Minutes – Council in Committee – 12 October 2022
The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Council-in-Committee – 12 October 2022 – agenda and papers
The minutes of this meeting are presented below.
You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Council in Committee – 12 October 2022
MEETING OF COUNCIL IN COMMITTEE
Minutes
Date: 12 October 2022
Time: 2.00pm – 4.25pm
Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ
PRESENT: The Mayor (Councillor Joy), the Deputy Mayor (Councillor Plowman) and Councillors Apel, Corfield, Dignum, Gaskin, Gershater, C Hughes, J Hughes, Lishman, Quail and Scicluna
One vacancy
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk, Deputy Town Clerk, Member Services Support Officer, five members of the public to give nomination citations
ATTENDING VIA ZOOM: One member of the public to give a nomination citation
44. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
RESOLVED to accept and approve apologies and reasons for absence from the meeting from Councillors Barrie, Bell, Carter, Harry and Sharp
45. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING
Councillor Scicluna declared personal interests as a friend of Civic Award nominations A and B.
Councillor Apel declared an interest pertaining to nomination F.
Councillor Plowman declared an interest pertaining to nominations H and K
Councillor Lishman declared an interest in the East Ward casual vacancy co-option.
46. PRESENTATIONS FROM PROPOSERS
Councillors and members of the public gave their citations in support of their nominations for the Civic Awards 2022, Community Awards 2022 and Blue Plaques 2022.
At this point the Mayor took agenda items 6, 7, 8 and 9
47. PUBLIC BODIES (ADMISSION TO MEETINGS) ACT 1960
RESOLVED that the public and members of the press be excluded from the meeting because of the confidential nature of the business to be contracted.
48. CIVIC AWARDS 2022
Councillors considered and voted upon Civic Award nominations A to I.
It was RESOLVED that nominations A, B and F to I be offered a Civic Award 2022
Members agreed that it would be more appropriate if nominations C, D and E were offered a Community Award 2022.
The Member Services Support Officer explained why the three nominations had been presented as Civic Award nominations rather than the original Community Award nomination.
After further discussion, it was RESOLVED that nominations C, D and E be offered a Community Award 2022 for their work at Roussillon Park.
Post meeting note: Following discussions with the nominators of C, D and E, it was agreed that a Community Award 2022 be offered to the Roussillon Park community with the names of the individual nominees being read out as part of the award citation at the awards presentation ceremony.
49. COMMUNITY AWARDS 2022
Councillors considered and voted upon Community Award nominations J to L.
Members discussed nomination J at some length and it was agreed that the nominee would not be offered a Community Award 2022.
After further discussion, it was RESOLVED that nominations K and L be offered Community Awards 2022
50. BLUE PLAQUES 2022
Councillors considered and voted upon Blue Plaque nominations M to O.
RESOLVED that Blue Plaques be awarded to nominations M to O
The meeting returned to public session and the published agenda order
51. CO-OPTION TO THE CITY COUNCIL CASUAL VACANCY – EAST WARD
The Town Clerk reminded Members about the process involved in co-opting in to the casual vacancy in the Chichester East Ward.
He advised that there would need to be a Special Meeting of Council to allow applicants to give presentations in support of their applications and at which, Councillors would vote to decide the successful co-optee.
After a short discussion, it was AGREED that a Special Meeting of the Council of the City of Chichester would be held on Monday 24 October 2022 at 4.00pm in the Council Chamber to complete the co-option process.
52. SPEYER TWINNING
The Town Clerk updated Members on the progress made towards a formal Twinning arrangement with Speyer, Germany, to date.
He informed Members that, in response to the invitation to visit Speyer, it had been decided that the City Council’s delegation would consist of the Mayor (Councillor Joy), the Deputy Mayor (Councillor Plowman), Councillors Apel, Gershater and Scicluna as well as the Town Clerk and Deputy Town Clerk.
He further informed Members that the easiest route would be to travel to Heathrow and take a direct flight to Frankfurt. Indicative costs of the flights would be £180 return per person plus a share of the taxi costs.
Members discussed the travel arrangements and associated costs at some length with disagreements being expressed about how the trip should be funded.
The Town Clerk advised Members that the City Council of Speyer, Germany, had informed him that all costs once the delegation was in Speyer would be borne by the hosts so it was only the travelling expenses that needed to be considered.
Councillor Corfield proposed that those members of the delegation who wished to fund their travel themselves should do so but that those who wished to claim for the cost of the travel from the City Council through the standard process should be permitted that option as a private arrangement between themselves and City Council Officers.
Councillors Scicluna and Gershater, as well as the Town Clerk, advised Members that they would be covering the travel costs privately.
Councillor Gaskin expressed concerns about the green credentials of the chosen mode of transport. The Town Clerk explained that the options and timings were very limited, there were no direct flights from Gatwick and where train travel could be used, this was on the basis that travel days were not affected by strike action.
After a further discussion, it was RESOLVED to adopt Councillor Corfield’s proposal that those who wished to claim the cost of the travel from the City Council could do so while those who wished to pay for themselves could proceed on that basis.
Post meeting note: Councillor Apel has since confirmed that she is unable to join the City Council delegation to Speyer.
53. DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING
DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: Wednesday 14 December 2022 at 2.00pm
The meeting closed at 4.25pm