Council - Wednesday 21 May 2025, 6:00pm - Cotswold District Council Webcasting
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Speaking:
Slide 1
Agenda item :
1 Election of a Chair
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Councillor Joe Harris
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Councillor Nikki Ind
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Councillor Claire Bloomer
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Councillor Nikki Ind
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Councillor Andrea Pellegram
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Councillor Dilys Neill
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Councillor Nikki Ind
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Councillor Dilys Neill
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Councillor Mark Harris
Agenda item :
2 Appointment of a Vice-Chair
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Councillor Juliet Layton
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Mark Harris
Agenda item :
3 Apologies
Agenda item :
4 Announcements from the Chair, Leader or Chief Executive
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Agenda item :
5 Declarations of Interest
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Agenda item :
6 Resignation of Leader
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Agenda item :
7 Election of Leader
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Councillor Lisa Spivey
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Patrick Coleman
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Councillor Mark Harris
Agenda item :
8 Announcement of the Leader on Cabinet appointments
Agenda item :
4 Announcements from the Chair, Leader or Chief Executive
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Councillor Daryl Corps
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Councillor Mark Harris
Agenda item :
9 Appointment of Committees 2025/26
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Councillor Mike Evemy
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Tom Stowe
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Gina Blomefield
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor David Fowles
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Mike Evemy
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Juliet Layton
Agenda item :
10 Record of Attendance 2024/25
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Patrick Coleman
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Angus Jenkinson
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Councillor Mark Harris
Agenda item :
11 Appointments to Outside Bodies 2025/26
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Councillor Mike Evemy
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Juliet Layton
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Nikki Ind
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Councillor Mark Harris
Agenda item :
12 Rural England Prosperity Fund 2025-26
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Councillor Tristan Wilkinson
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Mike Evemy
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Tom Stowe
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Councillor Tristan Wilkinson
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Patrick Coleman
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Councillor Mark Harris
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David Stanley, Deputy CEO
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Claire Bloomer
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Mike Evemy
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Councillor Mark Harris
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Councillor Mark Harris
Agenda item :
13 Next meeting
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Webcast Finished
Disclaimer: This transcript was automatically generated, so it may contain errors. Please view the webcast to confirm whether the content is accurate.
Councillor Nikki Ind - 0:00:06
Good evening and welcome to this meeting of Cotswold District Council's full council.My name is Councillor Nicky Inge and this is my last meeting as chair of council. A
warm welcome to all members of the council, the public in attendance and those watching
online. We are live streaming this meeting but members of the public present are entitled
to record the meeting themselves, provided this isn't disruptive to our proceedings.
I would also like to take a moment to welcome our two newly elected councillors,
Councillor Laura Hall -Wilson with Potetry Upton and Councillor Nick Bridges for Watermore.
Congratulations.
Congratulations on your victories and I wish you the very best for your roles at Cotswold
District Council. Finally, I would also like to extend my congratulations to our district
councillors who have recently been elected to the County Council. Councillors Daryl Corr,
Jo Harris, Mark Harris, Paul Hodgkinson and also Lisa Spivey, who today has been elected
as the first woman leader at Gloucestershire County Council in history.
Congratulations and good luck to you all.
APPLAUSE
Now our first item of business this evening is the election of Chair of Council.
I now call for nominations for Chair of Council.
Councillor Joe Harris.
1 Election of a Chair
Thank you, Chair.
Councillor Joe Harris - 0:01:46
Before I bring forward a nomination, huge congratulations to you on a hugely successfulcouple of years.
You've been an absolutely fair Chair.
You're an independent, as you very proudly tell us, and I think it's fair to say that
you've demonstrated that through how you've chaired these meetings.
So, Nicky, thank you so much for all of yours.
I'd like to propose Councillor Mark Harris. Now those of you who don't know Mark or indeed
myself you might see that there's a family resemblance. No it's not the beard but believe
it or not he is my father and it's quite interesting actually because my father
has been involved in my political life for just over 12 years now. To set the
record straight it was me that got involved in politics first and then my
father got involved, many people that forget that, and I remember because he'd
not long been a town councillor elected to the town council and one of the first
I had to do when I became the mayor was choose a casting vote because Mark had been nominated.
He had been put to a vote and the vote had been tied between him and another candidate.
So I had just become the mayor.
We went to the election of deputy mayor of the council.
The first thing I had to do was use my casting vote to choose between my father and another
candidate.
So I did the right thing and chose my father.
I'm hoping we're not gonna have that drama tonight.
It's not going to be. But no, listen.
Community service is a street that runs through my family and
you know, certainly from my point of view, my public service
comes from Mark, my father.
Whether that was helping to organize Advent festivals in
the town when I was a young boy, whether that was his work
as President of Syrinsest Chamber of Commerce,
whether that was volunteering as scout leader
up in Stratton.
This is a man who has spent a lot of his life
dedicated to public service.
So it gives me great pleasure to propose him this evening.
He's been a very, I'd say adequate, very able,
very able, he's been a very able vice chair.
and yeah I commend him to you he's a he's a great man I'm proud of him not
only on a personal level but also on a professional level he's been a fantastic
member of our team he's been a committed councillor and he'll be a great chair of
this council. Thank you very much.
Councillor Nikki Ind - 0:04:39
Thank you councillor Joe Harris and do I have a seconder for that proposal?Councillor Bloomer. Thank you chair and yeah a few words to yourself
Councillor Claire Bloomer - 0:04:47
you've beenan amazing chair it's been great to work with you on so many different projects
as well so thank you for your time and yeah I'm really really happy to nominate
Mark I've known Mark for quite a few years now it's his fault I'm here
actually but he's a great guy he really knows his community he knows his
towns his businesses he's worked with so many different people as well as
headlining the Phoenix Festival whilst he was mayor. I think Mark will make a
fair chair and be really good at leading us. So brilliant stuff Mark.
Councillor Nikki Ind - 0:05:25
Thank you Claire. Are there any other nominations? No? Well then we will go toCouncillor Andrea Pellegram - 0:05:39
Councillor Dilys Neill - 0:05:41
Thank you.Councillor Nikki Ind - 0:06:10
That's 28 for one abstention. That's carried. Congratulations, Councillor Harris, if you'd like to come and get your chair chain.Councillor Dilys Neill - 0:06:17
..
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:08:28
Thank you very much.It really is an honour to be elected as chair of Cotswold District Council.
I'll just say a few words.
But first, just to say that Nikki set a really high bar.
She's run the meetings brilliantly and with good humor.
And when you meet people out in the community and they refer to
the chair of the council as Nikki, you know they've really
taken her to their hearts.
Thanks, Nikki, for your service in this role and for being a
great ambassador.
And although you've got dainty feet, there are big shoes
to fill.
As chair, I'll do my very best to ensure that debates are civil, constructive, and importantly
swift because ultimately we're here to serve our communities and we do that best when we
work together and positively.
And it's been quite a journey for me from way back to here.
I left school at 16 with two O -levels and a CSE, and that was it.
And I arrived in the Cotswold, aged 19, visiting my parents,
who had moved to Collins St. Alwins.
My mother had always lived in the area as a child,
but she'd come back, so we visited.
And I instantly knew that this is a place
I wanted to put my roots.
I remember taking a book down to the new inn in Collins St.
Alwins and sitting by the fire, and some locals called me over.
And they really made me feel welcome in a way
that you didn't get in London.
And locals like Harry Eastwood, the local, well, former local sergeant there,
Denny Payne, Dave Ricks and Mick Barrett, they all made me feel like I wanted to put my roots down here.
And by the time I was 21, I had my own tankard over the bar in the New Inn.
And I worked in the New Inn, then at the Bybury Court Hotel for Jim Collier,
who some of you may know was a liberal candidate in the 1960s.
There's probably only one person knows of that and he's over there.
