Agenda and minutes

The Worshipful the Mayor thanked all Members for attending the meeting. She advised Council that she had called the Extraordinary Council meeting on 19 December 2022 in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 3.1 to allow the final Constitution sections to be approved prior to the new system going live after Annual Council on 23 May 2023.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Matthew Perlberg, Marianne Haylett, Zakia Zubairi, Giulia Innocenti, Simon Radford and Linda Lusingu.

None.

The Worshipful the Mayor informed members of the sad passing of former Councillor Geoffrey Johnson who was a councillor representing the Colindale Ward from 2010 – 2014.  The Worshipful the Mayor invited tributes from Councillors Gill Sargeant, Rishikesh Chakraborty, Andrea Bilbow and Richard Cornelius.

The Worshipful the Mayor informed members of the Civic Awards that were held at the

Town Hall on Tuesday 25^th April where many members of the public attended. Details of those who won awards can be found on the Council website.   

The Worshipful the Mayor congratulated the Public Health Team who have been shortlisted for an LGC award for their suicide prevention programme work.  

The Worshipful the Mayor also informed members that the BarNET zero campaign continues to thrive and has also been shortlisted for environmental charity Global Action Plan Sustainable City Awards in the public sector of the year category. 

None.

The Monitoring Officer introduced the report, outlining the changes to various sections of the Constitution. 

Councillor Rawlings moved reception and adoption of the recommendations in the report. 

On the recommendations in the report being put to the vote, the votes were recorded as follows: 

For: 35 

Against: 22

Abstain: 0 

Absent: 6 

Total: 63

RESOLVED that:  

1.            Consider and approve the third tranche of the Constitution as set out in the Appendices attached.

2.            That Council agree that the Constitution in full will come into effect during Annual Council in May 2023.  

3.            That Council delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer to make ‘housekeeping changes’ to the Constitution such as terminology to ensure consistency, numbering and formatting changes.  

4.            That the Council requests that the Monitoring Officer to take the steps outlined in paragraph 5.3.3 of this report.  

5.            That Council resolves to cease to operate the committee system and starts to operate executive arrangements with effect from the start of the 2023/24 Municipal Year at Annual Council on 23 May 2023.  

6.            That Council agree that the constitutional review working group continues as a cross party working group to look at future constitutional changes before they go to Council for approval.

7.    Council note the further changes as highlighted in the supplement published.

The Head of Governance introduced the report, outlining the changes to Members Allowances to be effective after Annual Council. 

Councillor Rawlings moved reception and adoption of the recommendations in the report. 

On the recommendations in the report being put to the vote, the votes were recorded as follows: 

For: 35 

Against: 0

Abstain: 22

Absent: 6 

Total: 63

Resolved that:  

That Council have regard to the recommendations of the Independent Panel on the Remuneration of Councillors in London as attached as Appendix A. 

1.  That Council revoke the existing Scheme and approve the new Members’ Allowances Scheme 2023/24 attached as Appendix B with effect from 23 May 2023. 

2.  That Council note that following approval the Scheme, a notice will be advertised pursuant to Regulation 16 of the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 (as amended).

The Head of Governance introduced the report, outlining the political balance of the Council to be re-calculated based on the new seats allocated to politically proportionate committees.

The Mayor moved reception and adoption of the recommendations in the report. 

On the recommendations in the report being put to the vote, the votes were recorded as follows: 

For: 35 

Against: 0

Abstain: 22

Absent: 6 

Total: 63

RESOLVED that:  

1.  Council note the political balance of the Council is:  

?  40 Members of the Labour Group

?  22 Members of the Conservative Group and

?  1 Independent Member

2.            Council agree that the Standards Sub-Committee and Licensing Sub-Committee are bodies to which the political balance rules do not apply as set out in section 1 of the report.  

3.            Council agree the allocation of seats as set out in the tables in Appendix A in order to comply with the political balance regulations requiring seats to be allocated proportionately to the political groups on Council.

4.            Council agree that the seat allocations come into effect at Annual Council on 23 May 2023.