Agenda and minutes

Venue: TBC

Contact: Karon Hadfield 

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Dodd, Ferguson, Horncastle, Lee, Robinson, Swinburn and J. Watson.  

2.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 334 KB

Minutes of the meeting of County Council held on Wednesday 2 November 2021 as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record, signed by the Business Chair and sealed with the Common Seal of the Council

Minutes:

With regard to Minute No. 53 Councillor Reid queried whether a response had been received from the four MPs and if so, could this be shared. The Leader replied that a response was still awaited from one, and when that was received they would all be circulated.

 

With regard to Minute No. 56(1) Councillor Hill queried the proportionality for the three committees mentioned following the recent by election and the members for the Standards Committee. The Business Chair replied that this was subject to a report later in the agenda and would be dealt with then.

 

With regard to Minute No.60, Councillor Oliver advised that he had not received an answer in writing to his question about an ex gratia payment to the previous Monitoring Officer and what the terms of his departure had been. He asked for a legal opinion as to whether councillors had a right to that information. The Chief Executive replied that she had provided a response to Councillor Oliver. Councillor Oliver acknowledged that he had received a response which advised that he was not entitled to that information and he was now questioning whether this was correct. The Monitoring Officer advised that the legal team would respond and reminded members that the minutes were on the agenda to agree accuracy only, not for debate.    

 

Councillor Dale queried whether there was an update on the planned briefing for all members on the Local Plan. The Business Chair advised that Councillor Horncastle would respond on this. 

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of County Council held on Wednesday 2 November 2021 as circulated, be confirmed as a true record, signed by the Business Chair and sealed with the Common Seal of the Council.

3.

DISCLOSURE OF MEMBERS' INTERESTS

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required to disclose any personal interest (which includes any disclosable pecuniary interest) they may have in any of the items included on the agenda for the meeting in accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council on 4 July 2012, and are reminded that if they have any personal interests of a prejudicial nature (as defined under paragraph 17 of the Code Conduct) they must not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room

NB Any member needing clarification must contact monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk. Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

Minutes:

Councillor Kennedy disclosed a personal and prejudicial interest in Motion No.2 as a member of HMRC and advised he would leave the room whilst the matter was discussed.

 

Councillor Daley referred to item 12(ii) on the agenda and advised that he had sought legal advice as to whether he did or did not have a conflict of interest. In light of this, he was confident that he could participate.

 

The Chief Executive advised that as the statutory head of paid service, she had been advised that she was conflicted on two reports and would leave the room whilst they were discussed.  

 

4.

REPORT OF THE RETURNING OFFICER

THE RETURNING OFFICER TO SUBMIT the return of the person elected as Councillor for Hexham East on Thursday 16 December 2021 as follows:-

 

          Electoral Division

           Hexham East                  

 

Surname and Other Names       

Suzanne Holly Fairless-Aitken     

 

Place of residence          

Merry Leazes West           

Allendale Road

Hexham                                                

NE46 2NB

 

Description

Liberal Democrat

         

 

 

Minutes:

The Business Chair reported the return of the person elected as Councillor for Hexham East on Thursday 16 December 2021 as follows:-

 

Electoral Division

Surname and Other Names

Place of residence

Description

 

Hexham East

Suzanne Holly Fairless-Aitken

Merry Leazes West

Allendale Road

Hexham, NE46 2NB

Liberal Democrat

 

5.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

by the Business Chair, Leader or Head of Paid Service.

Minutes:

The Business Chair reported that former County Councillor Walter Day died on 17 December 2021. He had represented the Cramlington South East Electoral Division from 1985 until 1993 and was a former mayor of Blyth Valley Borough Council. Members stood for a minute’s silence in his memory.

The following people, particularly connected with Northumberland, had received honours in HM the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list:- 

Order of the British Empire 

Mrs Lesley MOODY MBE  Morpeth, Northumberland  

President, North East England Chamber of Commerce.  

For services to Business and to the community in North East  England 

Mr Derek Andrew WOOD Ashington, Northumberland   

Head, Retirement Services Assurance, Department for Work and Pensions.  

For services to Pensioners 

Members of the Order of the British Empire 

Ms Bridget Lara STRATFORD Ponteland, Northumberland  

Project Coordinator, North East Solidarity and Teaching, Newcastle University. 

