Agenda and minutes

1.1       The retiring Mayor, Cllr John Ward, welcomed Councillors and guests to the Annual Meeting of the Council and invited nominations for the election of Mayor of Waverley for the Council year 2023/24.

1.2       Cllr Paul Follows proposed that Cllr Penny Rivers be elected as Mayor of Waverley for the Council year 2023/24, and this was seconded by Cllr Liz Townsend.

1.3       There being no other nominations, it was RESOLVED that Cllr Penny Rivers be elected mayor of Waverley for the Council year 2023/24.

2.1       Having been invested with the Mayoral Robes and Chain of Office, Cllr Penny Rivers made the Statutory Declaration of Acceptance of Office and took the chair for the remainder of the Council meeting.

2.2       The Mayor made a Speech of Acceptance, thanking those who had nominated her and Councillors for their support in electing her.

3.1       The Mayor invited nominations for the appointment of Deputy Mayor for 2023/24.

3.2       Cllr Andy MacLeod proposed Cllr John Ward as Deputy Mayor, and this was seconded by Cllr Tony Fairclough.

3.3       There being no other nominations, it was RESOLVED that Cllr John Ward be elected Deputy Mayor of Waverley for the Council year 2023/24.

3.4       The Mayor invested the new Deputy Mayor with the Badge of Office, and presented the Mayor’s Consort, the Deputy Mayoress, and the Past Mayor and Past Mayoress with the appropriate Badges of Office.

4.4       Cllr John Ward made the Statutory Declaration of Acceptance of Office and thanked councillors for electing him as Deputy Mayor.

5.1       Cllr Paul Follows proposed a vote of thanks to the retiring Mayor, Cllr John Ward, which was seconded by Cllr Michael Goodridge.

5. 2      Cllr John Ward thanked those who had spoken and reflected on his Mayoral year, including the historic events of the death of the Queen and reading of the Proclamation of the Accession of the new King. He thanked all those who had supported him and his charities, including the Past Deputy Mayor Cllr Penny Rivers; Becky Noke, Alice Raines and Chloe Mickiewicz who had helped to organised the Civic Service and the spectacular concert at Frensham Heights School; the Chief Executive, Tom Horwood, and the Leader, Cllr Paul Follows.

5.3       Cllr Ward especially thanked his wife, Gillian, for her steadfast support and company at so many enjoyable and memorable events during the year.

The Mayor to report apologies for absence.

6.1       Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Zoe Barker-Lomax, Andrew Law, and Steve Williams.

To confirm the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 21 March 2023 (herewith).

7.1       The Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 21 March 2023 were confirmed and signed.

To receive from Members, declarations of interest in relation to any items included on the agenda for this meeting in accordance with the Waverley Code of Local Government Conduct.

8.1       There were no declarations of interests in relation to matters on the agenda.

9.1       The Mayor advised that the charities she would championing this year were The Meath Epilepsy Trust, a specialist residential care home for adults who live with complex epilepsy, and Skillway, both based in Godalming. Skillway taught crafts and practical and social skills to those who found school a challenging environment.

9.2       The Mayor noted that after the Leader had brought down the gavel at the end of the previous administration with such energy that he had broken it, one of Skillway’s young carpenters had made a new gavel that she would use to keep Council meetings in order.

9.3       The Mayor asked Councillors and guests to ‘save the date’ of 6 October, when she would be hosting a fund-raising concert at Charterhouse School. More details would follow in due course. The Mayor also advised Councillors that her Civic Service would be held on Sunday 2 July 2023 at 10am, at St John’s in Farncombe.

10.1     The Mayor called for nominations for Leader of the Council for the period 2023 – 2027.

10.2     It was proposed by Cllr Mark Merryweather, and seconded by Cllr Peter Clark, that Cllr Paul Follows be elected as Leader of the Council for the period 2023- 2027.

10.3     There were no other nominations and it was RESOLVED that Cllr Paul Follows be elected as Leader of the Council, 2023 – 2027.

11.1     The Leader thanked Councillors for their continued trust and support, and the Council’s officers for all of their work over the last four years.

11.2     Cllr Follows noted that since he had been elected in 2017 there had been a number of people from multiple parties that he had counted on for support, and guidance and friendship and who were all fundamental to continuation of the alliance.

11.3     The Leader announced his new Executive: Liberal Democrats Cllrs Mark Merryweather, Liz Townsend, Paul Rivers and Victoria Kiehl; Cllr Steve Williams of the Green Group; Cllr Nick Palmer of the Labour Party; and Cllr Kika Mirylees, Tony Fairclough, and Peter Clark of the Farnham Residents.

11.4     Cllr Peter Clark would also serve as Deputy Leader.

11.5     Revised Executive Portfolios would be circulated shortly.

Recommendation

That the Council RESOLVES that:

1.1      the committees as set out in paragraph 5.6 be established for the 2023/24 municipal year with the committee sizes shown; and

1.2      The changes to the terms of reference of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees and the Eastern and Western Planning Committees as shown in paragraph 5.7 be approved.

