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.

This report sets out notices of motions ruled in order.

The Council received a motion submitted under FCR 14 of Appendix 4 of the Constitution.

The motion was PROPOSED by Councillor Kieran Persand and SECONDED by Councillor Julian Freeman.

The Council unanimously resolved to consider this motion at the meeting.

It was noted that Councillors Robert Leach, Bernice Froud and Alex Coley entered the meeting at this item but before debate on the motion had commenced. Accordingly, the Mayor informed the Council that all three councillors were able to speak and vote on the item.

Prior to the debate on the motion, the Mayor informed the Council that an amendment to the motion had been received from Councillor Kieran Persand in advance of the meeting. The Mayor informed the Council that following consideration, she had taken the view that the amendment could not be accepted as it was contrary to FCR 17.5 (i) in that “The Mayor shall not accept an amendment(s) if: i. It is outside the scope of the original motion.” The Mayor informed the meeting that her decision on this matter had been sent to Councillor Persand in advance of the meeting.

The Mayor granted an adjournment of the meeting to enable the submission of a further amendment to the motion.

Following the adjournment an amendment was proposed by Councillor Kieran Persand. Upon receipt of the amendment in writing, the Mayor announced a further adjournment to consider whether the amendment could be accepted.

The Mayor retired from the Council Chamber to consider the proposed amendment and speak to the Deputy Mayor, Chief Executive and Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer. Upon the meeting reconvening, the Mayor informed the Council that she was of the view that the amendment could not be accepted as it was contrary to FCR 17.5 (i) in that “The Mayor shall not accept an amendment(s) if: i. It is outside the scope of the original motion.” The Mayor informed the meeting that it was her view that the amendment bore no relation to the scope of the original motion.

Accordingly, the Council returned to the debate on the original motion which was as follows:

“This Council notes that:

a)             This council is responsible for the Local Plan currently undergoing examination by the Secretary of State appointed Planning Inspector.

b)             Between January and April 2026 seven local plan and supplementary planning documents were submitted to the Inspector without prior consideration by Full Council, or any committee: COUD_020: further assessment of urban sites

·                COUD_021: revised topic paper on Green Belt sites, reaching different conclusions to the previous topic paper

·                COUD_029: lists additional urban and Green Belt sites proposed for allocation in the Local Plan

·                COUD_030: impact assessment of changing the conclusions on Green Belt and allocating further sites to the Sustainability Appraisal Report

·                COUD_031: assessment of the impact of allocating further sites on the Habitats Regulations Assessment

·                COUD_032: assessment of the impact of allocating further sites on the Infrastructure Delivery Plan, showing creation and exacerbation of issues across multiple  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.