Agenda and draft minutes

To receive declarations of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or other registrable or non-registrable interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made by Councillors regarding items on the agenda.

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 13 February 2024.

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 14 February 2024 were agreed as a true record and the Mayor was authorised to sign them, subject to the following amendments:

·                That Minute 49 (Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel) be amended to record the Council’s gratitude to the Independent Remuneration Panel.

·                That the first sentence Minute 55 (appointment of Section 151 Officer) be amended to read “The Council received a report requesting it to appoint Brendan Bradley as its Section 151 (s151) Officer on a permanent basis.”

To receive such communications or deal with such business as the Mayor may decide to lay before the Council.

The Mayor made a number of announcements relating to noteworthy recent and upcoming events.

To receive statements from the Chairs of the Council’s Policy Committees, briefing Members on current events and issues relating to the relevant Committee’s area of work.

The Council received written statements from the Chair of the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee and Chair of the Crime and Disorder Committee.

3 questions were asked relating to the statement of the Chair of the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee and responded to by the Committee Chair.

To report to the Council a decision taken by the Chief Executive and Directors on the grounds of urgency, in compliance with the requirements of the Constitution.

Council received a report setting out the decisions taken by the Chief Executive and Directors on the grounds of urgency, in compliance with Appendix 2 to the Constitution – The Scheme of Delegation paragraph 3.1.

Councillor Steven McCormick MOVED and Councillor Peter O’Donovan SECONDED the recommendation in the report.

Upon being put the recommendation was unanimously CARRIED.

Accordingly, it was resolved:

(1)           To note the urgent decision taken and the reason for that decision.

This report sets out notices of motions ruled in order.

The Council received two Motions submitted under FCR 14 of Appendix 4 of the Constitution.

Motion 1

The Council resolved by majority vote (27 votes for, 3 votes against and the Mayor not voting) to debate this Motion at the meeting.

In pursuance of the Council’s Rules of Procedure, Councillor Julie Morris MOVED and Councillor Alison Kelly SECONDED the following Motion.

Motion

“This council believes that maintaining public trust in the democratic process is essential. A key part of this is ensuring that decisions are made openly and are subject to public scrutiny. Council recognises the concern that there is about the degree to which council, committee, briefing and working group discussions and decisions are being conducted in restricted session.

To help maintain public trust and ensure that residents can be fully informed about how decisions that affect them have been reached, this council is committed to a policy of 'transparency by default' by which all meetings and documentation will be placed in the public domain as standard, with information or discussions only being redacted or restricted very specifically in relation to those issues which fall within the exemptions in the Local Government Act.

To that end, committee reports will, in addition to identifying the relevant exemption in the Local Government Act, also set out a rationale as to why information or discussions are to be restricted, when this is the case. Officers will also bring forward guidelines in relation to all council, committee, briefing and working group discussions and decisions which will enable this approach, to ensure maximum transparency while adhering to legislative requirements, ultimately making this organisation an exemplar public body in terms of transparency and openness.”

Upon being put the motion was LOST with 6 votes for, 23 against, 1 abstention and the Mayor not voting.

Motion 2

The Council unanimously resolved vote to debate this Motion at the meeting.

In pursuance of the Council’s Rules of Procedure, Councillor James Lawrence MOVED and Councillor Julie Morris SECONDED the following Motion.

Motion

“That this Council mandates that the Reg 19 Local Plan include a requirement for energy efficient housing, where all new housing achieves at least a level A of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).”

Upon being put the motion was LOST with 3 votes for, 23 against, 4 abstentions and the Mayor not voting.