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
Note: In order to access the meeting virtually via a livestream broadcast, please click on the link below, which will automatically take you to the Vimeo Livestream.
Items
No. |
Item |
131. |
Welcome and Introduction
Minutes:
The Chair formally opened the meeting and
welcomed all persons present including
those that were viewing the meeting externally via the live
broadcast, to the ‘in person’ Annual Meeting of
Council.
For the benefit of members of the public that
may be watching the livestream, the Chair provided the reasons for
holding a non-decision making virtual meeting ahead of this, the
official Annual Meeting of Council.
Due to the expiry of special legislation on 7
May 2021 which allowed Council meetings to be held virtually, and
despite an unsuccessful High Court challenge, the law only allowed
publicly accessible decision making meetings to be held in person
at a specific geographical location.
To be able to have meetings in person,
consideration also needed to be given to Government guidance in
relation to the safe use of council buildings and carefully
consider the capacity of West Suffolk Council’s venues to
host meetings. This was challenging as
it was difficult to find venues within the district to accommodate
64 councillors under the present social distancing guidelines. From
21 June 2021, restrictions on social contact were expected to ease
which would help mitigate the current challenges.
The virtual meeting held the previous evening
was therefore held to enable all members to attend and participate
in the discussion on the various agenda items. Matters were voted
on a ‘minded to’ basis, therefore while no formal
decisions were made, the outcome of the votes cast would help to
inform decision making at this official ‘in person’
Annual Meeting of Council. A quorum of members were in attendance on a politically balanced basis
to formally resolve the items discussed at the virtual meeting.
|
132. |
Election of Chair of the Council for 2021 to 2022
Minutes:
The outgoing Chair called for nominations for
the election of Chair for the 2021 to 2022 civic year.
Councillor John Griffiths, Leader of the
Council, nominated Councillor Margaret Marks, which was duly
seconded by Councillor Elaine McManus.
There being no other nominations, the motion
was put to the vote and with the vote being unanimous, it was
Resolved:
That Councillor
Margaret Marks be elected Chair of West Suffolk Council for the
2021 to 2022 civic year.
The retiring Chair briefly acknowledged his
years in office (2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021), before inviting
Councillor Margaret Marks to take the Chair.
Due to complying with current health and
safety regulations, the incoming Chair applied the Chain of Office
herself, which was located in its case directly in front of her.
She then signed her Declaration of Acceptance of Office, which
would be signed by the Monitoring Officer at the conclusion of the
meeting.
|
133. |
Chair's announcements
To receive announcements from the Chair, which
will briefly include acknowledging their forthcoming year in
office, as presented during the non-decision
making virtual meeting of Annual Council held on 18 May
2021.
Minutes:
The Chair briefly reiterated from yesterday
evening’s meeting, the Council’s tribute to the
outgoing Chair, Councillor Brian Harvey.
At this stage in proceedings, the incoming
Chair would usually present the retiring Chair with their past
Chair’s badge. Councillor Harvey had been very keen to
resolve the production of the Chains of Office, which were recently
finalised and therefore available for the Annual Meeting.
Unfortunately, after the Chains were completed, the
jeweller’s factory suffered a Covid-19 outbreak, which meant
that the production of the Past Chair’s badge had not been
finished in time for the Annual Meeting. An appropriate moment
would be determined to provide it to Councillor Harvey in the near future.
The Chair then briefly acknowledged her
forthcoming year in office.
|
134. |
Apologies for absence
To receive apologies for absence and
announcements from the officer advising the Chair. This will
include reiterating, for health and safety purposes, the reasons
for other members of the Council being unable to be present.
Minutes:
Due to the reasons set out in the
Chair’s introduction regarding adhering to present Government
guidelines on maintaining social distancing, a compliment of 17
members were present at this meeting. This accorded with the quorum
for Council meetings and allowed health and safety measures to be
observed.
In addition to the required 16 members
present, Councillor Ian Houlder was in attendance in case another
member of the Conservative Group was unable to attend at short
notice, which would enable the meeting to remain quorate. In order
to observe the political balance of the Council, Councillor Houlder
remained present in the meeting room but refrained from voting on
any of the items.
Apologies for absence were therefore received
from Councillors:
Michael Anderson, John Augustine, Trevor
Beckwith, Mick Bradshaw, Sarah Broughton, Simon Brown, Tony Brown,
Patrick Chung, Max Clarke, Terry Clements, Simon Cole, Jason
Crooks, Dawn Dicker, Andy Drummond, Robert Everitt, Pat Hanlon,
Diane Hind, Rachel Hood, Beccy
Hopfensperger, Paul Hopfensperger, James Lay, Aaron Luccarini,
Victor Lukaniuk, Birgitte Mager, Joe Mason, Andy Neal, David
Nettleton, Robert Nobbs, Colin Noble, David Palmer, Sarah Pugh, Jo
Rayner, Karen Richardson, David Roach, Richard Rout, Marion
Rushbrook, Andrew Smith, John Smith, Karen Soons, Clive Springett,
Sarah Stamp, Peter Stevens, Peter Thompson, Jim Thorndyke, Julia
Wakelam, Don Waldron and Cliff Waterman.
