Agenda and minutes

Prayers were led by Father Ling.

Council held a minutes silence in memory of the late Douglas Back, former Councillor.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

There was none.

To receive Mayor’s communications and announcements.

Councillor Hopkins informed Council that he had recently completed a 400 mile charity bike ride in aid of East Anglian Air Ambulance.  He thanked Members who had sponsored him.

The Mayor had received a handwritten thank you note from the Duchess of Cornwall in response to her Birthday wishes.

To receive any items of business which in the opinion of the Mayor are urgent. 

There was none.

(Members are reminded this is a debate, not a question and answer session)

To consider the following recommendations to Council:

i           Cabinet: 1 August 2017

RESOLVED: The following recommendations were approved:

            CAB41: Non Domestic Rates Discretionary Reliefs

ii          Special Cabinet: 9 August 2017

Council was invited to consider the proposals put forward in CAB53: Boundary Review of the Borough of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk.  The Leader of the Council, Councillor Long reminded Members that Council had already agreed that the amount of Members be reduced to 54 and this had been accepted by the Boundary Commission.  Work had now been carried out on the technicalities and mathematics of the Ward Boundaries.  The Leader asked for his thanks to be recorded to the Members of the Task Group, those who had put forward representations as part of the process and the officers involved, notably Tony Yates, Electoral Administrative Assistant.

The Leader appreciated that not all were in support of the divisions in the proposed submission document and that if Members or members of the public felt that the Council’s submission was not technically compliant or they felt that the makeup of communities would be adversely affected by the proposals they could submit comments or alternative proposals to the Boundary Commission for consideration.

The Leader proposed the recommendations as set out in the report, which was seconded by Councillor Lawrence, who reserved his right to speak.

In debating the recommendations Councillor Smith made comments about the proposals for Gaywood North Bank Ward.  He felt that some of the divisions made no sense and felt that it needed to be left as a three Member Ward and that parts of Gaywood had now been separated into other Wards.  He felt that too many changes had been made at the last minute and the Council needed to be aware of natural communities. 

Councillor John Collop stated that he had sat on the Boundary Review Task Group and commented that had Councillor Smith attended the meetings, he could have made representations.  Councillor Collop supported the idea of single Member Wards where possible.  He commented that officers had worked hard on the proposals, and it had not been easy to put the maps together.  Councillor Collop explained that he lived in Gaywood North Bank Ward, which had previously been a three Member Ward, and he felt had not worked very well as there was sometimes a conflict of who to contact and some Members may be more proactive than others resulting in varying workloads for each Member.  He felt that the division into single Member Wards would work much better.

Councillor John Collop commented that the Ward he represented was currently a two Member Ward and it was proposed to split this into two single Member Wards, which he supported.  He commented that he hoped that the proposals were taken forward.

Councillor McGuinness commented that he agreed with the comments made by Councillor John Collop with regards to single Member Wards.  He felt that the Ward Member would be able to represent the whole community and bring communities together.  Councillor McGuinness commented that the South  ...  view the full minutes text for item C:40