Agenda and minutes

6.30pm – Councillor Daryl Brown, as the outgoing Mayor, took the Chair at the start of the meeting.

Councillor Colin Aherne proposed, seconded by Councillor Zarar Qayyum, that Councillor PJ Murphy be elected Mayor of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham for the 2020/21 Municipal Year.

There being no further nominations, the proposal was formally put to the vote:

FOR:                           UNANIMOUS

AGAINST:                   0

NOT VOTING:            0

The recommendation was declared CARRIED.

6.34pm – RESOLVED:

That Councillor PJ Murphy was duly elected Mayor of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham for the 2020/21 Municipal Year, following which he made the statutory Declaration of Acceptance of Office and signed the statutory undertaking to observe the Code of Conduct for Councillors.

The Mayor then made a brief speech thanking members for the honour of being elected Mayor and also recognised the pain caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The Mayor extended the Council’s heartfelt condolences to all those who had been affected.

The Mayor announced that he had nominated the Hammersmith & Fulham Foodbank as his charity for the Mayoral year.

The Mayor then appointed Mary Smith to act as his Mayoress during the Mayoral year.

Presentation of Past Mayor’s badge

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, moved that the past Mayor's Badge be presented to Councillor Daryl Brown in recognition of her service to the Council in undertaking the office of Mayor, and in carrying out other associated civic duties as a Councillor, which was unanimously agreed.

Speeches were made by Councillor Stephen Cowan, Leader of the Council, and Councillor Andrew Brown, Leader of the Opposition, thanking the outgoing Mayor for her service to the borough. Councillor Daryl Brown then made a speech summarising the highlights of her Mayoral term and thanking members for the opportunity to serve the borough.

A vote of thanks was given to the past Mayor’s Consort and Deputy Mayor in undertaking their civic roles in support of the past Mayor.

Appointment of Deputy Mayor

The Mayor then announced that he had appointed Councillor Daryl Brown to be his Deputy Mayor for the 2020/21 Municipal Year and that she has appointed Mr Benito Brown to act as her Deputy Mayor’s Consort.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Sue Fennimore.

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Ann Rosenberg who joined the meeting at 7.06pm.

The Monitoring Officer will carry out a roll call of Councillors to confirm attendance. Councillors will have an opportunity to declare any interests.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

Councillors Alex Karmel, Adronie Alford, PJ Murphy, Lisa Homan, Larry Culhane, Stephen Cowan, Amanda Lloyd-Harris, and Sharon Holder declared non-pecuniary interests in Item 6.5 as deferred members of the Council’s pension scheme.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on the 21^st of October 2020.

6.55pm – RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 21^st October 2020 were agreed as a correct record.

There were no announcements.

6.55pm – The report on the party appointments for the 2020-21 municipal year was noted.

6.56pm – The report on the appointment by the Leader of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet was noted.

6.56pm – The report on the allocation of seats and proportionality on committees was noted.

6.57pm – The Mayor noted the following correction to the report:

·       Councillor Mark Loveday should replace Councillor Matt Thorley on the Standards Committee membership

The report and recommendations were formally moved for adoption by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, before being put to the vote:

FOR                        UNANIMOUS

AGAINST                0

NOT VOTING         0

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

6.57pm – RESOLVED

1.    That the Council agrees, with the correction noted above, the appointments of Chairs and Memberships of Regulatory, Policy and Accountability and other Committees under its Constitution for the Municipal Year 2020/21, as set out in Appendix 1.

2.    This Council also notes their respective portfolios / terms of reference, as set out in the constitution.

6.58pm – The report and recommendations were formally moved for adoption by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan.

Speeches on the report were made by Councillors Alex Karmel and Andrew Brown (for the Opposition), and Larry Culhane (for the Administration).

FOR                        33

AGAINST                11

NOT VOTING         0

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

7.05pm – RESOLVED

1.    That the revisions to the Members’ Allowances Scheme 2020/21 as set out in the report and attached as Appendix 1, be approved.

7.05pm – The report and recommendations were formally moved for adoption by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, before being put to the vote:

FOR                        33

AGAINST                11

NOT VOTING         0

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

7.06pm – RESOLVED

1.    That the composition of the Cabinet set out below and the Cabinet Member and Lead Member Responsibilities and Portfolios outlined in Appendix 1, be noted.

2.    That the creation of an additional Assistant to the Cabinet position assigned to support the Cabinet, be approved.

3.    That subject to the approval of recommendations above, the Council’s Constitution be adopted for the 2020/21 Municipal Year.

7.06pm – The Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, gave an oral presentation for his annual report. The Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Andrew Brown gave a speech in response.

7.16pm – The report on the Council calendar was noted.

7.16pm – The Annual Report of the Policy and Accountability Committees was noted.

Speeches on the item were made by Councillors Lisa Homan, Rachel Leighton, and Sharon Holder (for the Administration), and Councillor Andrew Brown (for the Opposition).

7.32pm – The monitoring report on Special Urgency Decisions was noted.

7.33pm – The monitoring report on petitions was noted.