Transcript

Transcript

(silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Please remain standing for the prayer. (silence) I would now like to welcome Mohammad Swayed of the Sheerwater Muslim Education and Welfare Trust, who will say prayer. Sure. I will start with the words from the Holy Quran. (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) The translation of the words from Holy Quran, I recited. God is talking to the humanity, and he says, indeed, we created you from male and female. It made you into groups of people and different tribes and nations, so that's easier for you to identify each other. But surely the most noble in you and the best one amongst you in the sight of God is the most righteous amongst you. And God is truly all knowing and aware. Positive character and kind, mannerism is very important in Islam. Islam teaches us love, kindness, mercy, respect, tolerance, and empathy. The Prophet SallAllahu Alayhi Wasallam Peace be upon him said that the best one amongst you is the one with the best character. He said, The Muslim cannot be complete until people are safe from his tongue and his hands. So he does not hurt anyone from his tongue and from his hand. So let us all be kind, loving, respectful to each other, regardless of our background, skin color, and religion. In another words, in the Holy Quran, God says that to kill a human is to kill humanity and to save a life is to save the humanity. So let us all stand up and be a voice against oppression that is happening anywhere around the world, especially in Palestine, Gaza, and love each other, respect each other, and be a voice for the less fortunate and the innocent. Thank you very much. Thank you, Suri. You can remain with us for the more rest of the meeting if you want to, please. Be seated, please. The first item on this evening, agenda, is apology for absence. Apology have been received from Council of Rights. Are there any further apology for absence to report? No. Declaration of Interest, agenda item two, referred to the interest declared in relation to Council, appointed directorship of companies in which the Council has an interest. Are there any yes to it? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would like to disclose a personal pecuniary interest tonight in items 11B and C, arising out of my position as a co-opted independent member of the Council. The interest is such that I will leave the Chamber for consideration of those items. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any interest to declare? No. Urgent business. The next item is urgent business. There are no items of urgent business to report. Agenda item four is the receipt of the minutes of the meeting and the Council held on 28th March 2024. Does the Council agree the minutes has published? Yes. All right. Item five. The Mayor's and of ear statements. I start with the name of Almighty God, the most beneficent, the most merciful. Welcome everybody to Wokingburg Council Chamber for the Mayor making ceremony. Before I start, end of ear speech, I would like to welcome and congratulate all newly elected Councillors. And wish a very happy retirement to all those whose term has finished recently and thanks them for their valuable and positive contribution during their period of sponsorship. I signed my mayor's ship during the regime of cost of living crisis locally and nationally. And as you all know, the Wokingburg Council was not in a comfortable position to run all the mere activity as you do. In spite of all these difficult circumstances, I'm highly grateful to the residents of Wokingburg Council for their generous support and cooperation towards my chosen charity, the Friends of Woking Community Hospitals. During the year, we attended hundreds of different engagements, including, but not limited to, from the age range of newly born babies, baby cave in Napel to 103-year-old people's birthdays parties. Musical entertainments, competitions, opening of new businesses, attended lunches and dinners, public reception and visiting, army and air force functions. It's difficult for me to mention one event as the highlights of the year. My sincere thanks goes to Woking Rotary Club for their huge contributions towards new equipment for the diagnostic hub. Please put your hands together for their exceptional generosity. I'm also grateful to Wokingburg bowling club who organized two mere balls trophy tournaments and raised a sufficient amount for my chosen charity. The Napel balls club will host the tournament next year and the funds raised will go to Woking Community Hospital. In this way, this will be an ongoing support to the charity. I'm grateful to Andy's general's team in the marketing section for maintaining and updating the mayor's Facebook. I'm also grateful to the Surrey Street Centre who are also maintaining and updating a regard of my activities. Finally, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed being the 49th mayor of 2023-24 of Wokingburg concert. Where there is another record of maximum full concert, special and extraordinary meetings. My special thanks goes to all those consulars who would come fully prepared and try to contribute positively. Lost but not least, I'm