The Lord Mayor proposed a procedural motion to vary the order of business to move the motion on notice 12.b to the beginning of the agenda, this will come after declarations of interest / announcements before returning to the agenda as set out.

The Deputy Lord Mayor seconded the motion.

Following a vote Council agreed to vary the order of business.

For (50)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bingley, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dr Cree, Dann, Deacon, Derrick, Downie, Drean, Evans OBE, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Laing, Loveridge, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (1)

Councillor Nicholson

Abstention (1)

Councillor Kelly

Absent/Did not vote

Councillor Neil, Jordan, Tuffin, James and Cresswell

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2022 as a correct record.

The Council agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2022 are confirmed as a correct record.

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) advised that the Monitoring Officer had issued a dispensation for all Councillors, in relation to the Motion on Notice 12b.

There were no declarations of interest made by Councillors, in accordance with the code of conduct.

Councillor Patrick Nicholson raised a point of order to seek clarification as to the rationale behind issuing a dispensation for a Councillor to occupy a Council position.

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) advised that given the unusual nature of the motion before Council, the Monitoring Officer had considered that to ensure clarity for all Councillors on this issue, a dispensation would be issued so there would be no requirement to declare an interest.

Councillor Patrick Nicholson raised a point of order that this dispensation would set a precedent that whenever Councillors were nominated to Council positions, a dispensation would need to be given by the Monitoring Officer on each occasion.

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) advised that this matter had been discussed with the Monitoring Officer and it was the intention in the future to look to provide a standing dispensation for appointments to committees, cabinet and Leader.  The blanket dispensation would apply which would be published at the beginning of the new municipal year, prior to the Annual General Meeting.

Councillor Nicholson raised a further point of order that given the Council had numerous Monitoring Officers over the years, this was the first time that this issue had arisen and asked the Lord Mayor and the Chief Executive to seek a second legal opinion on this process.

The Lord Mayor sought clarification as to whether information from the Monitoring Officer was required at this meeting, and if so, the meeting would be adjourned to facilitate this request.

Councillor Patrick Nicholson advised that he did not wish to delay this meeting. However, he did not accept the need for a dispensation, as he considered that it was important not to set a precedent that would mean more council tax payers money being wasted on similar actions in the future.

Tracey Lee (Chief Executive) advised that this was a very unusual situation. She was confident that she could speak on behalf of the Monitoring Officer, that a discussion on this issue would be held with the Audit and Governance Sub Committee.  The Monitoring Officer had been very clear that for the purpose of this meeting a dispensation was required. Whilst this course of action had not previously been undertaken, the Council did have a new Monitoring Officer, who would be happy to discuss any concerns Councillors may have.

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE introduced the motion on notice on no confidence in the Leader and election of a new Leader.  This was seconded by Councillor Sue Dann.

Following a discussion with contributions from Councillors Patrick Nicholson, Mrs Vivienne Pengelly, Mark Deacon, John Riley, Bill Steven, Dave Downie, Chaz Singh, Kevin Neil, Jemima Laing, Nick Kelly and George Wheeler.

Council agreed -

1.    to remove Councillor Nick Kelly from the position of Leader;

2.    to elect a new leader at this meeting (21/03/22), subject to this motion being agreed, nominations to be proposed and seconded from the floor.  

For (29)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Dr Buchan, Churchill, Coker,  Corvid, Dr Cree, Dann, Derrick, Evans OBE, Goslin, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Laing, Lowry, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Penberthy, Rennie, Stevens, Vincent, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (23)

Councillors Mrs Beer, Bingley, Mrs Bridgeman, Carlyle, Deacon, Downie, Drean, Harrison, Kelly, Loveridge, Dr Mahony, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Mrs Pengelly, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stoneman, Wakeham and Wheeler.

