Meeting documents

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 25 April 2019.

RESOLVED: The minutes of the meeting held on 23 April 2019 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

There were none.

Apologies for absence were received from Mr Bendyshe-Brown, Mrs Blake, Mr Carroll, Mr Clare, Mr Etholen, Mr Hayday, Mr Shakespeare, Mr Colston, Ms Davies and Mr Ross.

There were none.

Mrs Glover reflected on her year in office and the money raised for her chosen charities Thames Valley Air Ambulance and SSAFA (Armed Forces charity), donating £16,085 in total between the two.

Mrs Glover gave special thanks to Sir Henry and Lady Aubrey Fletcher who had given their support at so many events.  His Honour Frances Sheridan for his contribution to the Chairman’s charities and also his support at so many events. To Mr Roberts for being such a supportive Vice Chairman and to all the councillors who had accompanied her to events and to the Aldermen for attending in her place when necessary.  To Mr Bradshaw and his team for the support provided to the Chairman’s office.

Mrs Glover called for nominations for Chairman.  Mr B Roberts was nominated by Mrs L Clarke; her reasons for the nomination would be appended to the minutes.  Mr P Irwin seconded the nomination and echoed Mrs Clarke’s reasons.

RESOLVED:  Mr Roberts be elected as Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

Mr Roberts read and signed the Declaration and Acceptance of Office and presented Mrs Glover with commemorative photo book of her year in office together with a past Chairman’s badge.

Mr Roberts thanked Mrs Glover for all her work over the past year and was delighted to be taking on the role as Chairman into what would be the last year of the County Council.

The Chairman invited nominations for Vice-Chairman.

Mr B Chapple nominated Mr D Dhillon a Vice Chairman and this was seconded by Mr R Bagge

RESOLVED

That Mr D Dhillon be appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.

Mr Dhillon read and signed the Declaration and Acceptance of Office and thanked colleagues for their faith and support for him in being Vice Chairman for Buckinghamshire County Council’s last year. 

The Leader announced his Cabinet Members and Deputy Cabinet Members.

Council considered and agreed the report of the Chief Executive.

RESOLVED

Council AGREED the proposed structure.

Council considered the report and recommendations.  Mrs S Ashmead, Monitoring Officer highlighted to Council that the appointments to the Fire Authority would be confirmed after 18 June 2019 following their Annual General Meeting.

RESOLVED:

1. Council CONFIRMED the political balance in the distribution of seats across Committees be as set out in Tables 1 and 2 in the report, to accord with the rules on proportionality.
2. Council AGREED the appointments to Council Committees in accordance with the rules on political proportionality, in line with the proposals put forward by each of the political group leaders for the municipal year 2019/20.
3. Council AGREED to delegate to the Monitoring Officer powers to vary the membership of a Committee at any point on a permanent or casual basis upon the written nomination of a Group Leader.

Mr Shaw presented the report that provided an overview of the work of Council appointees on outside bodies in 2018/19. Mr M Shaw thanked all Members who had participated in the varied roles of outside bodies and the importance of these in contributing to the community they lived in.

RESOLVED: Council NOTED the update report.

Mr Tett presented to Council the Annual Report 2019/20, which had been the 130^th year of the County Council.  Mr Tett highlighted the number of Alderman present at Council and thanked them for the legacy they had passed to existing councillors.

Mr Tett gave a presentation, appended to the minutes setting out the challenges and successes of the Council.  In particular Mr Tett made reference to:

• Over 100 services delivered, continuing to improve the lives of residents.
• The Council continued to come in on budget despite challenging financial situations.
• The Council had this year lost all Revenue Support from central government so this now had to come directly from the Council and the tax payer.
• Population continued to grow putting additional demand on Children’s Service and Adult Social Care.
• Money was being invested in order to protect front line services.
• There were a number of areas for celebration including the high number of schools in the county rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, the excellent university provisions and the investment in roads with an immediate £4m being invested in the council’s plane and patch programme.

• The Council led on a number of environment initiatives with a successful record on household waste recycling and a stream of income from Energy from Waste. 
• Money was being built into the budget to elevate the pressure to protect the county’s most vulnerable, with a focus on keeping people out of care homes and living independently for longer.
• The number of Looked After Children had increased to 500.  Two new Children’s homes had been opened in Bucks and there had been an increase on the number of children adopted.
• The council continued to have great relationships with the voluntary and community sectors and thanked them for their collaborative work.
• There had been significant funding from central government to help manage growth in housing and a Housing Infrastructure Fund bid for just under £200m had been submitted to help manage growth in Aylesbury.
• The council continued to look at the best ways to communicate with residents and reaching those residents that were isolated and lonely.
• The council had taken a number of difficult decisions due to financial pressures; this had been regrettable but had allowed the council to pass a very strong financial position over to the new unitary authority.
• The Structural Order for the new authority had now been passed through Parliament and came in effect on 23 May 2019.

Looking to the future, Mr Tett stated that the council would strive to create the very best council in the country, carrying forward heritage and commitment.

Mr Tett thanked all staff that had supported the council over the last 130 years and continued to support today across all services.

Mr S Lambert, Leader of the opposition welcomed the Leaders report and responded by highlighting the following:

• Adult Social Care saw a population with more complex needs
• Huge progress was being made in Children’s Services in the delivery of the Ofsted Improvement Plan and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

There were none.

RESOLVED: Council NOTED the report.

25 July 2019 – Annual Debate

The next meeting of the County Council will take place on 25 July 2019.