12.1     The Mayor introduced the report proposing the establishment of Council committees for the 2023/24 Council year, including some minor changes to the terms of reference of certain committees.

12.2     The Mayor reported a couple of corrections to the report: the recommendation should have referred to paragraphs 4.7 and 4.8 (rather than 5.6 and 5.7), and there had been a transposition of two figures in the third column of the table at paragraph 4.5: the Labour/Green Group should read as 6% as the proportion of total members and the Liberal Democrats should as 44%.

12.3     The Mayor continued to explain that the report proposed to re-establish the same committees as for 2022/23, with minor amendments to the terms of reference of the Overview & Scrutiny Committees to better align the new service areas with the committee remits, and to align the geography of the Eastern and Western Area Planning Committees with the new ward arrangements following the Boundary Review. However, the Leader had proposed some further amendments which were previewed in the report (paragraph 5.2) and the Mayor invited the Leader to expand on these proposals.

12.4     The Leader began by thanking Cllr Hyman for his advice prior to the meeting, that the revised proposals should be referred to the Standards & General Purposes Committee for consideration and recommendation to Full Council. He went on to outline the proposed changes:

·         to reduce the size of all committees to reflect the reduction in the size of the Council from 57 to 50 members as a result of the Boundary Review;

·         to amend the name of the Audit Committee to the Audit & Risk Committee to reflect the intention to take a more proactive approach to risk management;

·         to change the arrangements for the planning committees, replacing the Eastern and Western Area Planning Committees with two non-geographical planning committees each of 11 members, and with ward Members no longer permitted to take part in the determination of any applications in their ward beyond making representations to the committee.

12.5     The Leader reminded Councillors that the council was facing possible designation by the Government in relation to its planning performance, and the council needed to demonstrate that it was being proactive in addressing the drivers for both speed of planning decisions and quality of decision-making. Whilst members of the planning committee would not be able to take part in the debate and vote on a planning application in their ward, they would be free to make representations to the committee without any concern about being perceived as being predetermined.

12.6     Cllr Peter Martin welcomed the referral of the proposals to the Standards & General Purposes Committee, but disagreed with the proposals for the planning committees which he would expand on at the Committee meeting. Cllrs Goodridge, Munro, Cockburn and Beaman were also opposed to the proposed changes to the planning committees, and asked that all options for the planning committee arrangements be explored by the Standards & General Purposes Committee.

12.7     Cllr Hyman asked that the reduction in  ...  view the full minutes text for item CNL12/23

Recommendation

That the Council RESOLVES that:

1.1      committee seats be allocated to political Groups and Independent Members as set out in Appendix 1;

1.2      the nominations for membership and substitute membership (where applicable) of the committees and joint committees for the 2023/24 municipal year as shown in Appendix 2 (to follow) be approved in accordance with the wishes of the political Groups;

1.3      the nominations for the election of Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the committees as shown in Appendix 2 (to follow) be approved.

1.4      That in accordance with Section 28(7) of the Localism Act 2011, the Council appoints the following persons as Independent Persons for a four-year term of office expiring in May 2027:

·        Andrea Armstrong

·        Vivienne Cameron

·        Jane Clarke

·        Bill Donnelly

·        John Smith 

13.1     The Mayor introduced the report which set out the allocation of committee seats to Political Groups based on the political balance of the council. The Mayor referred Councillors to Appendix 1 of the report, which showed the allocation of committee seats based on a total of 90 committee seats, which reflected the decision just taken on the establishment of committees.

13.2     The Mayor referred Councillors to Appendix 2, which had been circulated separately, which showed Group Leaders’ nominations for appointments to committees and nominations for committee chairs and vice-chairs.

13.3     The Executive Head of Legal & Democratic Services advised that as a consequence of the amendment to the previous item there was a change to the recommendation:

·         to enable the Executive Head of Legal & Democratic Services to resolve any outstanding adjustments required to ensure that the total allocation of seats was equal to the number of seats available,

·         to approve the nominations of Members to committees as shown in Appendix 2 but to provide a delegation to the Executive Head of Legal & Democratic Services to appoint any remaining outstanding vacancies arising from the previous decision,

·         to approve the nominations of Chairs and Vice-Chairs as set out in Appendix 2, and

·         to appoint the Independent Persons as proposed.

13.4     There were no speakers, and Council RESOLVED that:

1.         committee seats be allocated to political Groups and Independent Members as set out in Appendix 1, with the Executive Head of Legal & Democratic Services authorised to resolve any outstanding adjustments required to ensure that the total allocation of seats was equal to the number of seats available;

2.         the nominations of Members to committees as shown in Appendix 2 be approved but a delegation to the Executive Head of Legal & Democratic Services be provided to appoint any remaining outstanding vacancies arising from the previous decision;

3.         the nominations of Chairs and Vice-Chairs as set out in Appendix 2 be approved, and

4.         in accordance with Section 28(7) of the Localism Act 2011, the following persons be appointed as Independent Persons for a four-year term of office expiring in May 2027:

·         Andrea Armstrong

·         Vivienne Cameron

·         Jane Clarke

·         Bill Donnelly

·         John Smith