Agenda and minutes

To receive the outgoing Chairman’s communications and announcements.

Cheques will also be presented to the two following charities, which were nominated by the Chairman during their year in office:

-        MAP – represented by James Chaplain

-        Priscilla Bacon Hospice –represented by Hugo Stevenson

The Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming new and returning members and said that she hoped they would enjoy their time serving their constituents across the District.

She thanked her two nominated charities for attending the meeting – James Chaplain from Mancroft Advisory Project (MAP) and Hugo Stevenson from Priscilla Bacon Lodge.

Mr Stevenson gave a short presentation which showed the progression that had been made with the construction of the new Priscilla Bacon Lodge. He thanked the Chairman for her support throughout her year in office.

Mr Chaplain then thanked the Chairman for her support, not only in fundraising but also in spreading the word about MAP. He explained that MAP was a resource for young people aged 11 – 25 across Norfolk and offered advice and support on a huge range of issues.

The Chairman then invited both charities to come forward and receive a cheque for £1,125 each.

The Chairman then thanked Kaye Skinner who had provided administrative support to her throughout her year in office. She presented her with a bouquet of flowers to show her appreciation.

The Chairman concluded by summarising recent civic events that she had attended, including:

-        Visit from The Princess Royal at Happisburgh Lighthouse
29 March

-        Philippa Miller Broadland Artist at the Museum of the Broads
15 April

-        NEN District Scouts St Georges Day Celebration – 23 April

-        Historic Houses Restoration Awards, Wolterton Hall – 26 April

-        South Norfolk Chairman’s Civic Reception, Bressingham Gardens, 11 May

She said that, in total, she had attended 33 civic events during her year in office and had thoroughly enjoyed her time as Chairman and as a councillor.

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

The Chairman invited nominations for a Councillor to hold office as Chairman of North Norfolk District Council, for the forthcoming Municipal Year.

Cllr W Fredericks nominated Cllr S Butikofer, this was seconded by Cllr T Adams.

There being no further nominations, it was

RESOLVED that

Cllr S Butikofer be elected as Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

Eleven members abstained.

The outgoing Chairman presented the Chairman’s chain of office to the newly elected Chairman. The new Chairman then signed the declaration of office.

To receive the incoming Chairman’s communications.

The Chairman thanked Members for supporting her. She then spoke about the former Chairman’s commitment to the role and thanked her for her hard work. She invited her to come up and receive a gift and her Chairman’s medal.

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

The Chairman invited nominations for Vice-Chairman of the Council.

Cllr C Cushing nominated Cllr Dr V Holliday. Cllr G Mancini-Boyle seconded the nomination and it was unanimously

RESOLVED

That Cllr Dr V Holliday be elected as Vice-Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

The Chairman presented the Vice-Chairman with their chain of office. The new Vice-Chairman then signed the declaration of office.

To receive apologies for absence, if any.

Apologies were received from Cllrs A Brown, E Coleman, P Neatherway and E Spagnola

Members are asked at this stage to declare any interests that they may have in any of the following items on the agenda.  The Code of Conduct for Members requires that declarations include the nature of the interest and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (see attached guidance and flowchart)

None received.

To determine any other items of business which the Chairman decides should be considered as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B (4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

None.

To elect the Leader of the Council, who shall also be the Chairman of the Cabinet.

The Chairman invited nominations for Leader of the Council.

Cllr S Penfold proposed Cllr T Adams, this was seconded by Cllr J Toye. There being no further nominations it was put to the vote and

RESOLVED that

Cllr T Adams be elected as Leader of the Council.

11 members voted against.

To receive any announcements from the Leader of the Council.

The Leader began by congratulating the Chairman and Vice-Chairman on their election. He then thanked staff for their hard work in supporting the District Council election in early May. There were many challenges and along with other councillors, he was impressed by what was achieved.

The Leader then congratulated all members on their election to the Council, particularly the new members. He extended thanks to their families for supporting them during the campaign which could impact heavily on family life and commitments. He added that he hoped they were enjoying the extensive induction programme that had been provided, feedback had been very good so far.

The Leader said that over the next few weeks the focus would shift to developing the new Corporate Plan, which would be delivered during the Summer.

The Leader will report to Full Council on all appointments to Cabinet (including the Deputy Leader).

The Leader informed Full Council of the following appointments to Cabinet:

Cllr Wendy Fredericks – Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing and People Services, as well as Early Help Hub, Community Connectors and health elements

Cllr Lucy Shires – Portfolio Holder for Finance, Estates and Property Services

Cllr Andrew Brown – Portfolio Holder for Planning & Enforcement

Cllr Harry Blathwayt – Portfolio Holder for Coast

Cllr Adam Varley – Portfolio Holder for Climate Change & Net Zero

Cllr Callum Ringer – Portfolio Holder for IT & Environment and Waste Services

Cllr Paul Heinrich – Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth and Economic Development

Cllr Liz Withington – Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Community Outreach

To report to Full Council on the appointment of the Leader of the main Opposition Group.

Cllr Christopher Cushing informed Full Council that he had been nominated by his Group to be Leader of the Opposition. He congratulated the Chairman and Vice-Chairman on their new roles and thanked officers for their hard work during the election process.

The Chairman explained that following the District Council elections on 4^th May 2023, the Council was required to review and approve the allocation of seats on committees, sub committees and working parties to reflect the political balance of the Council, in accordance with Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and regulations made thereunder.  She advised members that the Group Leaders had agreed the proposed allocations.

Cllr Housden queried that there was no seat allocated to an Independent Group member on the Member Development Group. He asked if this could be considered. The Monitoring Officer advised that the calculations reflected in the matrix would not allow this as it would skew the allocated numbers.