Abstain (1) Councillor Shannon Burden

Councillor Patrick Nicholson raised a point of order that he had emailed the Monitoring Officer this morning, following the receipt of the advice circulated on the process for seeking nominations for the Leader but had not received a response.  This was in relation to where did the guidance set out in the email conform to the constitution.  He had not experienced multi nominations simultaneously rather than taking nominations sequentially and why the Monitoring Officer had sought not to respond to this email.

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) stated that officers had been advised that it was likely that there would be more than one nomination.  With that understanding 4.18.4 of the constitution was being used  ‘voting on appointments - if there are three or more candidates for a position and none has more than half of the votes, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated and a new vote taken, this will continue until one candidate has more than half the votes’. That was in respect of three or more candidates, if there were less candidates voting process would be different, as set out by the Monitoring Officer.

Councillor Patrick Nicholson advised that in relation to the constitution, councillors did not have a view, as outlined, of knowing whether there would be more than one or two nominations and therefore the Council should determine how to decide to proceed. He queried why nominations were not being taken as they were nominated, as why the Council should be precluded to three if none of them were successful.

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) advised that this situation had not arisen before in the Council and that officers had been a pragmatic as they could be.

Councillor Patrick Nicholson raised a point of order, that the recommendation was from officers and was not necessarily how the Council should determine how it moved forward, as again a precedent was being set on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

The Assistant Chief Executive will submit a schedule of vacancies on committees, outside bodies etc and of changes notified to us.  

Councillor Mrs Terri Beer (Lord Mayor) introduced the political proportionality report. This was seconded by Councillor Mrs Maddi Bridgeman (Deputy Lord Mayor).

The Council approved the changes to committee membership, set out at Appendix A of the report, following changes in the political proportionality of the Council.

For (49)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Mrs Beer, Bingley, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dann, Derrick, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Kelly, Laing, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (0)

Abstain/not present (4) Councillors Dr Cree, Deacon, Downie and Loveridge.

(a)        To receive announcements from the Lord Mayor, Chief Executive, Service Director for Finance or Head of Legal Services;

(b)        To receive announcements from the Leader, Cabinet Members or Committee Chairs.

The Lord Mayor made the following announcements to Members –

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE wished to pay tribute to –

Councillor Patrick Nicholson took this opportunity to pay tribute to Councillor David James who had served this authority for 25 years.  Councillor David James had indeed worked hard for the authority and tirelessly for the people of Plymouth and in his role as chief scrutineer.  He thanked him for his service as a Councillor, Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor and wished him a happy retirement.

Councillor Bingley (Leader of the Council) made the following announcements to Council –

To receive questions from and provide answers to the public in relation to matters which are about something the council is responsible for or something that directly affects people in the city, in accordance with Part B, paragraph 11 of the Constitution.

Questions, of no longer than 50 words, can be submitted to the Democratic Support Unit, Plymouth City Council, Ballard House, West Hoe Road, Plymouth, PL1 3BJ, or email to democraticsupport@plymouth.gov.uk. Any questions must be received at least five complete working days before the meeting.

There were three questions submitted by members of the public.

Councillor John Riley (Cabinet Member for Governance, HR, IT and Community Safety) introduced the Public Consultation regarding the Council’s Electoral Cycle. This was seconded by Councillor Nick Kelly.

Councillor Sue Dann advised that under the rules of debate she would like to move that this report was referred to the Audit and Governance Committee to enable for a full cross party discussion with any resulting proposals reported back to Council in the new municipal year.

Councillor Sue Dann proposed and Councillor Bill Stevens seconded the proposal.

Following a discussion, with contribution from Councillors Tudor Evans, OBE, Patrick Nicholson, Chaz Singh, George Wheeler, Richard Bingley, Chris Penberthy, Nigel Churchill, Kevin Neil and Dr John Mahony.

Vote on the amendment

For (45)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bingley, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dr Cree, Dann, Derrick, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Laing, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham and Ms Watkin.

Against (3) Councillors Kelly, Nicholson and Wheeler.

Abstain/not present (4) Lord Mayor, Councillors Deacon, Downie and Loveridge.

