Agenda item

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 14 September 2021.

The Chairman asked Councillors if they agreed to confirm the minutes of the Ordinary Council meeting held on 14 September 2021.

Councillor Phipps indicated that she would have to abstain from the vote and explained that whilst she did not question the accuracy of the minutes recorded by Democratic Services, she believed that some of the answers given to her question as detailed in those minutes contained falsehoods and were not true.  She reported that her question had been about the Lagoon Bounce back Grant Award of £70,000 and the Portfolio Holder had said that she lived close to the proposed Lagoon site.  Councillor Phipps reported that she did not live near the site and his response made her appear to be dishonest and have a personal interest which she said she did not.  Councillor Phipps also commented on the reference to the scoring made by the Portfolio Holder in his response and felt that he had manipulated wording in his response to twist the truth and as one of the two Members of the Award team he did agree to change the score on the Lagoon.  Councillor Phipps confirmed that due to what she believed to be misinformation and perceived falsehoods being the only answer to her question recorded in the minutes she would abstain from the vote.

Councillor McCormack reported that for the same reasons as Councillor Phipps he would also be abstaining as, although the minutes were recorded correctly, he did not believe the information provided in the answer to his question was correct.

Councillor Brown reported that he would be abstaining from the vote on the minutes as he believed that the information provided by the Cabinet Member for Transport and Sustainability and by the Leader under minute 110 Questions from Councillors on pages 11, 12 and 13 of the minutes regarding the financial resources to tackle the climate emergency and at minute 111 Budget Outturn report on pages 20, 21 and 22 stated by the Leader and the Cabinet Member were not true.  He reported that the public had a right to expect that the answers given were accurate and factually correct. He explained that whilst the minutes represent what was stated. He was not content that in his opinion false information and fake news had become a matter of public record for this Council.  He asked that it be minuted, that he disagreed with the statements made at the last Council meeting and would be abstaining on the vote to approve the minutes.

Councillor Mellor, Leader of the Council in response indicated that he had just been challenged on what he had said in the meeting.  He explained that the Unity Alliance had cancelled the climate and ecological emergency budget, that £240,000 was taken out of the budget.  He suggested that the Section 151 Officer who was in attendance could be the arbiter on who was correct. The Leader confirmed that the administration reinstated this budget and doubled the budget provision and made it permanent. He explained that the accusations were not true.

The Chairman indicated that the purpose of the item was to confirm the acceptance of the minutes of the last Council meeting. 

Councillor Howell asked for the Chief Financial Officer to comment on the issues raised relating to the Climate budget and sought clarification on the budget provision for the previous administration compared to the current situation. He indicated that he would be abstaining from the vote for the reasons previously highlighted.

The Chief Executive reported that the purpose of the item in accordance with the Constitution was to confirm the accuracy of the minutes. If there was any challenge on the accuracy of the minutes, it should be undertaken by way of a motion proposed seconded and voted upon.  He advised that the vote be taken on the minutes given the wording of the Constitution. 

A recorded vote was taken on the confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2021 as follows:

For – 38

Against – 0

Abstentions – 27

The Minutes of the Ordinary Council meeting on 14 September 2021 were confirmed.