Council appoints Cabinet and Committee Chairmen for 2008/09
Lancaster City Council’s executive decision making body will once again be made up of members from all five of the Council’s political groups.
Lancaster City Council’s executive decision making body will once again be made up of members from all five of the Council’s political groups.
Under its constitution the Council's Cabinet and Leader must be elected annually at the first meeting of the municipal year.
At this year’s meeting, which was held last night (Monday), full Council voted again to establish the Cabinet on the basis of proportional representation.
This means all five of the Council’s groups will be represented with seats allocated in ratio to their size.
Coun Roger Mace was re-elected as Leader of the Council for the forthcoming year to May 2009.
The other members of the Cabinet were also re-elected, with the exception of Coun June Ashworth, who has taken up the position of deputy mayor, and Coun Maia Whitelegg, who did not seek re-election.
As well as Coun Mace (Conservative) the members of the Cabinet for 2008/09 are: Councillors Evelyn Archer, Shirley Burns and David Kerr (Independent Group), Eileen Blamire and Abbott Bryning (Labour), Tony Johnson (Conservative), Jon Barry and Jane Fletcher (Green) and John Gilbert (Liberal Democrat).
Also elected at the meeting last night were the chairmen of all the Council’s Committees. Coun Stuart Langhorn retained his lead role on Overview and Scrutiny, and he is joined by Councillor Roger Sherlock as Chairman of Budget and Performance Panel.
Coun Roger Dennison was elected as chairman of the Planning and Highways Regulatory Committee following a vote in which he tied with Coun Eileen Blamire at 26 votes each.
After a second vote which prodcued the same result, the decision on who took the chairmanship was decided by the drawing of lots, as laid out in the Council’s Constitution.
This procedure is similar to that which is used in Parliamentary elections when two candidates have an equal number of votes.
Other Committee chairmen appointed at the meeting were:
Coun Tony Wade Licensing Regulatory Committee
Coun Joyce Taylor Licensing Act Committee
Coun Susan Bray Personnel Committee
Coun Sheila Denwood Appeals Committee
Coun Malcolm Thomas Audit Committee
Coun Evelyn Archer Appraisal Panel
Coun Rob Smith Council Business Committee
The Council’s Standards Committee, as required by law, has an independent co-opted chairman, Stephen Lamley, who is appointed by Council for a period of three years.
Date Updated: 19/03/09