Agenda and minutes

The Director of Law to note any changes to the membership

1.1      There were no changes to the membership.

To receive declarations by Members and Officers of the existence and nature of any pecuniary interests or any other significant interest in matters on this agenda.

2.1      There were no Declarations of Interest

To sign the minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2020.

3.1      That the Chairman, with the consent of the Members present, signed the minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2020.

Report of the Head of Committee and Governance Services.

4.1      The Head of Committee and Governance Services introduced the report and advised that the proposed scheme, effective from 1 April 2021 for 2021-2022 had been prepared on the basis of the current scheme subject to the inclusion of new Special Responsibility Allowances for proposed Vice-Chairmen posts for the Planning and City Development Committee and Licensing Committee. As in previous year’s regard had been given to the findings and recommendations detailed in the report of the London Council’s Independent Panel on the Remuneration of Councillors which was last published in January 2018.

4.2      The committee had previously endorsed the principle of increasing members’ allowances as a minimum in line with the increase awarded to all staff each year. As there is less certainty on the settlement of any pay increase to be awarded to staff in 2021, a specific increase had not been put forward in the report.  It was proposed that any increase to the Basic and Special Responsibility Allowances will be applied in line with any increase in salary for council staff agreed by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services and that this will be backdated from the 1 April 2021.

4.3      The report also proposed the establishment of Vice-Chairmen posts for the Planning and City Development Committee and the Licensing Committee for the reasons set out in paragraph 3.14 of the report.

4.4      In considering the proposals the committee noted the views of both political parties of the council including those in relation to the creation of the vice-chairmen posts for both the Planning and Licensing committees and the proposed related Special Responsibility Allowances.  Councillor Boothroyd, on behalf of the Minority Party, sought further clarification on the specific work that the post holders would undertake and raised concern about the additional proposed Special Responsibility Allowances associated with the posts.  On balance the majority of members considered that it is justifiable to create the proposed posts given the nature and function of the committees and Westminster’s position of being one of the largest planning and licensing authorities in England.

           RESOLVED:

           That Full Council:

1.          Approve the Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2021-2022 as set out in Appendix A to the report from 1 April 2021 subject to the inclusion of an uplift for both basic and special responsibility allowances in line with the approach outlined in paragraph 3.6 of the report.

2.          Establish the positions of Planning and City Development Vice-Chair and Licensing Committee Vice-Chair with immediate effect.

Councillor David Boothroyd dissented from the decision.