None  

The minutes of the 21 March 2011 meeting were approved and signed as a correct record subject to the following amendment:

 

12/18/civ Prayers at Council Meetings – bullet point 4:

Clarification was requested on whether any Mayors had previously not appointed a Chaplain. Following discussion it was suggested that at least one previous Mayor had chosen to not appoint a Mayor Chaplain but also on occasions the Mayor’s Chaplain may be unavailable for meetings.

 

At the request of Councillor Herbert it was agreed that a follow up agenda item on Prayers at Council Meetings be brought to the meeting on 27 June 2012.

Members are asked to declare at this stage any interests that they may have in any of the following items on the agenda.  If any member is unsure whether or not they should declare an interest on a particular matter, they are requested to seek advice from the Head of Legal Services before the meeting. 

 

None  

None   

A report from the Chief Executive/Head of Legal Services may be required following the city council elections which are being held on the day of this committee’s agenda despatch 

The Committee received a verbal update from the Head of Legal Services on the procedural elements of the Annual Meeting of the Council.

The Civic Affairs Committee is asked to consider nominations for the positions of Leader of the Council and Executive Councillors for the consideration and approval of Council on 24 May.

The Committee received two nominations for the Leader of the Council, Councillor Tim Bick and Councillor Lewis Herbert.

 

Councillor Bick was invited to state, in the event of being elected Leader, any changes he would make to executive responsibilities. Councillor Bick said that responsibility for community safety and CCTV would be moved to the Leader’s portfolio and responsibility for climate change would be moved to the portfolio of the Executive Councillor for Planning and Sustainable Transport. Councillor Herbert was invited to comment in a similar manner and said that he supported the proposed change to executive responsibilities.

 

Recommended that:

 

        i.            In the event of changes to executive responsibilities, corresponding changes be made to Scrutiny Committee responsibilities

 

The rules on political balance set out in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 will be applied to both scrutiny and regulatory committee composition so that, once the size of committees has been determined, the division of seats among the political groups on the Council will be automatic and the Council must appoint those members which each political group puts forward for its seats.

In considering the allocation of committee places to political groups, the Council is legally required to take into account the following principles:

(1) That the controlling group should have a majority of seats on each committee

(2) That the total number of committee places allocated to each political group must be in proportion to the number of members of that group on the Council.

(3) That on each committee the number of places allocated to each political group must be in proportion to the number of members of that group on the Council.

The order of precedence of these principles is the order in which they are given - i.e. (1) takes highest priority, then (2) then (3).

The Committee considered a paper setting out the proposed size of committees, the allocations by party and the nominations received.

 

The Committee considered the rules on political balance set out in the Local Government & Housing Act 1989 in developing the recommendations set out below.

 

Councillor Boyce proposed and Councillor Rosenstiel seconded a proposal to change the size of committees.

 

Recommended (by 4 votes to 0):

 

        i.            That Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee, Environment Scrutiny Committee, Community Services Scrutiny Committee, Housing Management Board and the Planning Committee to be reduced in size from 9 members to 8.

 

      ii.            That the Employment Appeals Panel to be increased in size from 9 members to 10.

 

    iii.            That the Labour Group’s proposal that the one seat allocated to it on the Joint Development Control Committee and on the Employment Appeals Sub-Committee be allocated instead to the Independent/Conservative Group (as a departure from the rules on political proportionality would require Council’s approval, nem. con.) 

 

   iv.            To recommend to Council to agree the size and membership of the committees as follows:

 

 

Scrutiny Committees:

 

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE	NOMINATION(S)	CURRENT NUMBERS (1) =Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Community Services   [with up to 3 co-optees nominated by HMB  and a nomination from the PCT]	Liberal Democrats   Labour	4 (1)       4 (1)             8 Total	Brown, Blackhurst, Kerr, Kightley.  Alt: Pippas   Birtles, Blencowe (Housing Spokes), Moghadas (Arts, Sport, Public Places Spokes), O’Reilly (Community Development and Health Spokes).  Alt: Todd-Jones

 

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE	NOMINATION(S)	CURRENT NUMBERS (1) =Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Environment	Liberal Democrats     Labour	4 (1)       4 (1)             8 Total	Kightley, Reid, Saunders, Reiner  Alt: Brierley   Marchant-Daisley (Planning and Sutainable Transport Spokes), Owers (Environmental and Waste Services Spokes),Pogonowski, Johnson. Alt: Herbert

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE	NOMINATION(S)	CURRENT NUMBERS (1) =Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Strategy & Resources	Liberal Democrats   Labour	4 (1)       4 (1)           8 Total	Boyce, Brown, Rosenstiel, Tucker.   Alt: Blackhurst   Ashton, Birtles, Herbert (Climate Change and Strategy Spokes), Benstead (Customer Services and Resources Spokes). Alt: Pogonowski

 

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE	NOMINATION(S)		CURRENT NUMBERS (1) =Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Housing Management Board     [plus 6 elected tenants/leaseholders]		Liberal Democrats     Labour	4 (1)       4 (1)       8 Total	Blackhurst, Brierley, Rosenstiel, Pippas Alt: Tucker   Price (Spokes), Johnson, Bird, Pogonowski.  Alt: Blencowe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regulatory Committees:

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	CURRENT NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Planning	Liberal Democrat     Labour       Indep/Cons	4 (1)       3 (1)     1     8 Total	Brown, Saunders, Stuart, Tunnacliffe. Alt: Tucker   Blencowe, Dryden, Marchant-Daisley, Alt: Herbert   Hipkin

