Agenda and minutes

Councillor Tauseef Anwar was proposed by Councillor Bill Brown and

seconded by Councillor Joan Millbank.

In accepting his unanimous appointment, the Speaker paid tribute to Cllr Jacq

Paschoud’s contribution over the last two years, as both Chair and then as the

Council’s first Speaker.

RESOLVED that Councillor Tauseef Anwar be elected as Speaker of the

Council for the Municipal Year 2020/2021.

The election of Councillor Pauline Morrison was proposed by Councillor Bill

Brown and seconded by Councillor

RESOLVED that Councillor Pauline Morrison be elected as Deputy Speaker

of the Council for the Municipal Year 2020-2021.

There were no  declarations of interest.

RESOLVED that

(1) the minutes of the Council held on 26 February 2020 be approved and

signed as a correct record; and

(2) the recommendations made by the Urgency Committee on April 30 in

respect of the Pay Statement be endorsed.

COVID-19

The Chair recalled the hundreds of pandemic victims in Lewisham and invited

the Council to observe a minute’s silence to remember those residents no

longer with us, and the impact COVID-19 had on their families and loved

ones.

Black Lives Matter

The Mayor spoke in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and

underlined Lewisham’s continuing commitment to racial justice.

Report of the Returning Officer

The Returning Officer reported the resignations of former Councillors Skip

Amrani (Catford South) and Tom Copley (Sydenham).

The Council placed on record its thanks for their service to Lewisham.

Obituaries

The Council noted with sadness the deaths of three persons with close links

to Lewisham, Bill Fitzsimmons, Christine Grice and former Councillor Sylvia

McCartney and asked that their grateful thanks for the service they offered to

public life be recorded in the minutes.

Councillor John Muldoon paid tribute to Bill Fitzsimmons, recounting his

upbringing and Irish heritage and the contributions he had made to civic life.

Councillor Alan Hall remembered Christine Grice, both as a senior Education

Officer and as a Labour Party colleague from Greenwich where she rose to be

Deputy Leader of the Council.

Staffing Changes

The Council noted the departure of staff who had given over 100 years of

service to the Borough and hoped they could be welcomed back post

pandemic for a proper farewell.

Councillor Chris Best paid particular tribute to Kath Nicholson, the retiring

Director of Law who had been at the forefront of every significant event

impacting the Counci during her decades of service.

Local Government Boundary Commission

The Council noted the outcome of the LGBC’s recommendations for new

wards in Lewisham.

Mayoress

The Mayor reported he had appointed Natasha Ricketts, Dawn Atkinson and

Christina Norman, who were all volunteers at the Evelyn Community Store in

Deptford, as Mayoresses of Lewisham for this municipal year. Congratulations

and we all look forward to working with you.

Reappointment of Mayoral Advisers

The Mayor confirmed he had reappointed his existing advisers.

Mayor’s Charity

The Mayor announced the reappointment of the 999 Club as the Mayor’s

Charity.

Councillor Joani Reid

The Chair welcomedCouncillor Joani Reid to the meeting and

congratulated her on the birth of her daughter, Helena.

Councillor Joan Millbank moved that Councillor Reid be granted an

additional leave of absence in line with the Council’s parental leave

policy.Councillor Kim Powell seconded the proposal and it was

RESOLVED that the proposal to grant Councillor Reid a leave of

absence be agreed.

Pokhara

Councillor Adefiranye proposed the recommendation to agree the Friendship Agreement with Pokhara in Nepal and Councillor John Muldoon seconded the proposal.

RESOLVED that a Friendship Agreement with Pokhara be agreed.

The Mayor informed the Chief Executive that the members, listed below, will

continue to serve as members of the Cabinet in the municipal year .

Name                                                            Portfolio

Damien Egan,          Mayor of Lewisham

Cllr Chris Best,         Deputy Mayor of Lewisham and Cabinet Member for

                                    Health and Adult Social Care

Cllr Kevin Bonavia, Cabinet Member for Democracy, Refugees and

                                    Accountability

Cllr Chris Barnham,Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and School

                                    Performance

Cllr Paul Bell,           Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning

Cllr Jonathan Slater,Cabinet Member for the Community Sector

Cllr Amanda de Ryk, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources

Cllr Joe Dromey,      Cabinet Member for Culture, Jobs and Skills (job share)

Cllr André Bourne   Cabinet Member for Culture, Jobs and Skills (job

share)

Cllr Brenda Dacres  Cabinet Member for Safer Communities

Cllr Sophie McGeevor, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport

RESOLVED thatthe constitution and composition of the Executive for the

municipal year 2020/21 be noted.

The Mayor had not made any changes to the existing powers delegated by

him in relation to Executive functions. Existing arrangements were temporarily

suspended to allow the March 25 Mayoral meeting to proceed but were

reinstated as soon as the deployment of the Microsoft Office Teams platform

allowed virtual collective decision making to take place.

RESOLVED to note that there are no changes to the existing Mayoral

Scheme of Delegation in Part VIII of the Council’s Constitution.

