Issue - meetings
Motion
Meeting: 22/11/2017 - Council (Item 70)
70 Motions on Notice (To follow if any) 
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A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice. This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.
To consider the following motion submitted by Councillor :-
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Local Transport Plan 4
Members considered the following notice of motion submitted by Councillor P. M. McDonald:
"It was with utter shock and dismay that I had to witness Cllr’s May and Taylor at County Hall voting for the Local Transport Plan 4.
Bromsgrove District Council had voted unanimously against the plan with good reason and both Cllr Taylor and May spoke and voted against it. Both hold positions of importance as cabinet members and they have now made their positions untenable with their blatant disregard for decisions made in the chamber, therefore, we call upon them to resign forthwith.”
The motion was proposed by Councillor P. M. McDonald and seconded by Councillor L. C. R. Mallett.
In presenting the Motion Councillor McDonald made reference to the fact that when decisions were made residents expected them to be honoured. He referred specifically to the cross party agreement reached in respect of the Local Transport Plan No 4 (LTP 4) and failure to address issues which had been raised on a number of occasions at Council meetings. It was stated that two Members of the Cabinet, who were County Councillors, one of whom was also on the Cabinet at WCC had at a recent Council meeting when this had been considered, voted against the wishes of this Council. In the circumstances Councillor McDonald did not feel that it was unreasonable to ask those Members to resign.
Prior to the debate, Councillor S. R. Colella put forward an amendment to the motion, which was accepted by Councillor McDonald. The amendment stated “that the Leader and Council change the constitution to exclude twin hatters from Cabinet.”
Members questioned whether those Councillors that had been referred to should take part in any debate. A number of Members believed those Cabinet Members should leave the meeting whilst others felt that they should be given the opportunity to defend their position.
Councillor S. J. Baxter suggested that there was a need to “de-personalise” the debate and made reference to the Notice of Motion which had been brought before the Council earlier in the year in respect of LTP4 in response to which the Council had agreed to write to WCC. This written response had not been shared with Members and she was of the view that Members should put their communities first and that, under the circumstances, she did not believe that anyone could have supported LTP4. She was therefore in support of the amendment to the notice of motion which had been put forward.
Following an exchange between several Members, the Chairman reminded the Chamber that it was for Members to decide as to whether they had a pecuniary or other interest in items and whether they chose to declare this and leave the room, she also reminded the Chamber of the Member-to-Member protocol.
Councillor C. J. Bloore provided Members with background information in respect of the work that had been carried out by the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board at WCC and the ... view the full minutes text for item 70