Agenda and minutes

Annual General Meeting, Taunton Charter Trustees
Tuesday, 9th June, 2020 6.00 pm

Venue: Webcasting - Virtual. View directions

Contact: Marcus Prouse Email: m.prouse@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk 

Webcast: View the webcast

Items
No. Item

1.

Election of Mayor Of Taunton

    Councillor Hazel Prior-Sankey to propose and Councillor Simon Coles to second:-

     

    "That Councillor Francesca Smith be elected Mayor of Taunton for the ensuing year".

     

    If the motion is carried, Councillor Francesca Smith will arrange to sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Councillor Hazel Prior-Sankey proposed and Councillor Libby Lisgo seconded:-

     

    "That Councillor Francesca Smith be elected Mayor of Taunton for the ensuing year".

     

    RESOLVED that Councillor Francesca Smith be elected Mayor of Taunton for the ensuing year.

     

    Councillor Smith made the declaration of acceptance of office, thanked Councillors for their support and would arrange to sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

2.

Deputy Mayor of Taunton

    Councillor Simon Coles to propose and Councillor Chris Booth to second:-

     

              "That Councillor Susan Lees be elected Deputy Mayor of Taunton for the ensuing year".

     

              If the motion is carried, Councillor Susan Lees will arrange to sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Councillor Simon Coles proposed and Councillor Chris Booth seconded:-

     

    "That Councillor Susan Lees be elected Deputy Mayor of Taunton for the ensuing year".

     

    RESOLVED that Councillor Susan Lees be elected Deputy Mayor of Taunton for the ensuing year.

     

    Councillor Lees made the declaration of acceptance of office, thanked Councillors for their support and would arrange to sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

     

3.

Apologies

4.

Declarations of Interest

    To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

     

    (The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Members present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor or Clerk of a County, Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-

     

    Name

    Minute No.

    Description of Interest

    Reason

    Action Taken

    Cllr L Baker

    All Items

    Cheddon Fitzpaine & SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr C Booth

    All Items

    Wellington and SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Coles

    All Items

    SCC & SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr C Ellis

    All Items

    SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr R Lees

    All Items

    SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Lees

    All Items

    SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Lisgo

    All Items

    SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Perry

    All Items

    SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr M Peters

    All Items

    SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr H Prior-Sankey

    All Items

    SCC & SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr F Smith

    All Items

    SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr F Smith-Roberts

    All Items

    SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr A Wedderkopp

    All Items

    SCC & SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Wedderkopp

    All Items

    SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr B Weston

    All Items

    SWT

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

     

5.

Communications

    To receive such communications as the Mayor may desire to lay before the Charter Trustees.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The Mayor of Taunton wished to communicate some thoughts on her previous year in holding the office and also looked forward to the following year.

     

    Despite the lockdown effecting events recently, there were still events carrying forward virtually which was pleasing to see and she hoped there would still be an opportunity this year to proceed with many of those that had been planned and raise much needed funds for charities. It was especially pleasing to be able to still make decisions and help with the establishment of the Wilton and Sherford Community Shop at such speed. The Mayor was Patron of the Taunton Heritage Trust and attended a meeting that morning, and it was wonderful to see the work they had done to protect and support their residents in the Almshouses in the Town and through their charitable funding.

     

    The Mayor wished to thank the staff supporting the Charter Trustees of Taunton during the pandemic and dealing with the new challenges around ways of working. The Mayor also wished to thank all those who had supported her chosen charity for their generosity in their support over the past year, Somerset Neonatal Unit, which would continue to roll over into the next year and be gifted to them at the end of the 2021 Municipal Year.

6.

Appointment of Members of the Standing Committee 2020/2021

    To appoint Charter Trustees, from nominations received from each group, to serve on the Standing Committee for the year 2019/2020.The proposed ‘Powers and Duties’ of the Standing Committee are set out in the attached document.If the Committee allocated politically proportionally as per the Standing Orders there would be 6 Liberal Democrats and 1 Labour seat, though it was within the gift of the political groups as to whether they took up their full entitlement.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The purpose of the item was to appoint Charter Trustees, from nominations received from each group, to serve on the Standing Committee for the year 2020/2021.The proposed ‘Powers and Duties’ of the Standing Committee were set out in the attached document to the Agenda.

     

    If the Committee allocated politically proportionally as per the Standing Orders there would be 6 Liberal Democrats and 1 Labour seat, though it was always within the gift of the political groups as to whether they took up their full entitlement.

     

    RESOLVED that the following Councillors were appointed to the Standing Committee of the Taunton Charter Trustees for 2020/2021;

     

    -        Councillor Chris Booth

    -        Councillor Simon Coles

    -        Councillor Sue Lees

    -        Councillor Libby Lisgo

    -        Councillor Derek Perry

    -        Councillor Martin Peters

    -        Councillor Alan Wedderkopp

7.

Any items which the Mayor considers to be urgent business

8.

Dates of future meetings

    The Clerk to the Taunton Charter Trustees to advise of the dates of future meetings for 2020/21.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The Clerk to the Charter Trustees for Taunton advised of the dates of meetings for the 2020/21 Municipal Year that had been identified in the meetings diary.

     

    During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:-

    ·       Councillor Smith-Roberts drew the Charter Trustees attention to a survey that she had been made aware sent to every Town and Parish Council in Somerset by the County regarding the Future of Local Government in this area, and asked the Clerk to confirm if this survey had been sent to the Charter Trustees?

    ·       The Clerk confirmed that he had not seen it.

     

    RESOLVED that the dates for future meetings of the Charter Trustees for Taunton were agreed as follows;

     

    -        20th August 2020

    -        10th December 2020

    -        2nd March 2021

     

    RESOLVED that a special meeting of the Charter Trustees to be called to discuss the survey recently sent by Somerset County Council to all Towns and Parish councils in Somerset regarding their unitary proposals before its closing date for response on the 3rd July 2020 at 5pm.