To receive Announcements, if any, from the Mayor, the Leader, Head of Paid Service and Returning Officer.
Minutes:
The Chair paid respects to the recent deaths of Bradley Hutchins on 12 September and Elieanne Andam on 27 September 2023. He stated the deaths had caused deep sadness in the community and asked for a minute’s silence as a mark of respect for their lives, the loss to their families and the community.
Council then held a minute silence.
In his announcements, the Chair thanked Members for the success of the two events held to raise money for his charities. He stated that the events, a curry night at Royal Tandoori in Selsdon and a golf day at Farleigh Golf Club had cross party support and past Mayors, visiting Mayors from other Boroughs and a variety of businesses as guests. He expressed gratitude for the support and confirmed that details of future charity events, the Chinese New Year, a beer festival and a gala dinner would be circulated when finalised.
The Executive Mayor in his announcements, expressed deep shock at the recent tragic loss of young lives in the borough. He advised that significant investment had been made in community intervention programmes to guide those at risk away from violence, but it was clear more needed to be done. He advised the Council would work closely with partners to increase efforts to make Croydon a safer place for young people.
The Executive Mayor then expressed sympathy with those affected by the recent conflict between Israel and Gaza especially those anxiously awaiting news about the safety of their loved ones.
Finally, the Executive Mayor advised Members of the results of the independent review of arrangements for the election count in May 2022. He stated that the review had concluded that the election was transparent, safe, and secure, identified areas for improvement and the action plan to implement the Panel’s eleven recommendations was approved by the General Purposes Committee on 9 October 2023. The Executive Mayor then invited the Chair of the General Purposes Committee to make further comments.
Councillor Sean Fitzsimons, the Chair of the General Purposes Committee advised the independent review panel had recommended an action plan for future elections in the borough and although the report had criticised the Returning Officer (RO) and staff, it also contained many positive comments. He advised resources were needed to meet democratic requirements to ensure confidence of all stakeholders in the election and better logistics on the day of the count.
The Executive Mayor proposed to reduce the allocated time to a number of the standing items in order to ensure that the Members could conduct all of the necessary business of the meeting. The Civic Mayor moved to suspend Council procedure rules in the following:
· At Item 9a, Health and Wellbeing Board Annual Report, to suspend council procedure rules (3.70-3.71 of Section 4A) to move the recommendations without questions.
· At Item 9b, Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report to suspend council procedure rules (3.66 of Section 4A) to allow the Chair of Scrutiny to introduce the report on behalf of all the sub-committee chairs.
· At Item 12, Maiden Speeches (3.7 of Section 4A), to defer the item to next Council meeting.
The motion was seconded by Councillor Mario Creatura, put to the vote and CARRIED.
RESOLVED to: reduce the time allocated to the items of business in the agenda to ensure all business of the meeting could be completed.