Meeting Details

Meeting Summary
Trading Board
2 Aug 2017 - 18:00 to 21:00
Occurred
Grand Jury Room
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  • Documents
  • Attendance
  • Visitors
  • Declarations of Interests

Documents

Agenda

Part A
1 Welcome and Announcements

a)     The Chairman to welcome members of the public and Councillors and to remind all speakers of the requirement for microphones to be used at all times.

(b)     At the Chairman's discretion, to announce information on:

  • action in the event of an emergency;
  • mobile phones switched to silent;
  • the audio-recording of meetings;
  • location of toilets;
  • introduction of members of the meeting.
2 Substitutions

Members may arrange for a substitute councillor to attend a meeting on their behalf, subject to prior notice being given. The attendance of substitute councillors must be recorded.

3 Urgent Items

To announce any items not on the agenda which the Chairman has agreed to consider because they are urgent, to give reasons for the urgency and to indicate where in the order of business the item will be considered.

4 Declarations of Interest

The Chairman to invite Councillors to declare individually any interests they may have in the items on the agenda. Councillors should consult Meetings General Procedure Rule 7 for full guidance on the registration and declaration of interests. However Councillors may wish to note the following:- 

  • Where a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest, other pecuniary interest or a non-pecuniary interest in any business of the authority and he/she is present at a meeting of the authority at which the business is considered, the Councillor must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest, whether or not such interest is registered on his/her register of Interests or if he/she has made a pending notification.  
     
  • If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at a meeting, he/she must not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter at the meeting. The Councillor must withdraw from the room where the meeting is being held unless he/she has received a dispensation from the Monitoring Officer.
     
  • Where a Councillor has another pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at a meeting and where the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the Councillor’s judgement of the public interest, the Councillor must disclose the existence and nature of the interest and withdraw from the room where the meeting is being held unless he/she has received a dispensation from the Monitoring Officer.
     
  • Failure to comply with the arrangements regarding disclosable pecuniary interests without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence, with a penalty of up to £5,000 and disqualification from office for up to 5 years.
5 Minutes
To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2017.
166
RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2017 be confirmed as a correct record. 
pdf 21-06-17 - minutes (72Kb)
6 Have Your Say!
a) The Chairman to invite members of the public to indicate if they wish to speak or present a petition at this meeting – either on an item on the agenda or on a general matter relating to the terms of reference of the Committee/Panel not on this agenda. You should indicate your wish to speak at this point if your name has not been noted by Council staff.

(b) The Chairman to invite contributions from members of the public who wish to Have Your Say! on a general matter relating to the terms of reference of the Committee/Panel not on this agenda.
7 Revised Terms of Reference and Nomination of Directors
See report by the Monitoring Officer
167

The Board resolved under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for part of the following item as it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.


The Board considered a report from the Monitoring Officer inviting the Board to consider revised terms of reference for the Trading Board and the nomination of Councillor Directors to the board of Colchester Commercial (Holdings) Ltd. The Board also had before it a supplementary document giving details of a further nomination for a Councillor Director from the Labour Group.


Terms of Reference


Adrian Pritchard presented the report to the Board and explained that a meeting of the Chair and Group Spokespersons had been convened to discuss the terms of reference as requested by the Board at its meeting on 21 June 2017. Revised terms of reference arising from that meeting were included in the Monitoring Officer’s report. These clarified the role of the Trading Board in challenging the work of Colchester Commercial.


The Board explored the different roles on the Board and the Governance and Audit Committee and Scrutiny Panel in monitoring and auditing the work of Colchester Commercial and its subsidiaries. It was confirmed that Colchester Commercial would have its own audit processes and appoint its own auditors. It would also be subject to audit and scrutiny as any other Council budget. One of the Board’s roles would be to provide more regular monitoring than could be provided through these periodic processes.


The Board indicated that it supported the revised terms of reference, subject to an amendment to paragraph k. It was suggested that paragraph k should be amended to remove the words “where relevant”, which seemed to unduly limit the Board, and to clarify the Board’s role in the appointment of the Councillor Directors.


In response to queries from the Board, it was confirmed that once the terms of reference were agreed, a draft work programme could be drawn up for the Trading Board. This would also need to reflect Colchester Commercial’s work programme. The Board requested that the Chair be involved in discussion on the drafting of the Board’s work programme.


Nomination of Councillor Directors 

 
Adrian explained that the Board was invited to consider nominations for Councillor Directors for Colchester Commercial (Holdings) Ltd from the three main political groups. The Group Leaders had been asked to nominate a member of their Group as a potential candidate. Some of the Groups had put forward more than one candidate for the Board to consider.

The skills and attributes that the Board may wish to consider when assessing the nominations were:-
• Financial acumen;
• Business acumen;
• Major project management experience;
• Housing/commercial development experience;
• Human Resources experience;
• Marketing/sales/customer service experience.


Some members of the Board were of the view that there would be some merit in requiring more than one candidate from each group when considering future appointments to ensure that candidates with a broad range of skills were put forward. However, it was important to consider the nominations submitted and not to delay appointments further. 


Following careful consideration of the nominations, the Board considered that the following Councillors should be recommended to Cabinet for appointment as Councillor Directors of Colchester Commercial (Holdings) Ltd:


• Councillor Beverly Davies
• Councillor Adam Fox
• Councillor Martin Goss


RECOMMENDED to CABINET that:-


(a) The revised Terms of Reference for the Trading Board be approved, subject to the amendment of paragraph k to read:


Recommend the constitution and appointment of the Councillor Directors of Colchester Commercial (Holdings) Limited.


(b) The following Councillors be appointed as Councillor Directors of Colchester Commercial (Holdings) Ltd


• Councillor Beverly Davies
• Councillor Adam Fox
• Councillor Martin Goss

 
8 Exclusion of the Public (not Scrutiny or Executive)
In accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public, including the press, from the meeting so that any items containing exempt information (for example confidential personal, financial or legal advice), in Part B of this agenda (printed on yellow paper) can be decided. (Exempt information is defined in Section 100I and Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972).
Part B
9 Minutes (Part B)
To confirm as a correct record the not for publication extract from the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2017. 
  1. 21-06-17 -not for publication extract
    • This report is not for publication by virtue of paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (claim to legal professional privilege).
168
The Board resolved under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the following item as it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

RESOLVED that the not for publication extract of the minutes of the meeting on 21 June 2017 be confirmed as a correct record.
 
10 Commercial Business Development - Operational Businesses
See report by the Commercial Manager
  1. Trading Board - commercial businesses report
    • This report is not for publication by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (financial / business affairs of a particular person, including the authority holding information).
169
The Board resolved under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the following item as it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

This minute is not for publication by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)). 
 
11 Commercial Business Development - Performance and Income report
See report by the Strategic Director, Policy and Place
  1. Commercial Business Development - Performance and Income report
    • This report is not for publication by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (financial / business affairs of a particular person, including the authority holding information).

Additional Meeting Documents

  1. 02-08-17 -not for publication extract
    • This report is not for publication by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (financial / business affairs of a particular person, including the authority holding information).

Attendance

Attended - Other Members
Name
No other member attendance information has been recorded for the meeting.
Apologies
NameReason for Sending ApologySubstituted By
No apology information has been recorded for the meeting.
Absent
NameReason for AbsenceSubstituted By
No absentee information has been recorded for the meeting.

Declarations of Interests

Member NameItem Ref.DetailsNature of DeclarationAction
No declarations of interest have been entered for this meeting.

Visitors

Also in attendance: Councillor Smith

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