Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting of the Council 15^th October 2024

The minutes of the meeting of 15^th October 2024 were agreed.

To receive any declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider questions (if any) by members of the public of which the appropriate notice has been given to the Assistant Director (Legal & Democratic Services)

The Mayor confirmed there was no public participation registered for the meeting.

To receive announcements and business brought forward by the Mayor, Leader, and Members of the Cabinet or the Chief Executive.

4.1       By the Mayor:

4.2       By the Chief Executive:

4.3       By the Group Leaders:  Any apologies for absence

4.1       The Mayor advised she was saddened to announce the passing of a former Ward Councillor, Nick Tiley, who represented the Ashridge Ward from 2003-2015.

The Mayor invited any reflections, which were shared by Cllr Douris before a 1 minute silence was held.

            Full details can be viewed in the video minutes.

4.2       The Mayor invited Strategic Director of Housing & Property Services, Darren Welsh, to give any announcements on behalf of the Chief Executive.

DWelsh announce that the by-elections for the Hemel Hempstead Town

Ward & Bennetts End Ward will take place on Thursday 21^st November

2024. The count will commence at 10am on Friday 22^nd November at

the Forum. 

4.3       The Mayor invited Group Leaders to give apologies on behalf of their groups.

            Cllr England gave apologies on behalf of Cllrs Stewart & C Link

            Cllr Williams gave apologies on behalf of Cllr Durrant and advised that Cllr Guest would be joining the meeting at 8pm.

            Apologies were also received on behalf of independent members Cllrs Wilkie & Tindall.

The Mayor referred to the Portfolio Holder updates as published with the agenda and advised she would invite questions against each update in turn. 

Before doing so, she invited Cllr England to give his verbal update as Leader of the Council.

To view the Leader’s update and questions posed to Portfolio Holders, please refer to the video minutes.

The following actions were noted;

1.    Cllr Timmis addressed the Leader re. the consultation on new local plan noting that there is a large map in the reception of The Forum of the new plan which includes the towns, greenbelt, villages, areas of manufacture and various alternative green spaces.  Cllr Timmis noted that one thing that appears to be missing and not marked is the AONB and asked the Leader to please explain why that is?

Cllr England responded he is not aware of why and advised he would enquire with officers and will provide a written response.

2.    Cllr Mitchell addressed the Leader and asked; with all the good work happening at adventure playgrounds, would it be possible to consider satellite schemes for areas where residents do not have access to the established playgrounds due to the distance required to get to them.

Cllr England advised he would be happy to take that request away to see what can be done within current resource arrangements and would provide a written response.

3.    Cllr Barradell addressed Cllr Smith-Wright in reference to her update as the Portfolio Holder Transformation (People, Climate & Ecological Emergency) and referred to the work being undertaken with Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) to identify electric vehicle charging sites in the Borough and asked; what has happened in the last year and when can we expect to see these on street?

Cllr Smith Wright advised she would follow up with HCC and report back

4.    Cllr Barradell again addressed Cllr Smith-Wright again on her update and this time referred to the installation of charging points as referenced at  6 car parks across the Borough and asked for an update on which of those installations are working

Cllr Smith Wright advise she would seek information on this and provide a written response.

Cllr Hobson addressed Cllr Smith-Wright as the Portfolio Holder Transformation (People, Climate & Ecological Emergency) and advised she has not received any of the official guidance as referenced on how to access emails on mobile devices, asking the Portfolio Holder if it could please be checked that all councillors have received that information.

Cllr Smith Wright confirmed she would follow this up and provide a written response.

5.    Cllr Elliott addressed Cllr Smith-Wright as the Portfolio Holder Transformation (People, Climate & Ecological Emergency) and referred to the solar panels recently installed, asking for details of the country of manufacture of those units.

Cllr Smith-Wright advised that she would seek that information and provided a written response.

6.    Cllr Freedman addressed Cllr Allen, Portfolio Holder of Corporate & Commercial Services and asked if the Portfolio Holder could amend his report to reflect that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider any business referred from the previous meeting

The Mayor advised that all updates against outstanding business from the previous meeting are provided in the action point list as published under agenda item 6.

