Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Clare Aparicio Paul, Marcus Barrett, Mike Beech, Sam McAllister, David Norris, Tiffany Osborne, Stephen Page, Alan Smith, Linda Vijeh, William Wallace and Clare Pestell and Netta Meadows, Directors.

To approve and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday, 17^th May 2018.

The minutes of the Extraordinary Council meeting and the Annual Council meeting held on 17^th May 2018, copies of which had been previously circulated, were approved as correct records of the meetings and signed by the Chairman.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

Members are reminded that they need to declare the fact that they are also a member of a County, Town or Parish Council as a Personal Interest.  Where you are also a member of Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council within South Somerset you must declare a prejudicial interest in any business on the agenda where there is a financial benefit or gain or advantage to Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council which would be at the cost or to the financial disadvantage of South Somerset District Council. 

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

There were no questions from members of the public present.

The Chairman advised that a short video of SSDC achievements would be shown each month at the meeting.  A video of listed and historic buildings preserved with the assistance of the planning team was shown.

The Leader of Council said he had attended a meeting of the six Somerset authorities together with representatives from BANES and North East Somerset to discuss the proposed unitary authority proposal.   He confirmed that a brief would be published to look at all the options of working together in the future.  In response to questions from Members he confirmed that:

·         If Unitary status was agreed, it could take 5 years to implement on a planned basis but certainly not less than 2 -3 years.

·         Previous Unitary status documentation would be looked at including the Sir John Banham report.

·         He was not sure at the present time how the proposal would fit with the current combined authority work.

The Democratic Services Specialist asked Members to be vigilant for spam / phishing emails. 

The list of Chairman’s engagements were noted.

The Chairman introduced the report and noted the new high level resume of the annual performance report.

There was no debate and Members were content to note the 2017/18 performance information.

(Voting: 48 in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention)

The Chief Executive advised that the current Leader of Council had tendered his resignation in writing and if Members accepted it, then they must elect a new Leader for the remainder of the Council year.

A vote was taken and Members unanimously agreed to accept the resignation of Councillor Ric Pallister as Leader of Council from 31^st August 2018.

Councillor Ric Pallister, seconded by Councillor Jo Roundell Greene, proposed that Councillor Val Keitch be elected as Leader of Council for the remainder of the Council year.  There were no other nominations and so Councillor Val Keitch was confirmed as the new Leader of Council from 1^st September 2018.

Councillor Val Keitch thanked Council for their confidence in her and paid tribute to Councillor Ric Pallister for his leadership of the Council.

Councillors Mike Lewis, Dave Bulmer, Martin Wale and Sue Steele congratulated the new Leader of Council and paid tribute to Councillor Ric Pallister for his leadership of SSDC and representation of the Council at a national level.

(Voting: 48 in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention)

Members were content to note the proposed new members of the Scrutiny, Regulation and Licensing Committees.

The report of Executive Decisions was noted.

Councillor Derek Yeomans, Chairman of the Audit Committee, presented the report of the Committee. 

The report of the Audit Committee was noted.

Councillor Sue Steele, Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee, presented the report of the Committee.  She encouraged all Members to join in the Committees discussions.

The report of the Scrutiny Committee was noted.

There were no Motions submitted by Members.

There were no Motions submitted by Members.

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 10.

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 10.

Members are asked to note that the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council is a reserve date of 16^th August 2018. 

Unless there is any urgent business to progress on this date, the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council will take place on Thursday, 20^th September 2018 in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 7.30 p.m.

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council was a reserve date of 16^th August 2018. 

Unless there was any urgent business to progress on this date, the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council would take place on Thursday, 20^th September 2018 in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 7.30 p.m.