Agenda item

The Leader made the following statement:

“I would firstly like to welcome all of the new Councillors to the Chamber, I hope you quickly find your way around and if I can be of any help, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I also want, very much, to welcome back so many familiar faces from all parties, I genuinely hope that we will all be able to work together to manage the functions of the Council well, improve our local environment, and give a great service to the people of the District.

The Greens, and the LibDems have agreed to work in coalition to form the Council’s administration.

We have a great deal of agreement between the coalition partners, and we will be working together to provide all of the portfolio holders: seven Greens, and two Lib Dems.

The portfolio holders will be as follows:

·       Cllr Jim Martin – Otterpool Park and Planning Policy

·       Cllr Tim Prater – Finance and Governance

·       Cllr Gary Fuller – Resident Engagement and accountability

·       Cllr Mike Blakemore – Community and Collaboration

·       Cllr  Rebecca Shoob – Housing and homelessness

·       Cllr Stephen Scoffham – Climate Change and Transport

·       Cllr James Butcher – Regulatory Services, building control and civic duty

·       Cllr Rich Holgate – Place Plan, Heritage, Tourism and District Economy

·       Cllr Jeremy Speakman – Assets and Operations

There is much for us to do, we have many repairs to make and a great deal of debris to clear up.

There is a large cumulative deficit of £18.499mill over the next four year period   to fill in the accounts, there is a significant loss of £4.3million to find for Princes Parade and the council is indebted because of the Otterpool Park Project.  We need to take immediate action on a number of fronts to ensure the Council can continue to function.

I can, however, give you a clear indication of three things that are going to happen:

In line with our emphasis on democratic process, the coalition has agreed to move towards a Committee System and away from the current Leader and Cabinet system. Individual Councillors will have more say and be more able to influence Council policy. This will mean greater responsibility and a lot more work, but the democratic process will be enhanced and reinforced through greater participation.

I am very grateful to our Labour colleagues for their hard work on the committee system.  In line with our greater co-operation, the committee system will allow the sharing of key responsibilities including leader.

Those of you who remember the meeting of the Council in June 2019 will recall that Councillor Prater’s motion to withdraw the planning permission for Prince’s Parade was successful, but this democratic decision was never included on the agenda for ratification by the Cabinet. This flagrant breach of the democratic process has lead to the waste of millions of pounds of local peoples money. We are determined to enhance and reinforce the democratic process within the Council and the organisations that it owns or funds.

There are a very complexed set of obstacles to remove, and this will take some time, but I can state, this evening, very clearly, that Prince’s Parade is Saved!

I am looking forward to many interesting debates and I hope that everyone in this chamber will feel able to contribute. My greatest hope is that all members will feel able to come and discuss matters with me regardless of their political allegiance because it is only by working together, will we be able to deliver the services our community needs”.