Issue - meetings

To deal with any questions on notice from Members of the Council, in the order in which they have been received. Each Member asking a question may ask up to one supplementary question which must be based on the original question or based on the answer to that question.

A period of up to 15 minutes is allocated for the asking and answering of questions.  This may be extended at the discretion of the Chairman with the agreement of the majority of those present.

Question submitted by Councillor A. Bailes

“At the Extraordinary Council meeting on 3rd September 2025, this Council, with the support of the Leader, voted to endorse the North and South Worcestershire Unitary Councils as part of the Local Government Reform process. However, just eight days later, the Leader, in her capacity as a County Councillor, voted against a motion proposing that the County Council support the North and South Worcestershire Unitary Councils.

Could the Leader please clarify this apparent contradiction and categorically confirm her position on supporting the North and South Worcestershire Unitary Councils?”

In responding to the question, the Leader of Bromsgrove District Council read out an extract from the opening statement included in the Motion on Notice considered at the Worcestershire County Council (WCC) meeting, as detailed in Councillor A. Bailes’s question. The extract read as follows:

“Following the outcome of the election in which the Conservatives lost their majority fighting on a platform of one unitary authority, for the whole of Worcestershire the County Council….’

The Leader clarified that the above statement was not correct and that she had not undertaken her WCC election campaign in agreement with a One Worcestershire model of local government. The context of the vote on the Motion on Notice at WCC required those supporting it to have campaigned on a one Unitary Authority proposal and, it was confirmed, she did not. 

Councillor A. Bailes asked a supplementary question in respect of this matter.

In doing so, he stated that at the [Extraordinary Council] meeting held on 3^rd September 2025, the Leader had voted for a two unitary Authority approach to local government as a result of listening to the residents, but he suggested that the situation now appeared to have changed.  He then asked the following supplementary question: “Could the Leader confirm when the shift occurred and why?”

The Leader confirmed that no shift had occurred and that at each different meeting a decision was required following consideration of the information provided. She expressed the view that it was important to make decisions based on the evidence provided and this was the approach that she had taken. The Leader confirmed that she was very willing to explore the option of a North and South Authority approach to local government and she was committed to the best outcome for the residents within the District whatever model of unitary governance was eventually adopted.

Question submitted by Councillor S. Colella

“Can the Portfolio Holder and Cabinet Member for Leisure and Climate Change please confirm whether the Bromsgrove Town Centre Christmas lights turn on is cancelled or not cancelled please.

Residents have the right to know what’s really happening because no sooner had the press release gone out from yourself and the Deputy Leader of the Council stating that it was cancelled, there was a further press release from the Leader of the Council that she was looking into the cancellation and was doing everything she could to get it re-instated.”  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55