Council is recommended to resolve to elect a Lord Mayor to the start of the Annual Council meeting in May 2024

Cllr Turner proposed, seconded by Cllr Lygo, that Cllr Mike Rowley be elected Lord Mayor to the start of the Annual Council meeting in May 2025.

There were no other nominations.

Council resolved to elect Cllr Mike Rowley as Lord Mayor of Oxford for the Council year 2024/25.

Cllr Goddard joined the meeting.

Council is recommended to resolve to elect a Deputy Lord Mayor to the start of the Annual Council meeting in May 2024.

Cllr Hollingsworth proposed, seconded by Cllr Arshad, that Cllr Tiago Corais be appointed Deputy Lord Mayor to the start of the Annual Council meeting in May 2025.

There were no other nominations.

Council resolved to appoint Cllr Tiago Corais as Deputy Lord Mayor of Oxford for the Council year 2024/25.

Council is recommended to resolve to appoint a Sheriff to the start of the Annual Council meeting in May 2024

Cllr Munkonge proposed, seconded by Cllr Jarvis, that Cllr James Fry be appointed Sheriff to the start of the Annual Council meeting in May 2025.

There were no other nominations.

Council resolved to elect Cllr James Fry as Sheriff of Oxford for the Council year 2024/25.

Cllr Regisford joined the meeting.

To make any declarations of disposable pecuniary interests relating to items on this agenda (see guidance note attached to agenda frontsheet).

There were no declarations of interest.

Announcements by:

1.     The Lord Mayor

2.     The Sheriff

3.     The Leader of the Council (who may with the permission of the Lord Mayor invite other councillors to make announcements)

4.     The Chief Executive, Chief Finance Officer, Monitoring Officer

The Lord Mayor announced his chosen charities for the 2024/25 Civic Year were Love Barton, SeeSaw and Yellow Submarine. The Lord Mayor also announced that, since the last meeting of Full Council, former Cllr Mike Gotch had sadly passed away; Council held a minute’s silence in his memory.

There were no announcements from the Chief Executive.

Rev Buckley, City Rector congratulated the Civic Office holders and new Councillors on their recent appointments and offered his support and gratitude to Councillors and Council staff for the work they continued to do. He read aloud a quote from the Oxford writer J.R.R. Tolkien and concluded that he was looking forward to the year ahead.

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

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

2.       the appointment of up to 8 additional members of the Cabinet;

3.       the responsibilities of the Leader, Deputy Leader, and other Cabinet Members;

4.       the Council’s representative and their substitute on the Future Oxfordshire Partnership (both members of this Council’s Cabinet);

5.       the Council’s representative (and their substitutes) on the Future Oxfordshire Partnership’s four advisory sub-groups (drawn from members of this Council’s Cabinet);

a.    Housing

b.    Infrastructure

c.     Environment

d.    Planning

6.       the appointment of Members of the Shareholder and Joint Venture Group which has responsibility for acting as shareholder of the Council’s companies and for safeguarding and furthering the Council’s interests and investments in its companies and joint ventures.

7.       the Executive Scheme of Delegation as set out in Section 4 of the Council’s Constitution dated 1 March 2024 (and agreed by Council on 27 November 2023); and

8.       any other matters.

The Leader of the Council moved her report. She congratulated the Civic Office holders and welcomed new and returning Councillors. She reminded Councillors of the importance of ensuring that behaviour in the Council Chamber remained courteous.  

Appointments of Deputy Leader, Cabinet portfolio holders and other executive appointments were detailed in her report circulated to all Councillors and given below:

Deputy Leader and Cabinet appointments and responsibilities:

Future Oxfordshire Partnership appointments:

Shareholder and Joint Venture Group appointments:

The Head of Law and Governance has submitted a report asking Council to appoint committees and the members serving on those committees for the Council year 2024-25 in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (Section 15) and other relevant legislation.

Appendices 2 and 3 will be circulated in the Briefing Note published before the meeting, and any outstanding nominations to committee seats may be announced, or agreed, as appropriate at the meeting.

Recommendation(s): Council is recommended to:

1.    Approve the structure of the Council committees, as defined within the Council’s Constitution and set out in Appendix 1: Committee structure 2024/25;

2.    Approve the methods, calculations and conventions used in determining political representation on committees as outlined in the report and shown in Appendix 2: Political proportionalities on Council committees 2024-25;

3.    Appoint to committee seats in accordance with the requirements of political proportionality and the nominations made by political groups, as shown in Appendix 3: Committee nominations 2024-25;

4.    Agree that all members of Council will form the pool of members able to observe on appeals and some grievances panels in accordance with the Council’s policies;

5.    Appoint three non-executive members to the Oxfordshire Growth Board Scrutiny Panel (see Appendix 3: Committee nominations 2024-25);

6.    Appoint one non-executive member to the Joint Oxfordshire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (see Appendix 3: Committee nominations 2024-25).

Council had before it a report from the Head of Law and Governance asking Council to appoint committees and the members serving on those committees for the Council year 2024/25 in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (Section 15) and other relevant legislation.

On being proposed by Cllr Brown, seconded by Cllr Smowton and put to the vote, Council approved the recommendations and nominations to committee places.

Council resolved to:

1.    Approve the structure of the Council committees, as defined within the Council’s Constitution and set out in Appendix 1: Committee structure 2024/25;

2.    Approve the methods, calculations and conventions used in determining political representation on committees as outlined in the report and shown in Appendix 2: Political proportionalities on Council committees 2024-25;

3.    Appoint to committee seats in accordance with the requirements of political proportionality and the nominations made by political groups, as shown in Appendix 3: Committee nominations 2024-25;

4.    Agree that all members of Council will form the pool of members able to observe on appeals and some grievances panels in accordance with the Council’s policies;

5.    Appoint three non-executive members to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership Scrutiny Panel (see Appendix 3: Committee nominations 2024-25);

6.    Appoint one non-executive member to the Joint Oxfordshire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (see Appendix 3: Committee nominations 2024-25).