 For services to Refugees and Asylum Seekers, particularly during  

Covid-19 

Medallists of the Order of the British Empire 

Miss Lucinda Mary PORTER  Ponteland, Northumberland  

For services to Girlguiding 

The Royal Victorian Order MVO 

Mr Robert Patrick BIGGS Morpeth Northumberland  

Deputy Clerk to the Lieutenancy of Northumberland.  

For personal service to the Monarch  

The Leader reported to members that the budget consultation had begun online  and this would be on the agenda for the forthcoming Local Area Council meetings with the launch of the budget early in February.

The devolution position was still being discussed and there could be some more information about this in the expected levelling up paper. His position remained the same that Northumberland would not be part of it unless there were real advantages to doing so.

Good progress was being made with the Farming and Environment Group and it was expected that recommendations could be made to Defra within the next two months.

Regarding Storm Arwen, he thanked all staff across the Council for their work to assist residents. He also paid tribute to those members who had gone above and beyond their duty, to volunteers and community groups, and the engineers from PowerGrid. He had spoken to the Prime Minister and told him that he wanted to see both a national and local inquiry. An examination needed to be done of the infrastructure and some assurances sought from the utilities. Work on the local review had begun with evidence gathering sessions in place and would be led by Scrutiny. He had also written to Scottish Power and Northern PowerGrid about the number of houses that had no mains electricity, particularly in the Coquet Valley, asking if they could consider connecting them up.

6.

CORRESPONDENCE (if any) to date of meeting.

Minutes:

The Business Chair advised members that he had received a response to his letter to James Jamieson, Chair of the LGA in which he had expressed concern about having to have meetings face to face and supporting the LGA campaign for remote meetings. Councillor Jamieson had thanked him for his support.

7.

QUESTIONS

to be put to the Business Chair, a member of the Cabinet or the Chair of any Committee or Sub Committee, in accordance with the Constitution’s Rules of Procedure No.9.

Minutes:

Question 1 from Councillor Oliver to the Leader 

 

What are the correct council processes for the appointment, termination and agreement of significant contractual or remuneration variations for statutory and non-statutory chief and deputy officers (as defined by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989)?  

 

The Leader responded that the Council had set up the following Committees -??? 

1. Dismissal Advisory Committee - to provide independent advice to full Council in relation to any proposal to dismiss the Head of Paid Service, Monitoring Officer or Section 151?Officer.? 

2. Employment Appeals Committee - to consider and deal with disciplinary action and appeals from Senior Officers, including matters relating to the Councils Head of Paid Service, Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer.? 

3. Staff and Appointments Committee - this Committee considers and determines the overall scheme and policies in relation to employee terms and conditions and deal with the appointment of senior officers including making recommendations to Council on the appointment of the Head of Paid Service.? 

The process for the recruitment and appointment of the Head of Paid Service, Chief Officers and Deputy Chief Officers was carried out in accordance with the Officer Employment Procedure Rules in page 85/86 of the Constitution.? The process for dismissal was also subject to these Rules.?? For the purpose of the Rules - the Chief Officers were the Head of Paid Service and Executive Directors.? Deputy Chief Officers are Directors, Associate Directors, Service Heads and the? Chief Fire Officer.? 

Under the Local Government Act 1989? “chief officer”, in relation to a relevant authority, meant each of the following-? 

 

Head of its paid service designated under section 4(1) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989;? 

 

Monitoring officer designated under section 5(1) of that Act? 

 

The chief finance officer - Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972? 

 

A statutory chief officer mentioned in section 2(6) of that Act;? 

A non-statutory chief officer mentioned in section 2(7) of that Act? 

A? deputy chief officer mentioned in section 2(8) of that Act.? 

The following were Statutory Officers:?? 

Head of paid service? 

Monitoring officer?? 

The chief finance officer? 

The Director for Children's Services - Section?18 of the Children Act 2004 and? 

The Director for Social Services - section 5(1) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.? 

 

Councillor Oliver replied that the 20-21 Accounts on the Council’s website there was a single exit payment of £487,591. No-one in the Cabinet at the time had been informed of that despite it being asked for. He asked if the Leader would support his request for an investigation into whether this was done in accordance with the Council’s policies and whether other similar actions had also been carried out in accordance with those policies. The Leader replied that he would ask the Cabinet Member for governance to look at this and respond.

 

Question 2 from Councillor Hill to the Leader 

 

There are always lessons to be learnt for everyone after any emergency situation.  What has the Leader personally learnt  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

TO RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE CABINET MEETINGS pdf icon PDF 171 KB

(1)      Tuesday 9 November 2021 (see pages 37-42)

(2)      Thursday 18 November 2021 (see pages 43-48)

(3)      Tuesday 7 December 2021 (see pages 49-58)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(1)      Tuesday 9 November 2021

(2)      Thursday 18 November 2021

(3)      Tuesday 7 December 2021

 

With regard to Minute No. 51(1) Councillor Cartie queried why the extension was being done in the existing areas, why this could not be done in another area, when the rollout would happen across Northumberland and how confident the Administration was about securing funding to roll it out fully.

 

Councillor Riddle replied that excess capacity was being used for the extension in the current runs. This would maximise the efficiency of the current collections without extra resources. He couldn’t give a firm answer regarding the wider rollout but there would be something in the budget on this.

 

With regard to Minute No.54, Councillor Dickinson asked why this had been discussed in private. If communities were expected to buy into this he felt more information should be available. The Leader replied that he would have Councillor Watson provide a response.

 

Regarding Minute 58, Councillor Dale advised that the caption on page 3 of the Corporate Plan needed amending as it did not fit the picture. She also referred, in connection with climate change, to the toolkit promised to parish councils and asked that this be rolled out. The Leader replied that the Council was working with community groups and there would be an announcement in the budget about climate change and working with community groups.

 

With regard to Minute No. 55 (Northumberland Energy Park – Update on Disposal to British Volt), Councillor Grimshaw asked if this could now be shared with all members. Councillor Ploszaj advised that he would discuss this with the Executive Director to see if it could be shared. The request was supported by Councillor Dunn. She acknowledged that this had been a confidential report but Scrutiny had not had the opportunity to see it and this was a massive project for the area which all members needed to be kept up to date on.

 

Also, with regard to Minute No.66 (Household Support Fund), Councillor Dunn advised that it had been established that this could not be used to support those struggling with Council Tax but she welcomed the news that the team were exploring other options and looked forward to the report at the next OSC meeting.

 

Councillor Bawn reported that British Volt were coming to a future meeting of CSEG OSC to provide and update and any member was welcome to attend for that.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of Cabinet detailed above be received.

 

9.

COMMITTEE MINUTES pdf icon PDF 94 KB

TO RECEIVE AND CONSIDER MINUTES from the following Committees:-

 

(1)      Corporate Services and Economic Growth OSC         

 

(2)      Family and Children’s Services OSC                          

 

(3)      Communities and Place OSC                                     

 

(4)      Health and Wellbeing OSC                              

 

(5)      Health and Wellbeing Board                                       

 

(6)      Audit Committee                                                        

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(1)      Corporate Services and Economic Growth OSC

 

These were presented by Councillor Bawn.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of Corporate Services and Economic Growth OSC be received.  

 

(2)      Family and Children’s Services OSC  

 

These were presented by Councillor Daley

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of Family and Children’s Services OSC be received.

 

(3)      Communities and Place OSC

 

These were presented by Councillors Oliver and Reid.

 

With regard to Minute No. 38 (Destination Management – Structure and Future Funding Arrangements), Councillor Dale suggested that a longer arrangement than two years was needed for the partnership. She asked Councillor Reid to revisit the issue with the Scrutiny Committee and perhaps involve the tourism operators and Visit Northumberland. The Business Chair advised that Councillor Watson would pick this up as portfolio holder.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of Communities and Place OSC be received

 

(4)      Health and Wellbeing OSC

                                          

These were presented by Councillor Reid.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of Health and Wellbeing OSC be received.

 

(5)      Health and Wellbeing Board

 

These were presented by Councillor Flux.

 

Councillor Dickinson referred to the fantastic efforts of GP surgeries and others involved in the delivery of the booster programme, which needed to be recognised.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of Health and Wellbeing Board be received.

                    

(6)      Audit Committee   

 

These were presented by Councillor Towns.

 

It was noted that with regard to Minute No. 27.2, it should refer to maturing debt of £1/4 billion.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of Audit Committee be received.

 

 

10.

DELEGATED DECISIONS pdf icon PDF 84 KB

To note the Delegated Decisions taken since those reported to County Council on Wednesday, 7 July 2021.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the delegated decision detailed in the agenda be noted.

11.

MOTIONS

Motion No. 1

 

Councillor Bridgett to move the following motion, received by the Head of Democratic and Electoral Services on 20 December 2021:-

 

Considering the recent events both during and in the aftermath of Storm Arwen and rather than waiting for some form of national enquiry to take place (if it ever does), this council resolves:-

 

         to agree that it will undertake its own investigation into what occurred during and after the storm and it will task the most appropriate scrutiny/council committee to carry this out. This will include reviewing our own council policies and procedures and gathering evidence from councillors and council officers, but also questioning and gathering evidence from the utility companies such as Northern Powergrid, BT Openreach, Northumbrian Water and the mobile telecoms operators.

         to request, where necessary, that they come and provide information to the relevant scrutiny committee so that as a council, we can ensure lessons are learnt from this storm to enable all parties to build better resilience into their systems with the ultimate goal of ensuring that our residents will hopefully never have to experience such significant problems as they did as a result of Storm Arwen

         to request that the relevant scrutiny committee (in conjunction with officers) will bring together a report which outlines the issues and how those problems can potentially be mitigated. This will be brought back to the full council for debate and agreement, and will be used by this authority as a formal response should any government body or agency decide to carry out an enquiry into what happened as a result of the storm.

 

 

Motion No. 2

 

Councillor Morphet to move the following motion, received by the Head of Democratic and Electoral Services on 20 December 2021:-

 

The Councils for Fair Tax Declaration: An opportunity for the County Council to show support for responsible tax conduct 

 

Full Council notes that:

 

1.       Organisations are morally obliged to pay the right amount of tax, in the right place, at the right time.

 

2.       Polling from the Institute for Business Ethics finds that “corporate tax avoidance” has, since 2013, been the number one concern of the British public when it comes to business conduct.

3.       Almost two-thirds (63%) of the public agree that the Government and local authorities should consider a company’s ethics and tax conduct, as well as value for money and quality of service provided, when undertaking procurement.

4.       Around 17.5% of public contracts in the UK have been won by companies with links to tax havens.

5.       It has been conservatively estimated that losses from multinational profit-shifting (just one form of tax avoidance) could be costing the UK some £7bn per annum in lost corporation tax revenues.

6.       The Fair Tax Mark offers a means for business to demonstrate good tax conduct and has been secured by a wide range of businesses across the UK, including FTSE-listed PLCs, co-operatives, social enterprises and large private businesses.

?

Full Council believes that:

 

1.       Paying tax is often  ...  view the full agenda text for item 11.

Minutes:

Motion No. 1

 

Councillor Bridgett moved the following motion, received by the Head of Democratic and Electoral Services on 20 December 2021:-

 

Considering the recent events both during and in the aftermath of Storm Arwen and rather than waiting for some form of national enquiry to take place (if it ever does), this council resolves:-

 

·       to agree that it will undertake its own investigation into what occurred during and after the storm and it will task the most appropriate scrutiny/council committee to carry this out. This will include reviewing our own council policies and procedures and gathering evidence from councillors and council officers, but also questioning and gathering evidence from the utility companies such as Northern PowerGrid, BT Openreach, Northumbrian Water and the mobile telecoms operators.

·       to request, where necessary, that they come and provide information to the relevant scrutiny committee so that as a council, we can ensure lessons are learnt from this storm to enable all parties to build better resilience into their systems with the ultimate goal of ensuring that our residents will hopefully never have to experience such significant problems as they did as a result of Storm Arwen

·       to request that the relevant scrutiny committee (in conjunction with officers) will bring together a report which outlines the issues and how those problems can potentially be mitigated. This will be brought back to the full council for debate and agreement, and will be used by this authority as a formal response should any government body or agency decide to carry out an enquiry into what happened as a result of the storm.

 

In introducing his motion, Councillor Bridgett advised that he should have included a thank you to Council staff, the Police, Fire Service, Armed Forces, local councillors, volunteers and everyone else who had helped to keep residents safe. He wanted to add this statement as an amendment to his motion. This amendment was seconded by Councillor Dickinson.

 

Councillor Dale queried whether all members could have an input, not just Scrutiny members. Councillor Bridgett wished to keep his motion as it stood as the Leader had already given that assurance in his earlier statement. Councillor Reid added that as Chair of the Scrutiny Committee, this would be the case.

 

Councillor Castle pointed out that work had actually already begun on this.

 

Councillor Hill commented on the fantastic job done by Councillor Bridgett on the relief effort in his area. She queried whether the County Council could feed into the debriefings being undertaken by the utility companies as well as doing its own review.

 

Councillor Kennedy commented that it was the question of resilience which had presented the challenge for the County. It was not acceptable for people to be without power for two weeks.

 

Councillor Dickinson sought clarity on whether members were now debating the amended motion, or the amendment. The Monitoring Officer advised that technically, it was an alteration to the motion which had been seconded and was now being debated and there would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

REPORT OF THE MONITORING OFFICER pdf icon PDF 97 KB

CONSTITUTIONAL UPDATES

 

(i)       Re-Endorsement of Appointment of Independent Chair of Standards Committee and Independent Person and Appointment of Additional Independent Person

 

The purpose of this report is to seek Council’s endorsement of the continued appointment of Joe Jackson, the Independent Chair of the Standards Committee and Karen Milner, the Council’s Independent Person under the relevant provisions of the Localism Act 2011 and to request that Council delegates to the Standards Committee the process of the appointment of two further Independent Persons.

 

 

Minutes:

ConstitutionalUpdates 

 

(i)Re-Endorsement of Appointment of Independent Chair of Standards Committee and Independent Person and Appointment of Additional Independent Person 

 

The report sought Council’s endorsement of the continued appointment of Joe Jackson, the Independent Chair of the Standards Committee and Karen Milner, the Council’s Independent Person under the relevant provisions of the Localism Act 2011 and requested that Council delegated to the Standards Committee the process of the appointment of two further Independent Persons. 

 

Councillor Dickinson advised that he could not support recommendations (b) and (c) as he already advised the MO that he wished to see the recruitment process for the independent persons and he could not support the delegation to the MO without sight of it. The MO advised that with regard to (b), the report detailed what the recruitment process would be, which was the same as used previously. Recommendation (c) was a belt and braces delegation to pick up any inconsistencies in the Constitution.

 

Councillor Dickinson replied that he had not seen the process which had been used previously and this was valuable information in agreeing and progressing the recommendations in the report. The MO agreed that she would identify the adverts, process etc and circulate them to members.

 

Councillor Hill commented that she had advocated two years ago that additional independent persons should be recruited and agreed that seeing details of the recruitment process would be useful. She sought clarification that delegation was being sought to manage the recruitment process, with approval of the independent persons being done by Council, and asked why two additional independent persons were being sought. The MO confirmed this was correct, and advised that for an authority of this size, 3-4 independent persons was appropriate. 

 

RESOLVED that:-

 

(a)      Council endorse the continued appointment of the following for the remaining terms of their four year appointment; 

 

                         i.         Independent Chair - Mr Joe Jackson  

 

                       ii.          Independent Person - Ms Karen Milner; and  

 

(b)      Council delegate to the Standards Committee, in conjunction with the Monitoring Officer, the process of the appointment of two further Independent Persons; and

 

(c)      should any consequential constitutional amendment be required, this be delegated to the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Constitution Working Group.

 

(ii)      Political Proportionality

 

          A report had been circulated to members (copy attached to the sealed minutes). The purpose of the report was to determine the political proportionality of the registered political groups of the Council and to allocate seats on committees in accordance with that proportionality in accordance with the provisions of Sections 15 and 16 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. Following the result of the Hexham East Electoral Division by election and the change in the numbers of the political groups, the allocation of seats to be filled by the different political groups has been reviewed in accordance with the requirements of the Act.

 

Councillor Wearmouth highlighted some of the key points of the report.

