Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Newport, Isle of WIght

Contact: Marie Bartlett  Email: democratic.services@iow.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

To elect a Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

Minutes:

The names of Councillor Claire Critchison and Councillor Chris Quirk were separately moved and seconded. Following the vote, it was:

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT Councillor Claire Critchison be elected as Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

 

Councillor Critchison formally declared her acceptance of office and took the chair.

 

2.

To appoint a Vice Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

Minutes:

The names of Councillor Michael Lilley and Councillor Chris Quirk were separately moved and seconded. Following the vote, it was:

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT Councillor Michael Lilley be appointed as Vice Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

 

Councillor Lilley formally declared his acceptance of office.

 

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 280 KB

To confirm as a true record the Minutes of the meeting held on 23 February 2022.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 23 February 2022 be approved.

 

4.

Declarations of Interest

To invite Members to declare any interest they might have in the matters on the agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations received at this stage.

 

5.

Chairman's Official Announcements

To receive the Chairman’s official announcements.

Minutes:

As the chairman was newly elected, they had no announcements to make.

6.

Leaders Annual Report pdf icon PDF 380 KB

a)             To receive the Leader’s annual report (5 minutes maximum).

 

b)             Members questions on the Leader’s annual report (15 minutes maximum).

Minutes:

The Leader thanked everyone for adjusting to a new normal, she was surprised at the level of things that had been achieved over the last year which was a credit to the Cabinet and staff. Sadly, there were still people passing away due to Covid and mental health continued to be a major concern.

 

Questions were raised regarding the number of payments relating to the covid relief scheme, they were advised that 21 thousand payments to local businesses had been made which totalled over £140 million.

 

Concern was raised regarding poverty particularly in the Pan and Barton area, the Cabinet Member advised that a poverty group had been set up to address poverty across the whole Island.

 

Councillors were advised that legal negotiations were on going regarding the floating bridge.

 

A question was raised regarding the number of apprenticeships across the Council. Council were informed that the number of apprentices employed by the Isle of Wight Council exceeded government targets, there were currently 83 apprentices.

 

 

Council were advised that the £150 rebate for Council tax bands A-C had started to be paid to residents with a total of £23,337 paid already, residents were urged to get in contact to receive the money.

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT the Leaders Annual report be noted.

 

A number of questions were put arising from the Leader’s report and answers given or alternatively agreed to be given in writing at a later time.

 

7.

Reports of the Monitoring Officer

7a

Review of Political Proportionality, Alternative Arrangements, Appointments of Committees, Allocation of Seats, Nominations and Appointments to Committees (including Chairs and Vice-Chairs) and other Constitutional Issues pdf icon PDF 425 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer advised that the mandatory review of the political proportionality showed that there was no change to the political proportionality figures but there was a needunder the agreed procedural rules to appoint to the positions of Chairman, Vice Chairman and Councillors to the Committees. It was noted that the Conservative group had advised that they did not propose to make any changes to their expressed nominations for the seats already allocated to their group on committees.

 

Questions were asked regarding reverse proportionality on Corporate Scrutiny and were advised that alternative arrangements would need to be proposed, and could only be implemented if there was no dissenting vote against from any councillor present.

 

A list of proposed Chairman and Vice Chairman had been provided to the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting.

 

The following positions were agreed by affirmation:

 

(i)             APPEALS COMMITTEE – Cllr Ian Dore (Chairman) Cllr Jonathan Bacon (Vice Chairman)

(ii)            APPOINTMENTS AND EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE – Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox (as Leader of the Council) Cllr Joe Robertson (Vice Chairman)

(iii)          AUDIT COMMITTEE – Cllr Andrew Garratt (Chairman) Cllr Michael Lilley (Vice Chairman)

(iv)          CORPORATE SCRUTINY – Cllr Chris Quirk (Vice Chairman)

(v)           HARBOUR COMMITTEE – Cllr Phil Jordan (as Cabinet Member for Infrastructure) Cllr Julie Jones-Evans (Vice Chairman)

(vi)          INVESTIGATING AND DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE – Cllr Debbie Andre (Chairman) Cllr Warren Drew (Vice Chairman)

(vii)         LICENSING COMMITTEE – Cllr Daryll Pitcher (Chairman) Cllr Steve Hastings (Vice Chairman)

(viii)       PENSION FUND COMMITTEE – Cllr Chris Jarman (Chairman) Cllr Andrew Garratt (Vice Chairman)

(ix)          PLANNING COMMITTEE – Cllr Warren Drew (Vice Chairman)

(x)           POLICY AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE FOR CHILDREN’S SERVICES – Cllr Richard Quigley (Chairman) Cllr Joe Lever (Vice Chairman)

(xi)          POLICY AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE - Cllr John Nicholson (Chairman) Cllr Michael Lilley (Vice Chairman)

 

Councillor Richard Quigley and Councillor Joe Robertson were separately moved and seconded for the position of Chairman for Corporate Scrutiny Committee following a vote it was:

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT Councillor Richard Quigley be appointed Chairman of Corporate Scrutiny Committee

 

Councillor Warren Drew and Councillor John Medland were separately moved and seconded for the position of Chairman for Planning Committee following a vote it was:

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT Councillor John Medland be appointed Chairman of Planning Committee.

 

Councillor Joe Lever and Councillor Michael Beston were separately moved and seconded for the position of Chairman for Policy and Scrutiny Committee for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration following a vote it was:

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT Councillor Joe Lever be appointed Chairman of Policy and Scrutiny Committee for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration.

 

There was some further discussion regarding reverse proportionality for Corporate Scrutiny. It was explained that no single political group had a majority of seats overall on the council and seats had been and were currently allocated under the statutory political proportionality rules. It was advised that alternative arrangements could be proposed although there would need to be no dissenting vote from any councillor present to apply alternative proportionality to Committees. No alternative arrangements were proposed and agreed.

 

RESOLVED:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7a

7b

Appointments to Outside Bodies pdf icon PDF 165 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Due to time constraints this item was not considered

8.

Report of the Leader

8a

Report on the use of Special Urgency Provision pdf icon PDF 304 KB

Minutes:

Due to time constraints this item was not considered

 

9.

To approve the following programme of ordinary Council meetings for the ensuing year

20 July 2022

21 September 2022

16 November 2022

18 January 2023

22 February 2023 (Budget)

17 May 2023 (Annual)

Minutes:

Due to time constraints this item was not considered

10.

Member Question Time (30 minutes)

To receive a reply to a question asked during Members’ Question Time, a question must be submitted in writing or by electronic mail to Democratic Services no later than 5pm on Thursday, 12 May 2022. A question may be asked at the meeting without prior notice but in these circumstances there is no guarantee that a full reply will be given at the meeting.

Minutes:

Due to time constraints this item was not considered