Minutes – Annual Meeting of the City Council (Mayor Making) – 14 May 2025

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Annual Meeting of the City Council (Mayor Making) – 14 May 2025 – agenda and papers

The minutes of this meeting are presented below.

You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Annual Meeting of the City Council – 14 May 2025

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL

Minutes

Date: 14 May 2025

Time: 6.00pm – 6.26pm

Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ

PRESENT: Councillors Apel (CA), Butler (AB), Corfield (MC), C Gershater (CG), J Gershater (JG), Knight (SK), Kondabeka (JK), Loxton (SL), McHale (SMc), Miall (RMi), Moore (RMo), Pramas (LP), Quail (SQ), Scicluna (AS) and Vivian (JV).

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Retiring Mayor’s Consort, Incoming Mayoress, Incoming Deputy Mayoress, Retiring Mayor’s Chaplain, Town Clerk, Deputy Town Clerk, Council Services and Support Manager, Property Maintenance Manager, Communities Officer, Communications and Civic Support Officer, Macebearer, Front of House Manager.

Nineteen invited dignitaries and guests. No members of the general public.

Apologies were noted for Councillors Chant and Squire.

1. ELECTION OF MAYOR 2025-2026

The retiring Mayor, Councillor Sarah Quail, in the Chair for this item only.

Unanimously RESOLVED that Councillor Sean McHale be and is hereby elected Mayor of the City of Chichester until the date of the next Annual Meeting and that the allowance to be paid to him be at the rate of £4,000 per annum (exclusive of additional allowances already paid).

The new Mayoress, Mrs Michaela McHale, was invested with the Mayoress’ chain by the retiring Mayor’s Consort, Mr Anthony Quail.

2. DECLARATION OF ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE BY THE MAYOR

Councillor McHale in the Chair.

The retiring Mayor, Councillor Quail, invested the new Mayor, Councillor McHale, with the Chain of Office. The Town Clerk charged the new Mayor with the duty of safe custody of the civic regalia and the new Mayor read aloud and subscribed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

3. APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY MAYOR 2025-2026

Unanimously RESOLVED that Councillor James Vivian be and is hereby appointed Deputy Mayor of the City of Chichester until the date of the next Annual Meeting.

The Deputy Mayor’s Badge was presented to Councillor Vivian and the Deputy Mayor’s Consort Badge was presented to the new Deputy Mayoress, Ms Becky Duerden.

The new Deputy Mayor responded and informed those present that he was deeply honoured to have been appointed and would do his utmost to fulfil the responsibilities of Office, supporting the new Mayor, his fellow Councillors and the wider population of Chichester.

4. ELECTION OF BAILIFF 2025-2026

Unanimously RESOLVED that Councillor Scicluna be elected Bailiff of the City of Chichester until the date of the next Annual Meeting.

The Bailiff’s Badge of Office and Walking Stick were presented to Councillor Scicluna.

The new Bailiff responded, thanking her fellow Councillors for the honour of being elected and offering her support for the new Mayor in the coming year.

5. SELECTION OF STANDING COMMITTEES 2025-2026

The Mayor reminded Members that the proposed memberships of the three Standing Committees had been circulated to Councillors with the meeting agenda.

RESOLVED to accept the proposed Standing Committee memberships as tabled.

6. MINUTES OF COUNCIL

It was moved by the Mayor and duly seconded and RESOLVED that the minutes of the Meeting of Council held on 30 April 2025 be approved, adopted and signed as a correct record.

Councillor Pramas abstained.

7. MEETING TIMES

The Mayor proposed that meetings of Full Council be held at 6pm for the year 2025-2026. Seconded and RESOLVED that meetings of Full Council be held at 6pm for the remainder of the 2025-2026 Council year.

Members were reminded that the Committees and Sub-Committees would resolve their start times at the first meeting of each body.

8. MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Mayor thanked his fellow Councillors for his election and informed those present that he was looking forward to being Mayor and getting involved in the Chichester community.

He noted that, while local government in some countries had only been around for a relatively short time, the history of the Mayoralty and the City Council had been inexistence for nearly 800 years and that the Mayoralty was a symbol of tradition and ceremony as well as representing continuity.

The Mayor highlighted the work that the current City Council had been doing in the first half of its term and said he was excited about the remaining tenure of the Council and continuing to build on its achievements and the City Plan.

He also referred to the current Local Government Reorganisation and stressed the importance of Chichester in the process despite the expected diminution of Chichester as a proportion of the population of the proposed unitary authority.

Turning to his chosen charity, the Mayor informed the meeting that he had wanted to choose a charity that supported young people in the city and that his charity for 2025-2026 would be The Young Peoples’ Shop. The Mayor expressed his excitement about working with the charity to highlight its work and help raise much needed funds.

9. VOTE OF THANKS TO THE RETIRING MAYOR

The Mayor thanked the retiring Mayor for her unstinting service to the City during the previous year and advised that he was looking forward to trying to beat her more than 200 Mayoral appointments in his year. He also thanked the retiring Mayor’s Consort for the support he gave the Mayor over the last year.

The retiring Mayor thanked the Mayor for his words.

She told the meeting that she had felt privileged to have been Mayor and glad to have been offered the role.

The retiring Mayor thanked her fellow Councillors for their support during the past year.

She also thanked the retiring Mayor’s Chaplain for his support at civic engagements, with specific reference to the Remembrance Sunday, VJ Day and VE Day events.

In her closing comments, the retiring Mayor expressed her admiration for the number of volunteers she had met during her Mayoral year. She thanked them for their hard work and highlighted their importance in supporting the residents of, and visitors to, the city.

10. COMMON SEAL

RESOLVED that the Common Seal be affixed to any documents necessary to give effect to the resolutions passed at this meeting.

DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: 25 June 2025 at 6.00pm

The meeting closed at 6.26pm