Agenda and minutes

The names of Councillors who have been nominated for the office of Chair of the Council will be reported at the meeting.

Following the election of the Chair of the Council, and pursuant to the provisions of Section 83 of the Local Government Act 1972, the person elected to be Chair of the Council shall make a Declaration of Acceptance of Office in the prescribed form, before the Chief Executive.

The Chair of the Council, Adrian Ross, welcomed everyone to the meeting and congratulated all newly elected and returning Councillors on their election.  He also thanked all those who had not been elected for their service and commitment to the Council and community over the last four years.

The Chair then invited Councillors to formally move the nomination received in advance of the meeting for Councillor Ian Alexander to be Chair of the Council for 2023/24.

Councillor Nicholson proposed and Councillor Collier seconded the nomination of Councillor Alexander.

The proposal was put to the vote and was approved unanimously.

RESOLVED that Councillor Ian Alexander be elected as the Chair of the Council for 2023/24.

Councillor Alexander then made the statutory declaration of acceptance of office as Chair of the Council and took the chair. 

In his speech of acceptance of his re-election, Councillor Alexander thanked the outgoing Chair and Vice-Chair, Adrian Ross and Councillor Graham Amy for their work over the last year. 

The names of the Councillors who have been nominated for the office of Vice-Chair of the Council will be reported at the meeting.

Following the appointment of the Vice-Chair of the Council, and pursuant to the provisions of Section 83 of the Local Government Act 1972, the person appointed to be Vice-Chair of the Council shall make a Declaration of Acceptance of Office in the prescribed form, before the Chief Executive.

The Chair invited members to formally propose the nomination for Vice-Chair of the Council received in advance of the meeting for Councillor Lesley Boniface.

Councillor Brett proposed and Councillor Carr seconded the nomination of Councillor Boniface to be appointed as Vice-Chair of the Council for 2023/24.

The nomination was put to a vote and approved unanimously.

RESOLVED that Councillor Lesley Boniface be appointed as the Vice-Chair of the Council for 2023/24.

Councillor Boniface then made the statutory declaration of acceptance of office as Vice-Chair.  

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Council dated 20 February 2023.

The minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 20 February 2023 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no apologies for absence.

Disclosure by councillors of personal interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the Councillor regards the interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any announcements from the Chair of the Council or the Chief Executive.

A list of the Chair of the Council's engagements for the last municipal year,  May 2022 to May 2023, are attached for information.

The Council received a list of the outgoing Chair of the Council’s engagements carried out between May 2022 and May 2023 which had been tabled at the meeting, and the new Chair highlighted the range of the work carried out by Adrian Ross during the last year.  There were no other announcements made.

Items not on the agenda which the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency by reason of special circumstances as defined in Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items.

To receive the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Returning Officer.

The Chair drew the Council’s attention to the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Returning Officer informing the Council of the result of the District Elections held on 4 May 2023, and congratulated both returning and newly elected Councillors, who would hold office until May 2027 as follows:

Councillor Collier moved and Councillor Denis seconded the recommendation to note the report.  In moving the recommendation, Councillor Collier extended his thanks to the Returning Officer, to the Head of Elections and Local Land Charges, and the whole team for the excellent way in which the election was conducted and thanked them for the enormous amount of work involved in delivering the election successfully, in particular with the introduction of voter ID.

A question was raised around the new approach to publishing addresses in nomination and results papers.  The Chair confirmed that this could be considered outside the meeting, taking into account relevant legislation.

The recommendation was put to a vote and agreed unanimously.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To receive nominations and vote thereon.

(Note: The Leader is to be appointed to a 4-year term of office in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.)

The Chair invited nominations for the position of Leader of the Council.

Councillor Clarkson proposed and Councillor Maples seconded the nomination of Councillor Nicholson to be elected as Leader of the Council for a 4 year term of office.

The nomination was put to a vote and declared approved unanimously.

