Meeting documents

Annual Council
Wednesday, 14 May 2014

annual council

MINUTES of the Meeting held in the Council Chamber, Swale House, East Street, Sittingbourne on Wednesday 14 May 2014 from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Present: Councillor Bobbin (Mayor), Councillor Anita Walker (Deputy Mayor), Councillors Barnicott, Sylvia Bennett, Andy Booth, Lloyd Bowen, Bowles, Jackie Constable, Mike Cosgrove, John Coulter, Adrian Crowther, Duncan Dewar-Whalley, June Garrad, Sue Gent, Harrison, Mike Haywood, Mike Henderson, Lesley Ingham, Gerry Lewin, Peter Marchington, Martin McCusker, Bryan Mulhern, Ken Pugh, Gareth Randall, Pat Sandle, David Simmons, Ben Stokes, Adam Tolhurst, Roger Truelove, Ghlin Whelan, Mike Whiting, Ted Wilcox, Alan Willicombe, Jean Willicombe, Tony Winckless, Steve Worrall and John Wright.

Officers Present: Philippa Davies, Chris Lovelock, Donna Price, Mark Radford and Nick Vickers.

Apologies: Councillors Monique Bonney, Mick Constable, Derek Conway, Mark Ellen, Ed Gent, Nicholas Hampshire, John Morris, Prescott and Nick Williams.

9  

prayers

The Deputy Leader said Prayers.

 
10  

minutes

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 February 2014 (Minute Nos. 598 - 614) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Mayor as a correct record.

 
11  

declarations of interest

No interests were declared.

 
12  

cabinet membership for 2014/15

The Leader referred to the tabled paper and advised of the membership of his Cabinet for the forthcoming year as follows:

Leader - Cllr Andrew Bowles
Deputy Leader and Planning - Cllr Gerry Lewin
Finance - Cllr Duncan Dewar-Whalley
Performance - Cllr Ted Wilcox
Localism - Cllr Mike Whiting
Regeneration - Cllr Mike Cosgrove
Housing - Cllr John Wright
Environmental & Rural Affairs - Cllr David Simmons
Community Safety and Health - Cllr Ken Pugh

The Leader confirmed that the Cabinet was the same as the last Municipal Year.

The Leader of the Labour Group confirmed that there were seven Members in the Labour Group Shadow Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the report be noted.
 
13  

political balance, committees, terms of reference and appointments to committees for 2014/15

The Leader introduced the report and proposed the recommendations. Papers were tabled at the Meeting regarding Committee Membership and Chairman and Vice-Chairman. The Leader advised that the political balance had been recalculated which resulted in the Conservative Group membership of the Policy Development Review Committee being seven, and the Conservative Group membership of the Scrutiny Committee being nine (with one vacancy). There was also a Conservative vacancy on the Licensing Act 2003 Committee. Conservative Group membership of the Policy Development Review Committee is as follows:

Cllr Andy Booth
Cllr Lloyd Bowen
Cllr Derek Conway
Cllr John Coulter
Cllr Peter Marchington
Cllr Gareth Randall
Cllr Ben Stokes

The Leader brought Members' attention to the paragraph on page 80 of the tabled paper which advised that 'Meetings of Local Engagement Forums, Policy Development and Review Committee, Scrutiny Committee, Swale Rural Forum and Swale Joint Transportation Board, will elect a Chairman at the first meeting of the Civic Year.' Appendix IV would need to be amended to reflect this.

The Leader advised that the membership of the Swale Joint Transportation Board included three Kent Association of Local Council representatives, who had full voting rights.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the political balance calculation as set out in Appendix I be agreed.

(2) That the Committees and the terms of reference as set out in Appendix II of the report, be agreed for the 2014/15 municipal year.

(3) That the allocation of seats to those Committees, in accordance with the wishes of Group Leaders, be as set out in the Appendix to these Minutes.