When the New Inn was threatened with redevelopment into houses, the village rallied and I'm proud
to say that I was a founding member of the Collins and Alwyn society and the New Inn
is still there.
Over the years I've lived in Colne, Hatherup, Fairford and for the last 35 years Syrinsester.
I was manager at Currys in Syrinsester. I worked at a Cotswold employment and eventually
started an internet marketing business in 1998.
My first taste of this council came in the same year when a group of us, Andy Brown,
who some of you know from the Phoenix Festival, Lizzie Willow, who owned Willow in Castle
Street, Jane Trotter and others from Stratton, challenged the council over a delay in licensing
a community music event.
And at that same meeting, councilors had to deal with a lion that had escaped from Burford
Wildlife Park and wandered into our district.
And I can't remember what the outcome was.
It was probably heard back into West Oxfordshire.
Honestly, I think that is still the most interesting CDC
meeting I've attended.
Although last year's budget was pretty close.
I later became president of Syrinsester Chamber of
Commerce.
And when I was elected, the committee, or one committee
member particularly, warned me not to contact any of the 30
odd members because if we contacted them they might realise that they're members and cancel
their subscription.
Anyway, I did the opposite and along with David Fowles over here we built the Chamber
of Commerce up to over 130 strong and it still thrives today and Claire also worked for the
Chamber of Commerce for a while.
I also helped again with David lead the campaign to stop Sire and Cessna town council selling
the Norman Arch, which is a gift from the Chester Master family to the town's care.
Anyway, and I think it was 2011, as we've heard, Joe convinced me that being inside
the tent was better than throwing rocks at the tent.
When was it, Joe?
2012.
2012, okay.
Yeah.
I took his advice and here we are.
I'll end with another brief family note.
Nearly a century ago, my grandparents met in the North Cotswolds and dreamed one day
of returning to the area after they left.
They never did, but my mother did 40 years ago.
And now I sit here proud to say we've made our mark.
Cotswolds is a rare place.
Some places are beautiful but soulless.
Others have heart but lack charm.
We have both.
Stunning landscapes and vibrant caring communities.
As chair, I'm proud to champion and protect that in this
chamber and out in our communities.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
APPLAUSE
So I now need to say, right, I need to shoot here.
I need to get the right page would be a good start.
Right, now, we've got to nominate, we've got to appoint a Vice Chair and do I have
any nominations for a Vice Chair?
2 Appointment of a Vice-Chair
I would like to nominate Ray Brasington.
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:13:39
I think Ray is retiring from being the chair of planning and licensing committee.He has got full awareness of what it is like to be on that top table looking at everybody
and he also knows how to be, he will know how to be a vice because he has had a very
good vice chair for planning and licensing.
So I would recommend Ray and I nominate him.
Thank you.
Thank you, Julia.
And do we have a seconder for that?
Oh, mic.
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:14:07
Just second it.Councillor Mark Harris - 0:14:11
Fantastic.Okay.
Well, and do we have any other nominations for Vice Chair?
Not by the looks of it.
Okay.
Should we go to the vote then?
Ray certainly arranged me in on planning meetings.
And that's all in.
That's 29 for and none against.
No abstentions.
He can't abstain.
We have apologies from Ray, so he's not here.
Great start.
So I'm sort of flying solo here, but I've got Angela too.
We'll give him the chain
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:15:05
and everything when he gets back and sign the declaration of office.Right, on to apologies.
3 Apologies
We know one of them, Councillor Ray Grasington.
And we've got, sorry, yeah.
Nickie Mackenzie-Daste, Officer - 0:15:22
Hello there, yeah, we have apologies have been receivedfrom Ray Brassington, from Tony Dale, Tony Slater,
Michael Van and David Cunningham.
We also have apologies from the CEO
who can't be with us this evening, Robert Weaver.
Okay, and we don't need to vote on that.
4 Announcements from the Chair, Leader or Chief Executive
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:15:43
Right, let's move on to announcements from the chair.I don't have any announcements because I've only been in this role for a very short time.
I'd like to echo the congratulations to the various members, to our new members and to the county council members.
You're very welcome and if there's any way in which I can help either of you, please let me know.
Right, a quick word on, oh we've got from the chair, no that's it.
Okay, on to the proceedings.
So to help us make the best use of the time available, I ask everybody to keep their comments
focused, avoid repeating points already made, and be as concise as possible.
The meeting will run for a maximum of four hours.
I ought to add that the GCC meeting lasted 36 minutes, so there's a bit of a competition
going on today.
If we reach the three -hour mark, we'll pause to vote on whether to continue for the final hour.
And after four hours, we'll conclude the current item in the usual way, and any remaining business will be carried over.
We'll be using electronic voting during the meeting, and if there are any issues we can't fix quickly, we'll switch to a clear show of hands instead.
So, any announcements from the leader?
Nope.
Great.
We're going to hit that 36 minutes.
Any announcements from the Deputy Chief Executive?
Ah, good man.
Okay, we now have any declarations of interest?
5 Declarations of Interest
No declarations of interest?
Thank you very much.
If you become aware of them during the meeting, please let us know by alerting us.
As Joe said, one of the first things that he had to do as mayor of Sirencester was to
decide on who should be his deputy mayor, and one of the first substantive things I
have to do is go to the resignation of the leader.
So Councillor Joe Harris is notified
6 Resignation of Leader
to proper officer of his resignation
of leader as leader of the council
effective from the 20th of May, 2025.
Therefore, we will formally note the resignation
of Councillor Joe Harris as leader of the council.
And I'm gonna call on him to say a few words,
but before I do, I'm gonna say a couple of words myself.
And it's this.
Unless your son is a boxer, very few fathers get the ringside seat to see their child's
career.
Some might find it daunting, but I found it a real privilege, Joe.
You got me into this, as we've already heard, and I thank you for letting me.
If not always be at your side, then be close enough to witness your career thus far.
I'm tremendously proud of what you've achieved, and I'm proud to still that you've chosen to step back with grace, dignity and on your own terms,
rather than being dragged, kicking and screaming from the arena.
I can't.
I've said it's an honour to serve on this council and in this role and it's an even
greater honour to call myself your father.
Now if you'd like to say a few words.
Councillor Joe Harris - 0:19:05
This is all getting a bit...God, crikey.
Well, listen, thank you very much and thank you for those very kind words.
I have to say, you've been a pain in the arse sometimes on this side, but I think that's
fine because we are a liberal group and we tolerate different opinions most of
the time so I think that's incredibly important. So yeah after six
extraordinary years leading Cotswold District Council and also 11 years
serving as the leader of the Lib Dem group I decided a few months ago that
is the right time to step aside. It really has been the greatest privilege
of my public life certainly to serve our community in this role. I'm tremendously
proud of the success that we've had.
Now listen, like David Fowles, I am a political animal to my core.
And you know, one of the parts of these, this role that I have enjoyed is obviously fronting
up my incredible team, my Lib Dem team.
And you know, I think the greatest privilege and you know, success for me is the trust
that voters have consistently put within our team.
And you know, let's not forget, Paul, when I took over from you, we had a strong group,
built it up to an opposition group of 12 but we've gone from that to running
Cotswold District Council to now running the County Council and of course
electing the first ever lived MMP in the Cotswold so I'm incredibly proud
that under my watch if you like and partly my leadership and help and that
of Mike as well we've been able to to do that I'm a political animal and I've
loved the political side but the side I have loved even more is here at
Cotswold District Council as your leader I came into politics with the belief
a belief that councils could be a force for good,
and that through principled leadership
and also shared purpose,
we can make a genuine difference to people's lives.
And that belief has never waned,
despite the financial challenges that we face
and all the issues we've had to deal with.
And since 2019, I look back on my leadership,
we've faced extraordinary challenges, we really have.
