Meeting Details

Apologies were received from Councillors Barton, Bloomfield, Chuah, Ellis, Harris, Luxford Vaughan, Mannion, Moore and Willetts.

Councillor King attended remotely but did not vote on the motion.

Sir Bob Russell addressed the Council pursuant to the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 6(1).  Whilst he would not support the motion, he welcomed the idea behind it as it fitted with his belief that all 51 Councillors had an equal mandate and should have an equal say in the running of the Council. The Leader and Cabinet model of Council governance created an elected dictatorship.  The motion had been moved by the largest party on the Council who had received more votes than any other party.  For that group to be excluded from major decision making was an affront to the concept of democratic involvement.  The proposal to provide funding to tackle flooding on the Hythe was welcomed. It was his view that the root cause of the flooding was the build-up of silt over twenty five years. The Hythe Task Force should make it a priority to remove that silt.

The Mayor thanked Sir Bob for his comments, which might be addressed in the debate.

It was PROPOSED by Councillor Laws that:-

Colchester Conservatives recognise that a majority of voters across the Borough of Colchester voted for parties who proposed to freeze the borough’s proportion of council tax. Therefore, in the spirit of collaboration, we wish to provide the incoming administration with the opportunity to deliver on their key election promises. To do so, this Council resolves:

1. To amend the 2022/2023 budget so that there is no increase in council tax and it is instead frozen for this financial year. The Council now has the capability to offer council tax refunds and this is to be facilitated immediately.

2. To amend the 2022/2023 budget to provide a contribution for the hiring of a full time ecology officer.

3. To amend the 2022/2023 budget to fund the purchase of a pump for the flooding issues on the Hythe.

4. To amend the 2022/203 so that the above items are funded using unallocated reserves.

On being put to the vote the Motion was lost (ONE voted FOR, TWENTY FOUR voted AGAINST and 15 ABSTAINED from VOTING).

A named vote having been requested pursuant to the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 15(2) a name vote was taken and the voting was as follows: -

FOR: Councillor B. Oxford 

AGAINST: Councillors Arnold, Burrows, Coleman, Cory, Cox, Fox, Goacher, Goss, Hagon, Hogg, Kirkby-Taylor, Law, Lilley, McCarthy, McLean, Nissen, G. Oxford, Pearson, Rippingale, Scordis, Scott-Boutell, Smith, Spindler and Warnes.

ABSTAINED from VOTING: Councillors Barber, Bentley, Buston, Chapman, Davidson, Laws, Lissimore, Maclean, Smithson, Sunnucks, Tate, Wood, J. Young, the Deputy Mayor (Jowers) and the Mayor (T. Young).