1.       When the continuous alarm sounds you must evacuate the building by the nearest available fire exit. Members and visitors should proceed to the visitors’ car park at the front of the building and await further instructions (during office hours staff should proceed to their usual assembly point; outside of office hours proceed to the visitors’ car park). Please do not re-enter the building unless instructed to do so.

       In the event of a fire any person with a disability should be assisted in leaving the building.  

2.       To receive any announcements from the Chair of the Meeting and/or the Chief Executive.

Pursuant to the adoption by the Council on 24 January 2023 of the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct, effective from 1 February 2023, as set out in Minute No. CL.72, Members are invited to declare any interest they may have in the business set out on the Agenda to which the approved Code applies.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2023.

a)   To receive any questions, deputations or petitions submitted under Council Rule of Procedure.12.

(The deadline for public participation submissions for this meeting is 11 May 2023).

b)   To receive any petitions submitted under the Council’s Petitions Scheme.

To elect a Leader of the Council (who will also be the Chair of the Executive Committee) for the ensuing Municipal Year.    

To elect a Deputy Leader of the Council (who will also be the Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee) for the ensuing Municipal Year.

In accordance with the Constitution, to agree the number of Lead Members and Portfolios.

To appoint the Lead Members (with portfolios) who will form the Executive Committee.  

To appoint the Support Members to the Lead Members.  

To determine the numbers on, and Membership of, the:

• Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
• Audit and Governance Committee.
• Planning Committee.
• Licensing Committee.
• Standards Committee.

Any papers available prior to the meeting will be circulated to all Members.

To determine the Membership of the Ad-hoc Committees:

o  Employee Appeals Committee;

o  Employee Appointments/Disciplinary Committee

Any papers available prior to the meeting will be circulated to all Members.

To appoint representatives to the following Panel and Liaison Groups:

o  Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel (1 plus 1 reserve);

o  Shared Legal Services Joint Monitoring and Liaison Group (2 plus 2 substitutes); and

o  Shared Building Control Joint Monitoring and Liaison Group (2). 

To determine the Outside Bodies to which the Council should make appointments and the representation on those Bodies.  

In accordance with the Constitution, to receive a report from the Leader of the Council which could cover Lead Member Portfolios, Working Groups and Panels etc.

The Council will at this stage adjourn for a brief period to allow each Committee, as set out below, to hold a formal meeting to conduct the business set out in the enclosed Agenda: 

1.    Overview and Scrutiny Committee including appointment (and reserves) to the Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee.                    

2.    Audit and Governance Committee.                         

3.    Planning Committee.               

4.    Licensing Committee. 

5.    Standards Committee.

To appoint three Members of the Council as Trustees of the Mayor of Tewkesbury’s Appeal Fund for the ensuing Municipal Year.

The Mayor and Chief Executive are automatically Trustees and as such cannot be one of the named Trustees for this year. The current Trustees are Councillors Gore, MacTiernan and Mason.

NB: The Fund is officially called the Mayor of Tewkesbury’s Appeal Fund but this does of course refer to Tewkesbury Borough.  

Councillor Cody will propose and Councillor Dimond-Brown will second:

This motion contains two intrinsically linked urgent necessities.

In July 2019, I brought a motion to Tewkesbury Borough Council to declare a climate emergency and do all in its powers to make the Borough carbon neutral by 2030.

Tewkesbury Borough Council was the last district in Gloucestershire to declare a Climate Emergency and this finally passed on 1st October 2019, but was at the time reduced to only include tackling emissions created by the Council itself and a few other public service properties it owns within the Borough:

“The Council has committed to become carbon neutral by 2030 by addressing greenhouse gas emissions from our operations, including:

·         Electricity, gas and water use in our buildings that are used to provide a publicservice

·         The Council’s vehiclefleet

·         Travel by employees and Councillors in vehicles or by public transport for Councilpurposes

·         Officewaste”

An excellent start has been made and I would like to give credit to officers who have worked incredibly hard gathering data, applying for funding and creating a carbon reduction programme. We now have the impressive solar canopy and several other initiatives, however, it is time to widen our reach to include the whole borough, we even say so on our website:

“Having looked at the Council’s own Carbon footprint the next steps will then be to support residents, businesses, community groups and other organisations to tackle greenhouse gas emissions across the Borough.”

I believe that we can do both at the same time, in fact it will be beneficial; that residents, businesses, community groups and other organisations increasingly want to be involved and will in turn support the whole borough on our collective journey to carbon neutrality.

Climate Emergency UK has been working on Council Climate Plan Scorecards. The average Council is scoring 43% but, Tewkesbury is currently on just 10%. Climate Emergency UK say;

“Engagement and support from residents is essential in carrying out your Climate Action Plan. Involving a diverse range of residents from all sectors of your community from the beginning will help ensure that a wider variety of ideas are heard and that solutions to problems can be found collectively.”

Businesses also want to get involved by sharing their ideas and examples of best practice, we don’t need to be doing this alone. Widening our scope could encourage private investment and unite our Borough in achieving carbon neutrality.

Here’s another quote from TBC’s website:

“Without increased and urgent mitigation ambition in the coming years, leading to a sharp decline in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, global warming will surpass 1.5°C in the following decades, leading to irreversible loss of the most fragile ecosystems, and crisis after crisis for the most vulnerable people and societies.” (Source: IPCC, 2018: Global Warming of 1.5°C.)”

In order to reduce the chance of runaway Global Warming and limit the effects of Climate Breakdown, it is imperative that we as species reduce our C02eq (carbon equivalent) emissions from  ...  view the full agenda text for item 10.

The Chair will move the adoption of the following resolution:

That under Section 100(A)(4) Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To approve the separate Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 9 March 2023.

(Exempt –Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 – Information relating to any individual) 

To appoint a Monitoring Officer to the Council with effect from 1 July 2023.