Council and democracy

Agenda item

Lower Thames Crossing Task Force

Minutes:

Cllr Coxshall, as Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, introduced the report stating that as of September there would be little opportunity for the public to influence the course of the LTC scheme and it would be important for the Council to speak as one voice and it seemed appropriate that the General Services Committee (GSC), as the senior cross party executive committee, would be best placed to do this. He added that rigorous and probing meetings would be needed with HE and GSC was the committee to do this. He further explained that GSC could also create ad hoc working groups to look at specific issues and report back to the committee on its findings.

 

Cllr Byrne wondered whether the Task Force and GSC could work in tandem but Cllr Coxshall felt that there was a requirement to hold high level negotiations with HE after September and it was crucial there was one representative body from the Council. Cllr Coxshall stated he was happy to amend the recommendations to reflect that the Task Force would not disband until the submission had been made, which allowed the Task Force to continue at present.

 

Cllr Halden felt the amendment was a good one but stressed the Council must speak with one strong voice and felt GSC could put into effect decisions immediately in response to the LTC scheme whereas the Task Force had no such power.

 

Cllr Massey felt it important that the public had a voice in this issue and if the Task Force was to be disbanded there had to be a mechanism by which the public were kept informed.

 

Cllr Kent did not feel the report gave enough justification for the disbanding of the Task Force and pointed out a number of the roles of it from the Terms of Reference which could still legitimately continue after September including receiving updates on the progress of the scheme and reporting to other executive committees any findings it has made during its work. Cllr Kent continued to state that public involvement had been vital in bringing residents along with the Council and the unannounced nature of this report was discourteous to the public and the Task Force. He felt that both the GSC and Task Force could exist alongside each other and pointed out there was no detail on further working groups that GSC could establish in the report.

 

Cllr Halden responded by highlighting that GSC was more politically and geographically balanced than any other council committee and for the forthcoming discussions the Council needed a powerful and high level committee to speak with one voice. He added that the public could be invited to the meetings to make comment.

 

Cllr Coxshall welcomed this debate and highlighted this was an open and democratic way to put the proposal to disband the Task Force forward. He reiterated that he was happy for the Task Force to continue until submission was made.

 

Cllr Okunade queried whether he co-opted members on the Task Force could be asked their opinion and also whether officer time would be retained after the submission had been made. Cllr Coxshall responded that officer time would be kept but the expenditure on this and on possible legal counsel could only be made at GSC and therefore it was important GSC took the lead on the project from now on. He added that the Task Force had done a great job but it was elected Members who had been elected to spend public money and it was right and proper they were responsible for those decisions and not co-opted members.

 

The Chair clarified amendments to the recommendations which were accepted by Cllr Coxshall as the mover of the report. Recommendation 1.1 would be amended to read:

 

“that the General Services Committee agrees in accordance with the terms of reference of the LTC Task Force that it be disbanded upon the submission of the Highways England Development Consent Order”

 

The Committee voted 3 in favour to 4 against this recommendation with Cllr Kent’s vote recorded against.

 

A further recommendation relating to the intent to establish working groups to support the work of the GSC subsequently was not moved due to the loss of recommendation 1.1.

 

Resolved:

 

That the Committee notes and thanks the members of the LTC Task Force for their work past and present for their contribution to shaping the proposals and consultation responses.

 

Supporting documents: