Agenda item

To order that the Minutes of the meetings of the Council held on 24^th October 2024 and 6^th November 2024 be signed as correct records.

Council considered the Minutes of the extraordinary meeting held on 24^th October 2024 and the Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on 6^th November 2024.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rules, 8.4(k) it was MOVED that this Council meeting be adjourned until Monday, 20^th January 2025 at 6.00 p.m.

On being put to the VOTE, the MOTION was CARREID UNANIMOUSLY.

RESOLVED: That the Council meeting be adjourned until Monday, 20^th January 2025 6.00 p.m.

On the meeting being reconvened, on 20^th January the Deputy Mayor advised that the Minutes of the meeting of the Council meeting held on 24^th October 2024 had been circulated previously with the agenda pack.

At the meeting of the Council, on 18^th December (prior to the adjournment), Councillor Ghafoor had referred to inaccuracies in the minutes of the meeting held 6^th November 2024, (minute 9 refers) therefore, an updated version of these minutes had been circulated around the Chamber, for members’ information.

At the meeting on 18^th December 2024, the Liberal Democrats had requested an amendment to the minutes of the 6^th November meeting which they felt reflected the Places for Everyone discussion. The proposed amendment had been checked against the meeting’s transcript and the text of the report and the amendment could not procedurally be accepted as an accurate record of the debate.  Therefore, the minutes remained as printed in the updated version issued that had been circulated to council for agreement.

However, the Deputy Mayor noted that in July 2024 the Council debated a Motion proposing a request to the Secretary of State to revoke the Places for Everyone plan for houses and jobs as it relates to Oldham. Instead, Council approved an amended motion, the resolution, which required officers to provide a further report back to council.

A series of member workshops were held in September 2024 and subsequently a further report was presented to council in November 2024. That report recommended that Council did not write to the Secretary of State and it did not include either a recommendation or an option to write requesting that revocation.

While the report was not supported by Council, Council was not given the opportunity to vote to write to the Secretary of State. However, as a result and following external legal advice, the deputy Mayor confirmed that no resolution has yet been taken by Council to write to the Secretary of State.

For this matter to be taken further, a new motion or report would need to be brought to Council for consideration and decision. 

A recorded vote, in line with Council Procedure Rules was taken on the accuracy of the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held 6^th November 2024, as follows:

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On a recorded VOTE being taken 30 VOTES were cast in FAVOUR of the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 6^th November 2024 being approved as a correct record with 26 VOTES cast AGAINST and there was 1 ABSTENTION. The Minutes of the Council meeting eld on 6^th November 2024 were therefore APPROVED as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meetings of the Council held on 24^th October 2024 and 6^th November 2024 be approved as correct records.