The amendment was carried.

Following a discussion the Council agreed that –

this report was referred to the Audit and Governance Committee to enable for a full cross party discussion with any resulting proposals reported back to Council in the new municipal year.

Vote on substantive

For (49)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bingley, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dr Cree, Dann, Derrick, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Kelly, Laing, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (0)

Abstain/not present (4) Lord Mayor, Councillors Deacon, Downie and Loveridge.

Due to the significant amount of background material in support of this paper, it has not been published as part of the agenda, the following papers are available at this link –

·         Appendix B Online Survey Comments

·         Appendix C Table of Responses

·         CCTV Guidance

·         Code of Good Conduct 2022

·         Guidance on relevance of convictions and conduct 2022

·         Hackney Carriage Advertising Policy 2022

·         Hackney Carriage Vehicle Conditions

·         Hackney Carriage Vehicle Specifications

·         Private Hire Driver Conditions 2022

·         Private Hire Operator Conditions 2022

·         Private Hire Special Events Vehicle Conditions 2022

·         Private Hire Special Events Vehicle Specifications 2022

·         Spoken English Assessment Test Procedure

·         Vehicle Emissions Policy

·         Wheelchair and Assistance Dogs Exemption Guidelines 2022

Any recommendations resulting from consideration at scrutiny will be published as a “to follow”.

Councillor John Riley (Cabinet Member for Governance, HR, IT and Community Safety) introduced the Public Consultation regarding the Council’s Electoral Cycle. This was seconded by Councillor Richard Bingley.

Following a discussion with contributions from Councillors Eddie Rennie, Chris Penberthy and Mrs Mary Aspinall, the Council agreed to –

For (49)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bingley, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dr Cree, Dann, Derrick, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Kelly, Laing, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (0)

Abstain/not present Councillors Mrs Beer, Deacon, Downie and Loveridge.

Councillor Chris Penberthy introduced the Scrutiny Annual Report. This was seconded by Councillor Richard Bingley.

Councillor Chris Penberthy took this opportunity to thank Councillor David James for his invaluable contribution to the scrutiny process over many years for the benefit of the City Council.

Councillor Chris Penberthy also took this opportunity to thank all those involved in the scrutiny process during the municipal year 2021/22.

Following a discussion with contributions from Councillors Mrs Mary Aspinall and Jemima Laing, the City Council noted the Scrutiny Annual Report 2021/2022.

Councillor Mrs Aspinall (Chair of the Lord Mayor Selection Committee) introduced the Lord Mayoralty 2022/23 report.  This was seconded by Councillor John Riley.

Following a discussion with contributions from Councillors John Riley and Brian Vincent, the Council agreed to approve the recommendation from the Lord Mayor Selection Committee to appoint Councillor Sue Dann as Lord Mayor for 2022/23.

For (48)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Mrs Beer, Bingley, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dr Cree, Dann, Derrick, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Laing, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (0)

Abstain/not present (5) Councillors Deacon, Downie, Kelly, Loveridge and Nicholson.

Councillor Dr John Mahony (Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee) introduced the revisions to the Members’ Code of Conduct. This was seconded by Councillor Mark Lowry.

Following a discussion with contributions from Councillors James Stoneman and Chaz Singh, the Council agreed to approve the appended Code of Conduct.

For (47)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bingley, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dr Cree, Dann, Derrick, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Kelly, Laing, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (0)

Abstain/not present (6) Councillors Mrs Beer, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Deacon, Downie and Loveridge.

Councillor Dr Charlotte Cree introduced the motion on notice on Long Covid.  This was seconded by Councillor Dr Pam Buchan.

Following a discussion with contributions from Councillors Patrick Nicholson, Dann Collins, Rebecca Smith, Dr John Mahony, Richard Bingley and Mrs Mary Aspinall.