If you'd have told me that we'd be facing
a once -in -a -century pandemic, a cost -of -living crisis affecting families across our district,
all the political turbulence, I think that's a generous word, on the national scale, from
Brexit to the carousel of changing governments. Yet through it all, we stood firm. We've kept
services running. We supported thousands of residents when they needed us the most. We
We delivered hundreds of affordable homes.
We backed local businesses and we helped bring new
green jobs to the Cotswolds.
We didn't just protect the most vulnerable,
a key priority, we championed them.
We lifted the poorest people out of paying
council tax altogether.
And just recently, under Claire Bloom's fantastic
leadership, we have lifted thousands of people out of
poverty, getting them linked up to the benefits that they
are entitled to.
We didn't do it through slogans or sound bites,
there were a few of those along the way,
but through practical, compassionate leadership,
and I think that's so important.
We put communities in the driving seat through
initiatives like Crowdfon Cotswolds,
which has empowered local people,
supporting grassroots projects and raising
millions for charities and good causes,
and I'm incredibly proud of that,
and that was a Jenny Ford initiative.
We brought back services in -house,
Taking back control and making our council more efficient, more accountable and more responsive to residents.
In short, I think that we've proved that even in tough times councils can be ambitious.
They can be progressive and they can lead. None of this happened by accident.
It happens through teamwork, it happens through shared values and it happens actually through sheer determination.
As I'm sure Lisa will find out at the County Council.
So let me say thank you to our incredible council staff, some of whom are here tonight.
Politics works best when we remember who we are here to serve.
I want to pay special tribute to Councillor Mike Evermy, my deputy throughout six years,
interestingly the last of my original cabinet, but they all went willingly.
And of course, a steady hand throughout on the finances.
Mike, your leadership, your support has been absolutely invaluable.
And I'm absolutely thrilled for you and for the residents in the district that you'll now step up to lead the council.
It's going to be a very capable hands.
I want to pay tribute to my cabinet members, past and present.
Jenny Ford, Lisa Spivey, Andy Doherty, Clive Webster, Rachel Cox -Coone, Juliet Layton, Mark Harris, Paul Hodgkinson, Mike McEwen and Claire Bloomer.
Thank you all for your passion, for your commitment and for your friendship.
And I think on this day a special mention in particular to Councillor Tony Dale.
I'm so pleased to see that he is recovering well from his awful car accident.
I hope that stepping down will give me a bit more time to enjoy a well -earned glass of wine with Tony on Tony's Terrace.
Those of you who know North Leech well will know this is the pavement outside the wine bar in North Leech,
where many a policy has been discussed and debated and Tony helped secure the funding.
I want to pay tribute to Rob Weaver who can't be with us tonight, our Chief Executive.
And I cast your mind back, Rob joined us at the height of the pandemic and has been a
tremendous support throughout my time as leader.
He has helped drive our agenda forward with energy and purpose, but he's also provided
challenge and challenged me, more importantly, when it mattered, always with integrity and
insight.
His nomination for Chief Executive of the Year is richly deserved, in my opinion, and
and a reflection on the exceptional leadership he brings to our council every single day.
But the real strength of this council, the thing I will miss the most without a doubt,
are its people.
We are in many ways like a big family, dedicated, hardworking, often unsung, but crucially always
there when it matters.
And I know so many of us in this chamber recognise that.
And that spirit runs through every part of the organisation, from our senior management
team here this evening to our brilliant frontline staff.
People like Trudy and Diana, part of our wonderful cleaning team, who keep the building clean,
spotless and morale high.
And often heard singing throughout the offices as they go about their work.
It's those everyday moments of warmth, laughter and quiet dedication that make this council
so special.
And yes, I will miss their singing as well.
Of course, the work is far from over.
Looking to the future, this Council faces significant challenges ahead, from financial
pressures to the growing debate around local government reorganisation.
These are issues that require bold thinking, collaboration and a steady hand on the table.
I have every confidence that under Mike's leadership and with the continued dedication
of our brilliant officers and members, the Council will rise to meet these challenges.
Now, of course, while I'm stepping back from leadership, I'm not stepping away.
I'll continue to serve as a Councillor from the backbenchers, offering whatever help and
support I can to the new leadership team, always standing up, of course, to St Michael's
Ward and Sire and SESTA, as well as the values and issues that I care deeply about.
So folks, thank you all for the honour of leading you over the past six years.
It has been an absolute experience of a lifetime, and I look forward to the next chapter.
The end.
Thank you.
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:27:19
Thank you, Jo.Would anybody else like to speak at all?
Juliet.
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:27:30
I'm going to pan this out a bit so we definitely will lose the race with Candy.The Harris family are very good raconteurs and we've done 25, 26 minutes now, guys.
I love the juxtaposition of the coming and the going that Mark referred to, Mark being
the chair and Joe stepping down as leader.
I've known Joe since 2011 when we joined the council together.
Mike was the person that had the whip and said,
get out there and canvas, Julia, and made me do it.
So thank you, Mike, as well, because I was thinking,
what am I doing this for?
But Joe and I have been in the council together since 2011,
and he was a teenager.
Teenage, right?
Too young.
But to watch a young man develop and grow and be so confident
It's been amazing.
And to then when he became leader, I was thinking, how's he going to do it?
Where's he got that knowledge from?
Well, actually, quite frankly, I don't know where he got that knowledge from, but he had
it and he did it and he transformed so much.
And he's got a really good, strong group of people around him.
We might all be members, but actually we're all pretty good friends and very supportive
of each other.
Joe said to me one day, I need to move my house and I might need to have a room in yours.
Is that okay?
This was not long after my partner had died and I had plenty of space.
I said, yeah, Joe, that's fine.
For a couple of months he said, yeah, Joe, that's fine.
And then a few months passed and I didn't think anything of it.
And then he said, actually, can I come next weekend?
Yes, Joe, that's fine.
Just for a few, yeah, Joe, that's fine.
A year later, Joe said, my house is ready and we can go.
But we spent a year living together.
We went through, my house was full of campaign material because we went through an election
from my house, but it was great and we got on really well.
I think that is sort of testament to how the friendship works.
and we were seeing each other in council,
we were seeing each other in home,
who's cooking, who's opening the wine,
shall we have a gin?
It was a really good relationship.
Here's a great guy.
We're gonna be holding his feet firmly,
not in the potholes,
because he's not gonna fill them.
He's gonna get those roads resurfaced.
He's cabinet highways.
So we have got to,
we will be pushing you,
no pressure, no pressure, no pressure.
But I wish you really well and good luck all of you all of you guys that got in
County at least sir as well. Who's it going to be a great leader?
And we're not losing you because you're here and but you know we will be certainly
Asking you to do things so well done, and thank you
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:30:41
Thank you, tooThank you Mike
Councillor Mike McKeown - 0:30:51
So I'd like to take a moment to express my real heartfelt thanks to Joe for really outstandingleadership over the past six years.
Joe, your dedication and integrity and vision have been instrumental in guiding our council
through both challenging times and some really rewarding times.
On a personal note, I'm especially grateful for Joe for encouraging and supporting me
to stand for election in 2023, something that really has changed my life and what I do.
And I still can't figure out how I got here.
So I turned up the council.
Some of you may remember to do what I do and ask.
I think I was making a request to the council on electric vehicle charging.
And then I got talking to Joe and Lisa.
I think it was afterwards and then I ended up standing for election and winning and I still
got quite sure how you persuaded me to stand for election, but I'm really grateful.
It's worked out really well.
least from my perspective, but everybody else is enjoying it.
But thank you.
Your belief in others and your ability to bring out the best in
the those around you have really shaped this council for better.
So thank you for that, Joe.
I'd also like to offer my congratulations to Joe on your
appointment to the cabinet at Gloucestershire County Council.
I no doubt you'll bring the same energy commitment and
communications and make a real difference there.
