The Very Reverend Michael Tavinor, Dean of Hereford, led the Council in prayer.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors: C Bartrum, DJ Benjamin, ACR Chappell, BA Durkin, MAF Hubbard, JG Jarvis, MD Lloyd-Hayes, R Mills, GA Powell, NL Vaughan

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

GUIDANCE ON DECLARING PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AT MEETINGS

The Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct requires Councillors to declare against an Agenda item(s) the nature of an interest and whether the interest is personal or prejudicial.  Councillors have to decide first whether or not they have a personal interest in the matter under discussion.  They will then have to decide whether that personal interest is also prejudicial.

A personal interest is an interest that affects the Councillor more than most other people in the area.  People in the area include those who live, work or have property in the area of the Council.  Councillors will also have a personal interest if their partner, relative or a close friend, or an organisation that they or the member works for, is affected more than other people in the area.  If they do have a personal interest, they must declare it but can stay and take part and vote in the meeting. 

Whether an interest is prejudicial is a matter of judgement for each Councillor.  What Councillors have to do is ask themselves whether a member of the public – if he or she knew all the facts – would think that the Councillor’s interest was so important that their decision would be affected by it.  If a Councillor has a prejudicial interest then they must declare what that interest is and leave the meeting room.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To receive the Chairman's announcements and petitions from members of the public.

The Chairman advised Members that an extraordinary meeting of the Council had been called to exercise the powers reserved to Council at its Annual Meeting in the allocation of seats to political groups for the forthcoming year.

To exercise those powers reserved to Council at its Annual Meeting:

(a)         To approve the allocation of seats to political groups for the coming year. 

(b)         To make appointments to the positions of Chairmen and Vice?Chairmen of committees.

(c)         To make arrangements for such appointments to committees and other bodies as may be necessary.

Please note that the Council may be asked under this item to approve alternative arrangements to strict proportionality for appointments to Committees and other bodies in accordance with Regulation 20 of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990.

The Chairman called on the Chief Executive, Chris Bull to inform Council of the process for considering the item together with any pertinent legal issues which required to be borne in mind by Members.

The Chief Executive advised Members that the detailed report outlined the rules of proportionality and the options for the allocation of seats to political parties.  Members were informed of the proposals for their consideration and were provided with an outline of the options relating to; the suspension of proportionality for both Strategic Monitoring Committee and (for clarity) Regulatory Committee (outlined in paragraph 14 of the report) which would need to be agreed nem com; and the option relating to the application of strict proportionality (according to the allocation outlined in paragraph 18 of the report) which would legally prevail should the first option not be agreed nem com.

Members were informed by the Chief Executive that firstly the Council must establish whether it wished to suspend proportionality, which if agreed nem com, would require Council to consider recommendations (c) and (d); should proportionality not be suspended the Council would consider recommendations (e) and (f) of the report. 

Council was informed that the proposed suspension of proportionality would relate to the membership of both Strategic Monitoring Committee and Regulatory Committee.

Following a request, the Chairman informed Council that the recommendations in the report would be considered individually.

Councillor JD Woodward advised Council that she had agreed to present a statement to Council on behalf of Councillor MD Lloyd Hayes, who was not in attendance due to a prior engagement.  Councillor JD Woodward emphasised whilst she would articulate the words of the statement, no assumptions or inferences should be made of her personal views.  Councillor MD Lloyd Hayes’ statement expressed her view that that the current administration was dictatorial in its manner which was illustrated by the discriminatory way the Alliance Group was treated due to its lack of Committee positions and in the way allocations were determined.  The statement expressed the view that the Alliance Group sought equity with the Labour Group regarding Committee positions.  The opportunity for Councillors to serve on different Committees was also addressed in the statement.  Further views were expressed regarding back bench Members’ involvement in training and development and wider issues pertaining to the review of the constitution.  Reference was additionally made to the recent reports relating to MPs allowances and the need to rebalance the national democratic deficit through a radical review.

The Leader, in responding to issues raised, advised Members that the statement was fundamentally flawed as several points related to mistaken assumptions regarding the appointments process which in turn underlined a basic lack of knowledge and understanding of the Council’s constitution and constitutional matters.  The Leader challenged certain views articulated in the statement and advised Members that the reputation of the Council could be damaged if such remarks were left unchallenged.   He sought an apology from Councillor MD Lloyd Hayes on personal remarks made of the Leader within the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.