Agenda item

Report of the Leader of the Council (Cllr Henderson) and the Chief Executive.

The Leader of the Council (Cllr Henderson) and the Chief Executive submitted a report on changes required to the membership of committee for the remainder of the 2018/19 Municipal Year, to reflect a change to the political balance of the Council following the resignation of Cllr I Duffy and Cllr R Duffy from the Labour Group. Cllr Henderson proposed the recommendations in the report and also proposed that, in order to implement those recommendations, additional Conservative members be appointed to committees, as follows:

-       Planning Committee: Cllr Catterall

-       Licensing Committee: Cllr S Turner

-       Employment and Appeals: Cllr Lady Atkins

-       Standards Committee: Cllr Orme.

The proposals were seconded by Cllr A Vincent.

Cllr Fail proposed and Cllr E Anderton seconded an amendment to change the method of calculating political balance and allocating places on committees, as set out in the Appendix 1 to these minutes.

A recorded vote on the amendment was requested by four councillors, in accordance with Procedure Rule 19.4. Members voted as follows:

For the amendment: Councillors E Anderton, M Anderton, Barrowclough, Beavers, Lees, Raynor, Robinson, Shewan, Smith, B Stephenson and E Stephenson.

Against the amendment: Councillors I Amos, R Amos, Lady Atkins, Ballard, Berry, B Birch, C Birch, Bridge, Cartridge, Catterall, Collinson, Ellison, Greenhough, Henderson, Hodgkinson, Holden, Ibison, Ingham, Jones, Kay, Murphy, Orme, Ormrod, Pimbley, Robinson, A Turner, A Vincent, Matthew Vincent, Michael Vincent and Walmsley.

Abstentions: Councillor R Duffy.

The amendment was therefore lost (by 11 votes to 30, with 1 abstention).

The Chief Executive informed Council that, if the nominations to specific committees proposed by Cllr Henderson were approved, no changes would be needed to the membership of the Audit Committee.

Following further debate on the recommendations in the report a recorded vote was requested. Members voted as follows:

For the recommendations: Councillors I Amos, R Amos, Lady Atkins, Ballard, Berry, B Birch, C Birch, Bridge, Cartridge, Catterall, Collinson, Ellison, Greenhough, Henderson, Hodgkinson, Ibison, Ingham, Jones, Kay, Murphy, Orme, Ormrod, Pimbley, Robinson, A Turner, A Vincent, Matthew Vincent, Michael Vincent and Walmsley.

Against the recommendations: Councillors E Anderton, Barrowclough, Beavers, Lees, Raynor, Robinson, Shewan, Smith, B Stephenson and E Stephenson.

Abstentions: Councillor M Anderton and R Duffy. (Cllr Holden was not present when the vote was taken).

The recommendations were therefore approved (by 29 votes to 10, with 2 abstentions).

Cllr Fail then reported the consequential changes to Labour membership required to implement the approved recommendations and it was agreed that:

1.    That Cllr I Duffy be removed from the Employment and Appeals Committee.

2. That Cllr R Duffy be removed from both the Employment and Appeals Committee and the Standards Committee.

3. That Cllr B Stephenson be appointed to the Employment and Appeals Committee.

4. That Cllr Catterall be appointed to the Planning Committee, Cllr S Turner be appointed to the Licensing Committee, Cllr Lady Atkins be appointed to the Employment and Appeals Committee, and that Cllr Orme be appointed to the Standards Committee.

5. That Cllr E Stephenson be removed from the Planning Committee

and Cllr B Stephenson be removed from the Licensing Committee.

6. That it be noted that, as a consequence of the appointments to Committees set out above, no changes were required to the membership of the Audit Committee.

7. That Cllr E Stephenson be appointed to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in place of Cllr E Anderton.