For the benefit of persons viewing the
livestream, the Monitoring Officer also listed the members
present.
|
135. |
Formal decision making on 'minded to' decisions
Taking into account the ‘minded
to’ decisions made during the non-decision making virtual
meeting of Annual Council held on 18 May 2021, to be advised at the
meeting by the Monitoring Officer, the Council is required to
formally resolve the following matters:
1. Election of Vice
Chair of the Council for 2021 to 2022
2. Note the
appointment of Cabinet members
3. Review of political
balance and appointment to politically balanced bodies 2021 to 2022
(Report number: AGM/WS/21/001 attached to the agenda for 18
May 2021)
4. Appointment of Chair
and Vice Chairs to the:
a. Overview and
Scrutiny Committee
b. Performance and
Audit Scrutiny Committee
5. Review and
representation on outside bodies 2021 to 2022
(Report number:
AGM/WS/21/002 attached to the agenda for 18 May 2021)
At the conclusion of this item, the Vice Chair
will sign their Declaration of Acceptance of Office, in the
presence of the Monitoring Officer.
Minutes:
Council was required to formally resolve the
matters where ‘minded to’ decisions were made at the
previous evening’s non-decision making virtual Annual Meeting
of Council.
The Chair invited the Monitoring Officer to
advise of the ‘minded to’ decisions made at that
meeting, and it was suggested that a vote be taken
‘en bloc’ to formally
resolve those matters collectively.
The list of ‘minded to’ decisions
made in the following order as listed on the agenda were:
1. Election of Vice
Chair of the Council for 2021 to 2022:
Councillor Mike
Chester
2. It be noted that
the appointment of Deputy Leader, Cabinet members and their
portfolios presently remain unchanged
3. Review of political
balance and appointment to politically balanced bodies 2021 to
2022:
Recommended as proposed in
Report number: AGM/WS/21/001
4. Appointment of:
a. Chair of the
Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
Councillor Ian Shipp
b. Vice Chair of the
Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
Councillor Stephen
Frost
c. Chair of the
Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee:
Councillor Ian Houlder
d. Vice Chair of
the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee:
Councillor Karen
Richardson
5. Review and
representation on outside bodies 2021 to 2022: Recommended as proposed in Report number:
AGM/WS/21/002
Councillor John Griffiths, Leader of the
Council, reiterated his comments made during his announcements of
the previous evening, including formally welcoming the six new
members to the Council which had recently been elected in
by-elections, namely Councillors Nick Clarke, Birgitte Mager, Colin
Noble, Sarah Pugh, Sarah Stamp and Julia Wakelam. He also paid
tribute to those members who were no longer with the Council,
including those that had sadly passed away during 2020 to 2021,
namely Councillors David Gathercole and Jim Meikle.
He again commended West Suffolk Council staff
for their sterling work during these extremely challenging times,
whilst continuing to deliver services.
Other than 2. above which was to be noted by
Council, Councillor Griffiths moved the motion to formally resolve
the aforementioned ‘minded to’ decisions taken at the
virtual Annual Meeting. This was duly seconded by Councillor Sara
Mildmay-White.
The motion was put to the vote and with the
vote being unanimous, it was
Resolved:
That:
1. Election of Vice Chair of
the Council for 2021 to 2022
Councillor Mike
Chester be elected Vice Chair elect of West Suffolk Council for the
2021 to 2022 civic year.
2.
Review of political
balance and appointment to politically balanced bodies 2021 to
2022
a. The committees and
sub-committees for 2021 to 2022 be approved, in accordance with the
number of seats and terms of reference, as contained in Appendix C
of Report number: AGM/WS/21/001.
b. The political
balance and allocation of seats on committees as contained in
Appendix A to Report number: AGM/WS/21/001, be approved.
c. The political
balance and allocation of substitutes on Committees as contained in
Appendix B to Report number: AGM/WS/21/001, be approved.
d. Based on the agreed
allocations, it be agreed that Group Leaders have up to 14 days in
which to notify the Monitoring Officer of ...
view the full minutes text for item 135.
|
136. |
Conclusion
Minutes:
On conclusion of the meeting, the Chair
thanked all present for their attendance at this ‘in
person’ Annual Meeting of Council. The live broadcast
subsequently ended at this point.
Whilst observing current health and safety
regulations, the Declarations of Acceptance of Office of the Chair
and Vice Chair were duly signed by the Monitoring Officer.
|
|
In this section
|