, as contained in Paper No: COU/SA/18/012.

 

In his introductory remarks, Councillor Griffiths stated that it had been an honour and privilege to have been elected Leader of the Shadow Council since its inception in May 2018 and that it was his intention to nominate in the near future the current Deputy Leader, Councillor James Waters to lead the Shadow Council for the remainder of the 2018/2019 year.

 

Councillor Griffiths reiterated that through working with central and other government organisations, partners and potential investors, he was proud of the ambitions and aspirations the existing Forest Heath District and St Edmundsbury Borough Councils were currently achieving and aiming to achieve, whilst continuing to deliver excellent services for West Suffolk’s residents.

 

Although challenges needed to be overcome, Councillor Griffiths was confident that the Councils were in an excellent position as they headed towards the creation of West Suffolk Council in fewer than 150 days.

 

In response to a question regarding the proposed introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement, Members were informed that the Consequential Orders enabled provision of these impending powers to be transferred to the new West Suffolk Council.

45.

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 19 November 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:

The following question was put and answered during this item:

 

Mr Martyn Taylor, Chairman of the Bury Society in Bury St Edmunds, asked a question in connection with Agenda Item 7, Civic Leadership Review. He expressed concern that the formation of West Suffolk Council would deprive Bury St Edmunds of its mayor and whether the newly created Council would ask Haverhill and Newmarket to cease having town mayors if it opted to have a mayor.  Should these two towns continue to have mayors, Mr Taylor felt it was appropriate for Bury St Edmunds Town Council to also have a mayor, which had ceased in 2006 when it reverted to having a chairman, due, in his view, to confusion with the Mayor of St Edmundsbury.

 

In response, Councillor Ruth Bowman, one of the Shadow Executive Members responsible for Future Governance, stated that the Civic Leadership Review report (the main attachment to Report No: COU/SA/18/013) had identified that many residents had been confused, and often believed that the Mayor of St Edmundsbury was Mayor of Bury St Edmunds town.  The second recommendation shown in Report No: COU/SA/18/013, and as read out by Councillor Bowman, sought to address the concern that had been raised by Mr Taylor and this would be considered by Members for approval later in the meeting.

 

In order to meet people’s expectations regarding civic leadership, there remained the option for Bury St Edmunds Town Council to have a mayor regardless of the option West Suffolk Council chose to continue.  Subject to approval, the Shadow/West Suffolk Council would actively work with towns and parishes to support local arrangements within the district.  It was not however, in the gift of the Shadow/West Suffolk Council to request a town (such as Haverhill or Newmarket as specifically mentioned by Mr Taylor) to cease having a mayor; each location had the right and responsibility to set up arrangements that their residents most valued.

 

Mr Taylor was asked whether he would like to ask a supplementary question arising directly from the reply.  He made a statement asking Council not to lose sight of the historical borough status of Bury St Edmunds and that the town should have a mayor, either from West Suffolk Council or Bury St Edmunds Town Council.  

46.

Civic Leadership Review (Report No: COU/SA/18/013) pdf icon PDF 276 KB

Report No: COU/SA/18/013

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Shadow Council considered Report No: COU/SA/18/013, which presented the outcome of the review of civic leadership across St Edmundsbury Borough Council (SEBC) and Forest Heath District Council (FHDC) in preparation for the introduction of West Suffolk Council in April 2019.

 

The Chair firstly thanked the Civic Leadership Working Group and officers for their work on the civic leadership review, which had culminated in the production of the comprehensive Civic Leadership Review Report that was attached to Report No: COU/SA/18/013, together with its 15 appendices.

 

Currently the civic leadership function for FHDC was carried out by a chairman and for SEBC, it was undertaken by a mayor.  With the creation of the new West Suffolk Council on 1 April 2019, there was an opportunity to redefine the arrangements for civic leadership in order to support West Suffolk Council’s ambitions to drive growth and prosperity in local communities. The new arrangements needed to look to the future while recognising and building on the traditions of the past.

 

There were three main areas that needed to be considered when defining the new role for civic leadership for West Suffolk Council:

 

·         Requirements of the role;

·         The priorities for the civic leader; and

·         Format for how the role would be delivered.

 

The main Civic Leadership Review Report had addressed these elements, utilising a range of information gathering; and interpretation of findings and ascertaining common themes, all of which had been worked through by the Civic Leadership Working Group and summarised in the covering report (COU/SA/18/013).

 

Councillor Carol Bull, one of the Shadow Executive Members with the responsibility for Future Governance, drew relevant issues to the attention of the Shadow Council, including providing further detail on the proposed ambassadorial role of the new civic leader for West Suffolk Council and the key considerations required for the new role.  This included working more closely with town and parish councils across West Suffolk to develop and support civic leadership at a local level, which may involve the possibility of town councils such as Bury St Edmunds, should they so wish, to create new town mayors.  Councillor Bull also explained the significant amount of work that had been undertaken to form the review and how it was carried out; and that:

 

·         legally from 1 April 2019, the status of the new council would be a district with a chairman;

 

·         councillors had the option to change this and could decide to apply for borough status which allowed for a mayor or chairman; and

 

·         should Members resolve to proceed with applying for borough status, the decision to apply to the Privy Council for this purpose would require a two-thirds majority vote in favour at a specially convened Council meeting.

 

Councillor Bull proceeded to move the recommendations contained within report, but with the following amendment to Recommendation (3) to remove reference to suspend Council Procedure Rules for enabling a two-thirds majority vote to be required on whether to proceed with convening a special meeting for the purpose of deciding whether to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

47.

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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