Just just as you have here and Joe finally an opportunity not
just a point of potholes but we'll give you a spade and you'll be the man fixing them
and I can't tell you how excited my car is about hearing about that fantastic news. It
could be literally a life saver or at least a suspension saver. So seriously though, Joe,
thank you for everything.
I've got David, then I've got Lisa.
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:32:36
Councillor Mike McKeown - 0:32:37
Thank you.Thank you, Chairman.
We were going to remain very quiet during this part of the meeting,
Councillor David Fowles - 0:32:44
but given I havebeen mentioned by both Harrises, I just wanted to say I was named.
I did look to my leader and I said, should I speak?
He said, no, don't.
Please don't.
Please don't.
I just want to say that I have been in this chamber when we were in power and I have been
this chamber when we're in opposition, I have to say that I don't want to make any comments
about the political state of our party at the moment.
I want to say that it's fantastic to be involved in the opposition here and to see Daryl's
career go forward politically and indeed the beginning of law.
So even though we're at a low point, we have actually got a couple of high points and I'm
really proud of their achievements.
But I just wanted to say on a personal note that I've known Mark for 25 years.
We've served on lots of action groups.
I didn't speak to him for two years when he was campaigning in my village, thanks to Lisa.
But I just want to say that I do value your friendship and also I have huge regard and
admiration for what you two have done for this town.
I look forward to fighting you and beating you on a future occasion.
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:33:58
Thank you very much, David.We look forward to it too.
Lisa.
Lisa
Yeah, thank you.
Councillor Lisa Spivey - 0:34:04
Well, there seems to be a common theme here around you aboutreeling people in and I have to say I'm part of that group.
So anybody who wants, you know, to discuss it afterwards,
if you've got some trauma, then very welcome to be part of the
support group and living with me as well, Julia.
Yeah, it's got a common theme just for a couple of weeks as
well.
Yeah, on two occasions.
anyways. The fridge is still full of beer which has kind of got Joe's compartment
for him. But no really it has been a real great pleasure I think you know to
to get to know you over the last few years and you have been inspirational in
my journey as well so I thank you for that and I thank you all for supporting
me and I think all our colleagues here. You can be really annoying at times like
really annoying, but I know that all of that drive and relentless campaigning comes from
your desire to really deliver and to push things forward and to deliver for this area,
for the Cotswolds. I know that you are somebody who is born and bred here and really take
that really seriously. So thank you for everything that you have done for this area as leader
of Cotswold District Council. I'm very pleased to be in the back benches with you here.
now and to be, you know, moving forward at the county level to really deliver
for Gloucestershire as a whole. So that's been really really important but thank
you very much and stop being annoying.
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:35:42
Thank You Lisa. That's it. Thank you very much. Okay well that leaves us leaderless7 Election of Leader
Which brings us to the next item, election of Leader of the Council.
Following the resignation of Councillor Jo Harris, there is a requirement to elect a leader of the Council for term of office extending to the annual Council meeting in May 2027.
So can I please have any nominations for position of Leader of the Council? I think I've got Lisa Spivey.
Councillor Lisa Spivey - 0:36:16
Yes, I would like to nominate Mike Evamy as leader of the council.So Mike, as many of you may know, has had a long history in local government.
He's served as a public servant at this council for the last six years, and at Swindon before
that for 14 years.
He again is also one of the political animals in this room, somebody who's got campaigning
through and through. I think he stood as MP. He has been stood for CDC first in 2011, losing
by just 11 or 12 votes. 12 votes. Not that he remembers that, not that he is bitter about
anything. But kept going and kept going at that. He has led in leadership, very important
leadership role here since 2019 as being our cabinet member for finance. And Mike, you
might all like sort of joke a little bit about the dry delivery of some things on finance,
but actually, and I know that from members across this council that actually what's been really
great is talking us through all of that. It's complex. Local government finance isn't always
the most scintillating, but it's also quite difficult to get to grips with and you've really
taken the time and put the effort in to try pull us all up to speed on that. And actually,
I even did an LGA finance course inspired by you
because I recognized how important that was.
So thank you for everything you've done here.
As Jova said, we came in to administration
and within a few scant months
we're in an international pandemic,
meaning that everything that we were facing
was really, really difficult.
And you've steered that ship both through the pandemic.
The financial challenges that local government faces
as a sector. You have taken a pragmatic approach to that. You are creative in what you do and
solutions you want to find principled and ensuring that the most vulnerable and poorest
in our communities have been taken out of paying council tax. You would always advocate
for that. Thank you for that.
To round that up, I have enjoyed working with you. You are going to make a fantastic leader
of this council, a different approach, a different tone and style from Joe, but
one I think that we will all really appreciate and I really just can't wait.
What you don't know about Mike, other than his love of tennis and his
newfound love of skiing, is that he is a brilliant disco dancer. No, really, really
good and so you'll be pleased to know as a council that when he goes out to
represent you at things like the LGA conference.
He is really, you know,
flying the flag and getting out and strutting the moves on
the dance floor, which is a very,
very important part of that soft power. Isn't it Mike?
Although I do think there's a,
we have a slight challenge about who knows more words to
1980s pop songs.
So looking forward to that challenge again this year,
but I highly commend Mike Evamy to you all to lead
Cotswold District Council. Thank you.
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:39:37
Thank you very much Lisa and we have a seconder in Councillor Patrick Coleman.Councillor Patrick Coleman - 0:39:46
Thank you so much. Well I was reminded of Gladstoneand the great traditional liberal slogan of peace retrenchment and reform
and retrenchment was about not spending very much money
And indeed, I think Gladstone nearly abolished the income tax,
you'd be pleased to hear.
So things have changed.
But yes, I've known Mike for a long time.
And he is, as I think most of you would be aware,
very thoughtful.
He's a good listener.
He's patient.
He's dutiful.
And he certainly had a tougher time in Swindon than I did
at Wiltshire.
On particular occasion, when one of the most mild -mannered
members of his rather small group,
holding the balance of power in Swindon between Conservatives and Labour, was threatened by
the leader of the council who said to him, I'm going to take you outside. And this was
Sue Bates, wasn't a bloke. So that was how tough things could get in Swindon. And I imagine
the mic wasn't too bothered at the time because he knew empty words when he heard them. And
in kind of passing thank you for the patience of the opposition listening to all this. It's
It's not over the top, but it is pleasant to have such a courteous and patient opposition.
I did say six years ago when we became the majority that I hoped that we would manage
to treat the opposition better than we felt we'd been treated during the umpteen years
of conservative rule.
I'm not certain we achieved that, but I'm certain that Mike, you'll find to be a very
reliable, safe pair of hands as leader.
Although now I'm going to have to be thinking of him as the answer to Michael Gove as a disco dancer.
There we are. I'm sure he's got a much less colourful life than Mr Gove.
Thank you very much indeed, Mike, for taking this on.
Thank you, Councillor Coleman.
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:41:45
Are there any other nominations?nominations. If I had a bit of disco music, I'd fade it up. It now seems as good a time
as any to show us. Right, no other nominations, so we'll go to the vote. We'll now take place
on the proposal to elect Mike, Councillor Mike Evans, as leader of the Council for a
Joe? Tristan? Tristan? Tristan? Good. We've got 29. Yeah, so that's good. I think we're
unanimous on that. Thank you, everybody. So I will now hand over to the new leader of
Councilor Mike Ederney.
8 Announcement of the Leader on Cabinet appointments
Thank you.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:42:52
Thank you.Thank you colleagues.
Yeah, it's a huge honour and thank you for all supporting me in the vote just now.
I'd like to start just by adding my thanks to Nicky Ind for her chairing of us in council
and all the work she does outside of the council as the chair over the last two years.
As members will know, I'm probably the second, if not the most frequent speaker in this chamber,
and I've always found her very friendly but firm as the chair, and I very much want to
thank her for all the work that she did as our chair.
