Agenda

Minutes of the inaugural meeting held on 20 July 2023 to be confirmed as a true record.

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required where a matter arises at a meeting;

a.       Which directly relates to Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (‘DPI’) as set out in Appendix B, Table 1 of the Code of Conduct, to disclose the interest, not participate in any discussion or vote and not to remain in room. Where members have a DPI or if the matter concerns an executive function and is being considered by a Cabinet Member with a DPI they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with the matter.

b.       Which directly relates to the financial interest or well being of a Other Registrable Interest as set out in Appendix B, Table 2 of the Code of Conduct to disclose the interest and only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak at the meeting but otherwise must not take part in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not remain the room.

c.        Which directly relates to their financial interest or well-being (and is not DPI) or the financial well being of a relative or close associate, to declare the interest and members may only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak. Otherwise, the member must not take part in discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room.

d.       Which affects the financial well-being of the member, a relative or close associate or a body included under the Other Registrable Interests column in Table 2, to disclose the interest and apply the test set out at paragraph 9 of Appendix B before deciding whether they may remain in the meeting.

e.       Where Members have or a Cabinet Member has an Other Registerable Interest or Non Registerable Interest in a matter being considered in exercise of their executive function, they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with it.

NB Any member needing clarification must contact monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk. Members are referred to the Code of Conduct which contains the matters above in full. Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

Advance Northumberland review of articles of association and operating agreement

To inform the Committee of the work that is currently being undertaken to update the company’s articles of association and operating agreement (Appendix A).

To receive a presentation from the Advance Northumberland Group Executive Director on progress against the Business Plan.

Advance Northumberland Recruitment of Chief Executive Officer

To inform the Committee of the resignation of the Group Executive Director of Advance Northumberland and the process and timetable for recruitment of his successor (Appendix B).

To agree that the next meetings take place on 12 March 2024 and 11 June 2024, at 10.30 or on the rising of Cabinet. Further dates will be included in the 2024-25 timetable of meetings on a quarterly basis, to be agreed by Council in May 2024.

To consider such other business as, in the opinion of the Chair, should, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

The Committee is invited to consider passing the following resolution:

(a)      That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items on the Agenda as they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the 1972 Act, and

(b)      That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure for the following reasons:-

Agenda Item           Paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A

10-11                      3 - Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

AND   The public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure because disclosure could adversely affect the business reputation or confidence in the person/organisation and could adversely affect commercial revenue.

Advance Northumberland Finance Update for the 6 months ending September 2023

The purpose of the report is to provide a summary of the financial performance of Advance Northumberland Ltd and its subsidiary companies for the period 1 April 2023 to 30 September 2023 (Appendix C).

Newcastle Airport

The purpose of the report is to update the Shareholder Group with the intentions of the private shareholder at Newcastle International Airport (the Airport) and seek agreement regarding any further future investment in the Airport by the Council (Appendix D).