Agenda item

In accordance with Standing Order 15.1, the following motion to rescind the decision made at the meeting of the Council on 27 November 2014 in respect of the item on Greater Cambridge City Deal Governance Arrangements has been received: 

“That the decision to include the words ‘subject to the deletion of the words ‘at the discretion of the Chairman’ at paragraph 11 of the Standing Orders set out in Annex A’ in resolution (a) of the item on the Greater Cambridge City Deal Governance Arrangements be rescinded.”

The motion received the required twelve signatures and was signed by Councillors Francis Burkitt, Simon Edwards, Roger Hickford, James Hockney, Mark Howell, Ray Manning, Mick Martin, David McCraith, Ben Shelton, David Whiteman-Downes, Tim Wotherspoon and Nick Wright.

A copy of the original decision relating to this item is attached at Appendix A.

By rescinding this part of the decision, Council will approve the Terms of Reference for the Greater Cambridge City Deal Executive Board, attached at Appendix B.

Council AGREED the following motion:

“That the decision to include the words ‘subject to the deletion of the words ‘at the discretion of the Chairman’ at paragraph 11 of the Standing Orders set out in Annex A’ in resolution (a) of the item on the Greater Cambridge City Deal Governance Arrangements be rescinded.”

Councillor Ray Manning, Leader of the Council, proposed the following motion with regard to the rescinding of a decision made at the previous meeting of Full Council in respect of the governance arrangements for the Greater Cambridge City Deal:

“That the decision to include the words ‘subject to the deletion of the words ‘at the discretion of the Chairman’ at paragraph 11 of the Standing Orders set out in Annex A’ in resolution (a) of the item on the Greater Cambridge City Deal Governance Arrangements be rescinded.”

In moving the motion, Councillor Manning explained that Cambridgeshire County Council and Cambridge City Council had both approved a version of the Terms of Reference for the City Deal Executive Board which retained the words that this Council had agreed to remove at its previous meeting.  He sought to align this Council’s decision with that of the other two Councils by rescinding that aspect of the original decision so that the same governance arrangements were agreed by the three City Deal partner Councils.

A motion to rescind a previous decision of the Council required the signatures of twelve Members.  Councillors Francis Burkitt, Simon Edwards, Roger Hickford, James Hockney, Mark Howell, Ray Manning, Mick Martin, David McCraith, Ben Shelton, David Whiteman-Downes, Tim Wotherspoon and Nick Wright were noted as being the twelve signatories.

Councillor Roger Hickford seconded the motion.

Discussion ensued and, in speaking against the motion, the following points were made:

·         it was disappointing to receive this motion to rescind a decision that had been made so recently;

·         this Council had democratically made a decision regarding this matter and to rescind that decision would be wrong;

·         the motion showed a lack of leadership.  The Leader should have made the case to the other two Councils to amend their decisions in respect of the governance arrangements for the City Deal;

·         nothing had changed since the original decision was taken at the last meeting, so the motion should be voted down.

The following points were noted by those Members speaking in favour of the motion:

·         it was disappointing that the amendment regarding the removal of the words ‘at the discretion of the Chairman’ regarding the public speaking protocol for the Executive Board was accepted as part of the original decision.  The use of this wording was standard practice, and featured in the Standing Orders for this Council for example;

·         the removal of the words ‘at the discretion of the Chairman’ did not change anything as further sections in the protocol still provided the Chairman with the ability to use his or her discretion;

·         supporting the motion would bring this Council in line with the other two Councils, who had democratically voted in favour of the original Terms of Reference for the Executive Board.  It was only right, therefore, for this Council to agree to the same set of documents when the removal of the words ‘at the discretion of the Chairman’ from the public speaking protocol did not necessarily change anything.

Voting on the motion, with 29 votes in favour, 13 against and 2 abstentions, Council AGREED the following motion:

“That the decision to include the words ‘subject to the deletion of the words ‘at the discretion of the Chairman’ at paragraph 11 of the Standing Orders set out in Annex A’ in resolution (a) of the item on the Greater Cambridge City Deal Governance Arrangements be rescinded.”

Enough Members as prescribed by the Council’s Standing Orders requested a recorded vote.  Votes were therefore cast as follows:

In favour

Councillors David Bard, Val Barrett, Francis Burkitt, Brian Burling, Nigel Cathcart, Pippa Corney, Kevin Cuffley, Simon Edwards, Roger Hall, Lynda Harford, Roger Hickford, James Hockney, Caroline Hunt, Ray Manning, Mick Martin, Raymond Matthews, David McCraith, Charles Nightingale, Tony Orgee, Alex Riley, Tim Scott, Ben Shelton, Jim Stewart, Peter Topping, Robert Turner, Bunty Waters, David Whiteman-Downes, Tim Wotherspoon and Nick Wright.

Against

Councillors Henry Batchelor, Anna Bradnam, Jonathan Chatfield, Philippa Hart, Tumi Hawkins, Sebastian Kindersley, Douglas de Lacey, Deborah Roberts, Neil Scarr, Bridget Smith, Hazel Smith, Aidan Van de Weyer and John Williams.

Abstention

Councillors Neil Davies and Edd Stonham.

(NOTE – Councillor Mervyn Loynes was not in attendance for the consideration of this item).