I'd also like chair to congratulate you on your election
to the position and Councillor Brassington,
obviously as your vice chair.
I'd also like to add welcome to Laura Hall -Wilson
and Nick Bridges, our new members.
I'm sure, I hope that you will enjoy your time here
on the council.
Thank you, Lisa, for your nominating speech.
didn't know she was going to go on about disco dancing.
She's a bit of a diva dancer herself.
I think there were some dance battles going on
when we were at LGA conference last year.
But I really want to congratulate her on her election today
as leader of Gloucestershire County Council,
an amazing achievement, I think.
And also to all those members of this council
who were elected, we now have five county councilors
from this council who will sit on that council,
and also to add my commiserations
to the three of you sat here who didn't quite make it
to Gloucestershire County Council.
I won't name you all and you know who you are,
but it takes a lot.
The county council elections, I stood in 2013
and was unsuccessful.
And I know it's a hard slog in a county council election
and then you've come up short.
It's tough.
So yeah, commiserations to you as well.
And thank you, Patrick, for your speech.
And it was shorter, I think, than most people were expecting.
So I think they were grateful for that as well.
Patrick and I have known each other, as he says, from his days when he was leader of Wiltshire County Council.
And I was leader of the Lib Dems in Swindon.
But it is a huge honour to lead a council and to lead this council after six years as the deputy leader.
and as Lisa said, my 20 years as a local councillor.
You know, I really want to thank people across the chamber
who have encouraged me to put my name forward and supported me
as you've all done this evening in taking on the role.
People, I think, know me as a fair -minded person,
clear thinking and persistent,
and traits that I hope to bring to my new role as leader of the council.
Thank you, Joe, for your very kind words about me.
I want to pay tribute to Joe in this speech, as I didn't get up and speak a few minutes
ago, for the transformational leadership he's given to the Council.
It's a very different place to the one that I came to six years ago for the first time.
And Joe's been clear -sighted, unafraid to take on difficult challenges, and he's led
from the front.
And obviously we've heard that in the tributes that other members have given to him this
evening.
And I'm pleased that he's going to be kept busy at GCC and hopefully in the LGA continuing
to do that as well.
I recognize that I've taken on this role.
I'm the leader of the Liberal Democrat group here, but I'm also leader now of the whole
Council and I want to make clear, I want to work with members in the opposition, in the
Conservatives, in the Greens and with Councillor Ind as well as colleagues on this side of
the chamber. As Patrick referred to, and Lisa I think I had 14 years at Swindon, I was never
in the administration there, so I know what it's like to sit on that side of the chamber
and I want to be a leader that is approachable, that you can come and have a chat with as
much as people on this side of the chamber.
Obviously, on top of financial challenges, and
you've heard me talk about financial challenges a lot
in this chamber, so I'm not going to talk about them
this evening, but we are now facing obviously the
potential of local government reorganisation.
And as the leader, it's my role to lead this council's
response to that.
And as we see the change emerges over coming months
and years, our administration is going to
remain fully focused on our existing priorities,
to deliver the high quality services for our residents,
to build more affordable housing,
to tackle the climate emergency
and to foster prosperous healthy communities.
All with an eye on how we can use digital technologies
to help us transform and improve our work for the community.
So whilst that local government reorganization
discussions are happening,
and I'm sure I'm gonna be in lots of meetings,
I've got my first one tomorrow together with Lisa and the other five leaders of councils
in Gloucestershire.
We need to keep focused and I will keep us focused on this council's priorities and this
council's objectives as we deal with what the government is asking of us in local government
reorganisation.
So now I'm going to move on to the next agenda item, if that's okay, Chair.
So agenda item eight, so I don't sit down and get up again, announcement of the leader
on the cabinet. So you'll have properly noticed, sat in the chamber, who sat alongside me on
the front row, and they will be my seven cabinet colleagues. Juliet Layton, my ward neighbour,
will succeed me as deputy leader, retaining her housing and planning portfolio while passing
environmental and regulatory services. And we've now got the list coming out, so circulating
to all members and should be passing environmental and regulatory services
onto Andrea Pellegram who joins the cabinet and will lead on waste and
recycling as the cabinet member for environmental and regulatory services.
Andrea brings her professional background in this key area to our single
biggest spending service. Replacing me in the finance role is Patrick Coleman who
brings many, many years of experience of council finances.
I think probably too many to count as near Patrick.
Obviously in both Wiltshire and here in Gloucestershire
and in this council, he served for many years
as chair of our audit committee.
And as, yeah, what Patrick doesn't know
about local government finances.
He and I have sort of battles, I think,
about how much we know from the amount of time
we've been involved in it.
It's obviously changed a lot.
Also with a long local government experience is Paul Hodgkinson, who continues with his portfolio of health, culture and visitor experience,
now also taking on the public toilets and that will complement his role at Gloucestershire County Council.
And congratulations, Paul, on your appointment to Lisa's Cabinet in a similar role.
Claire Bloomer will continue to lead on the important work the Council does supporting our communities.
As we know, many residents are still struggling with the cost of living.
And Claire will continue her work with officers to help low -income families get the benefits they're entitled to.
And that work is changing lives for the better across our district.
After a busy time to his starting cabinet, Tristan Wilkinson will take over leading for transformation across the Council.
take that over from me. As colleagues may know, we are currently recruiting for officers
to help the Cabinet. Tristan and myself and the Cabinet and our senior leadership team
deliver the changes that we need if we're to maintain our financial sustainability.
Finally, after two years on the Cabinet, Mike McEwen will be taking on a new portfolio area
of digital. He'll be working closely with officers and Tristan to help the Council take
advantage of the digital technologies to improve our
customer service and deliver savings.
He'll continue his work to champion carbon reduction
across the council, making us more sustainable in
everything that we do.
I'd like to draw my remarks to a close, which I'm sure
you'll appreciate, by thanking colleagues across
the council for the confidence and the faith
you've shown in me by electing me to be your leader.
I'm looking forward to working with officers and
fellow members on behalf of our residents and businesses to continue our work to enhance
our district. Thank you.
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:51:53
Thank you very much. Now this is for noting, so are there any further comments or questionsbefore we move to note the report? Not report, the, well yeah the report. No? Good. Okay.
So we've noted, noted, duly noted.
Thanks very much.
Now I'd just like to veer off the agenda for a minute.
And we had to do a little bit of,
we had to get the formal elements out of the way.
But Daryl Cawe is going to make just a short announcement
regarding one of his residents who died at the end of April.
So Daryl, over to you.
Chair, thank you.
4 Announcements from the Chair, Leader or Chief Executive
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:52:39
and thank everybody for giving me an opportunity to say a few words about our annual council meeting about an extra special lady,Councillor Daryl Corps - 0:52:48
long -standing Cotswold and Morton and Marsh residents, a lady called Sue Stapley.She sadly died a few weeks ago. Sue embodied all that is good in someone who cares deeply about their local community,
like we all do as councillors. She believed passionately in community service and engaging with people to get things done.
Meeting and getting to know people like Sue in the Cotswolds really does show you what
incredible people live amongst us every day and they enrich our lives.
Sue began her career working with the BBC as a production assistant on Doctor Who, where
she said she spent rather too much time in the cold water tank in Ealing Studios filming
monster fight scenes with Jon Pertwee.
She even managed to talk her partner into wearing one of the
sidewalk costumes in one particular episode.
This power of persuasion would finally find herself
as a solicitor.
One of her proudest moments, according to her husband David,
was her pro bono work on behalf of campaign debris,
Sally Clark, the 37 -year -old solicitor convicted in 1999
of the murder of her two infant sons.
Through Sue's hard work, these convictions were
eventually overturned in 2003.
And if you're thinking I'm just standing here talking
about a local conservative activist, I can promise you
that's far from the case.
She was a founding member of the SDP.
