Agenda and minutes

To elect the Chairman of Council for 2020/21.

Pauline Batstone, the previous Chairman, stated that it had been a privilege to represent Dorset as Chairman of the Council over the last year. 

It was proposed by Cllr P Batstone and seconded by Cllr T Coombs that Cllr V Pothecary be elected Chairman of the Dorset Council until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2021.

It was proposed by Cllr P Kimber that he be elected Chairman of the Dorset Council until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2021.  This was not supported.

Decision

That Cllr V Pothecary be elected Chairman of the Dorset Council until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2021.

Cllr Pothecary then made and signed her declaration of office.  She thanked Cllr Batstone for her hard work and dedication over the last 16 months. She also thanked her proposer and seconder and members of the Council for her election and would promote Dorset, and support Dorset businesses and communities as much as she could.

To elect the Vice-chairman of Council 2020/21.

It was proposed by Cllr V Pothecary and seconded by Cllr R Bryan that Cllr M Parkes be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Dorset Council for the period until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2021.

It was proposed by Cllr N Ireland and seconded by Cllr A Brenton that Cllr H Legg be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Dorset Council for the period until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2021.

Upon being put to the vote Cllr M Parkes was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Council.

Decision

That Cllr M Parkes be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Dorset Council for the period until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2021.

Cllr M Parkes made and signed his declaration of office and thanked his proposer and seconder and Dorset Councillors for the confidence they had shown in appointing him. 

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tony Alford and Andy Canning.

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 18 February 2020 and 11 June 2020.

The minutes of the meetings held on 18 February and 11 June 2020 were confirmed.  The Chairman would sign the minutes at the earliest opportunity.

To receive any declarations of interest.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

To receive any announcements from the Chairman of Council.

The Chairman reported the recent death of Cllr A Thacker.

A pre-recorded message from Cllr T Alford was played in tribute to Cllr A Thacker and a minute's silence was held as a mark of respect.

To elect the Leader for 2020/21.

It was proposed by Cllr P Wharf and seconded by Cllr A Parry that Cllr S Flower be elected Leader of the Council for 2020/2021.

There were no other nominations.

Decision

That Cllr S Flower be elected Leader of the Council for 2020/2021.

Cllr S Flower thanked Councillors for their support and looked forward to a constructive and productive year.

To note the Deputy Leader, Cabinet membership/Portfolio Holders and Lead members as appointed by the Leader of Council.

The Leader of the Council reported the appointment of the Deputy Leader, Portfolio Holders and Lead Members as follows:-

Spencer Flower        Leader/ Governance, Performance and Communication

Peter Wharf              Deputy Leader/Corporate Development and Change

Gary Suttle                Finance, Commercial and Capital Strategy

Ray Bryan                 Highways, Travel and Environment

Tony Ferrari              Economic Growth, Assets and Property

David Walsh             Planning

Jill Haynes                Customer and Community Services

Andrew Parry            Children, Education, Skills and Early Help

Laura Miller               Adult Social Care and Health

Graham Carr-Jones Housing and Community Safety

Byron Quayle            Lead Member for Education

Jane Somper            Lead Member for Safeguarding

Piers Brown              Lead Member for Health

Simon Gibson           Lead Member for Care

Noc Lacey-Clarke    Lead Member for Environment, Travel and Harbours

Cherry Brooks          Lead member for Highways

To receive any communications from the Leader of Council.

The Leader reported that the next Leader's Bulletin would be available on 15 October 2020.  He added that although the Covid-19 pandemic was a challenging time for the Council, it had provided opportunities to show how adaptable the Council had been for greater working with partners and communities. 

A period of 30 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to questions and statements, on the business of the Council in the following order:

(a) Questions and statements from Town and Parish Councils;

(b) Questions and statements from those living or working in the Dorset Council area;

A person or organisation can ask either 2 questions, or 2 statements or 1 question and 1 statement at each meeting. 

**Important** 

The full text of the question or statement must be received by 8.30am on Friday 28 August 2020.

Each question and/or statement is limited to 450 words.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic public speaking has been suspended however questions and statements will be published on the website and the Chairman of Council will decide whether a question or statement is to be read out aloud in whole, in part or not at all a the meeting.  The Chairman will invite the relevant member to respond to the questions and statements at the meeting.  

Details of the Council’s procedure rules can be found at: Temporary Procedure Rules

Public questions, statements and the responses from Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder are set out in Appendix 1 attached to these minutes.

A period of 15 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to petitions in accordance with the council’s petitions scheme.

A period of 15 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to deputations in accordance with the council’s constitution.

The petitions scheme and procedures relating to deputations can be viewed at :Temporary Procedure Rules

There were no petitions or deputations.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.  The deadline for receipt of questions is 8.30am on Friday 28 August 2020.

Cllr A Brenton asked questions of the Portfolio Holder for Children, Education, Skills and Early Help and Planning.

Cllr M Roe, Cllr N Ireland and Cllr B Ezzard asked questions of the Portfolio Holder for Customer and Community Services.

Cllr N Ireland asked questions of the Portfolio Holder for Planning.

Cllr R Legg asked questions of Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercial and Capital Strategy and the Leader of the Council.

Cllr B Ezzard asked questions of the Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment.

The questions and responses are attached to these minutes at Appendix 2.

To consider a report by the Corporate Director, Legal & Democratic (Monitoring Officer).

The Council considered a report on the appointment to Committees, Joint Committees and the election of Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen for 2020/21.

The nominations to committees from the Political Group Leaders had been circulated to all councillors prior to the meeting. It was proposed by Cllr S Flower and seconded by Cllr P Wharf that the three recommendations be approved.

In respect of recommendation 3, it was proposed by Cllr N Ireland and seconded by Cllr K Wheller that this be amended to give delegated authority to the Harbour Committee members to appoint the Chairman and Vice-Chairman at their first meeting following the meeting of Annual Council..

This amendment was debated with various points raised.  Some members thought the amendment went against the Council's constitution; that the Council had the statutory responsibility for Harbours and the appointments should sit with it; and the amendment would allow Council members to be overruled by the independent members on the Committee.  Other members thought independent members of this Committee should have the opportunity to appoint the Chairman and Vice-Chairman as they were an integral part of Committee.

Upon being put to the vote the amendment was lost.

Upon being put to the vote, the original proposal was agreed.

Decisions

(i)         That the allocation of committee seats and the appointments to committees and joint committees, as nominated by the Political Group Leaders, be approved for 2020/21.

(ii)        That delegated authority be given to Political Group Leaders to make in-year changes to committee appointments.

ii)         That the nominations for committee Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen for 2020-21 be approved.

To consider the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel.

The Council considered a report by the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) on the Dorset Council Scheme of Members' Allowances.

The Leader reminded members that the original scheme had been approved by the Shadow Council in February 2019 and was to be reviewed after a year.  Since then the outcomes of a governance review had been agreed by Council on 18 February 2020 and these arrangements were taken into account within the report.  The costs of the increases in allowances were a reduction when compared to the costs of the previous councils' allowances schemes. The IRP were satisfied that the role of lead members involved additional work and responsibility similar to those of a chairman.  The additional capacity they would provide would help bring about the transformation necessary to maintain a balanced budget.  The new scheme would also enable people of all ages and social backgrounds to be involved in local democracy.  He thanked the IRP for their evidence-based report.

It was proposed by Cllr S Flower and seconded by Cllr P Wharf that recommendation (i) be taken separately and recommendations 1(ii) to (vi) en bloc.  The Leader of the Council requested that both items be a recorded vote. This was supported by Cllr P Wharf, Cllr N Lacey-Clarke and Cllr N Ireland.

Cllr N Ireland proposed the following amendment

“That members reject the IRP recommended increase to the basic allowance”. This was seconded by Cllr N Lacey-Clarke.

In the debate that followed some members were of the view that members' allowances should not be increased because of the financial difficulties and hardship faced by residents and the Council arising from the Covid-19 pandemic and that the increase was more than staff salary increases.  Other members suggested that members could choose not to accept the additional allowance and give it to charity and highlighted the need to be able to attract a more diverse range of members.

On being put to the vote the amendment was carried.

Those voting in favour of the amendment:-

Cllrs J Andrews, P Batstone, P Barrow, R Biggs, D Bolwell, A Brenton, C Brooks, P Brown, R Bryan, G Carr-Jones, K Clayton, S Cocking, T Cook, R Cook,  S Christopher, M Dyer, T Ferrari, S Flower, L Fry, D Gray, S Gibson, P Harrison, J Haynes, M Hall, B Heatley, R Holloway, R Hope, N Ireland, S Jespersen, C Jones, S Jones, A Kerby, R Knox, N Lacey-Clarke, H Legg, R Legg, C Lugg, D Morgan, L Miller, L O’Leary, J Orrell, E Parker, M Parkes, B Quayle, M Rennie,  M Roberts, M Roe, D Shortell , A Starr, G Suttle, J Somper, C Sutton, R Tarr, D Taylor, G Taylor, D Tooke, W Trite, D Turner, P Wharf, K Wheller, S Williams,

Those voting against the amendment:

Cllrs R Adkins, M Barron, S Bartlett, T Coombs, B Goringe, R Hughes, P Kimber, A Parry, M Penfold, B Ridout, D Walsh and J Worth

Abstentions:

Cllr B Pipe and V Pothecary

Cllr  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

As the meeting had not concluded within three hours, it was proposed by Cllr S Flower and seconded by Cllr N Ireland to continue the meeting but to finish no later than 10.00pm. 

To consider the recommendations of the Outside Bodies Task and Finish Group.

Vice-Chairman in the Chair

The Council considered a report on the Fundamental Review of Outside Bodies.

Cllr L Fry, Chairman of the Task and Finish Group who undertook the review, presented the Groups findings.  It was proposed by Cllr L Fry and seconded by Cllr S Williams that the recommendations be approved.

The Group were thanked for the work undertaken in order to provide a sound basis for any future review.  It was noted that some of the bodies included were no longer relevant and these would be addressed through any future review.  The Group had been a good example of cross-party working.

Decisions

(i)         That the list of Outside Bodies appended to the report be approved subject to any in year amendments being made by the Democratic Services Team in consultation with the Chairman of the Panel, Cllr Les Fry, and Political Group Leaders.

(ii)        That the Outside Body Task and Finish Group reviews the list of Outside Bodies in 2021 to take into account any changes and to review how well the revised list is operating.

(iii)       That the Chairman of the Task and Finish Group works with officers to find an appropriate mechanism to enable members to upload updates on outside Bodies to the Dorset Council intranet pages.

To approve the revised Calendar of Meetings for 2020/21.

The Chairman returned to the meeting and took the Chair

The Leader explained that the calendar of meetings had been amended to reflect the new governance structure.  it was proposed by Cllr S Flower and seconded by Cllr B Pipe that the recommendations be approved.

Decision

(i)         That the amendments to the Calendar of Meetings for the period September 2020 to May 2021 be approved.

(ii)        That authority be delegated to the Corporate Director - Legal and Democratic Services to make any necessary changes, in consultation with the relevant Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen, to ensure effective political management.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.

There is no exempt business.

There was no exempt business.