Natalie Brahma-Pearl, as Chief Executive, has taken urgent action under the urgency provisions set out Paragraph 26.1 (Urgent Action) of the Council Procedure Rules, in the current Constitution in relation to three individual, time sensitive decisions which were due to be taken by the Full Council at its meeting on the 1 April 2020. This meeting was however cancelled in light of the Coronavirus Pandemic on both health and safety reasons and in light of the Government’s Guidance on public gatherings.
With regard to all three recommendations the Mayor, the Leader of the Council and the Leader of the Opposition were consulted and all three councillors confirmed their support for the approval of all the recommendations and asked that their support for the decisions be taken into account when the decisions were taken.
On 30 March 2020 Natalie Brahma-Pearl, as Chief Executive, therefore took the following three individual decisions (the decision taken is noted under each item in bold):
1. Approval of Absence
The Chief Executive is recommended to approve, in accordance with Section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972, that Councillor Mike Pickett’s absence on the grounds of ill health be granted. The Council has had communication with Councillor Pickett and he confirmed he had intended to attend the Audit Committee Meeting on the 17 March 2020 and Chair the meeting.
This meeting was cancelled for Health and Safety reasons relating to the Coronavirus and as Chair Councillor Pickett agreed to the cancellation of the meeting. Councillor Lamb, as Leader of the Council, submitted a request on Councillor Pickett’s behalf for approval of leave of absence and Councillor Pickett also confirmed the reason for the request, on the grounds of ill health, and is in support of the request. (Agreed and approved)
2. Town Hall Site Redevelopment: Revised Budget (Full Council Recommendation 1)
The Chief Executive is asked:
a) note that the budget for the New Town Hall contract contains a high level of contingency, and (Noted and agreed)
b) approves that the budget allocations for the Town Hall Site Redevelopment can henceforth be treated as a global budget under the delegations to the Deputy Chief Executive as agreed by Full Council on 22 February 2017 (Approved and agreed)
This proposal is based upon report DCE/05 which was considered by Cabinet on 11 March 2020 (it should be noted that this report is Exempt and can therefore only be viewed by Councillors).
3. Emergency Urgency Powers
The Chief Executive is asked to approve the following which have been fully supported and approved by the Leader and Opposition Leader of the Council, and the Mayor
In light of the significant and ongoing impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic that the Chief Executive approve the following Emergency Urgency Powers to ensure that the Council can continue to work as efficiently as possible and take necessary and appropriate decisions:
a) That Full Council functions to be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with both Group Leaders and the Mayor, where it has not been practicable to hold a Full Council Meeting(Agreed and approved)
b) That Planning Committee functions to be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with Chair of the Planning Committee (or the Deputy Chair in their Absence) and relevant Ward Councillors for an application, where it has not been practicable to hold a Planning Committee Meeting (Agreed and approved)
c) That Licensing Committee functions to be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with both the Chair and Vice Chair of the Licensing Committee, where it has not been practicable to hold a Licensing Committee Meeting(Agreed and approved)
d) That Governance Committee functions be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with both the Chair and Vice Chair of the Governance Committee where it has not been practicable to hold a Governance Committee Meeting(Agreed and approved)
e) That Audit Committee functions be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with both the Chair and Vice Chair of the Audit Committee where it has not been practicable to hold an Audit Committee Meeting(Agreed and approved)
f) That any Key Executive function be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, the relevant Cabinet Member and the Leader of the Opposition where it has not been practicable to convene a Cabinet Meeting or take a delegated Key Decision (Agreed and approved)