EAST SUSSEX FIRE AUTHORITY
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Report of a meeting of the East Sussex Fire Authority held at County Hall, St. Anne’s Crescent, Lewes BN7 1UE at 10:30 hours on Tuesday, 15 June 2021. |
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Present: Councillors Galley (Chairman), Lambert (Vice-Chair), Azad, Dowling, Evans, Geary, Hamilton, Maples, Marlow-Eastwood, Osborne, Peltzer Dunn, Powell, Redstone, Taylor, Theobald and Tutt |
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N.B. Apologies were received from Councillors Scott and West. |
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The agenda and non-confidential reports can be read on the East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service’s website at http://www.esfrs.org/about-us/east-sussex-fire-authority/fire-authority-meetings/ A brief synopsis and the decisions relating to key items is set out below. |
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1 |
ELECTION OF CHAIRperson |
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1.1 |
Members resolved to appoint Councillor Roy Galley as Chairman of the Fire Authority for the year 2021-22. |
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2 |
ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRPERSON |
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2.1 |
Members resolved to appoint Councillor Carolyn Lambert as Vice-Chair of the Fire Authority for the year 2021-22. |
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3 |
URGENT ITEMS AND CHAIRMAN’S BUSINESS |
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3.1 |
Following the East Sussex County Council Elections, the Chairman welcomed the newly appointed Members of the Fire Authority, namely Cllr Abul Azad, Cllr Nuala Geary, Cllr Wendy Maples, Cllr Sorrell Marlow-Eastwood and Cllr Paul Redstone. The Chairman also welcomed back Cllr Chris Dowling, Cllr Carolyn Lambert, Cllr Sarah Osborne, Cllr Phil Scott, Cllr Barry Taylor and Cllr David Tutt who have been reappointed by East Sussex County Council. |
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3.2 |
The Chairman asked that the Fire Authority record its thanks to Cllr John Barnes, Cllr Ruth O’Keeffe, Cllr Peter Pragnell, Cllr Jim Sheppard and Cllr Andy Smith. The Fire Authority thanked them all for their dedicated service during their time as Members. The Authority was grateful for their contributions to the Fire Authority’s work and wished them well in the future, all these Councillors will be written to individually to thank them. |
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4 |
POLITICAL REPRESENTATION ON THE PANELS OF THE FIRE AUTHORITY |
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4.1 |
The Authority received a report seeking to secure political balance on its Panels in accordance with the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 and agree to the resultant Membership to the Panels of the Fire Authority. |
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4.2 |
The Authority was required to keep under review the allocation of seats on Committees and other bodies to ensure, so far as practicable, that they reflected the political groups on the Authority. The rules governing this representation were outlined in the report. |
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4.3 |
There are four political groups on the Fire Authority: Conservative, Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat. Following the East Sussex County Council Elections on 6 May 2021, the Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties now had equal representation on the Fire Authority. To ensure that each Panel was properly representative of the overall membership of the Fire Authority it was agreed that the size of each Panel be reduced to 6 Members from the current 7, enabling each Panel, apart from the Principal Officers Appointments Panel, to become an exactly proportionate replica of one third of the Fire Authority. |
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4.4 |
The Authority agree to the Appointment of Lead Members and to the creation of an additional role of Lead Member for Environment and Sustainability. |
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4.5 |
The Authority confirmed the Panel arrangements, political representation and membership of each panel at the meeting. They agreed that the political balance provisions shall not apply to the membership of the Principal Officer Appointments Panel. The Authority agreed the appointment of Cllr Peltzer Dunn as Chairperson of the Policy & Resources Panel, Cllr Maples as Chairperson of the Scrutiny & Audit Panel, Cllr Geary as Chairperson of the Human Resources Panel, Cllr Lambert as Chairperson of the Urgency Panel, Cllr Tutt as Chairperson of the Pensions Board and Cllr Galley as Chairperson of the Principal Officer Appointments Panel in accordance with Standing Order 41.13. |
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5 |
FIRE AUTHORITY AND PANEL MEETINGS 2021/23 |
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5.1 |
The Fire Authority received and noted the dates of meetings of the Fire Authority and Panels for the remainder of 2021 through to April 2023. |
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COUNCILLOR ROY GALLEY |
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CHAIRMAN OF EAST SUSSEX FIRE AUTHORITY |
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15 June 2021 |
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