Agenda and minutes

Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act 1972 requires a record be kept of the Members present and that this record form part of the minutes of the meeting. Members who cannot attend a meeting should tender apologies to the Town Clerk.

No apologies for absence had been received.

(i)    Under the Localism Act 2011 (sections 26-37 and Schedule 4) and in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, Members are required to declare any interests which are not currently entered in the Member’s Register of Interests or if he/she has not notified the Monitoring Officer of it.

(ii)   Should any Member have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in an item on the agenda, the Member may not participate in consideration of that item unless a Dispensation has first been requested (in writing) and granted by the Council (see Dispensation Procedure).

Members were asked to declare any interests, and the nature of those interests, that they might have in any of the items under consideration at the meeting.

 No disclosable pecuniary interests were declared and no dispensations were requested.

(a)  To receive questions and statements from members of the public as provided for in Standing Order Nos.3 (f) and 3 (g) 

(b)  To receive questions from Councillors as provided for in Standing Order No.27, provided three clear days’ notice of the question has been given to the person to whom it is addressed.

(a)       No questions from the public

(b)     No questions were received from the Councillors.

(a)       To note that all applicants have submitted an application form confirming their eligibility to stand as a town councillor for Grovebury ward.

(b)       To receive copies of the supporting statements submitted by applicants (attached).

(c)       By invitation, applicants will speak for 3-5 minutes per person in support of their application.

(d)       To co-opt to the vacancy in Grovebury ward in accordance with the Town Council’s Co-option Procedure (attached).

Please note:

-      Each Councillor has only one vote

-      Votes will be taken on candidates who are duly proposed and seconded

-      Appointment must be by an absolute majority, i.e. the appointed applicant must have a greater number of votes than the sum of the votes for other candidates. This may require more than one round of voting. The applicant with the lowest number of votes will be discounted in each round of voting until an absolute majority is achieved.

Council considered applications from 9 candidates for the position of Town Councillor in Grovebury ward and received copies of their supporting statements. It was noted that all candidates had submitted a co-option application form confirming their eligibility to stand as a town councillor.

The Town Mayor invited all nine candidates to address Council for 3-5 minutes each, in support of their application. Eight candidates spoke and one withdrew his application.

Following this, Council was reminded of the Co-Option Policy and that an absolute majority would need to be obtained in any vote for a successful co-option to be confirmed.

A query was raised regarding the political allegiance of applicants. There was no requirement in law or in the Council’s adopted Co-Option Policy to declare this.

Four applicants were proposed as follows: 

(a)          Robert Yates – proposed by Councillor D Bowater and seconded by Councillor R Berry.

(b)          Kevin Pughe – proposed by Councillor R Goodchild and seconded by Councillor S Owen.

(c)          Sam Russell – proposed by Councillor D Scott and seconded by Councillor J M Freeman.

(d)          Adam Fahn – proposed by Councillor V Harvey (no seconder required in accordance with Standing Order 1(u)).

A vote took place with the following results:

R Yates – 11 in favour

K Pughe – 4 in favour

S Russell – 3 in favour

A Fahn – 1 in favour

RESOLVED to co-opt Robert Yates to the vacancy in Grovebury Road, subject to his signing the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

Councillor Kharawala thanked all the applicants for their interest in becoming a Town Councillor and for taking the time to prepare for and attend the meeting. It was hoped they would positively engage with the Council in the future.

To consider any changes to appointments to committees.

Councillor S Jones advised Council that Councillor Kharawala would be replacing Councillor Bowater on the Policy & Finance Committee and that Councillor Robert Yates would be replacing former Councillor C Chambers on the Cultural and Economic Services Committee.

To consider any changes to appointments to outside bodies and to receive any reports regarding outside bodies, for information.

Council was informed that newly appointed Councillor R Yates would be taking up the position of Council representative with outside bodies previously represented by former Councillor C Chambers.