Councillor Hollingsworth proposed and Councillor Turner seconded, and there being no other nominations, Council resolved that Councillor Cook be elected as Lord Mayor of Oxford for the Council Year 2018/19.

Councillor Cook took the Chair from Councillor Fooks and subsequently signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

Councillor Clarkson proposed and Councillor Brown seconded, and there being no other nominations, Council resolved that Councillor Malik be elected as Deputy Lord Mayor of Oxford for the Council Year 2018/19.

Councillor Malik subsequently signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

Councillor Chapman proposed and Councillor Humberstone seconded, and there being no other nominations, Council resolved that Councillor Simmons be elected as Sheriff of Oxford for the Council Year 2018/19.

Councillor Simmons subsequently signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

Councillors Aziz, Fry, Goff, Tanner, Upton, Wilkinson and Wolff sent apologies.

There were no declarations at this point.

The Chief Executive reported that Councillor Lloyd-Shogbesan had resigned from the Labour Group and was sitting as an independent councillor, pending the outcome of a referral of a standards complaint to the Monitoring Officer.

The Lord Mayor announced news of the death of Margaret McCarthy, Labour City Councillor for Blackbird Leys in the 1970s.

He also announced the news of a serious car accident which had left the Chairman of the Freemen, Howard Crapper with serious injuries and had claimed the life of his wife Shirley.

Council stood for a minute’s silence in remembrance of both.

The Lord Mayor welcomed the 12 newly elected councillors by name to the Council.

Council is asked to elect a Leader of Council in accordance with the Council’s executive arrangements as set out in the Constitution for a term of office beginning immediately and ending on the day of the annual Council meeting in 2020 (following all-out elections scheduled for May 2020).

Councillor Turner proposed and Councillor Simm seconded, and there being no other nominations, Council resolved that Councillor Brown be elected as Leader of the Council for a term of office ending on the day of the annual council meeting in 2020 (following all-out elections scheduled for May 2020)

Council may receive and note a report from the Leader on:

1.         the appointment of the Deputy Leader of the Council;

2.         the appointment of City Executive Board Members;

3.         the appointment of a member of the Oxfordshire Growth Board;

4.         the appointment of a member and substitute for each of the three Oxfordshire Growth Board sub-groups (see report at item 9):

a.    Infrastructure

b.    Housing

c.    Joint Statutory Spatial Plan

5.         the appointment of Shareholders for:

a.    Oxford City Housing Limited

b.    Oxford West End Development

c.    Oxford Direct Services Company; and

6.         the Executive Scheme of Delegation (either as set out in the Council’s Constitution or amended)

The Leader may confirm or change these appointments and set the scheme of delegation separately by notification in writing to the Head of Law and Governance.

The Leader of the Council referred Council to the tabled paper setting out her appointments of the Deputy Leader and the membership of the City Executive Board with their portfolios and appointments to partnerships, as notified by the Leader of the Council to the Proper Officer on 14 and 15 May 2018. 

The Leader of the Council did not confirm the following appointments.  These appointments can be notified by the Leader of the Council to the Proper Officer at any time and then notified to Council:

·         Council representatives on the three Oxfordshire Growth Board sub-groups.

·         Shareholders for Oxford City Housing Ltd, Oxford West End Development, or Oxford Direct Services Ltd.

The Leader of the Council did not notify any amendments to the Executive Scheme of Delegation as set out in the Constitution.

The Head of Law and Governance has submitted a report inviting Council to appoint non-executive and regulatory committees for the Council year 2018/19 and members to serve on these.

Council is recommended to:

1.    Approve the committee structure for non-executive and regulatory decision making and the Scrutiny function, as defined within the Council’s constitution and set out in Appendix 1: Committee structure;

2.    Approve the methods, calculations and conventions used in determining political representation on committees as outlined in the report and set out in Appendix 2: Political proportionalities on all non-executive and regulatory committees (other than those to be appointed on an ad hoc basis) 2018-19;

3.    Approve the appointment of nominated members to non-executive and regulatory committees in accordance with the requirements of political proportionality and the nominations made by political groups, as set out in Appendix 3: Committee nominations 2018-19;

4.    Agree that all members of Council will form the pool of members able to observe on appeals and some grievances panels;

5.    Appoint the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee and two other non-executive member representatives to the Oxfordshire Growth Board Scrutiny Panel;

6.    Appoint one non-executive member to the Joint Oxfordshire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (the nominated member is included in Appendix 3: Committee nominations 2018-19);

7.    Authorise the Head of Law and Governance to make any changes to the constitution as a consequence of these decisions.

