MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE COUNCIL HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON WEDNESDAY, 24 MAY 2006 COMMENCING AT 6.00 PM

 

Present :

 

Cllrs John Effemey (Chairman), Barry Abraham, Henry Adams, Wendy Arnold, Anne Bishop, John Bowker, George Brown, Ivan Bulwer, William Burt, George Cameron, Charles Chapman Vanessa Churchman, Dawn Cousins, Mike Cunningham, Jonathan Fitzgerald-Bond, Barbara Foster, Deborah Gardiner, Charles Hancock, John Hobart, Heather Humby Tim Hunter-Henderson, Patrick Joyce, Gill Kennett, David Knowles, Geoff Lumley, Roger Mazillius, Win McRobert, Muriel Miller, Brian Mosdell, Erica Oulton, Lora Peacey-Wilcox, Lady Pigot, Garry Price, David Pugh, Susan Scoccia, Ian Stephens, Andy Sutton, Melanie Swan, Arthur Taylor, Diana Tuson, Ian Ward, Margaret Webster, Alan Wells, Colin West, David Whittaker, Julian Whittaker, David Williams, Jilly Wood

 

Apologies :

 

 

 

 


88.             INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME

 

The Chairman, Cllr John Effemey, took the Chair and welcomed all invited guests, Elected Members and members of the public to the Annual meeting of the Council.  Canon Stephen Palmer was invited to lead the Chamber in prayers.

 

89.             SUSPENSION OF PROCEDURE RULE NO 18 (4)

 

A motion to formally suspend Procedure Rule 18 (4), with regard to voting procedures for appointments, was proposed and seconded.  This would enable all voting to be taken by a show of hands.   Following a vote by a show of hands it was:

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT Procedure Rule 18 (4) be suspended for the duration of the meeting to enable voting by a show of hands to be undertaken for all appointments.

 

90.             ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN

 

Cllr Charles Chapman was duly proposed and seconded as Chairman of the Council.  There being no other nominations it was :

 

RESOLVED :

 

            THAT Cllr Charles Chapman be elected Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

 

The Council then adjourned for a short while to allow the Chain of Office to be passed to the new Chairman.

Following the re-commencement of the meeting Cllr Chapman took the Chair and formally declared his acceptance of the office of Chairman and thanked members for his election.  It was announced that Canon Stephen Palmer would be appointed Council’s Chaplain, with Canon James Buckett being appointed Honorary Chaplain, and that the Earl Mountbatten Hospice would be his charity for the forthcoming year.

 

Tributes were then made to the out-going Chairman, Cllr John Effemey, who responded accordingly and a cheque for £10,000 was presented to Mr Derek Cheek for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

 

91.             ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRMAN

 

Cllr Roger Mazillius was proposed and seconded as Vice Chairman of the Council.  There being no other nominations it was :

 

RESOLVED :

 

THAT Cllr Roger Mazillius be elected Vice Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

 

92.             MINUTES

 

RESOLVED :

 

THAT the Minutes of the meeting held on 19 April 2006 be confirmed.

 

93.             DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

 

There were no declarations at this stage.

 

94.             TO RECEIVE ANY OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS, COMMUNICATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE COUNCIL

 

The Chairman drew Members’ attention to the Civic Service which would take place at St Thomas’s Church in Newport on 28 May; a visit from 36 members from Pledran in France on 5 June; the Aberdeen Dragons European Championship yacht race between 2 and 9 June, and the Cowes Week Reception at Cowes Yacht Haven on 3 August 2006.

 

95.             ELECTION OF THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL, WHO WOULD ALSO BE CHAIRMAN OF THE CABINET

 

Cllr Andy Sutton was proposed and seconded as Leader of the Council.  There being no other nominations it was :

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT Cllr Andy Sutton be elected Leader of the Council and Chairman of the Cabinet for the ensuing year.

 

Following his election, Cllr Sutton thanked the Council and reaffirmed the Cabinet appointments.  Members’ were advised of some changes in portfolio responsibilities as follows:

 

·                Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Learning

·                Cabinet Member for Safer Communities and Fire and Rescue Modernisation

·                Cabinet Member for Environment, Planning and Transport

·                Cabinet Member for Resources and Town and Parish Empowerment

·                Cabinet Member for The Economy, The Customer, Communications, Leisure and Tourism

·                Cabinet Member for Health, Housing and Community Wellbeing

 

The Cabinet Secretaries were re-appointed and a new role of Private Cabinet Secretary would be introduced to include the Police Authority representative.  In addition, four Council Champions would be appointed in new roles with specific areas of responsibility.

 

96.             APPOINTMENTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

 

(a)   Other Constitutional Issues

 

Members were reminded that, in accordance with the Constitution, Council was required to reaffirm a number of issues at the Annual Council meeting.

 

RESOLVED :

 

(i)                   THAT the Audit Committee’s terms of reference be amended to include reference to monitoring the overall performance of the Council and that it be renamed the ‘Audit and Performance Committee’.

 

(ii)                 THAT subject to the amendment to the Audit and Performance Committee’s terms of reference, the size and terms of all other committees be reaffirmed.

 

(iii)               THAT the allocation of seats of political groups in accordance with the proportionality rules be reaffirmed.

 

(iv)               THAT the Council’s scheme of delegation be reaffirmed.