She even stood as a candidate for the party in the 1987
general election for the safe conservative seat of
Chertsey and Walton.
She was also the first national chair of the 300
group which aimed to encourage more women into politics. Sue had quite an extensive
CV of voluntary activities. She was the Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company at the time
of her death. She was Chairman of Playground Proms which brings classical music to schools
in deprived areas and a trustee of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She was
also a member and much valued co -author of the Moreton Neighbourhood Plan. The Moreton
against overdevelopment group, two examples of her passion
for getting involved in the democratic process.
Sue, thank you for being a friend to so many of us
in Moreton and the Cotswolds.
Your style and glamour and strong principles
and commitment to community will live on here and elsewhere
that you have touched.
And you will be greatly missed by so many of us.
Mark, thank you.
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:55:17
Thank you, Daryl, for those kind words.I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
Okay, item nine now, the appointment of committees
and working groups.
So I'm going to invite the leader of the council
9 Appointment of Committees 2025/26
to introduce this item.
Yeah, I'll leave it to him.
Thank you, Chair.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:55:40
If you've got paper copies, it's agenda item nine on page five.So this is our standard item that we have every year.
It explains within the report around the political balance arrangements, which obviously have
changed, where there are now 10 Conservative members and there were nine prior to the by -election,
so there's been a change in terms of the political balance of the Council and that gets reflected
in the size of the committees.
And it also explains when the initial allocation was done, but there was a shortfall on the
allocations to my group and following discussions and discussions with
Councillor Inde we settled on what you can see in table two where we have
Councillor Inde will sit on the performance and appointments committee and we will
as a Lib Dem group take an extra place on the audit and governance committee to
get the numbers to meet the requirements. Then obviously the groups have made
nominations to the individual committees and those are tabled for us all here. I'm
happy to move those all because they're all complementary in terms of the names
and that there are from each of the three groups that have nominated and
then see we then have to, sorry just going back to the resolution, so we have to
agree that we want to use the political balance. We agree the councillors to sit on the committees
and that's Annex B in front of you. We also have within those the chair and the vice chair
appointments so you can see those within the nominations from the Liberal Democrat group
and the Conservative group. And then we also note that we have arrangements for substitutions
So, if members are unable to attend a meeting, that they can, either they or their group
officer leader or deputy leader can nominate a substitute prior to the start of the meeting.
That's the same process that we've had hitherto, but we have to formally note that process.
So, happy to move that, Chair.
Thank you very much, Mike.
Councillor Mark Harris - 0:58:00
Do we have any questions, comments, or anything on the matter, or can we go to the vote?I think we can probably go to a vote straight up.
So I'll just read, I mean, Mike sort of read it out,
but I will read the resolution.
So full council results to determine that in accordance
with, oh, I'm so sorry, Tom.
Sorry, chair.
I thought I was going to second it prior to going
Councillor Tom Stowe - 0:58:24
to the vote, of course, but then I've got a few wordsto say as well, so no, thank you.
So thank you, chair.
And firstly, on behalf of this conservative group,
I would like to congratulate Councillor Evermy
on his election as leader of this council. From our perspective he was the
obvious choice and despite our occasional disagreements on policy his
experience and deep knowledge of the inner workings of his council will I'm
sure hold him in good stead. I hope he'll prove to be a steady pair of hands that
can steer us through the uncertain and exciting times ahead for local
government in Gloucestershire. We look forward to working with him and his
We will of course continue to do our job as the opposition group, holding this administration
to account, highlighting the shortcomings and offering alternative viewpoints and ideas
on how things could be done better, which I hope the administration, under Councillor
Efremi's leadership, will take on board.
Now back onto the business of the appointments of committees for the upcoming Civic Year.
Each year at this time is a good opportunity to reflect on the crucial role of the various
committees in the operations of this Council. The work of the committees isn't always
the most glamorous or, indeed, exciting. They don't often steal the headlines. However,
they are the beating heart that keeps this Council going.
Given the well -publicised financial challenges this Council is currently facing, the ongoing
disruption and uncertainty around the public of transition, and the radical and often ill -thought -out
changes to planning and other local government policies imposed by the
national government, the role of our committees and working
groups is going to be even more important, possibly more so now, than at
any time in this council's 50 -year history. Thank you to all members of this
Conservative group. Being in opposition is not always easy but throughout the
group there is always a hugely positive outlook. Never more so than during the
enthusiastic scramble for the committee places. I will start with overview and
scrutiny and its chair, Councillor Gina Bloomfield. Of all members Gina is the
one with which I spend the most time in communication. Now I'm sure she won't
mind me saying but there is no such thing as a short phone call with Gina.
Her enthusiasm for all things Camden Vale and CDC is infectious and I know that she
will continue her invaluable contribution, chairing this important committee and continuing
her superb work of the last couple of years.
Both David Cunningham and Toby Tony Slater bring invaluable experience to this committee,
particularly regarding financials and project management, which are so key when looking
at the expected workload over the next couple of years.
I know that Gina in her capacity of Chair has raised concerns about recent changes to
officer support for the ONS Committee.
Ensuring that Committees have adequate support to manage the work plans, reports and other
functions of the Committees is crucial.
I know Gina has discussed this with Councillor Evermy and I do hope that he has taken these
concerns on board and will work to come up with a satisfactory solution.
Given the changes imposed by the national government, the Planning Committee is likely
to, one way or another, have some additional work coming their way.
I'm happy to see Julia, Daryl and David Fowles retaining their places on the committee.
All of them have played a key role on this committee over the last couple of years and
I'm sure they will carry on their good work.
Then on to audit and governance.
It is amazing what Len and Jeremy unearth while on this committee as they delve into
the inner workings of the Council. Although by some considered possibly the least glamorous,
it is a vital committee ensuring that the controls and systems are in place to keep
this Council on the straight and narrow and upholding standards for members.
And finally, I am pleased to welcome the newest member of our Conservative group, Councillor
Laura Hall -Wilson. Laura will be a strong local voice and will finally give the
residents of Tepary of Upton the representation they deserve following a
couple of years of let's call it limbo. Now looking ahead over the next couple
of years devolution and the ultimate disbanding of this council is highly
likely. There is a lot of knowledge, experience and certainly good intention
amongst all members of this Council. I'm sure that via the committee systems we can harness
this and work towards delivering a devolution which will deliver simple and more effective,
sustainable and ultimately better value local government for the Cotswolds with clearer
accountability and responsibility. Thank you.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:03:30
Thank you very much Tom. And now we have got Councillor Bloomfield.Councillor Gina Blomefield - 1:03:38
Yes, I haven't got a nice, thank you chair, a prepared speech, but I just wanted to thank,this is for over your scrutiny, very thank Tom for his kind comments, but also to thank
and acknowledge Gary Selwyn who was my vice chair in the previous years. He was absolutely
brilliant, very steady, always helpful, always positive and I very much valued his support.
So that's, I want that recorded.
I also want to thank Dyliss Neil who's been
on the committee for a long time.
I see she's now standing down.
She's been terrific working with you
and also doing your reports from HOSC.
So thank you for that.
I also want to welcome the new members of the committee,
including Joe Harris, not actually here at the minute,
but and we've got Lisa Spivey who was already on the committee.
So we've got two county councillors now
on overview and scrutiny.
We certainly got some really top people working with us.
And also to welcome Nick Bridges who's going to be joining us.
I just want to say that, you know,
it's a really important committee.
It is apolitical and I really always want to emphasize
that we do try to take everything on that thing.
It makes a real contribution, I hope, to the effective running
of this council by going through and scrutinizing everything
and having a very open discussion.
So I welcome everybody.
And I also would like to say thank Angus,
who is now going to be my Vice Chair.
So thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Jean.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:05:10
And Councillor Fowls.Thank you, Chairman.
Councillor David Fowles - 1:05:14
I mean, lots of thanks and lots of congratulations for servicewe've been talking about here today.
