Agenda and minutes

At the request of the Chairman, the Reverend Beverley Robertson opened the meeting with a prayer.

(Following election, the Chairman will make a Declaration of Acceptance of Office)

It was proposed by Councillor R. Hollingworth and seconded by Councillor Mrs. M. A. Sherrey JP and

RESOLVED that Councillor Mrs. J. M. L. A. Griffiths be elected Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

Councillor Mrs. J. M. L. A. Griffiths signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office and thanked Members of the Council for re-electing her to the office of Chairman.

(Following election, the Vice-Chairman will make a Declaration of Acceptance of Office and will be invested with the Badge and Chain of Office)

It was proposed by Councillor C. B. Taylor and seconded by Councillor C. J. Tidmarsh and

RESOLVED that Councillor Mrs. C. J. Spencer be elected as Vic-Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

Councillor Mrs. C. J. Spencer signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office and was invested by Councillor Mrs. J. M. L. A. Griffiths with the Vice-Chairman’s Badge of Office.

It was proposed by Councillor Mrs. R. L. Dent and seconded by Mrs M. A. Sherrey JP and

RESOLVED that Councillor R. Hollingworth be elected Leader of the Council for a period of four years.

Having been re-elected as Leader, Councillor R. Hollingworth thanked Members of the Council for their support.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Dr. D. W. P Booth JP, Mrs. E. M. Shannon, S. P. Shannon, P. J. Whittaker and C. J. K. Wilson.

No declarations of interest were received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 20th April 2011 were submitted.

Councillor P. M. McDonald commented that he was of the view that a decision had been taken at that meeting not to pay a Special Responsibility Allowance to the Deputy Leader but that this had not been recorded in the minutes. The Chief Executive advised that this query would be looked into.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 20th April 2011 be approved as a correct record, subject to clarification of the issue referred to above.

The Chairman announced that the previous Chairman’s Charity, Help for Heroes would roll forward from the time being.

To consider the report of the Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services

The Chairman clarified that the name of the smallest opposition group (referred to in Appendix 1 of the report) was Wythall Residents’ Association.

Having been proposed by Councillor R. Hollingworth and seconded by Councillor Mrs. M. A. Sherrey JP, it was

RESOLVED:

(a)               that for the ensuing Municipal Year, the Committees set out in the table in Appendix 1 of the report be appointed and that the representation of the different political groups on the Council on those Committees be as set out in that table (as corrected above) until the next Annual Meeting of the Council, or until the next review of political representation under Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, whichever is the earlier;

(b)               that Members be appointed to the Committees in accordance with nominations to be made by Group Leaders.

To consider the report of the Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services

The recommended Officer Scheme of Delegation was proposed by Councillor R. Hollingworth and seconded by Councillor Mrs. M. A. Sherrey JP.

Councillor P. M. McDonald raised the following issues with regard to the proposed delegations:

• Page16 Tree Preservation Officers – How would these be advertised?

The Monitoring Officer subsequently advised that there was no requirement to advertise but that the person affected would be notified.

• Page 22 Calling-in Procedure for Planning Committee – He drew attention to typing errors in the paragraph numbers and proposed an amendment that only a Ward Member should be able to call in an application in their Ward.

• Page 26 Community Safety – There was no mention that Ward Members would be consulted and this should be amended.

• Page 32 Outside Bodies – The Monitoring Officer should act in consultation with the Leader of the Council.

• Page 35 Concessionary Travel Scheme – This delegation should be deleted as this was now a County matter.

• Page 40 Housing Waiting Lists etc – These delegations seemed to be operational not strategic and should be withdrawn.

§         Page 73 Write Off of Irrecoverable Debts – He did not support the delegations and felt that all write-offs should be looked at by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

The amendments proposed by Councillor P. M. McDonald were seconded by Councillor C. J. Bloore.

In response, Councillor R. Hollingworth indicated that he agreed with the above comments up to page 40 but was unsure with regard to the Housing related delegations. The Chief Executive advised that the Council set the housing strategy which Bromsgrove District Housing Trust implemented and therefore the delegations were still relevant. With regard to Write-Off of Debts, Councillor Hollingworth undertook for a report to be submitted to the next meeting of the Council.

The outstanding amendment proposed by Councillor P. M. McDonald and seconded by Councillor C. J. Bloore that only a Ward Member should be able to call in an application in their Ward was put to the vote and declared by the Chairman to be CARRIED.

The report recommendation, as amended above, was then put to the vote, whereupon it was

RESOLVED  that the Scheme of Delegation attached as Appendix 1 to the report be approved subject to the following:

(a)                the Calling-in Procedure for Planning Committee be amended to specify that only a Ward Member shall be able to call in an application in their Ward;

(b)                any necessary amendments to reflect the comments and undertakings given by the Leader as referred to in the preamble above.

The Leader announced that the membership of the Cabinet and portfolios for the ensuing Municipal Year would be as follows:

Councillor R. Hollingworth                      Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Finance, Partnerships and Economic Development

Councillor Mrs. M. A. Sherrey JP          Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Community Services, Older People, the Young and Vulnerable People

Councillor M. J. A. Webb                       Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Cultural Services and Environmental Services

Councillor Dr. D. W. P. Booth JP          Portfolio Holder for Business Transformation (including ICT) with special responsibility for the Town Centre Regeneration and Special Projects

Councillor C. B. Taylor                            Portfolio Holder for Planning, Core Strategy, Regulatory Services, Strategic Housing and Emergency Planning (Emergency Planning since re-assigned to Councillor M. J. A. Webb)

Councillor M. A. Bullivant                        Portfolio Holder for Policy, Performance, Communications, Customer Services, Legal, Equalities, Democratic Services and Human Resources

(a)                           To approve appointments to those Outside Bodies listed on the attached schedule

(b)                           To approve the extension of existing appointments to other Outside Bodies pending consideration of a report at the next meeting of the full Council to be held by 30th June 2011

The Monitoring Officer advised Members that ex officio appointments to Outside Bodies would roll forward to the 2011/12 Municipal Year as a matter of course.

RESOLVED:

(a)               that representatives be appointed or nominated to the Outside Bodies as listed in Appendix 1 to these minutes;

(b)               that approval be given to the extension of existing appointments to other Outside Bodies pending consideration of a report at the next meeting of the Council to be held by 30th June 2011.