At the Full Council meeting of Surrey Heath Borough Council held this evening (Wednesday 26th June), the agenda was surprisingly light.
Considering that we are only a month since the Lib Dem administration elected a new leader, there was little in the way of substantive policy brought forward by their new leader Cllr Shaun Macdonald.
In his first speech to the Full Council, three areas were as part of the Lib Dem's 'mission' to create a more open and inclusive Council. The first was on members of the public submitting questions at meetings, moving this item higher up on agendas.
The second was, as stated by Cllr Macdonald, an intention to "bring a proposal to the Governor's working group next month to introduce for the first time public questions at all committees."
Finally, Cllr Macdonald is pushing ahead with the Lib Dem focus on gender and identity politics, implementing a new culture in the Council where in gender-neutral terminology will be the norm, stating: "Following recent consultation, the Council will immediately move to the use of gender-neutral terms in all written and verbal communications. This is to demonstrate that we are all equal, and to avoid word choices which may be interpreted as bias, discriminatory, or demeaning by implying that one sex or gender is the norm, helping to support the UN goal for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by 2030 in our local communities."
Moving on from identity politics, Executive Committee and other bodies meetings and their subsequent recommendations were discussed. This included the minutes of the Executive, the Planning Applications Committee, the Audit and Standards Committee, the External Partnership and Select Committee, the Licencing Committee, the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee, and the Employments Committee.
Following this, it was an opportunity for motions to be raised.
The first motion to be raised was by Cllr Jonathan Quinn, Labour, on the Surrey Heath Youth Council - an organisation originally set-up and supported by past Conservative administrations. The Youth Council allows young people between 13 to 18 to participate in local democracy, provide them a direct voice to the Executive, and represent young people in the Borough.
The Eikon charity, that had previously supported the Youth Council through funding, had made the decision to no longer provide this support. This will result in the Youth Council no longer being able to continue at the start of the new academic year. The motion proposed the Council Leader and Chief Executive Officer meet with Eikon and assess options for supporting the continuation of the Youth Council, with a report to come to a future Executive meeting.
This received unanimous cross-party support with all Councillors voting in favour of the motion.
The second motion proposed was from Cllr Jonny Cope, St. Paul's Ward. The motion proposed for Surrey Heath Borough Council to oppose ULEZ expansion to outer London, as this is an issue which affects many residents here in the Borough. This proved more controversial than envisaged with Cllr Cliff Betton, Lib Dem, acting in an unprofessional and indecent manner describing Cllr Jonny Cope's conduct as “grubby” and “obscene”.
