Agenda item

1)         From Councillor Ian Selby

            That this council rejects the view of Nick Boles our Member of Parliament who says that South Kesteven District Council should be abolished

DECISION:

That this Council appreciates the right of any Member of Parliament to have their own opinion, but to ensure the retention of all tiers of democracy, this Council cannot agree with the personal opinions of the Member for Grantham and Stamford with regard to the abolition of district councils.

(Councillor Andrea Webster left the Chamber prior to the commencement of the item)

Councillor Selby moved the following motion:

That this Council rejects the view of Nick Boles our Member of Parliament who says that South Kesteven District Council should be abolished.

The motion was then seconded.

Councillor Selby noted that Mr Nick Boles advocated the abolition of the Council. Councillor Selby noted that there were a number of people who felt pride in South Kesteven and provided a number of results from the customer satisfaction survey which suggested that the Council was performing well Councillor Selby also noted that Mr Boles had suggested giving powers to county councils and parish councils. Councillor Selby suggested that it was not the District Council which should be the one to be abolished.

Councillor Carpenter stated that he agreed with most of what Councillor Selby had said, but proposed the following amendment:

That this Council appreciates the right of any Member of Parliament to have their own opinion, but to ensure the retention of all tiers of democracy, this Council cannot agree with the personal opinions of the Member for Grantham and Stamford with regard to the abolition of district councils.

The amendment was duly seconded and was then debated.

A number of Members spoke to agree with what Councillor Selby had said. It was suggested that the funding the County Council received would be better of being given to district councils to use, and that South Kesteven District Council performed very well on a much smaller budget than the County Council. Other Members noted that the County Council was a very effective partner to the Council in a number of areas

Some Members suggested that Mr Boles was doing what all new Members do in suggesting sweeping changes. It was noted that everybody made statements from time to time and the best course of action might be to ignore his statement.

It was also noted that Mr Boles was not the MP for all Members of the Council. Members also pointed out that the Council should defend the people’s right to free speech.

Councillor Selby used his right to reply to state that he agreed with the amendment.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried and became the substantive motion.

It was noted that the Leader and Deputy Leader had received letters of apology from Mr Boles for his comments. The Deputy Leader had spoken to Mr Boles who had assured him that other MPs disagreed with his comments.

It was moved and seconded that a recorded vote be taken on the motion. This was supported by more than ten members’ show of hands as required by Council procedure rule 16.4.

The results of this vote were:

Voting FOR the motion:

Councillor Adams                             Councillor Lovelock M.B.E.

Councillor Auger                               Councillor McBride

Councillor Bisnauthsing                    Councillor Nicholson

Councillor Mrs Bosworth                  Councillor Parkin

Councillor Brough                             Councillor Mrs Radley                                 

Councillor Carpenter                                    Councillor Bob Sandall

Councillor Mrs Cartwright                 Councillor Scott

Councillor Chivers                             Councillor Selby

Councillor Cook                                Councillor John Smith

Councillor Craft                                 Councillor Mrs Judy Smith

Councillor Davidson                         Councillor Mrs Spencer-Gregson O.B.E

Councillor Dawson                            Councillor Stephens

Councillor Exton                                Councillor Stokes     

Councillor Mrs Gaffigan                    Councillor Taylor

Councillor Harvey                              Councillor Thompson                       

Councillor Helyar                               Councillor Turner

Councillor Higgs                                Councillor Wheat

Councillor Holmes                             Councillor Avril Williams

Councillor Howard                            Councillor Mike Williams

Councillor Mrs Jalili                           Councillor Wootten

Councillor Sam Jalili            

Councillor Joynson                           

Councillor Mrs Kaberry-Brown       

Councillor Jock Kerr            

Councillor Vic Kerr

There were no votes against the motion, nor any abstentions.

The motion was duly carried.

CLOSE OF MEETING

The meeting closed at 4:33 pm.