Council had before it the report of the Head of Law and Governance setting out the appointments to committees, the political balance calculations, and the nominations by each group to committee places.

In light of the Chief Executive’s announcement, a paper was tabled setting out the new political balance (with seat allocations unchanged) and changes in the proposed memberships from those published:

·         General Purposes Licensing Committee - a vacancy in the Labour nominations

·         East Area Planning Committee - a vacancy in the Labour nominations

·         Scrutiny Committee - remove Dan Iley-Williamson and add David Henwood, and a vacancy in the Labour nominations

Councillor Gant reported a change to his group’s nomination to the Audit and Governance Committee, replacing Councillor Roz Smith with himself.

Council resolved to:

1.    Approve the committee structure for non-executive and regulatory decision making and the Scrutiny function, as defined within the Council’s constitution and set out in Appendix 1 to the report: Committee structure;

2.    Approve the methods, calculations and conventions used in determining political representation on committees as outlined in the report and set out in Appendix 2: Political proportionalities on all non-executive and regulatory committees (other than those to be appointed on an ad hoc basis) 2018-19 (with changes as tabled at the meeting and published with the minutes)

3.    Approve the appointment of nominated members to non-executive and regulatory committees in accordance with the requirements of political proportionality and the nominations made by political groups, as set out below;

4.    Agree that all members of Council will form the pool of members able to observe on appeals and some grievances panels;

5.    Appoint the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee and two other non-executive member representatives to the Oxfordshire Growth Board Scrutiny Panel (nominations to be confirmed at a future Full Council meeting);

6.    Appoint one non-executive member to the Joint Oxfordshire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (the nominated member is included in below);

7.    Authorise the Head of Law and Governance to make any changes to the constitution as a consequence of these decisions.

Committee appointments

Council agreed a Scheme for the Enrolment of Honorary Aldermen and Honorary Alderwomen at its meeting on 23 April 2018. 

The Monitoring Officer has received three valid nominations for the position of Honorary Alderman or Honorary Alderwoman.  Councillor Brown, Councillor Gant and Councillor Thomas have jointly nominated Bob Price, Jean Fooks and Gill Sanders for this honorary award. 

Council is therefore asked to agree to convene a special meeting to formally confer these awards, in accordance with the provisions of Section 249 of the Local Government Act 1972.

Recommendation: that Council resolves to

convene a special meeting to be held at a later date to confer the title of Honorary Alderman or Honorary Alderwoman on Bob Price, Jean Fooks and Gill Sanders, in recognition of their eminent services to the city as former members of Oxford City Council.

On being proposed and seconded,

Council resolved to

convene a special meeting to be held at a later date to confer the title of Honorary Alderman or Honorary Alderwoman on Bob Price, Jean Fooks and Gill Sanders, in recognition of their eminent services to the city as former members of Oxford City Council.

The Heads of Financial Services and of Community Services have submitted a report to the City Executive Board meeting on Tuesday 15 May at 3.00pm asking the CEB to consider a loan guarantee to Rugby Football Union in respect of a loan of up to £100k to Oxford Harlequins Rugby Football Club and make a recommendation to this meeting.

Recommendations: subject to the decision of the City Executive Board Council is recommended to resolve:

provide a loan guarantee to the Rugby Football Union in respect of a loan of up to £100k to Oxford Harlequins Rugby Football Club for funding improvements to changing room facilities at Horspath Athletic Grounds, on terms agreed in advance by both the Council’s Head of Financial Services and the Executive Director for Sustainable City.

Council considered the decision of the City Executive Board at its meeting on Tuesday 15 May at 3.00pm, and on being proposed and seconded:

Council resolved to:

provide a loan guarantee to the Rugby Football Union in respect of a loan of up to £100k to Oxford Harlequins Rugby Football Club for funding improvements to changing room facilities at Horspath Athletic Grounds, on terms agreed in advance by both the Council’s Head of Financial Services and the Executive Director for Sustainable City.