Agenda item
Announcements from the Chair, Leader or Chief Executive (if any)
Minutes:
The Chair of the Council, Councillor Dilys Neill welcomed Members, Officers and those public present and watching the meeting online to the meeting.
The Chair of the Council outlined the importance of brevity.
Members noted that agenda item 9 ‘Cotswold District Council Draft Schedule of Meetings 2022-23’ would be deferred to the 19 January 2022 Council meeting so that further work could be undertaken to ensure that the 2022-23 schedule of meetings avoided clashes other events/meetings wherever possible. This decision had been taken following the agreement of the Chair of Council, the Leader of the Council, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Executive.
The following announcements were made by the Chair of the Council:
Members noted that the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer wished to inform the Council that due to the illness of a key member of the external audit team, it would not be possible to issue the external audit opinion on the Council’s 2020-21 statement of accounts before Christmas 2021.
Council noted that the external auditor had provided a form of words which outlined that that there no issues with the draft statement of accounts. The Deputy Chief Executive would keep Members informed of the progress in relation to this matter during the early stages of 2022.
The Council noted the tributes to former CDC Councillor Tim Royle made by the Chair of Council, Councillor Dilys Neill.
Councillor Sue Jepson also paid tribute to former CDC Councillor Tim Royle.
The Chair of Council also paid tribute to Sir David Amess following his tragic murder.
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Joe Harris paid tribute to Sir David Amess, acknowledging the threats posed to elected officials at all levels across the United Kingdom and emphasised the importance of Members taking all necessary precautions to remain safe as they served their communities.
The Chief Executive paid tribute to former CDC Officer Sally Davies who had recently passed away who would be sadly missed by all of her colleagues. Members noted the words provided by two of Sally’s former line managers praising her personality and all of the work undertaken during her service to the Council.
The Leader of the Council also paid tribute to former CDC Officer Sally Davies.
The Leader wished to place on record his congratulations to Councillor Tony Berry on being appointed as the new Leader of the Conservative Group and placed on record his thanks to Councillor Richard Morgan for all of the work he had undertaken whilst serving as the previous Conservative Group Leader.
The Chief Executive wished to place on record his thanks to all CDC and Publica employees long with all Members for all of their work in supporting him over the previous 12 months which had been made more challenging due to the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following completion of the tributes and announcements, the meeting attendees rose to observe a minute’s silence to former CDC Councillor Tim Royle, Sir David Amess and former CDC Officer Sally Davies.