There's one person who hasn't actually had a vote of thanks
or a round of applause, and that's the leader of the opposition, Councillor Stowe.
I have associations with two families in this room.
One is the Harris family and the other is the Stowe family.
And in the 23 years I've been involved, either as a member of the public or as a Councillor,
the single decision I'm most proud of is stepping to one side and being this man's deputy and
allowing him to move forward as leader of our opposition.
I think he's done a first -class job and demonstrates how
important it is to go back to what Mike said,
to have a close working relationship.
And I personally would like to give him a round of applause,
and I hope he'll all join me for what he's done
as an excellent job.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, David.
Do we have any more?
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:06:15
I think we're good.So I'll quickly whip through that, the resolution again,
because it's a little while since Mike went through it.
So the full Council resolves to determine that in accordance with section 15 of the
Local Government and Housing Act 1989 of the Act, the Council shall continue to apply the
political balance provisions under the Act to committees as shown in Annex A.
Will 2.
Appoint Councillors to serve on the Council's committees and working groups as set out in
Annex B for a term of office expiring at the next annual meeting of the Council.
3.
Three, appoint chairs and vice -chairs for the Council of Committees and Working Groups
at the Australian Annex B. And four, note the arrangements for substitutions set out
in part four of the report.
I now call for the voting to be opened, Chiara.
Thank you.
We're going to be a bit short, I think, given that people have left the room, but I'm sure
somebody's...
So, one, two, three.
Let's see at 20 seconds.
We have got.
Nicky.
Five, six, seven, eight, nine.
Yeah.
So, I think that's good.
We've got 24 and I...
Twenty -five.
25, and there are definitely four out of the room that I saw.
Okay, so that's carried.
Thank you.
Thank you, Kiran.
All right.
We'll move now onto record of attendance.
And before we discuss this item, I'd like to inform members and those watching online
that the record of attendance can be found in the supplement which is published on the
21st of May, 21st or the 20th, May 2025. This record contains the attendance for
members of Council or any other committee or working group meetings. It
doesn't include meetings where a member may be attending as an observer or a
similar role. A detailed record of attendance can be found on the Council's
web page. Members have been asked to raise any queries about their stated
attendance with the head of Democratic Services and Electoral Services prior to
meeting. So Mike you're going to present this and I believe it's going to be
second by Councillor Layton. Thank you. Thank you chair. It's as you said there's
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:08:43
an annex that people, members should have on their desk in front of them. I thinkit's fairly straightforward and there's a clear explanation and we've at the top
about what counts in within the meetings and you can see when apologies were sent.
It uses the interesting alphabetization using our four names rather than our surnames, so
that the council system I think uses.
So that's why when you look at your name you've got, oh, okay, it's right, okay, mine's over
the page, which I wasn't really expecting.
So I think it's fairly straightforward.
We receive it every year.
I think it's to note and really then add to anything else.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:09:30
Thank you very much Mike and Julia do you want to add anything?Councillor Juliet Layton - 1:09:34
I have nothing to add I'm seconding but there's nothing to add.10 Record of Attendance 2024/25
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:09:39
We're all most grateful. Oh I apologize Councillor Coleman and then Councillor Jenkins.Councillor Patrick Coleman - 1:09:48
Thank you Chair as you know there's really nothing significant in this but I seem to have topped the league table againBut I should not have done so had Michael van not suffered from the illness that's keeping
him away at the moment.
You can see that he in fact was on all three of the main committees and he showed real
dedication and commitment.
And I'm looking forward to his return.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And Councillor Jenkins.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:10:17
Thank you, Chair.Councillor Angus Jenkinson - 1:10:20
I just wanted to draw attention to the members, but also maybe to the public, that these numbersare a representative set of data based on part of the activities of members.
And leaving aside all of the various activities that take place, I attended a number of meetings
around preparing the Sewage Summit, which were organized by Councillor Spivey, which
was a very intense process, but outside this kind of recording.
There are also committees and attendances that are not included in this.
For example, I'm a member of the Gloucestershire Economic Strategy Scrutiny Committee, and
the one before that, and I'll save you the complicated name of it.
Another member of the House is a member of the Health Equivalent Scrutiny Committee,
and there are other things, attendance on the national landscape that members take part
in, and so on.
So I think we ought to recognize that there are other activities in addition to these
that people take part in that can be quite onerous and significant, and it's not a complete
record of all of the work that's done by everyone in this room.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:11:41
And that's noted.I used to be on the parking board, which meant twice a month, and that wasn't recorded
in this as well.
So had it been, it would have had a much different figure.
Thank you for pointing that out.
Right.
So we're happy to note that.
Good.
Excellent.
Right.
11 Appointments to Outside Bodies 2025/26
We're going to move on to appointment to outside bodies and the leader will present this item.
Thank you, Chair.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:12:14
So there is I think a report coming around, is that?Yeah, Keira's about to hand out the appointments to outside bodies.
So we've got two tables.
The first table is those which to be determined by the committee, sorry, the council.
There's two, the Gloucestershire County Council Economic Growth Scrutiny and the Gloucestershire
County Council Health Overview and Scrutiny.
And you can see there's, I'm gonna move in this presentation, Angus Jenkinson and Dyllis
Neal to sit on those committees appropriately.
I'll note that currently there's a vacancy for the substitute for Angus.
So if there are other members that wish to put their name forward, that's an opportunity
that we can have now.
And the...
Yeah.
And then on table two, we then have my executive appointments as leader of the council.
That's why you haven't had them before.
See, because I wasn't leader of the council until half an hour ago.
So you can see there on the right -hand column those people that I am nominating to be appointed
to those outside bodies.
They're all shown.
The only one that doesn't have a nomination we don't believe actually needs one, so that's
why that is blank.
But those are the nominations that I am making.
So I think we then have to agree the first set in table 1 and then no table 2.
Thank you, Chair.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:14:00
I think we have got Juliette's seconding it.I think it's set up here.
So do you have anything to add, Juliette?
Nothing to add, thank you, Chair.
Councillor Juliet Layton - 1:14:07
Splendid.Councillor Mark Harris - 1:14:10
Oh, Councillor Inge.Councillor Nikki Ind - 1:14:15
Just a note, just a spelling mistake I think on page two for your representative Andrea,I believe, rather than Andrew.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:14:31
I've had apologies from the officers here.The tip's fine.
Accepted.
That's right.
Any other comments before we go to the vote?
No? Good.
Okay, so we're noting the appointments to outside bodies by the leader of the council
in respect of executive functions as set out in Annex A, Table 1.
And we confirm the appointments to the Gloucestershire County Council Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee
and Gloucestershire County Council Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee as set out
in Annex A, Table 2.
So I now call for the voting to be opened, Kira.
Thank you.
That's 29 .4, yeah, and we're good.
Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you, Kira.
Right.
Item 12 now, the Rural England Prosperity Fund.
12 Rural England Prosperity Fund 2025-26
and update the council on the award of the Rural England Prosperity Fund for 2526.
And this is proposed here is Councillor Tristan Wilkinson.
Over to you, Tristan.
Thank you, Chair.
Councillor Tristan Wilkinson - 1:15:52
I've avoided speaking up until now because I have nothing to say.But everything was said for me.
I will keep it very brief.
You've got the report in front for you.
This is a very rare and very welcome opportunity for us to
allocate direct money to organizations across our district.
The money is less this year than it has been in previous years.
We are oversubscribed already.
We still have a couple more weeks until the window closes.
And what we're proposing today is basically two things.
One is to approve the process that we're going through.
And the other is to approve the delegated authority of approving
the funding to the CEO, myself, and the appropriate officer.
Having gone through the first draft of some of the proposals,
they are incredibly varied.
