Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting of the Council

The minutes of the meeting of 19^th February 2025 were agreed.

To receive any declarations of interest

The Mayor invited declarations of interest, there were none.

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)

There was no public participation.

The Mayor asked for nominations for Leader of the council, each required a proposer and seconder.

A Williams requested to move under article 12 N of the constitution to propose the Council amends its procedure rules and takes a motion without notice.

Councillor Douris seconded this motion.

A Williams explained his motion was to defer the appointment of the Leader of the Council until the annual meeting of the Council on 14^th May 2025, to give more time for the consideration of the issues that the council faces in the appointment of that leader.

MBrookes responded that it would be a motion to adjourn the debate and that a change of procedure rules was not required and that the motion was open to debate.

The Mayor opened the floor to debate, reminding members that speeches must be directed to the motion as proposed and no speech should exceed 5 minutes.  Once a member has spoken they may not speak again.  Cllr’s Gale, England and Symington expressed their views. 

Cllr Symington requested a recorded vote; Cllrs Taylor, England, Stevens and Dhyani, supported that request.

The Mayor invited Cllr Douris as the seconder of the motion to speak, before asking Cllr Williams as the mover of the motion if he would like to exercise his right to reply.

The full discussion can be viewed via the video minutes.

The Mayor then took the proposed motion to a vote, advising that she would first be asking for a show of hands after which, owing to this being a recorded vote, members would be asked to complete the corresponding voting slip.

The Mayor then invited all those voting in FOR the motion to raise their hands.  The Democratic Services Manager then advised members on the correct voting slip to be used, the votes were collected and counted.

The process was repeated with the Mayor asking for all those voting AGAINST the motion to raise their hands, and finally again for all those option to ABSTAIN from the vote.

The voting was as follows;

Votes FOR                  =          18

Votes AGAINST          =          27

ABSTAINED                =          4

Decision:  The Mayor announced that the motion to adjourn the appointment of the Leader of the Council to 14^th May had not carried and therefore there would be a continuation to appoint the Leader of the Council and asked for nominations.

Cllr Douris proposed the appointment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

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

5.1       By the Mayor:

5.2       By the Chief Executive:

5.3       By the Group Leaders:  Any apologies for absence

Before commencing proceedings, the Mayor asked members to ensure they remain respectful and adhere to the rulings of the Mayor at all times and be mindful of their behaviour throughout the meeting.  The Mayor also reminded members that any Standards matters or councillor complaints should be raised directly with the Monitoring Officer and not during this meeting.

5.1       The Mayor announced the sad passing of former Cllr Anne Fisher who represented the Grovehill ward from May 1991 to May 2007 and then Hemel Hempstead Town ward from May 2015 to May 2019.

            Cllrs Pesch, Banks, England & Pringle shared their memories of Anne Fisher, which can be viewed via the video minutes.

The Mayor invited any reflections from members before holding a 1 minute silence.

The Mayor then announced a change of venue to her Civic Service and that her Garden party would be taking place on 11^th May at Sunnyside Rural Trust.

5.2       Under Chief Executive’s announcements, DWelsh announced the upcoming Hertfordshire County Council elections to be held on May 1^st with the count taking place on 2^nd May at the sports centre.

5.3       The Mayor invited Group Leaders to give submit apologies on behalf of their groups, Cllr Williams gave apologies on behalf of Cllr Johnson.  Apologies were also noted for Cllr Weston.

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

Before doing so, the Mayor invited Cllr Symington to give any verbal update as Leader of the Council; of which there were no questions.

6.1       Cllr Symington confirmed an appointment of Cllr Allen on the Hertfordshire Building Preservation Trust, he had been acting in this position and Cllr Symington was seeking approval to make this appointment formally. This was agreed.

Decision:        Council agreed the formal appointment of Cllr Allen on the Hertfordshire Building Preservation Trust.

6.2       The Mayor introduced the Housing & Property Portfolio Holder and invited any questions to be addressed to Cllr Dhyani regarding her update.

Questions were posed by Cllrs Elliot, Douris, Williams and Mitchell.  Full details can be viewed via the video minutes. 

Cllr Douris asked why the Year 2 KPI’s were not agreed at the end of Year 1.

Action: Cllr Dhyani to confirm the dates of the year 2 KPI’s as a response to Cllr Douris’s question on when they would be set.

Cllr Mitchell advised of various recent ASB incidents and asked what help can be provided.

Action:  Cllr Dhyani will provide an update regarding the ASB incidents listed by Cllr Mitchell.

6.3       The Mayor then introduced the Corporate & Commercial Portfolio Holder and invited any questions to be addressed to Cllr Allen regarding his update.

No questions were posed.

6.4       The Mayor introduced the Neighbourhood Operations portfolio and invited any questions to be addressed to Cllr Bromham regarding his update.

Questions were posed by Cllrs Douris, Williams, Maddern and Harden; full details can be viewed via the video minutes.

Cllr Douris asked if there would be a public event regarding the realignment of the river in Gadebridge Park.

Action:  Cllr Bromham will discuss with the Director and the Manager of the site the matter of holding a celebratory event when the channel has been broken through and the new river alignment flows.

Cllr Maddern asked if there was any update regarding the work on the lake at the Scout Hut.

Action:  Cllr Bromham will provide Cllr Maddern with an update regarding the work on the lake at the Scout Hut.

6.5       The Mayor then introduced the Place Portfolio Holder, and invited any questions to be addressed to Cllr England regarding his update.

Questions were posed by Cllrs Anderson, Mitchell and Douris; full details can be viewed via the video minutes. 

6.6       The Mayor then introduced the final portfolio, People & Transformation – Climate & Ecological Emergency Portfolio Holder and invited any questions to be addressed to Cllr Smith-Wright regarding her update.

Questions were posed by Cllrs Williams, Adeleke, Bristow, Elliot, Maddern, Hannel; full details can be viewed via the video minutes.

Cllr Adeleke asked what the outcome to the National Employees meeting held of 24 March 2025 was known.

Action:  Cllr Smith-Wright will send an email regarding the outcome of the National Employees meeting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider any business referred from the previous meeting

The Mayor advised that all updates against actions arising from the previous meeting have been published with the agenda.

The action update was agreed as noted.

To consider the following referrals from Cabinet:

18^th February 2025

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

8.1            Cllr Symington introduced CA/29/25 from the Cabinet meeting of 18/03/2025 Financial Performance Quarter 3 which was seconded by Cllr Dhyani and agreed.

8.2            Cllr Symington introduced CA/30.25 from the Cabinet meeting of 18/03/2025 Senior Officer Pay Policy which was seconded by Cllr Dhyani and agreed.

8.3       Cllr Symington introduced CA/32/25 from the Cabinet meeting of 18/03/2025 Strategic Asset Review which was seconded by Cllr Dhyani and agreed.

To consider referrals from Overview and Scrutiny Committees

The Mayor advised that there are no referrals for consideration from the Overview & Scrutiny committees

To consider any proposals for changes to committee membership

The Mayor invited the Group Leaders to give any changes to committee membership.

There were no changes

To consider any proposals for changes to committee dates

The Mayor addressed Cllr Symington to seek any changes to committee dates.

There were no changes