Agenda and minutes

It was proposed by Councillor Bettison, and seconded by Councillor Birch, that Councillor Mrs Hamilton be elected Mayor of the Borough of Bracknell Forest for the Municipal Year 2015 - 2016.

There being no further nominations it was

RESOLVED that Councillor Mrs Hamilton be elected Mayor of the Borough of Bracknell Forest for the 2015 - 2016 Municipal Year.

Councillor Mrs Hamilton was then invested with the Mayoral Chain of Office and then made and signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office of Mayor and thanked Members of the Council for her election.

THE MAYOR, COUNCILLOR MRS HAMILTON, IN THE CHAIR

The Mayor announced that her husband would be her consort for her term of office and was invested with the Chain of Office.

In her acceptance speech Councillor Mrs Hamilton thanked colleagues, friends and family for supporting her appointment and looked forward to celebrating the achievements of Bracknell Forest and meeting as many people as possible during her year.

Councillor Bettison delivered a vote of thanks to the retiring Mayor, Andy Blatchford.

The retiring Mayor, Andy Blatchford, in his response thanked his wife, Ann; Sarah Holman, Mayoral Support Officer and the Bracknell Forest Councillors for their support during his time as Mayor. He had been pleased to continue raising money for Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund which had been the chosen charity of the late Councillor Alan Kendall.

He added that of the 200 engagements which they had attended he had particularly enjoyed the Citizenship Ceremonies as he appreciated the opportunity to be involved in such an important event and was proud to represent the borough.  

Andy Blatchford was presented with the badge of Past Mayor by the Chief Executive.

It was proposed by the Mayor and seconded by Councillor Bettison that Councillor Virgo be appointed Deputy Mayor of the Borough of Bracknell Forest for the Municipal Year 2015 - 2016.

There being no further nominations, it was

RESOLVED that Councillor Virgo be appointed Deputy Mayor of the Borough of Bracknell Forest for the Municipal Year 2015 - 2016.

Councillor Virgo was invested with the Deputy Mayoral Chain of Office and then made and signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office of Deputy Mayor.

The Deputy Mayor thanked the Council for his appointment and said he was looking forward to supporting the Mayor to represent the Council across the borough.

ADJOURNMENT

The Council meeting was adjourned for 10 minutes to allow for photographs to be taken.

Leader of Bracknell Forest Council

Councillor Bettison reminded the meeting that the current Chief Officer: Legal Services was retiring after over 25 years in service and encouraged Members present to attend his leaving presentation.

Executive Member for Culture, Corporate Services and Public Protection

Councillor McCracken took the opportunity to show the meeting the new designs for the slides at Coral Reef which was being refurbished. He advised that Van Egdom had been appointed to design and construct the flumes at the popular leisure destination.

Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning

Councillor Dr Barnard was pleased to report that Wildmoor Heath Primary School had received a good Ofsted report following the challenges the school had faced in recent years. In particular he congratulated the Head Teacher Grant Strudley and the school’s governor body. The Ofsted report recognised the supported received from the Local Authority and he thanked the Chief Officer, Learning & Achievement, Christine McInnes, and her team for helping the school face the new challenges of the Ofsted framework.

He added that across the borough schools were taking part in Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) and GCSE, AS and A Level examinations were beginning soon.

Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Housing

Councillor Birch asked the meeting to note that Clement House, the extra care centre, was now finished. The residents would start taking occupancy from 3 June. Of the 65 apartments 14 were available to purchase and 13 had already been sold. He considered this a tremendous achievement by Bracknell Forest Homes, was a model for future accommodation and the Council remained committed to improving accommodation for older residents.

Executive Member for the Environment

Councillor Mrs Hayes was pleased to announce that the Recycling Incentive Scheme had been shorted listed within the Local Authority Innovation category of the 2015 National Recycling Awards. The team would find out if they had been successful on 1 July 2015.

She added that from 5 June the Council’s pool of vehicles would include an electric car, built in Sunderland, to provide a eco-friendly alternative for officers travelling on behalf of the Council.

Executive Member for Planning and Transport

Councillor Turrell advised the meeting that Bracknell Forest had the lowest highway related claims in the country which offered a saving to residents as the Council was able to refute any claims made. This was due to the hard work of Highways Inspectors who worked according to the code and responded to reports in a timely fashion. He thanked the Head of Highways Asset Management, Anthony Radford-Foley and his team together with the Council’s contractor’s Ringway for their continued hard work.  

Executive Member for Economic Development and Regeneration

Councillor Brunel-Walker noted that the demolition of Winchester House was nearly complete with the removal of rubble to be completed. He added that the next phase of the regeneration would start in the next week with Charles Square being hoarded off whilst the site was cleared.

Mayor’s Charity

The Mayor announced that it had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

It was proposed by Councillor Birch, and seconded by Councillor Dudley, that Councillor Bettison be elected Leader of the Council for 2015 to 2019.

There being no further nominations it was

RESOLVED that Councillor Bettison be elected Leader of the Council for 2015 to 2019.

This report asks the Council to note:

(a)        the Members appointed by the Leader to serve on the Executive for the 2015/16 Municipal Year;

(b)        the appointment of Executive Committees, Sub-Committees and Advisory Panels; and

(c)        the appointments by the Leader to external organisations.

Members of the Executive

The Leader of the Council announced that he had appointed the following Members

to the Executive for the 2015 - 2016 Municipal Year:

Delegation of Executive Functions

The Leader of the Council announced that the responsibility for the discharge of

Executive functions was as set out in Part 2, Section 5 of the Council’s Constitution.

Appointments to Executive Committees, Sub Groups and Advisory Panels

The Leader of the Council announced that he had made appointments to Committees of the Executive and its Advisory Panels (Annex A to these minutes).

Appointment of Members to External Organisations

The Leader of the Council announced that he had made appointments to external

organisations, whose functions solely related to the Executive (Annex B to these

minutes).

This report asks Council to agree:

(a)        the establishment and membership if Committees;

(b)        appointments to External Organisations;

(c)        the appointment of Council Champions.

On the proposition of Councillor Bettison, Leader of the Council, seconded by Councillor Birch, it was:

RESOLVED that:

(i)            the establishment of ordinary committees, their size and allocation of seats, agreeing a local variation to the proportionality rules, as set out in paragraph 6 of the agenda report;

(ii)           the establishment of the Licensing and Safety Committee, the Overview and Scrutiny Commission and the Standards Committee, their size and allocation of seats, agreeing a local variation to the proportionality rules, as set out in paragraph 6 of the agenda report;

(iii)          the membership of each committee, in accordance with Members’ wishes be as set out in Annex A appended to these minutes;

(iv)         appointments to external organisations be as set out in Annex B appended to these minutes;

(v)        the appointment of Council Champions in accordance with Part 1 Section 7 of the Constitution be as set out below:

Business Champion: Councillor Wade

Commuters’ Champion: Councillor Harrison

Older People’s Champion: Councillor Thompson

Voluntary Sector Champion: Councillor Finnie