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	CURRENT NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Licensing (Currently meets: Mondays at 10am)   [Sub-Cttees appt. during Annual Meeting]	Liberal Democrat         Labour       Indep/Cons	6 (1)           5 (1)     1 (1)   12 Total	Brierley, Pippas, Reiner, Rosenstiel, Saunders, Smith.  Alt: Stuart   Benstead, Owers, Gawthrope, Hart, McPherson.  Alt: Marchant-Daisley   Meftah. Alt: Hipkin

 

Licensing Committee will meet to appoint the four sub-committees (of 3 members each)

 

 

 

 

 

Other Committees:

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	CURRENT NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Civic Affairs	Liberal Democrat     Labour	3 (1)       3 (1)     6 Total	Boyce, Pitt, Rosenstiel.  Alt: Brierley   Herbert, Benstead, Marchant-Daisley.   Alt: Pogonowski

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	CURRENT NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Cambridge Traffic Management Area Joint Committee	Liberal Democrat       Labour	3 (1)       3 (1)     6 Total	Brown, Rosenstiel, Tunnacliffe. Alt: Tucker,   Price, Bird, Owers Alt: TBC

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	CURRENT NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Standards Committee   The External Members (3) will be recommended for re-appointment	Liberal Democrat       Labour     External Members	3 (1)       3 (1)     3   9 Total	Smart, Swanson, Tucker. Alt: Pitt   McPherson, Dryden, Ashton.  Alt: TBC

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	CURRENT NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Joint Development Control Committee	Liberal Democrat     Labour     Indep/Cons	3 (1)     2 (1)     1   6 Total	Reid, Smart, Tucker. Alt: Tunnacliffe   Blencowe, Dryden,  Alt: Marchant-Daisley   Hipkin

 

COMMITTEE/SUB COMMITTEE	NOMINATIONS	CURRENT NUMBERS (1)= Alternate	NOMINATIONS
Employment Appeals Sub Committee	Liberal Democrat       Labour     Indep/Cons	5       4     1   10 Total	Pippas, Reid, Saunders, Smart, Tucker.   Price, Bird, Johnson, Gawthrope   Hipkin

The Civic Affairs Committee is requested to make nominations for the positions listed below for the consideration of Council on 24 May.

Scrutiny Committees

·        Strategy & Resources

·        Community Services

·        Environment

·        Housing Management Board (for either role the holder need not be a Councillor)

Regulatory Committees

·        Civic Affairs

·        Employment Appeals Sub

·        Licensing

·        Planning

·        Joint Development Control Committee (Spokesperson)

Standards Committee - The Civic Affairs Committee is requested to recommend that Council delegate appointment of Chair and Vice Chair to the Standards Committee

The committee received nominations for Chairs and Vice Chairs of Scrutiny and Regulatory Committees.

 

Resolved to note the nominations for Chairs and Vice Chairs of Scrutiny and Regulatory Committees as follows:

 

Committee	Lib Dem Nomination		Labour Nomination
	Chair	Vice Chair	Chair	Vice Chair
Community Services	Kerr	Kightley	O’Reilly	-
Environment	Kightley	Saunders	Marchant-Daisley	-
Strategy and Resources	Brown	Rosenstiel	Benstead	-
HMB	Blackhurst	Tenant Rep	Price	-
Planning	Stuart	Tunnacliffe	-	Blencowe
JDCC	Reid (City Lead)	-	Blencowe (City Lead)	-
Licensing	Rosenstiel	Reiner	-	Benstead
Civic Affairs	Boyce	Rosenstiel	Marchant-Daisley
Employment Appeals Sub Committee	Smart	N/A	-	-

Any former member who had given a long period of service to the City Council should be eligible for appointment as an Honorary Councillor under the following scheme.

 

1.    No person shall be eligible normally for election as an Honorary Councillor unless s/he has served as a Councillor at least 10 years (or a person who has been Mayor, for 8 years) whether continuously or not.

2.    Application for election as an Honorary Councillor shall be made either by the applicant him/herself or by some member of the Council on his/her behalf.  Such application shall be submitted to the Chief Executive for consideration by the Civic Affairs Committee of the Council.  It shall be in the discretion of the Civic Affairs Committee to make or withhold a recommendation to the Council.  The names of those applicants who are not recommended by the Civic Affairs Committee shall not be recorded in the report of that Committee to the Council.

3.    Election to the position of Honorary Councillor shall be by a resolution of the Council passed on the recommendation of the Civic Affairs Committee by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting thereon at a meeting of the Council, the summons to which contains special notice that included in the business to be transacted is the election of an Honorary Councillor.

4.    An Honorary Councillor shall be entitled to the following rights and privileges –

a)    In civic processions, Honorary Councillors shall take precedence immediately after serving Councillors and shall have precedence amongst themselves according to the number of years service on the Council.

b)   On request to receive a copy of the Council summons, together with Council and Committee minutes.

c)    At each meeting of the Council to have a seat in a block reserved for the use of Honorary Councillors.

d)   The use, in common with members of the Council, of the Members’ Rooms in the Guildhall.

e)   To be invited, where circumstances permit, to those civic functions to which all members of the Council are invited.

f)      To receive a copy of the Diary and Year Book issued by the Council.

g)   On death, to have a flag flown above the Guildhall at half-mast.

Recommended: that the Council appoints Councillor Nimmo-Smith and former Councillor Roman Znajek as Honorary Councillors.