2005 05 19 - Adjourned Annual

 

THE ADJOURNED ANNUAL MEETING of the COUNCIL OF THE BOROUGH OF GOSPORT was held in the Council Chamber at the TOWN HALL, GOSPORT on THURSDAY, the NINETEENTH day of MAY 2005 at 6.00 PM.

 

The Mayor (Councillor Burgess) (P) (in the Chair);

 

The Deputy Mayor (Councillor Mrs Cully) (P);

 

Councillors Allen (P), Mrs Batterbury (P), Mrs Binfield (P), Bone, Carr (P), Carter (P), Mrs Champion (P), Chegwyn (P), Clinton (P), Cully (P), Davis (P), Dickson (P), Edgar (P), Edwards (P), Farr (P), Foster (P), Gill (P), Hayward (P), Hook (P), Jacobs (P),  Kimber (P), Langdon (P), Philpott (P), Redrup (P), Rigg (P), Mrs Salter (P), Searle (P), Smith (P), Taylor (P), Train (P), Mrs Wright (P) and Wright (P).

 

Also in attendance: Honorary Aldermen Mrs Bailey, Foster and O’Neill.

 

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APOLOGY

 

An apology for inability to attend the meeting was submitted on behalf of Councillor Bone.

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MINUTES

 

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Extraordinary and Ordinary Meetings of the Council held on 6 April and 10 May 2005 be confirmed and signed.

 

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QUESTION PURSUANT TO STANDING ORDER 3.4

 

Question No 1 standing in the name of Councillor Mrs Wright on the total cost of the Housing Management Team away day on 11 May 2005 was answered by the Mayor.

 

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STANDING ORDER 4.15.1

 

The Mayor reported that notices had been received requesting that Standing Order 4.15.1 be moved to enable the Borough Solicitor and Chief Executive to present their reports on Review of Council Boards, Sub-Boards and Committees and Determination of Allocation of Seats and Gosport Youth Festival.

 

RESOLVED: That Standing Order 4.15.1 be moved to enable the Borough Solicitor and Chief Executive to present their reports on Review of Council Boards, Sub-Boards and Committees and Determination of Allocation of Seats and Gosport Youth Festival.

 

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REVIEW OF COUNCIL BOARDS, SUB BOARDS AND COMMITTEES AND DETERMINATION OF ALLOCATION OF SEATS

 

Members of the Council had before them a report of the Borough Solicitor (a copy of which is attached hereto as Appendix “C1”) in connection with the above.

 

The report referred to the current arrangement of five Boards and seven Sub-Boards.  In July 2003 the Council reviewed its arrangements for scrutiny and agreed to two Scrutiny Committees broadly split between Policy and Services.

 

Members were advised that the statutory framework for Liquor and Public entertainment licensing had changed and that the Licensing Act 2003 was now in force.  The Act required the Council to establish a Licensing Committee of between 10 and 15 members.  In July 2004 the Council had established a Licensing Board of 15 members.  Whilst there is still a significant number of applications to be determined by the Licensing Board through its 3 Member Sub Boards in the next five months or so, it had become clearer that the Board itself did not need to be comprised of 15 members.  Therefore, it was recommended that the Licensing Board be reduced in size to 12 members.  It was for the Licensing Board to set up the three member Sub Boards and in order to ensure that the licensing regime was administered in an efficient manner, the Licensing Board would be asked to agree that these Sub Boards be drawn from any three members of the Licensing Board with a designated substitute for each of the Licensing Sub Boards (also drawn from the Licensing Board) being identified at the same time.

 

 

The final part of the Borough Solicitor’s report dealt with the Proportionality Rules and the notices received from the three political groups.

 

It was proposed to reduce the size of the Licensing Board, therefore 72 seats had to be allocated as set out in paragraph 2.2 of the report.  However, it was not possible to allocate 72 seats in exact proportion as each Political Group had on the Council, as could be seen from the tables below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was proposed that the allocation of seats on Boards and Overview & Scrutiny Committees be as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

This proposed allocation gave effect to the principles set out in paragraph 2.2 of the report.

 

In allocating seats on the Sub Boards of the Council, again, the proportions could not be matched.  Furthermore, any “ex-officio” Members of the Sub Boards without voting rights are disregarded under the Proportionality Rules.  The Council had previously approved the Proportionality Rules being applied to all Working Groups and Steering Groups.

 

 

It was proposed that the Council had the following Sub Boards, totalling 44 seats and the proposed allocation was set out below.

 

 

 

The report concluded that the proportionality rules did not apply to the Conduct and Standards Committee.  However, the Council had previously agreed that in addition to the two independent members, each Political Group should have two seats.  The Standards Board for England believed that Standards Committees should include appropriate political representation with the support of all political parties and that they should be constituted to ensure that no one political group dominated.  They also believed that only one Chairman of a Board (including the Leaders) should sit on the Conduct and Standards Committee for authorities not operating Executive arrangements, which was consistent with the regulations governing authorities operating Executive arrangements.

 

It was proposed that the 8 seats should be allocated as follows:

 

 

RECOMMENDED: That the Council approve:

 

(i)         the reduction in size of the Licensing Board to 12 members;

 

(ii)        the allocation of seats on the Boards and Committees as set out in paragraph 3.1 of the report;

 

(iii)       the allocation of seats on the Sub Boards as set out in paragraph 4.2 of the report; and

 

(iv)       the allocation of seats on the Conduct & Standards Committee as set out in paragraph 5.2 of the report.