Agenda and minutes

The Mayor, Councillor Gareth Prosser, welcomed all those present to the meeting which was the first Council meeting to be held in person for over 12 months and was being held at the Abbey Stadium as an alternative venue. Members were reminded that the meeting was open to the public to attend.  However, as space was limited due to restrictions on social distancing, the meeting was being live streamed for the public on the Council’s website.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Salman Akbar.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

Councillor Gareth Prosser was elected Mayor of the Borough for a second term of office for the municipal year 21/22. He signed the statutory declaration of office and thanked Members for re-electing him.

RESOLVED that

Councillor Gareth Prosser be elected Mayor of the Borough of Redditch to serve until the next Annual General Meeting of the Council.

Councillor Ann Isherwood was elected Deputy Mayor of the Borough of Redditch for the forthcoming year.  She signed the statutory declaration of acceptance of office and received the Deputy Mayor’s Badge of Office.

RESOLVED that

Councillor Ann Isherwood be appointed Deputy Mayor of the Borough of Redditch to serve until the next Annual Meeting of the Council.

RESOLVED that

The Minutes of the meeting of Council held on Monday 12^th April 2021 be approved as a  true  and correct record and signed by the Mayor.

To consider Announcements under Procedure Rule 10:

a)           Mayor’s Announcements

b)           The Leader’s Announcements

c)           Chief Executive’s Announcements.

a)    Mayor’s Announcements

The Mayor explained that he would not be making any announcements to the meeting but would instead arrange for his announcements to be circulated separately in writing.

b)    The Leader’s Announcements

The Leader welcomed all the Members to the meeting, and in particular welcomed the newly elected Members who were attending their first Council meeting.

The Leader also paid tribute to the contribution to the Council made by Joe Baker, Bill Hartnett and Greg Chance who had not been re-elected, and thanked them for their service to the Borough as Councillors.

c)     The Chief Executive Announcements

The Chief Executive confirmed that he had not announcements to make on this occasion.

The report was noted.

The Leader announced that he had appointed nine members of the Executive and the remit of each portfolio holder was outlined in the papers that had been provided in the Supplementary Papers Pack. The Leader welcomed two new members to the Executive. Councillor Gemma Monaco was joining as Deputy Leader (without Portfolio) and Councillor Peter Fleming (also without Portfolio).

RESOLVED that

The appointment by the Leader of the Deputy Leader and of Members of the Executive Committee and to the individual portfolios be noted.

Appendix 1 to the report has been attached to provide notice of the number of spaces per Committee available to each political group.  However, the nominations from each group to the Committees will be circulated separately in a supplementary pack for the meeting.

The Council considered the report setting out the proposed political balance of the Council’s Committees and lists of nominations to Committees, Sub-Committee and other bodies, which were circulated in a supplementary pack prior to the meeting.

RESOLVED that

1)              the Political balance of the Committees of the Council be agreed as set out in paragraph 4.5;

2)       appointments by political group leaders to the places on each Committee etc. be noted;

3)       the Council appoints Chairs and Vice-Chairs to the Committees and other bodies as set out in Appendix 1;

4)       appointments to Working Groups and other bodies listed in the appendix be agreed;

5)       the terms of reference for the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee be amended, as detailed at Appendix 2; and

9)       the terms of reference for the Committees as set out at Appendix 3 be confirmed.

Report attached, appendix to be circulated at the meeting.

Members considered a report setting out proposed appointments to various outside bodies.

RESOLVED that

The Council makes appointments to the bodies listed in the appendix to the report.

Members considered a report setting out the current version of the Scheme of Officer Delegations which included any updating or alterations added during the preceding year.

RESOLVED that

The current version of the Officer Scheme of Delegations is agreed as set out at Appendix 1 to the report.

An urgent decision has been taken on the following subject since the last Council meeting:

·                Delegations to the Head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services in respect of Taxi Licensing

Any further urgent decisions taken after the publication of the main agenda for this meeting will be published in a supplementary pack.

Members noted the details of the two urgent decisions that had been taken since the previous meeting of the Council regarding “Licensing Delegations – Taxis” at  set out at pages 151 to 152 of the main agenda, and “Public participation at formal meetings where there are public speaking rights” as set out at pages 19 to 40 of the additional papers pack.

To consider any additional items exceptionally agreed by the Mayor as Urgent Business in accordance with the powers vested in him by virtue of Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

(This power should be exercised only in cases where there are genuinely special circumstances which require consideration of an item which has not previously been published on the Order of Business for the meeting.)

There was no general urgent business for consideration on this occasion.