thankful to the professional staff, especially the members' services team and Pauline Jackson, who were always on hand to support and help. Councillor Morales, I wish a very happy and successful year for you and for the Deputy Mayor, Councillor M&Boudt. Please serve the resident of Wokingburg concert with full enthusiasm and enjoy the year ahead. May God bless you all and many thanks to everyone present here tonight are watching on webcast. Thank you. (Applause) John Bond. Many of you will be aware of the sad news that John Bond passed away at the beginning of April this year. He was elected Wokingburg concert for by fleet in 2014. And as Wokingburg concert for by fleet and west by fleet in 2016. John later retired from the concert in 2021. On behalf of the council, I have written to John's family to extend our condolences. (Applause) (Applause) Tony Doren joined the merchant's Navy as a training officer. And the following is Tony worked his way up the rink with an Burma oil tanker fleet, operating mainly in the Indian Ocean. By the early 1960, Tony had passed his pilot age exam which led to jobs burning oil tankers in Kuwait and Brunei. By the late 1970, he had gained a great deal of technical exporties in managing the logistics and transport scheduling of ships and helicopters for Brunei shell offshore operations. Tony's London work was relatively short lived and he went on to postings in Nigeria and the Hague during the 80s and early 90s. Tony and his late wife, N, have been over neighbors for a significant number of years and sadly passed away four years ago. Tony has always maintained good relationship with his neighbors with whom he seems to have formed a mutual self-help group. Tony's coins getting considered and very helpful towards all of his neighbors. He is a much valued member of Farkraf Close. Tony is adored by everyone in Farkraf Close, old and young. He is very polite and friendly. My children all care for Tony very much. Whenever anyone in Farkraf Close has had an issue either in their home or with their costs, Tony is always the first to be called upon and he is more than happy to have. We are all very lucky to have Tony as wonderful neighbor. He is also very much loved by his family who, though they live some distance away, always loved to visit him at his home where he is working. Tony has all the qualities to be an eminent citizen of the Baro. I am therefore pleased to announce Tony Doran has an eminent citizen of the Baro. He is busy somewhere as that's why he couldn't be with us. This is the 28th year of the young people's civic award scheme which aims to reward young people who makes an outstanding contribution to the life of the community in working and whose works or achievements may not normally be recognized. I was very honored to judge the nomination. This year the award had been sponsored by Victoria Place Woking. The winner in our first category, Outstanding Contribution to the Community is James Day. James is a remarkable young man who gives his time to volunteer to at wheel for all inclusive cycling charity during its family session at Woking Sport Box. At only 13 years old, James confidently interacts with all the participants, some of whom have very challenging communication, limitation and behavior. James takes the initiative and is always eager to assist such as adjusting helmets and cycles, giving safety advice and making everyone feel welcome. James is a caring and considerate young man and a very deserving recipient of this award. I would now like to invite James to come forward. James, please. I need to put. James, please. James, please. James, please. [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Our next winner in the Outstanding Achievement category is Sophie Signo Ready. Sophie is an outstanding student at Woking College. With a strong work ethic and a thirst to learn. Sophie sadly lost her father at a young age and is a young carer for her mother. Despite facing challenges at home, Sophie has shown incredible resilience to focus on her studies. Sophie is a highly intelligent young lady able to manage her time extremely efficiently and she has offered to study law from to Chester and Southampton. Sophie is an impressive student and has improved herself extremely deserving of this award. I would now like to invite Sophie to come forward. [Applause] [Applause] Thank you. Finally, we have the winner of the Trump-over-adversity category. Ho Kyu Chen, who attends Vinsta Chachasuku, who is a kind and polite young man who demonstrates an outstanding attitude to his work in every subject he studies. He joined Vinsta Chachasuku from Hong Kong and has worked extremely hard to improve his English. Recently, Ho was part of the winning Year 10 Vinsta student team who won the Inter-Schools Math Challenge. Ho has shown exceptional courage, determination and resilience to continue his study while undergoing chemotherapy and numerous surgeries. Despite going through such a tough few years, he is always smiling and happy. Ho is cheerful and positive attitude is an example to us all. I would now like to invite Ho to come forward please. Ho. [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Sir, are you planning on getting