 

Councillor Reid sought clarification that Standards Committee was in fact 9 members, which was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

REPORT OF THE MONITORING OFFICER pdf icon PDF 233 KB

To create a new Committee known as the Grievance Committee to hear and determine grievances raised by the Chief Executive and Chief Officers and also grievances made against the Chief Executive and Chief Officers.   

Minutes:

Amendments to the Constitution

 

The report asked Council to consider the creation of a new committee known as the Grievance Committee to hear and determine grievances raised by the Chief Executive and Chief Officers and also grievances made against the Chief Executive and Chief Officers. 

 

The report was introduced by Councillor Wearmouth.

 

Councillor Hill commented that this was not a housekeeping change as had been suggested. There had been no consultation on this. The Constitution Working Group had been called but when queries had been raised about what was on the agenda and where the reports were, and what changes would be needed to the Constitution, nothing had come back. Then it had been described as an introduction meeting, which had taken place and there was reference to changes and reports to come but there had been no mention of this at all. This involved a huge delegation of power from full Council which members would have to answer to the public for in due course. It was a dangerous thing to do because the Council was in the middle of live proceedings and she was very concerned about the rush to get this through. She proposed that it be deferred which was seconded by Councillor Kennedy.

 

The Leader agreed that this should not be considered. Holding things back for a couple of weeks should not be a reason to cause problems and if a short delay could achieve consensus then he would support that. He moved the same course of action as for the previous report, possibly with the need for a Constitution Working Group in between.  Councillor Reid proposed that Council move to the vote on this. The MO advised that she would recirculate the external legal advice on this matter. There was also further legal advice on the alleged data breach. There had been no data breach and she would circulate this. She reassured members that there was nothing in the report that was underhand and she would ensure that members had all the information they needed to make a sound and reasoned decision.  

 

RESOLVED that report be withdrawn for consideration by the Group Leaders and the Constitution Working Group if needed, and brought back to Council on a date to be decided, following discussion by the Group Leaders as detailed above.

14.

REPORT OF THE INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND S151 OFFICER pdf icon PDF 193 KB

Arrangements for the Appointment of the Local Auditor (External Auditor)

 

To seek Council approval to opt-in to the Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) Limited arrangements from 1 April 2023 for the five financial years commencing 2023-24 to 2027-28.

 

Minutes:

Arrangements for the Appointment of the Local Auditor (External Auditor)

 

The Business Chair then asked members to confirm that they were happy to defer all remaining agenda items to a future meeting, which they did.

 

RESOLVED that all remaining agenda items be deferred to a future meeting.

 

15.

REPORT OF THE LEADER AND COUNCILLOR GORDON CASTLE pdf icon PDF 293 KB

Review of Local Area Councils

 

The report summarises the discussion and recommendations of the Local Area Council Chairs following a review of the current Local Area Council arrangements as requested by the Leader. Council is requested to consider and approve the recommendations within the report

Minutes:

Review of Local Area Councils

 

The Business Chair then asked members to confirm that they were happy to defer all remaining agenda items to a future meeting, which they did.

 

RESOLVED that all remaining agenda items be deferred to a future meeting.

16.

REVISIONS TO COMMITTEE PLACES AND ELECTION OF VICE CHAIR TO TYNEDALE LAC pdf icon PDF 414 KB

Following the result of the Hexham East Electoral Division by election and the change in the numbers of the political groups, the allocation of seats to be filled by the different political groups has been reviewed in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. This has resulted in a change in the proportional split on committees, and this is set out in the report detailed at page 139-160 of the agenda. Council is requested to note the change in proportionality and to agree the  changes to committee membership, which should be notified by Group Leaders to Democratic Services before the meeting. Subject to the decision taken on item 14 above, Council is also asked to elect a Vice Chair to Tynedale Local Area Council, which is currently vacant.

 

17.

REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE pdf icon PDF 214 KB

Executive Management Structure Review

 

The purpose of the report is to seek approval to the implementation of the revised Executive management arrangements for Council

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Executive Management Structure Review

 

The Business Chair then asked members to confirm that they were happy to defer all remaining agenda items to a future meeting, which they did.

 

RESOLVED that all remaining agenda items be deferred to a future meeting.