Agenda and minutes

To elect a chair of Council for the municipal year 2024/25

The outgoing Chair, Councillor Turner, reviewed his two years as Chair of the council and thanked councillors and the vice-chair for their assistance and support during this time. He advised that he had raised approximately £1300 for his chosen charities – River Thame Conservation Trust and First Steps Family Hubs in Chalgrove and Watlington.

Councillors Rouane, Khan, Arlett, Snowdon and Powell paid tribute to Councillor Turner in recognition of his work as Chair of the council during the past two years.

Councillor Turner invited nominations for Chair.

Councillor Hinton was nominated as chair for the 2024/25 municipal year. Councillor Turneras proposer and Councillor Powell as seconderspoke in support of the nomination.

RESOLVED: to elect Councillor Hinton as Chair of the council for the 2024/25 municipal year, until the next annual meeting of the Council in May 2025.

Councillor Hinton signed the declaration of acceptance of office and made an acceptance speech.

To appoint a vice-chair of Council for the municipal year 2024/25.

Councillor Keats-Rohan was nominated as vice-chair for the 2024/25 municipal year. Councillor Rouaneas proposer and Councillor Powell as seconderspoke in support of the nomination.

RESOLVED: to elect Councillor Keats-Rohan as vice-chair of the council for the 2024/25 municipal year, until the next annual meeting of the Council in May 2025.

Councillor Keats-Rohan signed the declaration of acceptance of office and made an acceptance speech.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bearder, Dragonetti, Gawrysiak, Gordon-Creed, Kantor, Manning, Mohammed and Robb.

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Council minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2024. 

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2024 as a correct record and agree that the Chair sign them as such.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, other registrable interests and non-registrable interests or any conflicts of interest in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. 

None.

To receive notification of any matters which the chair determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chair. 

The Chair advised that there was no urgent business.

She advised that as Chair she would be raising funds for the following charities:

·       Riverside Counselling Service

·       NOMAD Henley

·       Project 90-10

At the Joint Audit and Governance Committee meeting on the 15 April 2024, the committee recommended that Council adopt the revised local code of corporate governance and include it in the council’s constitution. The report considered by the committee is attached.

The draft minutes of the committee meeting are set out below:

“The committee received the code of corporate governance report, presented by the head of finance. He highlighted that the annual governance statements were based on the local code of good governance and that the version adopted by the councils was outdated and needed revising. The head of finance highlighted that the draft code had incorporated the latest Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy guidance, had been through the Constitution Task Review Group, and was suggested to be recommend to full council meetings for adoption and inclusion in the constitution.

In response to a question about what members could do if they believed that the councils were not compliant with the code, the head of finance indicated that they should direct these concerns in the first instance to the councils’ monitoring officer.

Overall, members welcomed the update and agreed that the revised code should be adopted by the councils”.

RECOMMENDATION: That Council adopts the revised local code of corporate governance for inclusion in the council’s constitution.

Council considered the report of the head of legal and democratic on the revised local Code of Corporate Governance, which had been recommended for adoption by the Joint Audit and Governance Committee at their meeting on the 15 April 2024.

Council was satisfied with the revised code of corporate governance and agreed that it should be included in the council’s constitution.

RESOLVED: to adopt the revised local code of corporate governance attached to the report of the head of finance to the Joint Audit and Governance Committee on 15 April 2024 and include it in the council’s constitution. 

To consider the report of the head of legal and democratic on the appointment to those committees required to be politically balanced together with the Climate and Ecological Emergencies Advisory Committee, Licensing Acts Committee, Community Grants Panel and joint committees and panels attached. 

Council considered the report of the head of legal and democratic on the appointment of those committees and joint committees which are required to be politically balanced; together with the Climate Ecological Emergencies Advisory Committee, Licensing Acts Committee, Community Grants Panel and appointments to joint bodies.

The chair referred to the recommendations set out in the report, and circulated at the meeting, which covered the committee appointments for the 2024/25 municipal council year. The democratic services manager advised of one amendment to the table – Councillor Mohammed to replace Councillor Cooper as a substitute member on the Climate Ecological Emergencies Advisory Committee.

These recommendations were that Council:

1.       appoints the committees and panels for the 2024/25 year, allocates seats to each political group and appoints councillors and substitutes to sit on them in accordance with paragraphs 9-13 of the head and legal and democratic report attached to the agenda, as set out in the schedule circulated at the meeting;

2.       appoints chairs and vice-chairs as set out in the schedule circulated at the meeting;

3.       appoints members to the Community Grants Panel in accordance with paragraphs 15 and 16 of this report and as set out in the schedule circulated at the meeting;

4.       appoints members to the Climate and Ecological Emergencies Advisory Committee in accordance with paragraphs 17 and 18 of this report and as set out in the schedule circulated at the meeting;

5.       appoints members to the Licensing Acts Committee in accordance with paragraphs 19-21 of this report and as set out in the schedule circulated at the meeting;

6.       appoints a representative and a substitute on the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

7.       appoints a representative and a substitute on the Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel;

8.       appoints three representatives to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership Scrutiny Panel;

9.       authorises the head of legal and democratic to make appointments to any vacant committee or panel seat and substitute positions in accordance with the wishes of the relevant group leader.

RESOLVED: That for the 2024/25 municipal year to:

1.       appoint the following committees and panels for the 2024/25 municipal year and to appoint the membership, substitutes and chairs and vice-chairs as indicated to sit on them (see table below);

1.       To receive the report of the leader of the council.

2.       Special Urgency Decision

The council’s constitution stipulates that a Cabinet or Cabinet member decision taken as a matter of special urgency must be reported to the next available meeting of the Council, together with the reasons for urgency.

Council is requested to note the details of the following urgent decision.

Storm Henk Flood Grants

On 26 February 2024, Councillor Pieter-Paul Barker, Cabinet member for Finance and Property, took a decision to participate in the government funded schemes to provide financial compensation to households and businesses adversely affected by flooding impacts from Storm Henk, between 2 and 12 January 2024.

Agreement of the chair of the Scrutiny Committee was obtained that the required decision was urgent and could not be unreasonably deferred.                

Details of the decision and the reasons for urgency are available here.

Councillor Rouane, Leader of the Council, provided an update on a number of matters. The text of his address is available on the council's website.

Council noted the details of the special urgency decision taken by the Cabinet member for Finance and Property to participate in the government funded scheme to provide financial compensation to households and businesses adversely affected by the flooding impacts from Storm Henk.