Agenda item

The Council is requested to consider the agenda report and its appendix and to make the following resolution:

RESOLVED

That the committee calendar of meetings for May 2019 to May 2020 be approved.

The Council considered the report and its appendix circulated with the agenda for this meeting.

The Vice-Chairman moved the Cabinet’s recommendation and this was seconded by Mr A Dignum (Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Growth and Place).

Mrs D Shepherd (Chief Executive) briefly introduced the report.

At the start of the discussion Mr A Moss (Fishbourne and the Leader of the Opposition) proposed an amendment to the recommendation in para 2.1 of the report, namely that after the final word ‘approved’ the following words be inserted: ‘and officers be invited to investigate a revised calendar of meetings to include some evening meetings to accommodate working councillors and for local residents to attend more easily’.

Mr J Brown (Southbourne) seconded this proposal.

Mr Moss said that whilst he was content with the calendar overall there was in his view a duty to have meetings later in the day to assist both members who were in employment and local residents, thereby maximising attendance routinely at CDC meetings.

Mr Brown pointed out that he had used 15 days of his annual leave to attend various meetings including several Local Plan Review member briefings; he was fortunate in that he had a very understanding employer. He felt that the current arrangement was very off-putting to working-age councillors. He was, therefore, fully in support of Mr Moss’ proposal.

Four members spoke against the proposal: Mrs P Tull (Sidlesham), Mrs P Dignum (Chichester South), Mr S Oakley (Tangmere) and Mr J Connor (Selsey North). The points made were that (a) the matter had been discussed several years ago in detail and ultimately it had not been pursued after a limited experiment in holding some meetings later in the afternoon and that did not lead to an increased attendance; (b) later meetings could pose safety issues for lady members who lived in distant wards because they would have to drive home in the dark; (c) evening meetings at CDC would clash with parish, town and city councils which were held at that time of day; (d) evening meetings would have resource implications for CDC officers and other staff and also they and the public would then have to travel home late.     

Mrs C Apel (Chichester West) favoured the proposal, saying that the current meetings timetable made it very difficult for younger people to attend and they would be helped by late afternoon and evening meetings. She disagreed that it would create problems with evening parish council meetings because in other local authority areas parish and district/borough council meetings were held in the evenings without a problem.

Mr F Hobbs (Easebourne) sympathised with Mr Moss’ point and he too had lost annual leave by attending CDC meetings. He suggested that the best way forward was to approve the calendar now and review the position following the CDC elections in May 2019.

The Vice-Chairman called for a vote by a show of hands on Mr Moss’s amendment proposal. There were seven votes in favour, a large (unspecified) number against and one abstention. The proposal was not, therefore carried.   

In further discussion the following points were raised with answers given by Mrs Shepherd and Mr A Frost (Director of Planning and Environment) as required:

·       It was not proposed to reinstate the CDC diary, which used to be published with meeting dates as a companion to the year book. Electronic calendars were now favoured instead.

·       There was no Planning Committee scheduled for May 2019 because following the CDC elections that month committee memberships would need to be determined by the Annual Council and then member induction training provided before the first meeting could be held.

·       The first Planning Committee meeting of the new Council administration would be in June 2019 on a Thursday instead of the usual Wednesday but CDC’s normal publicity arrangements and members also making the public aware would ensure that there was no confusion. 

·       The three-week interval between the August and September 2019 Planning Committee meetings was less than the usual four weeks and so the lead-in time would be slightly tight but officers were confident that it could be managed. It should be noted that there would be a slightly longer interval than usual between the September and October 2019 meetings. 

·       During the current Council year there had been quite a number of changes to fixed meeting dates and this could cause problems in particular for those who worked. In future CDC should adhere to published meeting dates.   

Decision

On a show of hands the members voted in favour of the Cabinet’s recommendation with four votes against and no abstentions. 

RESOLVED

That the committee calendar of meetings for May 2019 to May 2020 be approved.