RESOLVED that Councillor Nicholson be elected to be Leader of the Council for a 4 year term of office.

Following the appointment, Councillor Nicholson made her speech of acceptance and thanks, reflecting on what had been achieved by the co-operative alliance over the last four years and committing to continuing that work.  She extended her personal thanks to Councillor MacCleary who had served as Leader for two of the four years, and to other Councillors who had previously served on Cabinet and to her fellow ward councillor, Adrian Ross. 

a)    To note the Leader of the Council’s appointments to Cabinet, the individual areas of responsibility allocated to the Cabinet and the allocation of those areas of responsibility to the members of the Cabinet (to be reported verbally by the Leader at the meeting); and

b)    To consider and determine proposals set out in the report of the Head of Democratic Services.

The Chair advised that the appointments report had been tabled as an agenda supplement.

At the Chair’s invitation, the Leader of the Council, Councillor Nicholson, advised that the following would be appointed to the Cabinet and on their areas of responsibilities for information:

Councillor Nicholson moved and Councillor MacCleary seconded the recommendations set out in the appointments report.  

The Chair of the Council then drew the Councillors’ attention to the list of nominations set out in Appendix 1 to the report and advised that there were two outside bodies where there were more nominations than places (in respect of Impact Seaford and Local Government Association – Coastal Issues Special Interest Group).  In addition, where no nominations had been received, it was proposed the Head of Democratic Services be authorised to appoint to vacancies in consultation with Group Leaders in accordance with political balance rules, or in relation to Deputy Chair appointments these be put to a vote at the first meeting of the relevant Committee.

The Chair put to a vote first all the appointments where there were no contested seats, and all other report recommendations, and these were carried unanimously.

The Chair then put to a vote the nominations received for Impact Seaford; Councillor Meek received 26 votes, Councillor Boniface 15 votes, and there were no abstentions.  Councillor Meek was declared to be the Council’s representative for Impact Seaford.

The Chair then put to a vote the nominations received for Local Government Association – Coastal Issues Special Interest Group; Councillor O’Brien received 26 votes, Councillor Bristow received 15 votes, and there were no abstentions.  Councillor O’Brien was declared to be the Council’s representative for the Local Government Association – Coastal Issues Special Interest Group.

RESOLVED:

1.    To approve the proposed number and allocation of seats and nominations to Committees, Other Bodies and Outside Bodies, and to Chairs and Deputy Chairs as set out in Appendix 1;

2.    To approve the increase in the size of the Licensing Committee to 11 members;

3.    To rename the Audit and Standards Committee as the Audit and Governance Committee and to delegate the Monitoring Officer to make the relevant changes to the Council’s constitution.

4.    To appoint all members of the Council to the ‘approved list’ of members appointed as substitute members in accordance with Council’s Rules of Procedure, except where prohibited by those rules such as for Licensing Committee and Cabinet;

5.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of the Director of Tourism, Culture and Organisational Development.

The Council received the report of the Director of Tourism, Culture and Organisational Development, presenting the Pay Policy Statement for the financial year 2023/24 for approval by the Council.  

Councillor Collier moved and Councillor MacCleary seconded the recommendations set out in the report.

The recommendations were put to a vote and approved unanimously.

RESOLVED – That the Council approves and recommends the updated Pay Policy Statement for publication on the Council’s website.

In accordance with the Policy and Performance Advisory Committee Procedure Rule 17, to receive details of any urgent decisions taken by the Cabinet or Cabinet members since the previous meeting (if any).

There were no urgent decisions to report.

To ratify the calendar of meetings for 2023/24 as attached.

Councillor Robinson moved and Councillor O’Brien seconded approval of the Calendar of Meetings for 2023/24.

This was put to a vote and agreed unanimously.

RESOLVED – That the Calendar of Meetings for 2023/24 as set down on the agenda be approved.

The next scheduled meeting is on 24 July 2023 at 6 pm.

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Council was on 24 July 2023 at 6 pm.