Agenda item
Recalculation of Political Proportionality of the Council and Appointments to the Committees of the Council for the 2022/23 Municipal Year (C/22/2)
To note the changes to the membership of political groups on the Council and the subsequent recalculation of political proportionality, and approve the group nominations for the appointment of Councillors to Committees as outlined at Appendix A for the 2022-23 municipal year.
Appendix A to follow.
Minutes:
The Chief Executive explained to Members that following recent changes in group membership on the Council, political proportionality had required recalculation by Officers. These changes would subsequently alter the number of places on the Council’s committees for the 2022-23 municipal year. The Council was asked to note the changes to political groups and subsequent recalculation of political proportionality, and to approve the group nominations for the appointment of Councillors to Committees for 2022-23.
As a result of the changes to groups, membership of the Council was now as follows:
Conservative: 17
Labour: 9
Independent Group: 3
Unaligned Members: 2 (ungrouped)
The amended group membership required the number of committee places to be re-evaluated to satisfy Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, which placed a duty on local authorities to allocate seats on Ordinary Committees of the Council between the political groups, in accordance with the following principles:
a) That not all the seats on the body to which appointments are being made are allocated to the same political group;
b) That the majority of seats on each committee are allocated to a particular political group if the number of persons belonging to that group is a majority of the authority’s membership;
c) That subject to (a) and (b), when allocating seats to a political group, the total number of their seats across all the ordinary committees of the Council, must reflect their proportion of the authority’s membership; and
d) Subject to (a) to (c), that the number of seats on each committee is as far as possible in proportion to the group’s membership of the authority.
To accurately reflect these requirements and the political balance of the Council, Officers had altered the number of committee places available to as follows:
Planning Committee: 9 (no change)
Licensing Committee: 11 (no change)
Scrutiny Committee: 7 (reduction in 1 place)
Policy Review Committee: 7 (reduction by 1 place)
Audit and Governance Committee: 7 (reduction by 1 place)
Nominations for the appointment of Councillors to Committees for the 2022-23 municipal year were given in full by Members at the meeting and noted by Officers. These appointments were proposed, seconded and a vote taken.
RESOLVED:
1. To note the changes to the membership of political groups on the Council and the subsequent recalculation of political proportionality on the Council’s Committees; and
2. to approve the group nominations for the appointment of Councillors to Committees for the 2022-23 municipal year, as set out below:
Executive (no change)
Leader (Conservative) |
Councillor Mark Crane |
Deputy Leader (Conservative) |
Councillor Richard Musgrave |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Cliff Lunn |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Tim Grogan |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor David Buckle |
Planning Committee (9 places)
Chair (Conservative) |
Councillor Mark Topping |
Vice Chair (Conservative) |
Councillor Charles Richardson |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Keith Ellis |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Ian Chilvers |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Georgina Ashton |
|
|
Councillor (Labour) |
Councillor Bob Packham |
Councillor (Labour) |
Councillor Paul Welch |
Councillor (Labour) |
Councillor John Duggan |
|
|
Councillor (Independent) |
Councillor Don Mackay |
Licensing Committee (11 places)
Chair (Conservative) |
Councillor Richard Sweeting |
Vice Chair (Conservative) |
Councillor Judith Chilvers |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Ian Chilvers |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Chris Pearson |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor John Mackman |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Mike Jordan |
|
|
Councillor (Labour) |
Councillor Paul Welch |
Councillor (Labour) |
Councillor John Duggan |
Councillor (Labour) |
Councillor Stephanie Duckett |
|
|
Councillor (Independent) |
Councillor Mary McCartney |
|
|
Councillor (Unaligned) |
Councillor John Cattanach |
Scrutiny Committee (7 places)
Chair (Labour) |
Councillor Steve Shaw-Wright |
Vice Chair (Labour) |
Councillor Wendy Nichols |
|
|
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Andrew Lee |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor J Chilvers |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Richard Sweeting |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Keith Ellis |
|
|
Councillor (Independent) |
Councillor John McCartney |
Policy Review Committee (7 places)
Chair (Conservative) |
Councillor Chris Pearson |
Vice Chair (Conservative) |
Councillor Mike Jordan |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Charles Richardson |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Karl Arthur |
|
|
Councillor (Labour) |
Councillor Bob Packham |
Councillor (Labour) |
Councillor Jennifer Shaw-Wright |
|
|
Councillor (Independent) |
Councillor Mary McCartney |
Audit and Governance Committee (7 places)
Chair (Conservative) |
Councillor Karl Arthur |
Vice Chair (Conservative) |
Councillor Georgina Ashton |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor John Mackman |
Councillor (Conservative) |
Councillor Andrew Lee |
|
|
Councillor (Labour) |
Councillor Keith Franks |
Councillor (Labour) |
Councillor John Duggan |
|
|
Councillor (Unaligned) |
Councillor Neil Reader |
REASON FOR DECISION:
To meet legislative requirements and to enable the proper functioning of the Council in the 2022-23 municipal year.
Supporting documents: