Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr L Fry (attended the meeting virtually), B Ridout, J Robinson and S Williams.

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 5^th December 2024.

The minutes of the meeting(s) held on 5 December 2025 were confirmed and signed.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct.  In making their decision councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

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

To receive a short presentation by members of the Youth Council.

To receive any announcements from the Chair of Council.

The Council received and welcomed a short presentation from members of Dorset Youth Voice and the Youth Council.

The Chair of the Council and Group Leaders paid tribute to the Chief Executive, Matt Prosser, who would be leaving the Council after 5 years of service for the new role as the Chief Executive of Wellington City Council in New Zealand.

The Chief Executive took this opportunity to respond to those tributes. 

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 submit either 1 question or 1 statement at each meeting. 

You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.  If you submit a statement for Full Council this will be circulated to all members of the council in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes of the meeting for the formal record but it will not be read out at the meeting.  The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received by Democratic Services will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline below:  

The full text of the question or statement must be received by 8.30am on Thursday 6 February 2025. All submissions must be emailed to susan.dallison@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk 

When submitting your question or statement please note that:

Sub-divided questions will not be accepted;

Each question can consist of up to 450 words, including a pre-amble to set the context of the question;

When submitting a question please indicate who the question is for, i.e., the name of the Portfolio Holder;

You will need to include your full name, address and contact details;

All questions and statements will be published in full with the minutes of the meeting as a matter of public record.

There were 2 questions from the public and a copy of the questions and responses are set out at Appendix 1 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:

Council Procedure Rules

There were no petitions and deputations received.

To receive any announcements and reports from the Leader of Council and members of the Cabinet.

The Leader of the Council reported on the following matters and answered any questions:

·       The progress of the Chief Executive Recruitment Process

·       Update on the Devolution following the announcement that the joint bid for Wessex had not been accepted onto the Devolution Priority Programme.

·       The Wareham Level Crossing.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.  The deadline for receipt of questions is 8.30am on Thursday 6 February 2025.

There were 6 questions from councillors and a copy of these are set out in Appendix 2 to these minutes.

In response to a supplementary question from Cllr B Quayle, the Cabinet Member for Education, Children’s and Skills advised that any investigation should sit with the Charity Commission, and she did not consider that a detailed report to this council was appropriate.

Responding to a supplementary question from Cllr B Quayle regarding the “Veteran Friendly Framework and Care Dorset being part of that framework, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care confirmed that he would be happy to take this proposal forward.

To consider a recommendation from Cabinet.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Capital Strategy presented the Budget Strategy and Medium-term Financial Plan (MTPF).

In presenting the report the Cabinet Member for Finance and Capital Strategy, Cllr S Clifford paid tribute to members and officers for their support in producing the budget for 2025/26. Following his budget speech Cllr Clifford proposed the recommendations (a) to (k) as set out in the report, and these were seconded by Cllr Ireland.

The Chair invited the Group Leaders to present their replies to the budget proposals. Cllrs A Parry, C Sutton, R Hughes and K Wheller presented their budget speeches and some of these are attached at appendix 3 to these minutes.

Cllr G Suttle proposed the following amendment, and this was seconded by Cllr S Flower.

 “That:

Council land should be used in conjunction with community land trusts to deliver the priority of building local houses for local people.

As a consequence, the revenue budget summarised in appendix 1 be amended by reallocating up to £1.5M of the housing transformation funding anticipated from dwellings occupied periodically (second homes) to enable the following allocations:

(i)      The budget to address the cost-of-living pressures faced by residents to be increased from £500,000 to £1.5M 

(ii)    Removal of the proposed introduction of evening and nighttime car parking charges at a cost of £235,000

(iii)   The budget for youth work to be doubled from £100,000 to £200,000.” 

Members debated the amendment proposed and the comments included:

·       The proposed budget would support the delivery of the Housing Strategy whereas the amendment would have a significant negative impact on that work.

·       Concerns expressed about matters raised that were not set out within the current budget proposals for example charging for nighttime parking. This proposal was not raised or debated during the scrutiny process; however other councillors indicated that it had been discussed.

·       This budget was committed to transformation.

·       Disagreement regarding the Youth Fund budget line.

·       Concerns expressed regarding void properties.

As the seconder to the motion, Cllr S Flower addressed the Council, and the Cabinet Member for Finance and Capital Strategy responded to the amendment before it was put to the vote.

Cllr Suttle confirmed that the amendments (i) to (iv) should be taken as one vote.

In accordance with procedure rule 19.6 (recorded votes at budget meetings) a recorded vote was taken.

Those who voted in favour of the amendment:

Cllrs L Beddow, P Brown, R Bryan, S Christopher, T Coombs, P Dickenson, S Flower, S Gibson, B Goringe, J Haynes, S Jespersen, C Jones, N Lacey-Clarke, C Lugg, C Monks, S Murcer, L O’Leary, E Parker, M Parkes, A Parry, V Pothecary, B Quayle, D Shortell, A Skeats, J Somper, G Suttle, W Trite, J Vitali and K Wheller.

Those who voted against the amendment:

Cllrs Andrews, J Atwal, M Baker, S Bartlett, B Bawden, D Beer, M Bell, R Biggs, B Bolwell, D Bolwell, L Bown, A Brenton, A Canning, W Chakawhata, S Clifford, B Cooper, R Crabb, N Eysenck, B  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

Duration of the meeting (Procedure Rule 8)

In accordance with procedure rule 8.1, members of the council voted to continue the meeting beyond 3 hours until the business on the agenda was concluded.

The Full Council meeting adjourned at 9.20pm for a short comfort break and returned at 9.30pm.

To consider a recommendation by the Audit & Governance Committee.

The Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee, Cllr G Suttle introduced the committee’s recommendation on the adoption of the Councillor Code of Conduct Complaint Process. The recommendation was seconded by Cllr S Flower.

Decision

That the proposed new Councillor Complaint Process be adopted.  

To consider a report by the Service Manager, Democratic & Electoral Services.  

The Leader of the Council set out a report proposing to vary Officer Employment Procedure rules in the constitution to create the flexibility for all political groups to be represented on the Staffing Committee when it recommends to Full Council the appointment of a new Chief Executive.

The report also recommended that the Staffing Committee be given authority to approve the interim arrangements, including the appointment of an Acting Chief Executive.

It was proposed by Cllr N Ireland and seconded by Cllr R Hughes.

Decision

(a)           That the Constitution be amended, so that for the appointment of a Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service and for the approval of interim arrangements the composition of the Staffing Committee shall be agreed by the Director of Legal and Democratic in consultation with all political group leaders

(b)           That authority be delegated to the Staffing Committee to approve interim arrangements, including the appointment of an Acting Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service.

Jonathan Mair, Director for Legal and Democratic left the meeting for the consideration of the following item.

To consider a report by the Service Manager, Democratic and Electoral Services.

The Leader of the Council presented a report seeking approval to appoint Jonathan Mair, Director for Legal and Democratic Services, as Returning Officer and Electoral Registration Officer for Dorset Council as an interim appointment, as the Chief Executive was leaving the Council.

It was proposed by Cllr N Ireland and seconded by Cllr D Beer

Decision

That Jonathan Mair, Director for Legal and Democratic Services be appointed as Returning Officer and Electoral Registration Officer for Dorset Council.

Jonathan Mair, Director for Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer returned to the meeting.

To consider a report by K Critchel, Senior Democratic Services Officer.  

The Leader of the Council proposed, and Cllr M Bell seconded the motion

Decision

(a)    That the calendar of meetings for the period May 2025- May 2026 be approved.

(b)    That, to ensure effective political management, authority be delegated to the Director of Legal and Democratic to make any necessary changes to the calendar, in consultation with the appropriate Chair and Vice-Chair.

All members of the Senior Leadership Team, present,  left the meeting for the consideration of the following item.

To consider the 2025/26 Pay Policy Statement.

It was proposed by Cllr B Wilson and seconded by Cllr B Ezzard

Decision

(a)           That the provisions of the Localism Act and content of the Pay Policy Statement for the 2025/26 financial year, be noted.

(b)           That the Pay Policy Statement for 2025/26, be approved.

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 report.

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  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 scheduled for consideration at this meeting.

There was no exempt business.