These are some very, very small organizations who are asking for
relatively small amounts of money,
so like 2 ,000, 3 ,000, 5 ,000 pounds.
that money makes a huge difference to them when there's very few alternatives for funding.
So I'm going to leave it there and hopefully Council will support this nomination.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:17:14
Thank you very much, Tristan. Are there any questions for clarity from members?No? Good. Okay. Do we have a seconder for this?
Councillor Evermy, do you want to speak?
Yes, please.
Or do you want to reserve your right?
No, I'll speak now.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:17:27
Yeah, I probably didn't think it was fair to ask Patrick,who's only just been appointed the cabinet member for finance, to talk to this one as obviously I did and we took it through cabinet
just a couple of weeks ago.
Just to add to what Tristan has presented,
in the recommendations just for clarity, we need to amend our capital program for this year to include this money, the
£229 ,240, which is fully funded from the allocation from the government.
So that's the other thing that we need to do, as well as the things that Tristan referred
to.
And just for clarity for members, in the Executive Summary, it talks about an accompanying annex.
Those were the papers that went to the February 2025 Cabinet meeting, and that's Annex B,
if you want to look at that online, that that was what is referred to in that paragraph.
But clearly, I think it's, we've got to make the best use of the finances that we get.
The opportunity to support businesses and voluntary organisations across our district
with this funding is incredibly valuable.
And, you know, one of the things that we want to make sure is that the work that this council
does in preparing this and making these decisions is recognised publicly as part of those allocations.
But yeah, it's absolutely obviously very pleasurable to be able to do this work. And as Kristen
has said, more people will be asking for this money than there is money available, as is
inevitable in these things. But we hope it will continue and it will support both businesses
and community groups, parish councils and things across our district.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you very much, Mike. Is there anybody who wishes to speak?
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:19:25
Tom?Yes, thank you, Chair. I'll be very brief because this is fairly straightforward from
Councillor Tom Stowe - 1:19:32
my perspective. I mean, just looking back on what this has funded previously, the previoustranches, I mean, things like industrial shredders, on -farm bakeries and increased brewing capacity
There's certain things I can get behind.
So looking forward, I mean obviously this pot of money is there, it's important that
it is allocated correctly.
This could be the catalyst, you know, that triggers the next big thing, you know, a small
company that's just waiting for this support.
A community group, this could be the catalyst that leads to great things.
So we're really behind this.
I think the approach we've taken has proved to work previously, so it's a pretty much,
if anything an improved version of what was done previously. So I've just got one
question though, is Friday the 30th of May the deadline it's coming around very
quickly, when did that window actually open when was it first advertised just
give us some idea of the time that people have had to apply, thank you.
Councillor Tristan Wilkinson - 1:20:28
So thank you and thanks Tom you're absolutely right I think having gotclose to this in previous months the amount of effort a local organisation
has to put in just the application process.
It's fairly onerous.
I've had some direct feedback from organizations that I know.
But what it also provokes and inspires is for them to kind of
look at their own operations in a way that they maybe haven't
done before and think about them in a maybe more ambitious and
creative way.
So it's not just about the money.
It's about an organization stepping back and saying who are
we, what do we want to be, you know, how can we change,
which I think is a secondary one.
You do raise an important point.
I've had some feedback this evening and I don't know what
the process is for this, but I do think we should extend the
window by a couple of weeks.
And I hope I'm not talking out of town.
I think that's completely acceptable.
We had quite an accelerated timeframe because the money has
to be spent within a year.
But I think we're early enough in the year that I think if we
delay it a couple of weeks, it won't have a material impact.
We have been communicating it for quite some time.
A lot of the previous applications have been carried forward and they have been notified,
but I do think that maybe not everybody is aware of it and I would hate somebody to kind
of become aware of this two days after.
So I'm completely open to us delaying the deadline for a couple of weeks to give everyone
a fair crack and during that time to increase our outward comms to make sure that suitable
and eligible organisations get a fair crack at the whip.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:22:07
Thank you very much Tristan. Before I come to Councillor Coleman, I've had itconfirmed that that's okay to extend that period so maybe you want to discuss
amongst yourselves what that period is. I'm minded that next week as well is a
half term or you know school holidays and so on and so forth so that you know
when you get holidays falling in periods it also makes it difficult for
businesses to sort of sit back and reflect in that way. Thanks very much.
Councillor Coleman.
Councillor Patrick Coleman - 1:22:38
Thank you, Chair. Yes, it was just paragraph 3 .4 that the fourth Muteur enquire through you.It refers to how in the past we've used the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council
to administer the community infrastructure grant scheme and
Certainly the rural community councils have been in that sort of work, not just for a
few years, but certainly in regard to village halls for decades.
I just wondered, since we are taking this in -house, which I'm sure is a good idea, have
we given notice to the GRCC, and if so, have we had any response from them?
They are an important and I hope small part of public sector bureaucracy.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:23:26
I don't know if Councillor Evermy wants to respond to that or David, do we know?David Stanley, Deputy CEO - 1:23:33
Just in terms of the support that GRCC have provided over the last two years, that wasin line with the award of the REPF.
This allocation of REPF came through very, very late in the day, hence it's been brought
to this Council.
I don't think there was an expectation that there would be support needed from GRCC for
the forthcoming round.
and we have as part of that process internally gained a lot of knowledge of
the way in which those applications are assessed and the decision -making is more
around the administration of that process which I think given the smaller
amount of money that's been awarded for a single year the council is well placed
to administer on our behalf. Thank you David. Councillor Bloomer.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:24:19
Thank you chair.Councillor Claire Bloomer - 1:24:21
Yes, I'm really pleased about this thing. It's great to be putting funding into ourcommunities and I just want to say about you know bringing things back in -house
this is going to be a great way of leaving a legacy for CDC you know have
our logo in some of these places you know to actually show how we have
supported our communities. So I'm all behind it. Fantastic.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:24:42
Thank you Councillor Bloomer. Any other comments, questions? No? Good. Fantastic. Okay.Councillor Wilkins, do you want to sum up or Councillor Abney, do you want to sum up?
I've got... No? Okay, let's go to the... So I'm going to read the recommendation.
Council resolves to amend the capital program for 25 -26 to include the Rural
England Prosperity Fund, REPF scheme, capital budget £229 ,240, which is fully
funded from the 2025 -26 REPF grant allocation. Approve the provisional
allocations as set out in paragraph 3 .1 and delegate authority to the Chief
Executive Consultation of Cabinet Members for Economy and
Environment and the Council's section 151 officer to allocate the funding
having regard to the recommendation of the REPF assessment panel. Can we go to
Councillor Mike Evemy - 1:25:38
the vote? I do apologize. Just before you move the vote we've now changed Tristan'stitle as you recall when I appointed him to the cabinet. He's no longer the
cabinet member for the economy and the environment. He is now the cabinet member for economy and
council transformation so we can please amend the minute accordingly.
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:25:54
Shall I read it again? No. Do you need to thank you, Councillor Avni, for your everpedantic eye. Right, let's go to the vote, Kiera. We're good to go. Thank you very
much. Okay that's 29 for none against no abstentions so that's carried. Thank you
all very much.
13 Next meeting
Councillor Mark Harris - 1:26:28
Sorry item 13 next meeting I'd like to let the public present and thosewatching online know that the next meeting of full council will be held on
16th of July 2025 at 6pm and thank you all very much and enjoy the rest of your evening
whatever you choose to do with it. Thank you.
- Cabinet appointments 2025-26, opens in new tab
- Appointment of Committees cover report, opens in new tab
- Annex A - political proportionalities, opens in new tab
- Annex B - Committee nominations 2526, opens in new tab
- Member Attendance 2024-2025 Municipal Year, opens in new tab
- Item 8 Outside Bodies Report May 2025, opens in new tab
- Item 8 Annex A Appointment to Outside Bodies- update required, opens in new tab
- 2025 05 REPF report, opens in new tab
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