Issue - meetings

To receive any announcements from the Leader including the appointment of a Deputy Leader and members of the Executive.

Councillor Lees said she wanted to start by noting that the Council had won an exemplar award for address data reaching ‘gold standard’ and thanked Sampson Adamah and Richard Ebberson of the Planning Directorate for their work.

The Leader moved on to congratulate members for their election to Council. She said she wanted to work together and avoid tribal politics, and hoped this council could be an example to others who wanted to be non-political.

            Councillor Lees announced her Cabinet as follows:

·         Councillor Hargreaves – Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance and the Economy

·         Councillor Reeve – Portfolio Holder for the Environment and Climate Change

·         Councillor Evans – Portfolio Holder for Planning

·         Councillor Sutton – Portfolio Holder for Communities and Local Partnerships

·         Councillor Coote – Portfolio Holder for Housing and Equalities

Councillor Barker, Leader of the Conservative Group and main opposition, said the Council would be poorer for the loss of former Councillors Smith, Isham, Khan, Fairhurst and Light at the election. She said their passion would be missed. She asked the Leader to re-think the responsibilities listed under the new Cabinet structure as important functions, such as waste collection, social housing, heritage, army liaison, rural affairs were missing from the list.

Councillor Sell, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, congratulated the new Chair and Leader, and said that Councillor Lees was both the first female and non-Conservative Leader to return an administration at Uttlesford District Council. Further to Councillor Barker’s earlier comments, he said he also wanted to remember Councillor Caton’s contribution to Council. He said his Group would not criticise the Administration for the sake of it but, equally, Council was not a political “big tent”.

To receive any announcements from the Leader including the appointment of a Deputy Leader and members of the Executive.

The Leader said it was a privilege to be appointed Leader of the Council. He knew there were tremendous expectations for his administration. He thanked supporters for attending the meeting that night.

The administration was filled with talented people who were well-prepared for the challenges ahead. The new administration would focus on issues which were important to the residents of Uttlesford. Its approach was to decentralise power, with nine Cabinet members instead of six, and each member of the Residents for Uttlesford group leading on a particular topic. These topic leads would be announced in due course. The party wanted to end the old party-based model of local government and would be looking into alternative models in due course. Other parties had been invited to take up important positions in the current system, with Councillors Oliver and Gregory being nominated to chair committees, and Councillor Lemon being nominated to be a Vice Chair.

The new Cabinet would comprise the following:

-       Councillor Lodge, Leader and Lead on Planning and the Local Plan

-       Councillor Lees, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing; Health and Wellbeing

-       Councillor Fairhurst, Portfolio Holder for Business, Economy, Jobs, Investment and Strategy

-       Councillor Asker, Portfolio Holder for Council and Public Services

-       Councillor Light, Portfolio Holder for Education and Libraries; Culture, Heritage and Tourism

-       Councillor Pepper, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Green Issues; Equalities

-       Councillor Hargreaves, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Budget

-       Councillor Eke, Portfolio Holder for Infrastructure, Transport and Stansted Airport

-       Councillor Gerard, Portfolio Holder for Residents and Community Partnerships; Police and Emergency Services

-       Councillor Armstrong, Portfolio Holder for Sports and Leisure