Agenda and minutes

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Media

Items
No. Item

C1

Remarks of the Outgoing Chair

To receive the remarks from the outgoing Chair.

Minutes:

Councillor Coote, the outgoing Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting. He thanked Council and said he had enjoyed his time in the chair. He said he had particularly enjoyed visiting schools across the District.

C2

Election of the Chair

To receive nominations and elect the Chair.

Minutes:

The Chair called on nominations to elect a Chair of Council.

 

Councillor Sell nominated Councillor Fairhurst; this was seconded by Councillor Caton.

 

The Leader of the Council nominated Councillor Asker for the position of Chair of Council. Councillor Jones seconded the proposal. There were no further nominations.

 

The Chair called on the proposer and seconder of each nomination to speak in support of their chosen candidate.

 

Councillor Sell said he had nominated Councillor Fairhurst as a long standing member who had left his mark on the council. He had a number of qualifications and skills that were highly suited to the role, including being an Advocate of the Courts of South Africa and a professional mediator, and he urged members to support the nomination. Furthermore, he said that the long standing convention of sharing this civic role between political groups had not been adhered to, and he urged the next Chair to act non-politically.

 

Councillor Caton said he had nominated Councillor Fairhurst as an experienced member who would act impartially in the Chair. He said he believed the Chair should be politically neutral to ensure all groups worked together in the interests of the Council.

 

The Leader said she had nominated Councillor Asker for the role of Chair due to her composure, professionalism and confidence. Due to these qualities she felt Councillor Asker would be an excellent, balanced and non-contentious Chair.

 

Councillor Jones commended the nominations and said all the speeches had been positive. He said he believed Councillor Asker would make an excellent Chair and urged members to support her candidacy.

 

Councillor Caton called for a vote by ballot; this was superseded by the Leader’s call for a recorded vote. 

 

The Chair moved to a recorded vote; the result was as follows:

 

Voting Councillor:

Nomination for Chair:

Armstrong

Asker

Asker

Asker

Barker

Fairhurst

Caton

Fairhurst

Coote

Asker

Criscione

Abstain

Day

Asker

De Vries

Asker

Driscoll

Asker

Emanuel

Asker

Evans

Asker

Fairhurst

Fairhurst

Foley

Asker

Freeman

Asker

Hargreaves

Asker

Isham

Fairhurst

Jones

Asker

Khan

Fairhurst

Lavelle

Asker

LeCount

Asker

Lees

Asker

Lemon

Abstain

Light

Fairhurst

Luck

Asker

Merifield

Asker

Oliver

Fairhurst

Pavitt

Asker

Pepper

Asker

Reeve

Asker

Sell

Fairhurst

Smith

Abstain

Sutton

Asker

 

 

The result was declared with 21 votes for Councillor Asker and 8 votes for Councillor Fairhurst, with 3 abstentions.

 

 

                        RESOLVED to elect Councillor

 

C3

Chair's Statutory Declaration of Acceptance of Office

The Chair to make the statutory declaration of acceptance of office.

Minutes:

Councillor Asker took the Chair and made the statutory declaration of acceptance of office.

C4

Election of the Vice-Chair

To receive nominations and appoint the Vice-Chair.

Minutes:

Councillor Reeve nominated Councillor Driscoll to be Vice-Chair of the Council. This was seconded by Councillor Freeman.

 

Councillor Caton nominated Councillor Fairhurst to be Vice-Chair of the Council. This was seconded by Councillor Sell.

 

Councillor Reeve said he was fully supportive of Councillor Driscoll’s nomination; he was a hardworking and conscientious colleague who always spoke directly to the matters at hand.

 

Councillor Freeman supported these comments and said Councillor Driscoll’s impeccable integrity made him a very worthy candidate for the position of Vice-Chair.  

 

Councillor Caton and Sell both commended Councillor Fairhurst and urged members to support his candidacy. Councillor Sell said Councillor Driscoll would be the fifth R4U Chairperson if elected to the role at next year’s annual meeting.

 

A vote was taken by a show of hands.

 

RESOLVED to elect Councillor Driscoll to be Vice-Chair of the Council.

 

 

C5

Vice-Chair's Statutory Declaration of Acceptance of Office

The Vice-Chair to make the statutory declaration of acceptance of office.

Minutes:

The Vice-Chair made the declaration of acceptance of office.