 

(b)              Scrutiny of the Education Function

 

Consideration was given to future arrangements for dealing with the scrutiny of education matters.  This would impact upon the statutory co-opted members who were currently on the Policy Commission for Children and School Results.

 

RESOLVED :

 

THAT the scrutiny function for education matters be moved from the Policy Commission for Children and School Results to the Scrutiny Committee and the Faith and Parent Governor Representatives be members of the Scrutiny Committee with voting and call-in rights on education matters only.

 

(c)                 Election of Chairmen and Vice Chairmen

 

Members noted that the Constitution would be revised to allow the appointment of a Vice Chairman for Scrutiny to become the responsibility of the Scrutiny Committee itself.

 

The following members were moved and seconded as the Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the Council’s Committees:

 

Chairman of Scrutiny Committee – Cllr Geoff Lumley

 

Chairman of Audit and Performance Committee – Cllr Anne Bishop

 

Chairman of Standards Committee - Mr Bruce Claxton

 

Chairman of Regulatory Committee with special responsibility for Development Control – Cllr Ivan Bulwer

 

Vice Chairman of Regulatory with responsibility for Licensing – Cllr Mike Cunningham 

 

Vice Chairman of Regulatory with responsibility for Human Resources and Miscellaneous Issues – Cllr David Whittaker

 

Chairman of Policy Commission for Safer Communities – Cllr David Williams

 

Chairman of Policy Commission for Children and School Results – Cllr Melanie Swan

 

Chairman of Policy Commission for Economy, Tourism, Regeneration and Transport – Cllr George Brown

 

Chairman of Policy Commission for Care, Health and Housing – Cllr Erica Oulton

 

RESOLVED :

 

THAT the Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the various Committees be as follows for the ensuing year and that where a Vice Chairman was not appointed nominations would be considered at the next meeting of the relevant Committee :

 

Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee – Cllr Geoff Lumley

 

Chairman of the Audit and Performance Committee – Cllr Anne Bishop

 

Chairman of the Standards Committee - Mr B Claxton

 

Chairman of the Regulatory Committee special responsibility for Development Control – Cllr Ivan Bulwer

 

Vice Chairman of the Regulatory Committee with specific responsibility for Licensing – Cllr Mike Cunningham

 

Vice Chairman of the Regulatory Committee with specific responsibility for Human Resources and Miscellaneous issues – Cllr David Whittaker

 

Chairman of the Policy Commission for Care, Health and Housing – Cllr Erica Oulton

 

Chairman of the Policy Commission for Children and School Results – Cllr Melanie Swan

 

Chairman of the Policy Commission for Economy, Tourism, Regeneration and Transport – Cllr George Brown

 

Chairman of the Policy Commission for Safer Communities – Cllr David Williams

 

(d)             Council Champions

 

It was proposed that four new posts of Council Champions be established, with specific areas of responsibility, which would be determined by the Cabinet on an annual basis.  The proposed remits for the forthcoming year were Housing and Homelessness, Older People, Children, and Civic Pride.  It was proposed that the Champions be paid a Special Responsibility Allowance of £2,000 subject to the Council’s consideration of the Independent Remuneration Panel’s final report.

 

The following members were moved and seconded as Council Champions :

 

Champion for Housing and Homelessness – Cllr Gill Kennet

 

Champion for Older People – Cllr Bill Burt

 

Champion for Children – Cllr George Cameron

 

Champion for Civic Pride – Cllr Brian Mosdell

 

RESOLVED :

 

THAT the Council Champions be appointed as follows for the ensuing year:

 

Champion for Housing and Homelessness – Cllr Gill Kennett

 

Champion for Older People – Cllr Bill Burt

 

Champion for Children – Cllr George Cameron

 

Champion for Civic Pride – Cllr Brian Mosdell

 

97.             DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL

 

It was proposed and seconded that the dates for the ordinary Council meetings for the ensuing year be approved.

 

RESOLVED :

 

THAT the dates of future meetings of the Council be approved as follows:

 

Wednesday, 21 June 2006

Wednesday, 19 July 2006

Wednesday, 20 September 2006

Wednesday, 18 October 2006

Wednesday, 15 November 2006 

Wednesday, 13 December 2006

Wednesday, 17 January 2007

Wednesday, 21 February 2007

Wednesday, 21 March 2007.

 

All meetings to commence at 6.00 pm and to be held in the Council Chamber at County Hall, Newport

 

98.             ESTABLISHMENT OF A PARISH COUNCIL FOR WHIPPINGHAM

 

Members were advised that a petition had been received on 3 March 2006 under the Local Government and Rating Act 1997 calling for the creation of a Parish Council in Whippingham.  The Council had three months in which to pass the petition to the Secretary of State and the Electoral Commission along with any views that the Council may have and to include any information relating to local opinion on the proposal.

 

Some expenditure had been incurred during the consultation process, all of which had been met from within existing budgets.  Any future costs incurred through the running of a Parish Council would be met through precepts levied by that Parish Council.

 

A public meeting had been held whereby the majority of those present were in favour 6 members serving on the Parish Council and that the area should not be divided into wards.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(i)                 THAT the Isle of Wight Council support the petition for the establishment of the ‘Whippingham’ Parish Council.

 

(ii)               THAT the boundaries of the Parish Council be as defined by the map presented with the Petition.

 

(iii)             THAT the Parish Council should consist of 6 members.

 

(iv)             THAT the Parish Council area should not be divided into Wards.

 

 

 

 

CHAIRMAN