There were no changes to the terms of reference of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Standards Committee or other committees.

RESOLVED to note that there are no changes to the terms of reference of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Standards Committee or other committees.

The Council considered a report setting out an allocation of seats on

committees to political groups on the Council in compliance with the

requirements of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

Chairs and Vice-Chairs of Overview and Scrutiny Select Committees would

continue to be allocated in accordance with the proportion of seats held by the

political groups on the Council.

At the proposal of Councillor Millbank, seconded by Councillor Powell,

Members agreed unanimously to form an Overview and Scrutiny Committee

of all 43 non-executive Councillors, that was politically balanced.

RESOLVED that:

(i) seats be allocated to political parties as indicated on the schedule attached

to the report;

(ii) the Overview & Scrutiny Committee shall comprise all 43 non-executive

Councillors; and

(iii) the composition of the Constitution Working Party, the Appointments

Committee, the Urgency Committee, 3 Planning Committees, a Strategic

Planning Committee, a Licensing Committee, a Licensing (Supplementary)

Committee, a Pensions Investment Committee, a Health & Safety

Committee, an Elections Committee, and an Audit Panel with the Terms of

Reference set out be agreed.

It was moved by Councillor Millbank and duly seconded by Councillor Powell

that members be appointed to serve on committees as listed below.

The motion was declared carried and it was:

RESOLVED that members be appointed to serve on committees, as

indicated, for the municipal year 2020/21.

The Speaker reported there was no bodies where there were more

candidates than places available, the Speaker moved and the Deputy

Speaker seconded a proposal that the tabled schedule of appointments be

adopted.

The motion was declared carried and it was:

RESOLVED that members be appointed to serve on other committees

and organisations as set out in below:

The Speaker, seconded by the Deputy Speaker moved that the

recommendations in the report be approved and it was unanimously:

RESOLVED that

(1) ordinary meetings of the Council be held on 28 October 2020, 25 November 2020, 20 January 2021, 24 February 2021 and 3 March 2021 (fall back) and that the Annual General Meeting be held on 31 March 2021; and

(2) the attached schedule of meetings (Appendix A) for the municipal year

2020/21 be approved;

(3) the proposed approach to Select Committees set out in section 6 be

noted; and

(4) the schedule of meetings be reviewed by Council in November

The Speaker proposed and the Deputy Speaker seconded a proposal that the

schedule of appointments made by the Mayor be noted.

RESOLVED to note the appointments made by the Mayor to the following

external bodies/committees.

CHAMPIONS

Councillor Susan Wise moved that the recommendations be approved

and this was seconded by Councillor Kevin Bonavia and it was then

unanimously:

RESOLVED that the Constitution be amended to include the procedure rules at Appendix 1 in part C – Council Procedure Rules.  

The Mayor delivered the address shown below. Following his address, the

Council was addressed by the outgoing Mayoress, Barbara Gray, who

reported with gratitude the many highlights of her year in office.

“Thank you Speaker and congratulations on your election. I look forward to

working with you over the year ahead and I join you in paying tribute to Cllr

Jacq Paschoud who has been an excellent Speaker and ambassador for our

borough. Thank you Jacq.

This is an AGM like no other. Unimaginable, only a few months ago.

I would like to thank all those who have worked so hard to make sure tonight’s

AGM can take place.

I do of course want to add my condolences to not just on my behalf, but on

behalf of all the council and our thoughts are with all the 260 Lewisham

residents have died due to coronavirus and very many more have been ill with

the virus.

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of all those who have lost loved

ones.

Tragedy and hope

We are in unprecedented times. With much uncertainty ahead.

The last four months have been ones of anxiety and tragedy.

But they have also been ones of heroism and hope.

And we have seen our community come together like never before.

I am hugely proud of the way our council has responded to this crisis, and I

am proud that this is in large part thanks to hard work of volunteers.

It’s no surprise that the first mutual aid groups sprung up here in Lewisham.

When I set up a Just Giving to raise money for a local food bank our

community stepped forward and donated £128,000.

And our volunteers have help us get food and medicine to any of our 10,000

shielded residents who needed help.

In many ways this has been the ‘year of the volunteer’ and to highlight the

incredible role volunteers continue to play, I have appointed this year not one,

but three Mayoresses - Natasha Ricketts, Dawn Atkinson and Christina

Norman.

Three incredible women who run the Evelyn Community Store in Deptford. A

food project that has supported 100s of families in need.

And I want to say all our volunteers and those who have given so much these

last few months, you know who you are, thank you.

In contrast: the Government response

But we have an even more challenging time ahead of us as we face the reality

of a much reduced council budget – and the bills aren’t all in yet.

We know people have already lost their jobs, income and businesses.

At the Council when you add lost income to new costs then the cost of Covid

has already cost Lewisham Council £53m.

Now, at the beginning of lockdown, I joined other council leaders from across

the country on a call with the Secretary of State.

The message from Government could not have been clearer: he said that the

Government would do “whatever is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.