The Council is asked to note any apologies for absence received from Members.

The Council is asked to approve, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on Tuesday 26 November 2024.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests of Non-Registerable Interests, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

The Council is asked to note any announcements made by the Chairman of the Council.

The Council is asked to note any announcements made by the Chief Executive.

The Council is asked to note any statements made by the Leader of the Council. 

Councillors may then ask questions of the Leader on his statements.

The Council is asked to note any statements made by Members of the Cabinet (Portfolio Holders).

Councillors may then ask questions of the Portfolio Holders on their statements.

The Council will consider any petition(s) received in accordance with the Scheme approved by the Council.

Subject to the required notice being given, members of the public can ask questions of the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

The Chairman shall determine the number of questions to be tabled at a particular meeting in order to limit the time for questions and answers to 21 minutes.

The Council will receive a report on any Cabinet or Portfolio Holder Decisions taken as a matter of urgency in accordance with Access to Information Procedure Rule 15 (Special Urgency), Budget and Policy Framework Procedure Rule 6(b) and/or Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 18(i).

The Council will receive the minutes of the following Committees:

(a)     Audit of Monday 9 December 2024; and

(b)     Resources and Services Overview & Scrutiny of Tuesday 17 December 2024.

NOTES:         

(1)   The above minutes are presented to Council for information only.  Members can ask questions on their contents to the relevant Chairman but questions as to the accuracy of the minutes must be asked at the meeting of the Committee when the relevant minutes are approved as a correct record; and

(2)   If any recommendations to Council have been made by those Committees, these are included within separate reports for Council to decide upon (i.e. by noting the minutes those recommendations are not approved at this stage of the proceedings).

Pursuant to the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 12, Council will consider a motion, notice of which has been given by Councillor Barrett.

The provisions of Council Procedure Rule 12.5, (Professional Advice of the Council’s Statutory Officers on the Motion) require the Council’s three statutory officers (i.e. Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer and Head of Paid Service), once the Motion has been accepted as being valid, to produce a formal Advisory Note detailing any necessary initial professional advice in relation to the implications for the Council of that Motion. That Advisory Note will focus on implications for the Council relating to budgetary, constitutional or legislative requirements or staffing matters.

In this instance, the Council’s Statutory Officers have not yet indicated whether they need to provide any such professional advice and whether therefore an Advisory Note(s) does need to be produced on this occasion.

The Council is asked to consider any recommendations submitted to it by the Cabinet.

The Council is asked to consider any reports submitted to it by an Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

This report sets out for Council a summary of the Government’s English Devolution White Paper published on 16 December 2024 in respect of its proposals in this policy area and the Government’s intentions for local government re-organisation; including the relevant timelines for these two separate but parallel strands of Government policy.  Associated with this is the potential deferral of elections scheduled for May 2025 to May 2026 (initially).

To formally report that Councillors Michael Bush and Brad Thompson have previously served formal notice on the Council that they no longer wish to be treated as a member of the Tendring Independents political group.

To formally report the resignation of Lynda McWilliams from the office of Member of Tendring District Council.

To formally report a change in the membership of a committee made since the last meeting of the Full Council.

To enable Full Council to consider a proposed amendment to Article 9 of the Council’s Constitution.

Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council can ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

The time allocated for receiving and disposing of questions shall be a maximum of 30 minutes. Any question not disposed of at the end of this time shall be the subject of a written response, copied to all Members the following working day unless withdrawn by the questioner.

To enable Full Council to approve the seating plan for its meetings to be held during the remainder of the 2024/2025 Municipal Year. The seating plan has been amended to reflect the decisions of Councillors Bush and Thompson to leave the Tendring Independents Group and the resignation from the Council of Lynda McWilliams.

The Council will consider any urgent matters submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 3(xv), 11.3(b) and/or 13(p).