Agenda and minutes

The Mayor welcomed all those present to the meeting.

(In accordance with paragraph 4.2 of the Access to Information Rules, at Part 7 in the Council’s constitution, this extraordinary meeting of Council was convened in exceptional circumstances by the Chief Executive, following consultation with the Mayor, with less than five clear working days’ notice having been given.  The exceptional circumstances were the inclement weather arising from Storm Goretti which resulted in the need to postpone the Extraordinary Council meeting that had been scheduled to take place on 8^th January 2026 and the fact that the Council needed to provide a response to the Government in respect of Minute Item No. 60 – Local Government Reorganisation: Postponement of the May 2026 Borough Elections – by the Government’s deadline of 15^th January 2026.)

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Joe Baker, Juma Begum, Andrew Fry, Bill Hartnett, Chris Holz, Sid Khan, Alan Mason, David Munro, Sachin Mathur, Gary Slim, Jane Spilsbury and Paul Wren.

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.

A non-registerable interest was declared by Councillor Claire Davies in respect of Minute Item No. 60 – Local Government Reorganisation: Postponement of May 2026 Borough Elections - due to the fact that her current term of office was due to end in May 2026.  She expressed disappointment that she would be unable to take part in the proceedings.  However, she left the room once the declaration had been made and took no part in debating the remaining items on the agenda nor vote thereon.

During consideration of this item, clarification was requested as to why Members whose term of office was due to end in May 2026 had been advised, in advance of the meeting, that they had a non-registerable interest in respect of Minute Item No. 60, which had resulted in those Members not attending the meeting.  Officers explained that external legal advice had been obtained in respect of this matter and had been shared with the Councillors who had a term of office that was due to end in May 2026.  On the basis of this advice, those Councillors had chosen not to attend the meeting.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 17^th November 2025 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Mayor.

The Leader presented a report on the subject of Local Government Reorganisation: Postponement of May 2026 Borough Elections.

Members were informed that the Leader had received a letter from the Minister for Local Government and Homelessness in late December 2025 in respect of the local elections due to take place in May 2026.  The letter requested feedback from Council as to whether it was felt that the scheduled local elections in Redditch should go ahead in May 2026, in the context of Local Government Reorganisation and the potential for elections to divert resources from work on this process.  The Government had set a deadline of Thursday 15^th January 2026 for Councils to respond to the letter detailing their position in relation to local elections.

Council was reminded that Local Government Reorganisation continued to progress, including in Worcestershire.  In line with the timetable for Local Government Reorganisation, there were due to be shadow elections in May 2027 and local elections in 2028 to the new unitary authority(ies) for Worcestershire.

In considering the matter, Members were asked to note that Redditch Borough Council was the only local authority in Worcestershire that was scheduled to hold local elections in May 2026.  There were nine Councillors at the Council who had a term of office that was due to end in May 2026.  Due to the boundary review that had occurred in Redditch in recent years, there had been all out elections in May 2024 and as such those nine Councillors had so far only served two years, rather than the standard four-year term of office.

The financial implications involved in holding the local elections in May 2026 had been considered when the report was prepared for the consideration of Council.  Officers were advising that the local elections in May 2026, should they go ahead, would cost £192,000.  Members were advised that if the local elections were postponed, these financial costs could be allocated to supporting separate work on Local Government Reorganisation.  Council was also asked to consider whether a financial cost of £192,000 would be a justifiable use of public money at a time when the Council was shortly no longer due to exist and any Councillors elected in May 2026 would have a limited period of time allocated to serve at the authority.

Reference was made to ongoing work on Local Government Reorganisation and Members were reminded that a survey of the local population had resulted in the public revealing a preference for two unitary authorities for the north and south of Worcestershire, although there was also an alternative proposal for one unitary Council in the county.  The suggestion was made that the Council should be dedicating time and resources to facilitating arrangements that would enable a smooth transition to the new unitary authority(ies) in the future.  Alongside this work, key Council services needed to continue to be delivered as effectively and efficiently as possible.

There were a number of important milestones that Members were asked to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 60.

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 urgent business for consideration on this occasion.