Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
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Agenda item

Minutes:

11.1   A motion was moved by Councillor Tony Bavington and seconded by Councillor Stephen Williams, the requisite notice thereof having been given in accordance with Council Procedure rule no 13.1.

 

11.2   The Chair informed Members that Part 3 of the motion could no longer be considered by the Council, and that in accordance with Article 6 in the Babergh Constitution the Deputy Leader of the Council Jan Osborne was now Acting Leader of the Council.

 

11.3   Members debated the resignation of the Councillor Jenkins and if it could be determined when she had decided to resign.  They also questioned if the Monitoring Officer and the Legal Services had provided advice on the basis that Councillor Jenkins was resigning.

 

11.4   The Chair responded that the advice from the Monitoring Officer was in accordance with Article 6 page 17 of the Babergh Constitution and that advice had been sought to provide clarity and responses for all eventualities for the Council meeting, irrespectively of the decision of Councillor Jenkins. 

 

11.5   The Monitoring Officer clarified Article 6 to Members and continued that all Councillors could and did receive confidential advice at appropriate times and this was given in good faith before any meeting.

 

11.6   Councillor Bavington outlined the reasons for moving the motion and said that the move to the Cabinet Governance model and the adopted Constitution had weakened the strength of the Council and that it was time for the Council to take back control of its own policy framework and budget.

 

11.7   Councillor Bavington felt that the merger with Mid Suffolk District Council was in direct contradiction to the wishes of the electorate as established in the referendum of 2011 and that only another referendum would be able to determine the decision on the current merger proposal with Mid Suffolk District Council.

 

11.8   Councillor Williams explained his reasons for supporting the Motion, part 1 and part 2, including:

 

·       That the retired leader rejected requests for a referendum on the merger with Mid Suffolk District Council despite the result of the referendum in 2011,

·       That the merging of staff for Babergh and Mid Suffolk had not produced that promised savings as the loss of staff and redundancy cost equated to the savings,

·       That the move to Endeavour House, had been undertaken before the actual cost of the rent was quantified,

·       Employment in south Suffolk was actually falling, regardless of the promise of more employment opportunities.

 

11.9   A demand for a recorded vote was received in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 18.5.

 

11.10    Before the recorded vote was conducted Members debated the motion including:

 

·       the retired Leader had not listen to the Council nor to advice offered by Members, 

·       That despite the 2011 referendum a guarantee for a referendum on the merger with Mid Suffolk District Council had not been forthcoming,

·       Decisions were made in advance and the Boundary review was put forward as an example of this,

·       There was a lack of information for both Members and electorate.

 

The result of the recorded vote on the motion, part 1 and part 2 was as follows:-

 

For the Motion

Against the Motion

Abstentions

 

 

 

Clive Arthey

Sue Ayres

 

Melanie Barrett

Peter Burgoyne

 

Simon Barrett

Sue Burgoyne

 

Tony Bavington

Tina Campbell

 

Peter Beer

Barry Gasper

 

David Busby

Kathryn Grandon

 

Sue Carpendale

Jennie Jenkins

 

Michael Creffield

Frank Lawrenson

 

Luke Cresswell

Margaret Maybury

 

Derek Davis

Adrian Osborne

 

Sian Dawson

Jan Osborne

 

Alan Ferguson

Peter Patrick

 

John Hinton

Nick Ridley

 

Michael Holt

Ray Smith

 

Bryn Hurren

Harriet Steer

 

Richard Kemp

Fenella Swan

 

James Long

John Ward

 

Alastair McCraw

 

 

Mark Newman

 

 

John Nunn

 

 

Stephen Plumb

 

 

David Rose

 

 

Stephen Williams

 

 

 

 

It was RESOLVED:-

 

(i)                  That no BDC money be allocated in the next budget (2018 – 2019) and no staff time be used from April 2018 for the purpose of the Proposed Merger without the formal approval of the full Council (“Full Council Approval”)

 

(ii)                That as a condition precedent to the obtaining to Full Council Approval, the Leader be requested to guarantee that a new local referendum shall be held in which the votes of the electors for BDC are counted separately on the model of the 2011 referendum and only a vote in favour by the electors of   BDC shall constitute a mandate form BDC to proceed (respectively “Condition Precedent” and “Referendum Approval”)

 

Supporting documents: