Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room B - Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan, WN1 1YN

Contact: Christine Charnock-Jones 

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome to new Members:

Minutes:

On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman (Councillor D T Molyneux) welcomed Councillors Ellis and Whiteside as new Members of this Committee.

2.

Apologies for absence:

Minutes:

Councillor R Winkworth.

3.

Minutes: pdf icon PDF 117 KB

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 2011 are attached.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 9 June 2011, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

4.

Review of appointment of Honorary Alderman criteria: pdf icon PDF 156 KB

Report of the Head of Service, Legal and Risk attached.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Service, Legal and Risk, John Mitchell, presented by the Principal Democratic Services Officer, Christine Charnock-Jones,  which detailed the existing eligibility for appointment as Honorary Aldermen of this Borough, which was last revised at the Council meeting (minute 17(c) July 2011 refers).

 

The report also contained information gathered from other Local Authorities, which set out their arrangements for the appointment of Honorary Aldermen.

 

The Chairman suggested that the criteria should be amended to increase the number of years that a Councillor must serve before being considered for the position of Honorary Alderman. He was of the opinion that the current 12 years service should be extended to align with the staff reward scheme, whereby Officers receive a certificate if they have completed 25 or more years service.

 

The Chairman then suggested that 20 years service would be a more realistic number of years for the Councillor to serve.

 

A Member suggested that 20 years was too long for those Councillors being elected at a more senior age and he was in support of the Honorary Alderman process at Wigan ceasing.

 

The report also sought nominations for future Honorary Aldermen based on the possible revision to the criteria.

 

Resolved:

 

(1)       The Committee requests:-

 

(i)         that subject to the suggested change to the criteria, any nominations being received by Friday, 17 August 2012 will be considered at a further meeting of the Committee, prior to confirmation by the Council meeting on 12 September 2012.

 

(ii)        that the Principal Democratic Services Officer arrange a further meeting of the Honorary Alderman Nominations Committee for 30 August 2012 at 6 p.m. to consider any nominations.

 

(2)       The Honorary Aldermen Nominations Committee is requested to recommend to Council:-

 

(i)         to amend the existing eligibility criteria for appointment as a Honorary Alderman of this Borough 1(c) to read:-

 

‘The person must have served as a Councillor of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan for an overall minimum period of 20 years.’

 

(ii)        the Council is requested to approve any nominations which have been considered by the Honorary Alderman Nominations Committee on 30 August 2012.

 

(Councillor Ellis requested that his vote against the decision to revise the existing criteria be recorded.)

 

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