Home > Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: This meeting will be held remotely; to view the meeting, please click here

Contact: Democratic Services  Email: Democratic.Services@croydon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

8/21

Disclosure of Interests

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

 

Minutes:

There were none.

 

9/21

Urgent Business (if any)

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There was one item of urgent business; a report in relation to the Appointments Committee. The minute of this item can be found below.

 

10/21

Appointments Committee pdf icon PDF 288 KB

This report seeks Council’s approval to appoint a new Chair of the Appointments Committee and to amend two parts of the Constitution to clarify responsibility for certain actions in relation to the functions of the Appointments Committee.

Minutes:

Madam Mayor informed Council that she had agreed that one item of Urgent Business should be taken at the meeting relating to the appointment of Chair of the Appointments Committee and minor amendments to the Constitution relating to that Committee. Members were advised that the report had been circulated and published prior to the meeting and that both Groups had received briefings on the report.

 

Madam Mayor invited Councillor Young to move the recommendations and introduce the report.

 

Councillor Young noted that in November 2020 the Council received the Report in the Public Interest from the council’s external auditors, Grant Thornton. At the same time the council had been preparing its submission to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government for a capitalisation direction and the Section 151 Officer (Lisa Taylor, Director of Finance, Investment & Risk) had issued a Section 114 Notice. It was stated by Councillor Young that as part of the Administration’s commitment to understand and rectify the very serious position it was in it had commissioned an independent investigation. Furthermore, it was noted that there was an ongoing staff restructure which may require meetings of the Appointments Committee.

 

In light of the rapid and important changes which were taking place Councillor Young informed Members that he had requested that officers reviewed the council’s preparedness in case action was required. The review, it was stressed, was to ensure there were adequate processes in place for any eventuality and formed part of the Administration’s commitment to strengthen governance. The review, it was noted, had identified three urgent recommendations which were outlined within the report.

 

The Leader, Councillor Hamida Ali, seconded the recommendations.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.    Following the change of Leader of the Council, suspend paragraph 2.4 of Part 4F of the Constitution in order to appoint a new Chair of the Appointments Committee;

 

2.    Appoint Councillor Hamida Ali as the Chair of the Appointments Committee for the remainder of the 2020/21 Municipal Year; and

 

3.    Agree to amend Part 3 of the Constitution (Responsibility for Functions) and Part 4J (Staff Employment Procedure Rules) as detailed in paragraph 5 of the report.

11/21

Matter for Consideration by Council - Proposal for a change in Governance Referendum pdf icon PDF 222 KB

This report asks the Council to formally consider and resolve whether it wishes to hold a referendum on Thursday 7th October 2021 or on any revised date of the GLA election should this election be further postponed to a date that is within 28 days of the referendum date proposed by the Council.

Minutes:

The Mayor informed Council that in accordance with the Local Government Act 2000 (as amended) the Council was required to hold a meeting to consider and resolve to hold a referendum before a change to governance arrangements could take place. The meeting was being asked to consider and resolve on whether to hold a referendum on Thursday 7 October 2021 or on a revised date should the GLA election be postponed to a date within 28 days of the date proposed by the council.

 

Councillor Hamida Ali proposed the recommendations within the report and stated the Administration welcomed the debate on the best system of governance for the governance and noted that residents had requested that this change be facilitated. The recommendations within the report included holding a referendum on 7 October 2021 which gave residents the chance to decide how the Council was governed; specifically whether control of the council was determined by the largest political group or by an individual determined by a popular vote.

 

Councillor Ali stated that it was both the responsible and common sense approach to hold the referendum in October 2021 as the impact of the pandemic and restrictions continued and it was imperative the council resolved its immediate financial pressures.

 

It was noted by Councillor Ali that during the previous month, the High Court had upheld the London Borough of Newham’s decision to declare the petition it had received from local residents to hold a governance referendum invalid due to the suspension of all elections until 5 May 2021. To that end, Councillor Ali stated that the judgement suggested that Croydon Council was also right to declare the petition it had received invalid. Whilst it was recognised that the Government had introduced new regulations which came into effect the following days to provide councils with the opportunity to receive and verify petitions despite the suspension of election activity; the regulations only gave councils until the end of the week to verify thousands of signatures to hold a referendum in May 2021.

 

Councillor Ali stated the new Administration had already taken the view that it was right to accept the premise of the request for a referendum from some residents and to facilitate that debate. The recommendations, it was stated, removed the uncertainty of verifying a petition and enabled all involved to look toward to the referendum.

 

Councillor Ali highlighted the Administrations priorities in relation to the referendum and that whilst the proposal for a referendum had not originated from the Administration, it was stressed that the Administration welcomed the debate and the appetite shown by residents to engage in the governance of the council. Furthermore, whilst the pandemic continued there remained uncertainty as to whether elections scheduled to take place in May 2021 would take place due to the unpredictability of the virus. Thirdly, the Administration’s overwhelming focus, it was stated, was on stabilising the council’s financial position and a decision from MHCLG remained outstanding. With such challenges, Councillor Ali suggested that both  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11/21

12/21

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

 

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

 

Minutes:

This item was not required.