To consider the following referrals from Cabinet:

7.1 CA/72/24   23^rd July 2024  Appointment of a Principal Contractor for the refurbishment of two Multi-Use Game Areas (MUGA) and construction of a canopy

structure at Hemel Hempstead School

7.2  CA/90/24   14^th Oct 2024   Medium Term Financial Strategy & Fees & Charges

7.3  CA/95/24   14^th Oct 2024   Dacorum Investment Partnership Proposals

The Mayor invited Cllr England to introduce the referrals from Cabinet.

Cllr England moved the recommenations as set out in the following;

7.1       CA/72/24 (23^rd July 2024) Appointment of a Principal Contractor for the refurbishment of two Multi-Use Game areas (MUGA) and construction of a canopy      structure at Hemel Hempstead School

The recommendations were seconded by Cllr Dhyani and agreed.

7.2       CA/90/24 (14^th October 2024) Medium Term Financial Strategy & Fees & Charges

The recommendations were seconded by Cllr Dhyani and agreed.

7.3       CA/95/24 (14^th October 2024) Dacorum Investment Partnership Proposals

The recommendations were seconded by Cllr Dhyani and agreed.

The Mayor invited Cllr England to introduce the referral from the Licensing and Health and Safety Enforcement Committee.

Cllr England moved the referral as agenda Item 6 of 4^th November 2024 committee; Gambling Act 20025 – Review of Statement of Principles.

The recommendations were seconded by Cllr Dhyani and agreed.

To receive referrals from the Overview & Scrutiny Committees.

There were no referrals from the Overview & Scrutiny Committees.

To consider any proposals for changes to committee membership

The Mayor advised that Cllr England would like to address the Council with regard committee membership.

Cllr England read out the following statement;

‘It has been brought to my attention that I may have inadvertently misled Council in my response to Councillor Weston when, at the Extraordinary Council, she asked me a question about the allocation of Chairperson positions.  It was certainly not my intention to mislead so I wish to clarify that, whilst committee allocation on an overall basis is agreed by political proportionality between the groups with remaining seats allocated to Independent Members, Council could decide to appoint an Independent Member to Chairperson or Vice-Chair positions if Council agreed to do so.  The proposal before the Extraordinary Council meeting for Committee membership has been re-circulated to Members. This currently doesn’t have any Independent Members as Chair or Vice Chair, but for clarity I suggest that a vote is taken this evening to confirm the overall committee membership, as presented.

I understand there is one amendment requested to the version circulated in that one independent seat on the Housing and Community Overview & Scrutiny Committee will change, to remove Cllr Santamaria who will be replaced by Councillor Pringle. In addition, I would like to appoint Cllr Taylor as the Vice Chair of the Appeals Committee.

I therefore move the committee membership as originally considered at the meeting of the 15^th October, subject to the changes I have just set out’

Cllr Dhyani seconded the proposal.

The Mayor asked if there were any further proposed changes?

Cllr Capozzi advised that she would like to move two amendments, as follows;

That Cllr Barry Mears be reinstated as the Chair of Housing and Community Overview & Scrutiny and that Cllr Weston be reinstated as the Vice Chair of Licensing Health & Safety full and sub committees.

The proposals were seconded by Cllr Hobson.

The Mayor advised that there would be a vote on each of the proposed amendments as moved by Cllr Capozzi.

A vote was held on the proposed amendment to appoint Cllr Barry Mears as the Chair of Housing & Community Overview & Scrutiny.

Vote:   

For                   7

Against           33

Abstain            1

(there were a total of 44 member present, of which 41 votes were cast)

The Mayor announced that the vote in respect of the amendment to appointment of Cllr Barry Mears as the Chair of Housing & Community Overview & Scrutiny was lost.

A vote was held on the proposed amendment to appoint Cllr Carole Weston as the Vice Chair of the Licensing Health & Safety full and sub committees.

Vote:

For                   7

Against           32

Abstain            0

(there were a total of 44 member present, of which 39 votes were cast)

The Mayor announced that the vote in respect of the amendment to appointment of Cllr Carole Weston as the Vice Chair of the Licensing Health & Safety full and sub committees was lost.

The Mayor announced that as both amendments had been lost, she would be asking Council to vote  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To consider any proposals for changes to committee dates

It was agreed that the Health & Wellbeing meeting planned for the 21^st November will move to 28^th November due to the by-elections.