Meeting Details

Meeting Summary
Council
22 May 2019 - 10:30 to 13:00
Occurred
Moot Hall
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  • Documents
  • Attendance
  • Visitors
  • Declarations of Interests

Documents

Agenda

Part A
1 Election of the Mayor

Motion A

Motion to elect Councillor Nick Cope as Mayor of the Borough of Colchester for the ensuing municipal year.

The Mayor to make the declaration and take the customary oath.

The Mayor to return thanks.

318

It was PROPOSED by Councillor Goss, seconded by Councillor Jowers and supported by Councillor J. Young and Councillor G. Oxford and:-

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that Councillor Nick Cope be elected as Mayor of Colchester for the ensuing municipal year.

Councillor Cope took the customary oath and signed the declaration of acceptance of office.

Councillor Cope then took the Chair and returned thanks for his election.

2 Minutes

Motion B

Motion that the minutes of the meeting held on 20 February 2019 be confirmed as a correct record.

319
RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 20 February 2019 be confirmed as a correct record.
pdf 20-02-19 minutes (225Kb)
3 Election of the Deputy Mayor

Motion C

Motion that Councillor Beverley Oxford be elected as Deputy Mayor of the Borough of Colchester for the ensuing municipal year.

The Deputy Mayor to make the declaration and return thanks.

320

It was PROPOSED by Councillor G. Oxford and seconded and supported by Councillors Goss, Davidson and Bourne and:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that Councillor Beverley Oxford be elected Deputy Mayor of Colchester for the ensuing municipal year.

Councillor Beverley Oxford then signed the declaration of acceptance of office and returned thanks for her election.

4 Vote of Thanks to Retiring Mayor

Motion D

Motion of thanks to the Retiring Mayor, Councillor Peter Chillingworth.

The Retiring Mayor to make an acknowledgement.

321

It was PROPOSED by Councillor Chapman and seconded and supported by Councillors Goss, Bourne and G. Oxford and:-

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that the best thanks of the Council are due and are hereby accorded to Councillor Peter Chillingworth for the admirable manner in which he has discharged the responsible duties of the Mayoralty during the past year and that a transcript of this resolution under the Common Seal be furnished to him.  

5 Mayor's Chaplain and Other Announcements
The Mayor to announce the appointment of the Mayor's Chaplain and make other announcements. 
322

The Mayor announced that he had appointed the Reverend Canon Paul Norrington to be his Chaplain for the ensuing municipal year.

The Mayor announced that he would be supporting the following charities:-

  • Age Concern;
  • Army Benevolent Fund;
  • Colchester Chinese Society;
  • Colchester Citizen's Advice Bureau;
  • Colchester Food Bank;
  • The Mercury Theatre;
  • MIND
  • Youth Enquiry Service.

The theme of his mayoralty would be Young and Old, building a healthy environment.

6 Adjournment

Motion E

Motion to adjourn

National Anthem (members of the public are asked to remain standing after the National Anthem whilst the Council Procession leaves the Moot Hall).

323
RESOLVED that the meeting be adjourned until 11.45m and be resumed in the Council Chamber.
7 Have Your Say! (Council)
The Mayor will invite members of the public to indicate if they wish to speak or present a petition on any item included on the agenda or any other matter relating to the business of the Council.  Please indicate if you wish to speak at this point if your name has not been noted by Council staff.

324

Nigel Hildreth, Chair of Colchester Twinning Society, addressed Council pursuant to the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 6(5).  He explained that twinning had undergone a renaissance over the last few years with visits to and form Imola, Wetzlar and Avignon.  He expressed concern that the new road signs did not contain any reference to the twinned towns and called for this to be rectified. On 7 September a banquet would be held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of twinning with Wetzlar, which he hoped many Councillors would attend.

Councillor J. Young, Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Culture and Performance, undertook to look into the issues of the road signs and thanked the Twinning Society for the work it undertook for the benefit of Colchester.

Sir Bob Russell addressed the Council pursuant to the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 6(5) to express his concern that an item for the exclusion of members of the public had been included in the Summons for the Annual Meeting.  He also expressed his concern about the Cabinet model of local authority governance.    All Councillors had an equal mandate from the electorate, but the Cabinet system excluded most Councillors from decision making.  The Council should consider moving to a Committee system in which all 51 Councillors could be involved in decision making.