flowers now? Sir, you can't hear you if you can write it down. Why? That's fine. [Applause] I think the Mayor would like to present some flowers and I think the first set of flowers he's presenting is to Pauline, who he referred to in his speech as providing such assistance during his year of office. So I think Pauline's on her way. [Applause] [Applause] And next I think a bouquet to Councillor Morales. [Applause] And last but not least, Councillor Boot. [Applause] [Applause] Agenda item 6, election of May 2024-25. We now move to agenda item 6. I am proud to invite nomination for the election of Mayor for the coming year. Are there any nominations? Yes, Will, please. Thank you, Mr Mayor. I'd like to praise Councillor Louis Morales as the next Mayor of Woking. And as I do so, I'd like to say a few words, if I may. As some of you might know, Louis grew up in North Devon and her first political campaigning experience was a young child helping her mother get a liberal MP elected. It was Jeremy Thorpe and I won't mention him much more above that. But from that moment on, the yellow touch paper was lit. Louis was an ardent campaigner for liberal democracy from that point onwards. Her parents were passionate liberals and her mum dedicated her life on top of being a mother to Louis and her family. Her dad was a gynecologist. And that last bit confused Louis as she couldn't understand why her father spent so much time working in a labour ward. [Laughter] I'll try not to have more jokes, but I'm not promising anything. And she went on to study gardening at the University of Manchester and was active in student politics there. She campaigned for, amongst other things, better environmental policies. She went on to gain a PGCE so that she could study, teach at Merris Wood for ten years. And she taught horticultural there, which I understand is something about gardening. But this Hoe Valley Councillor doesn't get gardening. But that Hoe Valley Councillor is green to her fingertips. And that's why she's a gardener across Woking and across Surrey to so many people. And that's why she talks about the environment so much with passion here. On top of being a Councillor, on top of working as a gardener, she actually volunteers for Plant Heritage. Now this is a charity that supports research and conservation. But the highlight of her volunteering work there was being part of the gold medal winning stand at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2022. A few years after graduating, Louise had her first child. Now, if that wasn't daunting enough, she decided to stand for Council, where she lived at the time in Guilford, in Chandon Ward. Now Louise knocked on and delivered to almost every door in that ward with a two-year-old in a buggy. She says the two-year-old was in the buggy, but most of the time the leaflets were in the buggy. But when she met someone on polling day that was very annoyed that they hadn't received a leaflet from her, she could identify exactly which house it was, because it was the one she couldn't get past the gates with the buggy. From an early age, she was introducing her family to politics like her mum introduced her to politics. Although she didn't win that election in Chandon, she did win one over a decade later. When her children were much older, she was successful when she stood in the former Woking Barre Council Award of Old Woking. She won the trust and support of local residents by fighting for better urban green spaces, particularly in the fallout from the riding's way development, and she called for greater transparency in Council owned companies. Louise's interests are as diverse as they are commendable. She is an accomplished sailor, and most Councillors don't know that, because she actually hasn't mentioned that in a Council meeting, but she is, and she should be very proud of her sailing ability. She has sailed the lengths of both the Baltic and the Mediterranean seas. And as part of that, delivered a 32-foot catamaran to a client in Turkey. She's accomplished under the water as she is on the surface and holds several diving qualifications. She's also jumped out of an aeroplane, and she's abseiled down tool buildings. Now with our barre having tool buildings, and with ferrocks being on the edge of the barre, I think we could all expect that the next mayor of Woking might be jumping out of an aeroplane, and abseiling down the marches in Victoria Square for her potential new charity. Louise homes her outdoor skills during the three years she was in the territorial army. She won the women's 600 metre shooting competition for her units, and completed a 55-mile yomp, technical term, in one go. Louise speaks fluent Spanish, which is quite handy as she's married a man from Columbia, Fernando. Her and Fernando have two children that they're both very proud of. Caroline, who runs a dance company, and James, who's a financial journalist. And I know you're both here today, which I'm delighted to see you. Louise and I, the Ken Councillors of the New Ho Valley Ward, together in 2016. She's a staunch advocate for award, and she's involved in numerous community groups. She's got heavily involved in the South Woking Action Group. She helped