Agenda item

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.

The Chairman advised Members that one Motion on Notice had been submitted for consideration at this meeting. Group Leaders had considered the Motion prior to the meeting and had agreed that this would not be debated at the meeting and a letter be sent on behalf of all Group Leaders.

Members expressed that they were not in agreement with the decision made by Group Leaders and wished to debate the Motion at this meeting.

Therefore, Council considered the following Motion on Notice that was submitted by Councillor J. Elledge:

“This Council invested a great amount of time and effort into ensuring our decision on the local government reorganisation was fully researched, considered, discussed and took note of our residents wishes. With 5 of the 6 Worcestershire District or Borough Councils backing the 2 unitary authorities, along with the majority of the residents who responded to the consultation, I am disgusted that our MP has chosen to support a single unitary authority.

I call upon the Cabinet Member for Local Government Reorganisation and Climate Change to urgently write to our MP, on behalf of the Council, vigorously opposing his position, laid out in Westminster last week supporting a single unitary authority, in direct conflict with the wishes of his constituents, and urging him to reconsider.”

Members discussed the Motion in detail including the following:

·       Members were unhappy that a letter would be sent in respect of this matter and that it would be more appropriate for a face-to-face discussion to take place.

·       The use of some of the language within the Motion was not considered appropriate for submission to a Council meeting. There needed to be consistency in the approach to language used at Council both written and spoken.

·       As an elected Member of Parliament (MP), the MP for Bromsgrove did have the right to speak on matters even if it was not in agreement with the proposal from the Council. Members raised that not all Councillors were in support of the two unitary proposal and this was also applicable if the local MP did not agree with the two unitary approach proposal. Members felt that the discussions should be measured and professional, even if they did not agree with the sentiment expressed by the MP. If Members were keen to contact the local MP, they could do that as an individual Member rather than submitting a Motion in this forum.

·       If Members were not in agreement with the Group Leaders, who were elected by each Group, what was the process in order to address their dissatisfaction with such decisions.

·       The structure of Motions on Notice and the wording of the context provided in the preamble. It was explained that the preamble was provided as previously when this had not been provided Members were unsure as to what the context was for the Motion. The wording for what the Motion was asking Council to do was usually provided at the end of the printed Motion. It was clarified by Officers that the action as detailed in the Motion, and what Members would be required to vote on was

“…call upon the Cabinet Member for Local Government Reorganisation and Climate Change to urgently write to our MP, on behalf of the Council, vigorously opposing his position, laid out in Westminster last week supporting a single unitary authority, in direct conflict with the wishes of his constituents, and urging him to reconsider”.

The Motion on Notice was proposed by Councillor J. Elledge and seconded by Councillor P. McDonald.

The Motion on Notice was subject to a recorded vote:

Members voting FOR the Motion on Notice:

Councillors A. Bailes, R. Bailes, S. Baxter, J. Clarke, S. Colella, J. Elledge, E. Gray, C. Hotham, R. Hunter, B. Kumar, R. Lambert, M. Marshall, P. McDonald, S. Peters, S. Robinson, K. Taylor, H. Warren-Clarke, S. Webb, P. Whittaker and S. Evans (20).

Members voting AGAINST the Motion on Notice:

Councillors D. Forsythe, B. McEldowney and J. Stanley (3).

Members voting to ABSTAIN on the Motion on Notice

Councillor S. Ammar, A. Dale. K. May, S.T. Nock (4).

Therefore, on being put to the vote, the Motion on Notice was carried.

RESOLVED that

The Council call upon the Cabinet Member for Local Government Reorganisation and Climate Change to urgently write to our MP, on behalf of the Council, vigorously opposing his position, laid out in Westminster last week supporting a single unitary authority, in direct conflict with the wishes of his constituents, and urging him to reconsider.

[Councillors H. Jones and J. Robinson left the meeting prior to the vote on this item].