Councillor Cory, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Strategy,  confirmed that there were no items on the agenda that would be considered without the public present.  He understood the arguments that were made about the Committee and Cabinet systems.  It was important to keep an open mind on governance issues and this could potentially be an issue that the Policy and Public Initiatives Panel could look at.  However the administration was committed to inclusive and open governance. 

8 Declarations of Interest
Councillors will be asked to say if there are any items on the agenda about which they have a disclosable pecuniary interest which would prevent them from participating in any discussion of the item or participating in any vote upon the item, or any other pecuniary interest or non-pecuniary interest.
9 Appointment of the Leader of the Council

Motion F

Motion to appoint the Leader of the Council for the remainder of their term of office.

325
RESOLVED that Councillor Cory be appointed Leader of the Council for the remainder of his period of office.
10 Delegations Made by the Leader of the Council
To note the appointment of the Leader of the Council, the appointment of Cabinet Members and the allocation of responsibility for portfolios as determined by the Leader of the Council.
326
RESOLVED that the appointment of the Deputy Leader of the Council, the appointment of Cabinet members and the allocation of responsibility for Portfolios, as determined by the Leader of the Council and as set out in the Supplementary Information for the meeting, be noted.
11 Appointment of Panels. Committees and Sub-Committees

Motion G

Motion that:-

(i) in accordance with the provisions of section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 the number of seats, Group representation and membership of the Governance and Audit Committee, Licensing Committee, Local Plan Committee, Planning Committee, Policy and Public Initiatives Panel and Scrutiny Panel (including the Crime and Disorder Committee) for the ensuing municipal year be as circulated at this meeting.

(ii) in accordance with the provisions of section 17 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 the appointments to Task and Finish Groups shall not be on a group basis and be as circulated at this meeting.

(iii) that the membership of the Independent Remuneration Panel be as circulated at this meeting. 

 

327
RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that:-

(i) in accordance with the provisions of Section 17 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 the appointments to the Governance and Audit Committee for the ensuing municipal year shall not be on a Group basis and membership shall be as set out in the Supplementary Information for the meeting.

(ii) in accordance with the provisions of section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 the number of seats, Group representation and membership of the Licensing Committee, Local Plan Committee, Planning Committee, Policy and Public Initiatives Panel and Scrutiny Panel (including the Crime and Disorder Committee) for the ensuing municipal year be as set out in the Supplementary Information for the meeting.
 
(ii) in accordance with the provisions of section 17 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 the appointments to the Task and Finish Groups shall not be on a group basis and be as set out in the Supplementary Information for the meeting.

(iv) that the membership of the Independent Remuneration Panel be as set out in the Supplementary Information for the meeting 

(v) that the terms of reference for the Governance and Audit Committee be amended by deleting

“(27)  Recommend the constitution and appointment of the Board of Directors of Colchester Commercial (Holdings) Limited to Cabinet.”

and that the constitution and appointment of the Board of Directors of Colchester Commercial (Holdings) Limited be agreed by Cabinet as part of the nominations to outside bodies.
 
12 Former Councillors

Motion H

Motion of Thanks

Motion of Thanks to former Councillors Flores and Laws.

328
RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that the Council hereby records its grateful thanks to former Councillors Flores and Laws for the public service rendered by them to this Borough during their period of office as a Councillor and instructs that a transcript of this resolution be furnished to them under the Common Seal of the Borough as a permanent record of the appreciation of the Council.
13 Appointment of Interim Section 151 Officer

Motion I

Motion that the decision set out in the report by the Chief Operating Officer be approved and adopted. 

329
RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that Paul Cook be designated as the Council's Interim Section 151 Officer with effect from 22 May 2019. 
14 Adoption of the Wivenhoe Neighbourhood Plan

Motion J

Motion that the Wivenhoe Neighbourhood Plan 2019-2033 be made following its approval at referendum.

330
RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that the Wivenhoe Neighbourhood Plan be made following its approval at referendum.
15 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).
Prayers
316

The Reverend John Richardson opened the meeting with prayers.

The Retiring Mayor, Councillor Peter Chillingworth, chaired the meeting for the items at minutes 316-318.

Apologies
317
Apologies were received from Councillor F. Maclean and Honorary Aldermen Bober, Gamble, Gower, Green, Kimberley, Lewis and Sykes. 
Part B

Additional Meeting Documents

Declarations of Interests

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

Visitors

Visitor Information is not yet available for this meeting
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