turn around the Old Woking Community Centre when it was in financial trouble, and she helped set up the Ho Valley Neighbourhood Forum. Louise is well versed in planning matters, which is handy after two years as Chairman of Planning, keeping that Planning Committee working very hard. She's also chaired the Woking Palace Consultative Panel. Louise worships at St Peter's Church in Old Woking, and has strong into faith understanding, and I know she's looking forward to working with the Woking People of Faith as mayor. Mr Mayor, I've loved having Louise as my wood colleague. Ho Valley is undoubtedly a better place because of her and her efforts. I can think of no one better than to be the mayor of our borough on its 50th anniversary of creation than Louise. Thank you, Mr Mayor. Thank you, Will. Is that seconded? Yes, Mr Mayor. I'm absolutely delighted to be able to second Councillor Louise Morales as the Mayor of Woking for the Municipal Year of 2024-25 tonight. As we heard, Louise originally hails from Devon, and she has a degree in botany and plant biology from Manchester University. Aside from being a very experienced Councillor, Louise is a passionate gardener and can often be found working in this capacity in her world, Ward of Ho Valley. There's a gardening pun in that ward name there. As a successful horticulturalist, I'm told that she is very keen and a successful cultivator of coffee and that she brings back the plants from Columbia to grow them in Woking. Her husband Fernando is originally from Columbia, but I won't make any comments about bringing back some suspicious substances from South America that wouldn't really be fitting for our new mayor. She's fluent in Spanish, and I know this will serve her very well in her work with town twinning. I'm not sure if we're twinned with any towns in any Spanish-speaking countries, but I'm sure it will be handy anyway. She spent 10 years working at Guilford College teaching courses in propagation, amenity horticulture, as well as interior landscaping. And in a spare time, not that she gets much of that, Louise loves spending it with her daughter Caroline, her son James, and with her grandchildren, Cassia and Phoenix. Louise has been part of the Ho Valley Liberal Democrat team since 2010 and is currently chair of the planning committee. She has lived in Gloucester Road in old Woking since 1996, and in that time, she has put her heart and her soul into supporting the local community, including setting up the Ho Valley neighbourhood forum. Mr Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, Louise will make an excellent mayor, and I am delighted to be supporting her nomination this evening. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you, Councillor Wu. Are there any further nominations? No? No. Councillor Morelles is duly elected Mayor of Woking for 2024-25. Councillor, Councillor Morelles will now sign the declaration of acceptance of office work. [APPLAUSE] Good. There will now be a short adjournments. [BELL RINGING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BIRDS CHIRPING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BIRDS CHIRPING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BIRDS CHIRPING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BIRDS CHIRPING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BIRDS CHIRPING] Thank you. If you'd all like to sit. [BIRDS CHIRPING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BIRDS CHIRPING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Apologies, I need to put my speech up. One moment, I'm just pulling up this speech in one of the two iPads. [MUSIC PLAYING] OK. Yesterday was my last event as Deputy Mayor. It has been a wonderful year, and I also need to thank Pauline for her dedication as Mayor Secretary for 40 years before I became Deputy Mayor, but she has been a stalwart of the Council. I went to an award winners concert for the Woking Young Musicians Trust, and it perfectly represented everything that I love about Woking. The diversity, which included five refugees amongst the winners, the exceptional high standards and huge level of commitment from our young musicians. It leaves me sure that our town has a great future, and I'm really looking forward to a wide range of events that I'll be attending as Mayor with my concert, my husband, Louis Fernando Morales-Londonio, to give him his full name, but commonly known just as Fernando Morales. I need to thank him for all his support over the many years in the background and I, when Council work has been overwhelming occasionally, and I really look forward to introducing him to the wide range of groups that Woking has, including visits to the community hospital, events at Brookwood Cemetery, many faints, as many of things as I can drag him along to if I can drag him away from his antique business. I have to announce, I have appointed Lucy Bush, who's sitting in the corner over there as my chaplain for the year. Lucy is the curate to my own local church, St. Peter's, in old Woking. With the financial state of Woking, I will be holding a civic service in a reduced, more economical form than in previous years. The service will be on Sunday the 23rd of June at 3pm, and I