(4) That the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of those Committees be as set out in Appendix IV of the report, subject to the amendment as minuted above.

Appendix 
14  

borough council representation on outside bodies, trusts administered by swale borough council and statutory bodies

The Leader introduced the report, referring to the tabled paper which set out nominations by the Labour and Independent Group Leaders. The Leader updated the Conservative Group nominations where there were differences to last year's nominations.

The Director of Corporate Services explained the voting procedure in respect of those outside bodies which had more nominees than seats, namely Kent Downs AONB. Upon being put to the vote, the Director of Corporate Services announced the outcome of the vote. A complete list is set out in the Appendix to these Minutes.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the Borough Council representation on outside bodies, trusts administered by Swale Borough Council and statutory bodies be as set out in the Appendix to these Minutes.

Appendix 
15  

adoption of timetable of meetings for 2014/15

The Leader referred to the tabled updates to the timetable, namely the change of date of the June Local Development Framework Panel from 19 June to 23 June 2014, and the change of date of the June Faversham Local Engagement Forum meeting from 24 June to 1 July 2014.

The Leader explained that the dates of 9 July for General Licensing Committee and 26 February for Standards Committee were correct; the day needed to be indicated next to these dates on the timetable.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the programme of meetings be agreed as set out in the Appendix to these Minutes.

Appendix 
16  

annual refresh of the corporate plan

The Leader introduced the report which appraised Council of the work undertaken to update the Corporate Plan. The Leader thanked the Policy Overview Committee for their input into the Plan and for their recommendations.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the Corporate Plan for 2014/15 be adopted.
 
17  

community governance review - final recommendations

The Leader introduced the report which set out the second stage consultation results and sought decisions on the next steps of the review.

Members were advised that:

Recommendation 2 (a) needed to be amended to read: 'Bobbing Parish - that subject to the consent of the Local Government Boundary Commission, the parish boundary be changed.'

Recommendation 4 needed to be amended to read: 'That subject to (2) above, the Local Government Boundary Commission be asked to amend the ward boundary so that the parish and ward boundaries for Bobbing are aligned.'

The first sentence of paragraph 3.3 of the report needed to be disregarded, as this referred to the need to ask the Local Government Boundary Commission to alter the ward boundary if the Borden parish boundary was changed.

Discussion ensued during which the following comments were made: too much time and money had been wasted on this project; poor response to consultation; the response rate was better than some election turn-outs; and there was a requirement to undertake community governance reviews.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the results of the second-stage consultation and high turnout be noted.

(2) That having considered the consultation results, the Council agrees the following:
(a) Bobbing Parish – that subject to the consent of the Local Government Boundary Commission, the parish boundary be changed;
(b) Borden Parish – that subject to the consent of the Local Government Boundary Commission, the parish boundary be changed;
(c) Halfway Unparished Area – that no further action be taken and the review is concluded;
(d) Iwade Parish Council – that the number of parish councillors be increased from nine to 11 parish councillors; and
(e) Tunstall Parish – that subject to the consent of the Local Government Boundary Commission, the parish boundary be changed.

(3) That the Head of Legal be instructed to make Orders to give effect to the above changes.

(4) That subject to (2) above, the Local Government Boundary Commission be asked to amend the ward boundary so that the parish and ward boundaries for Bobbing are aligned.
 
18  

recommendations for approval

 
 

cabinet – 16 april 2014

RESOLVED:

(1) That the recommendations in Minute No. 689 be noted as this had been considered earlier in the meeting.
 
19  

exclusion of the press and public

RESOLVED:

(1) That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act:

Paragraph 1: Information relating to an individual.
 
20  

extended leave of absence

Members extended their good wishes to the Member and wished him a speedy recovery.

RESOLVED:

(1) That an exception to the six month rule be given on medical grounds for a six month period from 19 May 2014.
 
All Minutes are draft until agreed at the next meeting of the Committee/Panel

View the Agenda for this meeting

 

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