It was proposed by Cllr T Adams, seconded by Cllr L Shires and

RESOLVED

1. That Council approves the political balance calculation as per section 3.1 of the report
2. That Council approves the allocation of seats to political groups as shown at Appendix A

3.     That following the Annual Meeting of Council, any subsequent appointments to Committees be delegated to the Group Leaders.

Agenda Note:

If the Council is to approve alternative arrangements for appointments to a committee other than those required by law on political balance, it must be without any member voting against them.

There is no substitution permitted on Cabinet. Members are also reminded of the requirement for committee members and substitutes on Development Committee and members of the Licensing Committee (Regulatory and Premises & Gambling) to have undertaken the required training.

Decision:

To appoint members and substitutes to Committees, sub-committees, Working Parties and Panels as outlined in Appendix B.

The Chairman invited the Group Leaders to comment on any proposed changes, if they wished.

Cllr A Fitch-Tillett said that she would act as a substitute on the North Norfolk Sustainable Communities Fund Grants Panel.

It was proposed by Cllr T Adams, Cllr L Withington and

RESOLVED

To appoint members and substitutes to Committees, sub-committees, Working Parties and Panels as follows:

APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS ON COMMITTEES (May 2023)

APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS ON WORKING PARTIES, FORUMS AND PANELS

Decision:

1.    To appoint Chairman and Vice-Chairmen to Committees and Council Working Parties for 2023/2024

2.    To note the appointment of Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of Executive (Cabinet) sub-committees and Working Parties

Please note - Chairmen and Vice-chairmen of Executive sub-committees and working parties are not Council appointments and are therefore provided for noting only.

The Leader commented that there was more than one nomination for some positions and sought clarification on how to proceed.

The Democratic Services Manager advised members that Cllr Fitch-Tillett, Leader of the Independent Group, had put forward two nominations, one for Chairman of the Planning Policy & Built Heritage (PPBH) Working Party and one for Chairman of the Development Committee. She said that PPBH was a Cabinet Working Party and that Cabinet appointed the Chairman and had already submitted a nomination for this position, therefore a vote would not be required. If Cllr Fitch-Tillett wanted to proceed with a nomination for the Chairman of Development Committee, then a vote would be required. Cllr Fitch-Tillett said that as the Administration had already made a nomination, she would withdraw hers.

The Chairman advised that the vote would be taken en bloc and reminded members that the additional nominations listed in the agenda would not now be put to the vote.

Cllr S Penfold commented that the North Norfolk Sustainable Communities Fund was panel and not a committee. He wasn’t sure why it was included under the appointments for committee chairmen. 

It was proposed by Cllr T Adams, seconded by Cllr L Withington and

RESOLVED unanimously to appoint Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen as follows:

Decision:

1.    To approve Council appointments to Outside Bodies and Joint Committees

2.    To note the Executive appointments to Outside Bodies and Joint Committees

Please note – some appointments to Outside Bodies are Executive (Cabinet) not Full Council appointments and are therefore provided for noting only

The Leader, Cllr Adams said that the Council had recently been advised that the number of positions available on the Norfolk Rivers Internal Drainage Board (NRIDB) had been reduced from 5 to 3. This meant that there were now too many nominations. He said he wished to propose two nominees, Cllr Blathwayt and Cllr Ringer.

Cllr N Housden said that he was the only member with a ward in the Wensum area and it was important that it was represented on the NRIDB.

Cllr C Cushing said that it had been suggested that one approach would be to appoint a representative from each group. This would ensure full representation from across the Council. He said he would like to nominate Cllr K Bayes. The Chairman replied that there was not a requirement for the political balance to be reflected in appointments to outside bodies. 

Cllr A Fitch-Tillett said that she supported the nomination of Cllr N Housden for the reasons outlined above. She agreed to withdraw her own nomination.

The Monitoring Officer advised that there were now four nominations for three places; Cllr H Blathwayt, Cllr C Ringer, Cllr K Bayes and Cllr N Housden. She said that members could only vote for 3. She would call each name in turn and the person with the least number of votes would be unsuccessful.

The Chairman asked for proposers and seconders for each nominee.

Cllr T Adams proposed Cllr H Blathwayt, this was seconded by Cllr W Fredericks

Cllr T Adams proposed Cllr C Ringer, this was seconded by Cllr L Shires

Cllr C Cushing proposed Cllr K Bayes, this was seconded by Cllr M Taylor

Cllr J Punchard proposed Cllr N Housden, this was seconded by Cllr A Fitch-Tillett

The Monitoring Officer then read out the names of each nominee in turn, with the following results:

Cllr H Blathwayt – 23 votes

Cllr C Ringer – 23 votes

Cllr K Bayes -14 votes

Cllr N Housden – unanimous

The Chairman declared that the following members were appointed to the Norfolk Rivers Internal Drainage Board; Cllr H Blathwayt, Cllr C Ringer and Cllr N Housden.

Cllr C Cushing said that there were a number of vacancies on the Broads Internal Drainage Board and he proposed Cllr L Paterson be appointed. The Chairman suggested that Cllr K Bayes may wish to be appointed to this too. Cllr Bayes agreed.

The Chairman said that the vote on the remaining appointments would now be taken en bloc.

It was proposed by Cllr P Heinrich, seconded by Cllr T Adams and

RESOLVED to

1.    Approve Council appointments to Outside Bodies and Joint Committees as set out in Minutes Appendix A.

2.    Note the Executive appointments to Outside Bodies and Joint Committees

To pass the following resolution – if necessary:

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) _ of Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) to the Act.”