The Mayor announced that she had accepted an urgent motion for consideration at the meeting concerning the proposed closure of almost all staffed railway ticket offices in England, including Stevenage. This has been circulated to Members on a supplementary agenda and would be considered as the first item under Agenda Item 11 – Notice of Motions. The time taken to debate this urgent motion would not affect the 90-minute slot for consideration of the three motions previously submitted.
The Mayor stated that she was aware that there was no provision for the consideration of urgent motions in the Council’s Constitution, but she was exercising my discretion to allow this motion to be debated tonight. Officers would look to incorporate such a provision as part of the Constitutional Review recognising, of course, that there must be sufficient grounds as to why such a motion was urgent and could not wait until the next Council meeting.
The Mayor then presented Long Service Awards to Councillors Jackie Hollywell (25 years’ service), Graham Snell (25 years’ service) and Jeannette Thomas (20 years’ service).
The Mayor announced that it was an honour and a privilege for her to be in the role for 2023/24. She had attended over 45 events in her first seven weeks, as well as newspaper coverage and an interview on international television. She thanked those councillors who had given her advice and wisdom, as well as those who had supported her at events, and those who had accompanied her on some of her engagements when her Consort had been unavailable. She also thanked the Deputy Mayor for stepping in and attending events when she herself had been unavailable.