This Council agrees: 

The Leader to write to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to ask them to:

·         Invest in research to find treatments for long COVID

·         Ensure access to long COVID clinics and services after routine COVID testing ceases The Leader to write to Dr Sarah Wollaston, Chair of the Integrated Care Partnership, asking her to ensure that the forthcoming Primary Care Strategy includes an action plan for long COVID and long-term conditions

·         To examine the local long COVID provision via the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee

For (48)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Mrs Beer,  Bingley, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dr Cree, Dann, Derrick, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Kelly, Laing, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (0)

Abstain/not present (5) Councillors Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Deacon, Downie and Loveridge.

Councillor Margaret Corvid introduced the cross party motion on notice on Ukraine.  This was seconded by Councillor Mrs Vivienne Pengelly.

Following a discussion with contributions from Councillors James Stoneman, Chris Penberthy, Mark Coker, Chaz Singh, Richard Bingley, Gareth Derrick and Tudor Evans OBE.

Council agrees to -

1.    suspend all twinning activities with our long-standing twin city of Novorossiysk, until such time as the Russian army has completely withdrawn from Ukraine. 

2.    use the front page of the Council’s website to promote the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Appeal and provide a list of local collection points for those wishing to give items needed in the relief effort.

3.    begin the process of identifying an appropriate city in Ukraine to build a twinning relationship with.

For (46)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bingley, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dann, Derrick, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Mrs Johnson, Kelly, Laing, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (0)

Abstain/not present  (7) Councillors Mrs Beer, Dr Cree, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Deacon, Downie and Loveridge.

Councillor Mrs Mary Aspinall introduced the motion on notice on women’s life expectancy.  This was seconded by Councillor Sue McDonald.

Following a discussion with contributions from Councillors McDonald and Patrick Nicholson, Council agreed to ask the Director of Public Health to oversee an investigation of links between deprivation, long term conditions and women’s reduced life expectancy in Plymouth as compared with England and within 6 months make a report on their findings in the first instance to the Adult Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

For (45)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bingley, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dann, Derrick, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Kelly, Laing, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (0)

Abstain/not present (8) Councillor Mrs Beer, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Dr Cree, Deacon, Downie, Mrs Johnson and Loveridge.

Councillor Chris Penberthy introduced the motion on notice on £150 Council Tax rebate.  This was seconded by Councillor Tudor Evans OBE.

Following a discussion with contributions from Councillors Nick Kelly, Rebecca Smith, George Wheeler and Richard Bingley.

Council agreed that the Leader writes to the Chancellor and the Minister for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities requesting that the Government:

·         provide information about the level of funding that will be made available to administer this work

·         provide further guidance on the discretionary element in order for there to be some consistency in approach and not a postcode lottery

·         request that energy companies provide information to councils about customers using key meters, PayPoint or who are regularly in arrears as these are likely to be more vulnerable residents who should be prioritised

For (45)

Councillors Allen, Mrs Aspinall, Bingley, Mrs Bridgeman, Dr Buchan, Burden, Carlyle, Churchill, Coker, Collins, Corvid, Dann, Derrick, Drean, Evans OBE, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Hulme, Kelly, Laing, Lowry, Dr Mahony, McDonald, Morris, Murphy, Neil, Nicholson, Partridge, Patel, Penberthy, Mrs Pengelly, Rennie, Riley, Salmon, Shayer, Singh, Smith, Stevens, Stoneman, Vincent, Wakeham, Ms Watkin and Wheeler.

Against (0)

Abstain/not present (8) Councillors Mrs Beer, Bowyer, Mrs Bowyer, Dr Cree, Deacon, Downie, Mrs Johnson and Loveridge.

Questions to the Leader, Cabinet Members and Committee Chairs covering aspects for their areas of responsibility or concern by councillors in accordance with Part B, paragraph 12 of the constitution.

Please note that questions, answers, supplementary questions and supplementary answers have been summarised.

Councillor Evans rose to thank the Lord Mayor for her stewardship of the Council meeting over the last twelve months.