look forward to inviting all of you to St. Peter's Church, which is a Grade 1 listed building, over 900 years old, but still supporting a vibrant church community. For my charity this Mayoral Year, I've chosen the Woking Lighthouse, which is run by Eric Jesperson and his wife Rebecca, who are, I've definitely seen them in his house, yep, I put them back there, and I'm sure you will all get to hear more about it during the course of the year, but he has, he hosts not just the Woking Food Bank, but also the Jigsaw Hub, providing both toys, but also essentials like buggies and stair gates for families in need. The Hygiene Project, to provide essentials for struggling Woking residents, a Ukrainian hub for our many local Ukrainian families, as well as dozens of other projects. One of my favourites, they do lending dresses to people who need them for their prom nights, which is absolutely fantastic. Eric's here tonight, and I'm hoping to arrange a visit to the Lighthouse for all the Councillors in the near future at some point. I'm also looking forward to working with my Deputy Mayor, Councillor Mandevoot. Not yet nominated, but will be. This year, in running streamlined and efficient Council meetings, in past years, this would have been the end of the Mayor-making Council meeting, but the standalone meeting was cancelled as a money-saving measure, and so tonight we also have the first Council meeting of the year to follow, and knowing that I do have a reputation for talking too much occasionally, that's the extent of the speech, so could I? (LAUGHTER) So, swap back here to my other sheet of paper. I'm going to have to find the next page for this one. Could I invite Councillor Rager to come up to the dais to be presented with the past Mayor's badge? (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) The next item is the presentation of certificates to past members. The following individuals have supported the local community through their work as ward councillors over recent years, collectively providing 43 years of public service across the borough. They have served on the executive committees, subcommittees, working groups and numerous outside bodies, and in the case of Councillor Hussein, served the borough as elected mayor of working for 2022-23. Whilst not all retiring members were able to attend this evening, I would like to take this opportunity to thank, to here is Josh Brown, Andy Colfield, Kevin Davis, Steve Dorsey, Sargi Sane and Adam Kirby for their services borough councillors. And on behalf of the council, I would like to invite Adam, Josh, Kevin and Sargi to come forward to receive their certificates to mark their time as a councillor, and I will make the presentations from the just lower dice. (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) The next item is the appointment of the Deputy Mayor. Can I have a nomination for Deputy Mayor? Councillor Jordan. Yes, please Mayor, thank you. Nice to address you. Oh, Andy, we'd like to nominate Amanda Boot for post of Deputy Mayor. I'm delighted to propose Councillor Amanda Boot for the position of Deputy Mayor this evening. Amanda has been a borough councillor for eight years now successfully, been re-elected once again to the ward of Biflee, most Biflee last year in 2024, three, sorry. She was first elected as independent in 2016, and then again 2018, and yet again in 2001. And so she is currently serving her fourth term. Aside from this, Amanda is also the county councillor for the Biflee, and she very much enjoys being what we call a twin hatter. Amanda has a degree in business studies and finance from Hull University, and she is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She has spent 30 years working globally for some of the world's largest organisations and rose to board level in her corporate career. Not many people know this, but she actually has 26 letters after her name, and she also speaks several languages fluently. She was originally born in Cheshire and moved to Biflee 24 years ago. Amanda has served as the chairman of the Sheerwater Oversight and Regeneration Committee for several years now, as well as being a member of the planning committee for many years too. She is also actively involved in our armed forces covenants, as an armed forces champion where she represents the council at many military events. She will now formally lead the opposition group, and is looking forward to this new challenge, as well as being the leader of our independent group in working. In her spare time, Amanda dedicates much of her time to community work, including having chaired the Biflee Flood Forum for over 10 years, something that I know she is very proud of. Next year we will see the delivery of a £19 million flood scheme that she has created from scratch to protect over 250 homes in the same way area of Biflee from ever flooding again. She also serves as a trustee of Biflee United Charities. She is chairman, also of the first Biflee Scout group, and is a member of St Mary's Church PCC in Biflee. As well as chairing the M25 we serve as an action group. She is also trustee of the Biflee Fire Station Trust. Amanda is incredibly passionate about working with the community, and she dedicates most of her time to running community projects in the Biflee's, and in helping her residents. I have no hesitation in recommending Amanda as deputy mayor tonight, and working would be very lucky to have her in this role, as well as a partner of 15 years, David, as her consort. Thank you, ma'am. Amanda. And is that seconded? Councilor Barker to second. