84/21
It was noted that
four Motions on Notice had been received in accordance with Council
Procedure Rule 10.1:
a) From
Cllr Pearce and Cllr Hawkins
“South Hams District Council is immensely troubled by the
horrific devastation in Ukraine, and the escalating terrible
humanitarian crisis facing the country. In light of this, and as a
way of expressing support for members of our communities* who have
ties with Ukraine:
This
Council:
a)
Condemns the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine and stands in
solidarity with the people of Ukraine and their families and
friends, including those local to the South Hams.
b)
Stands ready to provide support to those affected by this War and
will open our arms to people displaced and affected.
c)
Will work with and support the efforts of our local communities to
provide help and comfort to those in need.
*We
understand that there are no Ukrainian nationals living in the
South Hams, but there are 29 in Torbay and 27 in Plymouth City
Council areas. Anecdotally we believe a few at least may work in
the South Hams or have very close relations who do. What the
figures do not tell us is how many naturalised Ukrainians there may
be in any of these areas and therefore how many family relations
from the Ukraine may be joining them.”
In her introduction,
the proposer highlighted the relevance of the debate earlier in the
meeting (Minute 80/21 above refers).
During the ensuing
debate, the following points were raised:
(a)
Some Members felt that Central Government could be
acting more proactively to help the people of the
Ukraine. As a result, the following
amendment was PROPOSED and SECONDED
as an additional point to the motion:
‘d)
Calls upon our MPs to lobby Government to relax its visa criteria
and encourage greater access for Ukrainian refugees who wish to
come to the UK.’
In discussion, there
was widespread support expressed for this amendment and, when put
to the vote, it was declared CARRIED;
(b)
A Member took issue with the word ‘unprovoked’ being included in the motion. However, in discussion, a number of Members stated
their disagreement with this viewpoint and felt that the word
should be retained in the motion.
It was
then:
RESOLVED
“South Hams
District Council is immensely troubled by the horrific devastation
in Ukraine, and the escalating terrible humanitarian crisis facing
the country. In light of this, and as a way of expressing support
for members of our communities* who have ties with
Ukraine:
This
Council:
a)
Condemns the unprovoked
Russian invasion of Ukraine and stands in solidarity with the
people of Ukraine and their families and friends, including those
local to the South Hams.
b)
Stands ready to provide
support to those affected by this War and will open our arms to
people displaced and affected.
c)
Will work with and
support the efforts of our local communities to provide help and
comfort to those in need.
d)
Calls upon our MPs to
lobby Government to relax its visa criteria and encourage greater
access for Ukrainian refugees who wish to come to the
UK.
*We understand that
there are no Ukrainian nationals living in the South Hams, but
there are 29 in Torbay and 27 in Plymouth City Council areas.
Anecdotally we believe a few at least may work in the South Hams or
have very close relations who do. What the figures do not tell us
is how many naturalised Ukrainians there may be in any of these
areas and therefore how many family relations from the Ukraine may
be joining them.”
b) From
Cllr McKay and Cllr Birch
‘This Council recognises the fundamental importance of its
Constitution to its governance and to the residents it serves and
that the Constitution should provide a clear and concise account of
its rules and procedures so that all (Members, officers and the
public) are able to understand them and to hold the Council to
account where necessary.
This
Council therefore resolves that:
1. In
recognition of its importance, no changes to the constitution
should be made without full consultation with all members and
approved by Full Council. Minor changes may be made but only where
they are limited to correcting or improving layout, spelling or
grammar and have regard to 2 below;
2.
All changes, including minor changes, are logged and a version
history and change-log is maintained and published on the
Council’s website;
3.
The Constitution on the Council’s website is always the
latest approved version and marked as such, and there is access to
archived versions;
4.
The Constitution is made available for download as a single pdf
file;
5.
The website provides a means of searching the whole of the
currently approved constitution, as published on its
website;
and that
the Constitution is updated to reflect this
resolution.’
In their
introductions, the proposer and seconder highlighted the current
state of the Council Constitution and the commitment of the 15 July
2021 Council meeting for further progress reports to be presented
(36/21 below refers). In particular,
the Members highlighted the importance of point 4 of their
motion.
During debate, there
was support expressed for the thrust of the motion. However, the Leader informed that the work into
the Constitution Review was already well underway by the Monitoring
Officer. Furthermore, there was a
commitment given for Member Briefings to be arranged on the
proposals before the item was considered at the Annual Council
meeting to be held on 19 May 2022. As a
consequence, the majority of Members felt that circumstances were
such that the motion was not necessary.
When put to the vote
the Motion was declared LOST.
c)
From Cllr McKay and Cllr Birch
‘This Council recognises the importance of considering
motions put to full council by Members in a fair and orderly way
and resolves that any motions that are not heard, due to the 45
minute rule, or for any other reason that is time related, are
automatically carried over to the next meeting and that the running
order is preserved, and that the Constitution is updated to reflect
this resolution.’
In his introduction,
the proposer felt that, as a matter of principle, motions should be
rolled over to the next scheduled Council meeting.
In discussion, other
Members felt that the 45 minute rule was appropriate and felt that,
should the need arise, there was always the provision for the
Chairman of Council to exercise their discretion to extend this
time limit. Moreover, the point was
made that rolling over motions to the next meeting was likely to
result in motions being stockpiled thereby preventing any other
motions from being considered in a reasonable time.
When put to
the vote the Motion was therefore declared LOST
d) From
Cllr McKay and Cllr Birch
‘This Council recognises that its Constitution needs to
provide the flexibility to allow officers to take swift action in
the case of an emergency. However, it further recognises that at a
time of emergency this Council needs to be kept informed and able
to guide the response, and that any emergency powers taken must be
ratified by Full Council within 14 days and every 30 day thereafter
to ensure the Council is able to exercise proper democratic control
over how it manages an emergency.
It is
therefore resolved that Part 3a, section 7 should be modified so
that any emergency powers taken by officers are time-limited as
previously described.’
In light of the
previous discussions in relation to the Council Constitution
(Notice of Motions (c) and (d) above), the proposer, in accordance
with Meeting Procedure Rule 15.8, sought the consent of the meeting
to withdraw the motion. However, when
put to the vote, this procedural motion was declared LOST.
In the subsequent
discussion, the proposer emphasised the fundamental principle of
democracy being elected Member involvement. However, it was felt that, since the Emergency
Powers provision had only been used once during this Council
administration, then this motion was unnecessary and
disproportionate.
When put to the vote
the Motion was declared LOST