Agenda and minutes

The Mayor to report apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Cllrs Barker-Lomax, Gale, Hesse, McClean, P.Townsend, Sullivan and Wicks.

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.

There were no interests declared.

The Council is recommended to make the resolutions set out in the report at item 3.

The Leader moved the recommendation of the Joint Appointments Committee, seconded by Councillor Fairclough. There being no debate, the Mayor called upon Members to vote by a show of hands and it was

RESOLVED:

That Annie Righton be appointed to the role of Joint Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service for an Interim Period, having also been agreed by Guildford Borough Council, and with no objection having been made by either of the two Council Leaders on behalf of their respective Executives.

The Council is recommended to make the resolutions set out in the report at item 4.

At the invitation of the Mayor, Councillor Macleod moved the recommendations of the Standards and General Purposes Committee, duly seconded by Cllr Robini. Councillors Follows and Martin spoke in favour of the proposal, particularly endorsing the improvement in substitution arrangements. There being no further speakers, the Mayor called upon Members to vote by a show of hands and it was

RESOLVED unanimously:

The proposed amended terms of reference for the Guildford & Waverley Joint Governance Committee, as set out in Appendix 3 to the report, and having previously been agreed by Guildford Borough Council, be adopted into the Constitution, with immediate effect. 

The Council is recommended to make the resolutions set out in the report at item 5.

At the invitation of the Mayor, Councillor Macleod moved the recommendations of the Standards and General Purposes Committee and spoke of the flexibility that would be provided to the Proper Officers of the Council to assess and decide which council meetings could be held during the pre-election period on a case-by-case basis; the proposal was duly seconded by Cllr Robini. There being no debate, the Mayor called upon Members to vote and it was

RESOLVED unanimously:

That the revised Pre-Election Publicity & Decision-Making Policy, as set out in Appendix 3 to the report, be adopted for inclusion in the Council’s Constitution, with immediate effect.

The Council is recommended to make the resolutions set out in the report at item 6.

At the invitation of the Mayor, Councillor Macleod moved the recommendations of the Standards and General Purposes Committee, duly seconded by Cllr Robini.

Councillors Follows and Martin welcomed the introduction of the protocol as it provided a clarification of the role. Councillor Hyman advised Members that were using paper copies that the Standards and General Purposes Committee had added the words ‘or conflict of interest’ to section 4 on Personal Responsibility. That being noted, Councillor Hyman expressed his support for the proposal. There being no further debate, the Mayor called upon Members to vote and it was

RESOLVED unanimously:

That the proposed Monitoring Officer Protocol, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, be adopted for inclusion in the Council’s Constitution, with immediate effect.   

The Council is recommended to make the resolutions set out in the report at item 7.

At the invitation of the Mayor, Councillor Macleod moved the recommendations of the Standards and General Purposes Committee, duly seconded by Cllr Robini.

Councillor Follows spoke in support of the recommendations which in addition to renaming the Joint Appointments Committee (JAC) as the Joint Senior Staff Committee (JSCC), brought extended terms of reference to include disciplinary matters as well as appointments to the JSCC.

Councillor Hyman sought clarification of whether the wording of the recommendation should be revised as a consequence of Guildford Borough Council having resolved to approve the same matter the previous evening. The Monitoring Officer explained that as Members were cognisant that Guildford Borough Council had approved the matter, the recommendation before Members remained sound. There being no further speakers, the Mayor called upon Members to vote and it was

RESOLVED unanimously that:   

1.              The new Officer Employment Procedure Rules, as set out in Appendix 1 to this report, be adopted into the Constitution

2.              The revised terms of reference for the Joint Appointments Committee and change of its name to “Joint Senior Staff Committee” to reflect its expanded responsibilities, as set out in Appendix 4 to the report, be adopted with immediate effect.

3.              The WBC membership of the Joint Senior Staff Committee, for the remainder of the 2023-24 municipal year, be confirmed as:

·       Councillor Follows    

·       Councillor Fairclough

·       Councillor Martin

The Council is recommended to make the resolutions set out in the report at item 8.

At the invitation of the Mayor, Councillor Macleod moved the recommendations of the Standards and General Purposes Committee, duly seconded by Cllr Robini.

Councillor Hyman noted the contextual information provided which showed that some Councils such as Sevenoaks had a much lower threshold whilst Norwich had a significantly higher threshold, it was unclear which direction would be most appropriate for Waverley. Furthermore, not all of the Surrey authorities had been included in the comparison, and it was unclear whether there was any correlation between financial soundness of an authority and its financial threshold for key decisions. 

Councillor Follows countered that there was no evidence of any correlation between a Council’s financial soundness and its key decision threshold. Moreover, most significant decisions would satisfy the second limb of the key decision definition, insofar as there would be a significant effect on more than one ward. Accordingly, his opinion was that it would be appropriate for the second limb of the definition to be reviewed in due course. 

Councillor Martin acknowledged that it had been several years since the financial threshold had been changed, and that inflation had to be taken into account, accordingly, he would support the proposal. There being no further speakers, the Mayor called upon Members to vote and it was

RESOLVED unanimously that:  

The financial threshold of a key decision at Waverley Borough Council be increased from £100,000 to £200,000 for formal adoption into the Waverley Borough Council constitution with immediate effect.

The Mayor conveyed the thanks of the Council to the Joint Chief Executive, Tom Horwood who would be leaving the Council in February. Mr Horwood spoke to thank Councillors and Officers for their support.