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm delighted to second this nomination. Amanda Boot has, Councilor Jordan has said, has been a councillor for Biflee's and West Biflee since 2016. She's the remaining member of the three B's for the Biflee's who's elected in the all-up borough elections of that year. Three things strike me about, Amanda. The one is how she defends her local area. She was instrumenting and setting up the Biflee's flood forum after the devastating floods in that area in 2013. Recently, she's been fighting for St Mary's Community Centre as we sought to make that part of our community asset transfer program. She's been successful at securing funding, using funding sources to deliver for her ward. So the all-biflee fire station is brought into use of the community hub with money from your funds, sorry. She's used still funding very well to ensure that the neighbourhoods of Biflee's and West Biflee can be improved. And she contributes. She chairs a local stout group as Councillor Jordan has said and serves on the board of her local Biflee's charity also mentioned. I was checking up on some of her history and saw that she played a role in producing PPE and supporting people in the local area during COVID. And in her professional life, as Darryl's also alluded to, Amanda has patented, still has, a wide-ranging career in the marketing field. Her skills encompass market research, business development, marketing and more. There's a total of 42 skills listed on her LinkedIn profile. I'm going to go and update mine a bit more, actually. And as Darryl has said, she's a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and also a member of the Industry Body, the Market Research Society. I do feel that Amanda's experience and skills make her an ideal future mayor of Woking and so I have no hesitation in seconding her nomination as Deputy Mayor tonight. Are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor boot. You are duly appointed Deputy Mayor. Would you please come forward to receive your chain of office? Thank you. [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] I'm not sure that this might be the first time we've ever had a woman mayor and a woman deputy mayor at the same time. We need to check. [ Applause ] And a woman leader of the Council as well. That's got to be a first. Before we move on to the next item of the agenda, I'd just like to give an opportunity for any of those guests who have traveled any distance to get here this evening. If they would like to leave at this point before we move on to the business items, there are some business items that we thought would give you the opportunity to leave at this point. [ Applause ] You can still stay for the second half if you want to. [ Silence ] [ Silence ] Thank you. The next item is the statement of the leader of the Council, Councillor Barker. [ Silence ] Thank you Madam Mayor. I'm just going to say some thank yous. I'm going to talk a little bit about responsibility, take a brief look back over the last challenging year and look ahead to another challenging year and just to finalise, talk about my executive very briefly for the year ahead. So I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate our new Mayor, Councillor Louise Morales, and also to thank our past Mayor, Councillor Mahamadilly as Raja. I'd like to welcome Amanda Boot to her new dual roles as Deputy Mayor and Leader of the Opposition. And welcome all our new Councillors. It is good to have all of you here and I wish you well in your new roles. And then certainly not least, but my final thank you is to the electorate of the borough of Woking, who have put their trust in this Liberal Democrat Administration. We have, as a Liberal Democrat, administration, a huge responsibility to deliver for this borough, to carry on our work to take Woking from a bank and a property developer to a functioning borough council that delivers for its people. A council that does the essentials well works in partnership with others and seeks to share services to ensure it can deliver for local people. It's really very strange to take a look across this Chamber and see not a single Conservative face. I'm never in my wildest imagination thought that I would see at this day. A combination of local and national reputation for the Conservative party has brought us to this place. It's a place in which we have a Martian statue commemorating that H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds whilst living in Woking. And that gives us more Martians in the borough than Conservative borough Councillors. But I would like to take a moment to thank the last four Conservative Councillors who have voted out on the second of May for their work as Councillors. Politics aside, all took up their role with good intentions, gave up their time and did good work in their