 

The Chair thanked Councillor Coote and presented him with a portrait to commemorate his year in the Chair. He was invited to say a few words on his chosen charity.

 

Councillor Coote said his chosen charity was the East Anglia Children’s Hospices (EACH) who carried out vital work across the region. He said they had worked hard to raise money for EACH but unfortuantely had faced difficulties during the pandemic.

 

Ms Corke, speaking on behalf of EACH, thanked Councillor Coote and his wife for their hardwork and proactive fundraising. She said EACH were very grateful for their contributions.  

 

Councillor Foley, Chair of Council in 2020-21, was also thanked as he had been unable to accept his portrait at the previous Annual Council meeting due to Covid-19 restrictions.

 

C6

Apologies for Absence and Declarations of Interest

To receive any apologies and declarations of interest.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bagnall, Dean, Eke, Gregory, Loughlin, Lodge and Tayler.

 

There were no declarations of interest.

C7

Minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 474 KB

To receive the minutes of the previous meeting.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting on 20 April 2022 were approved as a correct record of the meeting.

 

Councillor Barker asked whether the letter had been despatched as agreed to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities calling on the Government to change the law to allow councils the flexibility to hold meetings which they deem appropriate within agreed rules and procedures

regarding hybrid meetings.

 

The Chief Executive confirmed that the letter had been despatched.

 

C8

Chair's Announcements

To receive any announcements from the Chair.

Minutes:

The Chair said it was a great honour to represent the district. In their time as a Councillor there had been fifteen Chairs that came before them, some of whom were present in the Chamber today. She noted her respect for councillors and asked that the same respect be reciprocated throughout the Chamber during the forthcoming year. It was acknowledged that there were various viewpoints represented in the Chamber but all Members were working towards the betterment of residents.

 

They said that they believe that the future of our district lies with the next generation. They said that they would like to focus all fundraising projects this year to help with the youth within our towns and villages and welcomed input from Members regarding their ward knowledge and local need.

 

C9

Political Balance 2022-23 pdf icon PDF 229 KB

To consider the Political Balance 2022-23 report.

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council proposed approval of the report and noted that the Standards Committee is not proportionally political but represents everybody in the Chamber.

 

Councillor Fairhurst seconded approval of the report.

 

RESOLVED to achieve political balance by allocating seats on its committees as detailed in the report.

 

C10

Appointment of Members to Committees of Council 2022-23 pdf icon PDF 112 KB

To appoint the Council’s committees for 2022-23 and agree the nominations from the Group Leaders for Committee Chairs, Vice-Chairs, members and substitutes.

Minutes:

Nominations had been submitted for positions on the Council’s Committees. These were set out in the report.

 

Councillor Hargreaves proposed approval of the proposed appointments and Councillor Jones seconded the proposal.

 

RESOLVED that membership of the Council`s Committees be appointed as set out in the report.

 

C11

Appointments of Members to Working Groups of Council 2022-23 pdf icon PDF 48 KB

To appoint the Council’s working groups for 2022-23.

Minutes:

C12

Appointment to the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Panel pdf icon PDF 40 KB

To consider a nomination to appoint Councillor Sutton as a member of the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Panel, and to appoint Councillor Le Count as a substitute.

Minutes:

Councillors Sutton and LeCount had been nominated to be the substantive and substitute representatives respectively of the Council on the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Panel.

 

Councillor Foley proposed and Councillor Armstrong seconded the nominations.

 

RESOLVED to appoint Councillor Sutton to be the substantive representative of the Council on the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Panel, and to appoint Councillor LeCount to be the substitute representative on the panel.

 

C13

Reports from the Leader and Members of the Executive pdf icon PDF 63 KB

To receive matters of report from the Leader and members of the Executive.

 

·        Councillor Evans,Portfolio Holder for Planning, Stansted Airport, Infrastructure Strategy and the Local Plan

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council said that Councillor Coote would now be the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Housing and Health and noted her faith that their passion for affordable and social housing would ensure success with the role.

 

C14

Matters referred from the Executive and the Council's committees

To consider any matter referred from the Executive and the Council’s committees – none.

 

Minutes:

There had been no matters referred.

C15

Matters received about joint arrangements and external organisations

To consider any matter referred from joint arrangements and external organisations – none.

 

Minutes:

There had been no matters received.

 

The meeting ended at 19:41.