communities. Going back to that responsibility, we do have independence and a Labour councillor to hold us to account and we expect them to do just that. We need and will seek constructive criticism, be looking for positive proposals to do things in a different way, to get a different view of things, and to have solid scrutiny that means as a council we do the best for the borough of Woking. And I encourage local people to engage with us. Do put your questions to our executive meetings and our council meetings. Do set up a petition if you are seeking action on an issue. We want to hear from you. So looking back over the last year, it has been challenging to say the least. Soon after we met for the first time as a council in the last municipal year, we learned of giving them the dimension. And that was followed a fortnight later by the Section 114, the Declaration of Effective Bankruptcy. Since then, we've dealt with four different commissioners, three finance directors, two ministers from the Department of Leveling Up Housing Communities and one new managing director commissioner as our new chief executive. So just looking at the personnel and the people we've dealt with, there's been quite a lot of change and disruption there. But throughout all of this, we've developed an Improvement and Recovery Plan and we're working through that and adapting it as we go. The initial focus on the core improvement areas that were financial, commercial, governance and organization services was joined by housing in the autumn. And as we battled our way through that last year, we've been open and have listened to you. Listening doesn't mean we can always do everything that is asked by the public, but we can assure you that we have always listened. Last summer, an autumn seemed a very long way away now. So much has happened since then. But we did do an initial survey of all residents asking what was of value to them in the borough. And then in the autumn, we consulted on potential service changes and we will continue dialogue with local people in the year ahead. We continue as a council to be ever grateful to our residents and community groups, voluntary and faith groups who do so much day in, day out to contribute to our borough. We will continue to work closely with them and I will look to build new relationships so we can work together even when we are unable to fund these groups in the same way as was possible in the past. I'm just going to look briefly at a few of the key areas of the council. Housing is the first of those. And last year, we committed the largest investment in 30 years to the council's housing stock. We will be investing in safety and external work on properties. Initially, this is the very necessary fire safety work, but in the future, it may be possible to extend that to update roofs, guttering and windows. We know we can't complete all the sheer water project, but we did get government support to access funds to complete currently in construction phases and we're looking to bring some empty homes that were planned for demolition into use to really boost our housing stock and help to provide homes for local people. On the commercial side of development, the March's apartments, that's the flax in the Victoria Square development, they do continue to be popular and they offer homes for a different segment of the market. Whilst there are more expensive properties to rent there, the 98% occupancy shows that demand is there and those flax do bring people and life into our town centre. Evidence gathered by the operators show the great majority of residents do come from the area, woking and surrounding areas including New Whore, Adelston and Chirtsy. It tends to be a younger demographic, not solely, but it tends to be in that order. And we are providing a need for certain parts of the market. Looking forward, affordable housing is really important to us. Clearly, our focus has been elsewhere in the years gone because of the finances, but we will seek to secure the highest proportion we can as we move forward. Openness and transparency has been the heart of what we've done as a liberal democratic administration over the last two years. We're no longer having many routinely discussed private papers, discussed in meetings behind closed doors. We do have some areas where commercial confidentiality is required, but we've discussed things in public as far as possible, with only the essential details discussed in a private part of a meeting. At an early stage in 2022, we took away the conflict of interest of having councillors as directors of council companies. And over the last year, we've been removing council offices from those boards as well, where appointing genuinely independent non-executive directors to provide good governance and scrutiny for Thamesway and Victoria Square, the largest companies in the council's portfolio of companies. We set up the shareholder executive committee now, which will give good oversight in public meetings of the executive as we oversee the companies. We commissioned a report last year into what happened in the past from Grant Thornton, and we expect that to report in the summer. When those findings are published, we'll also relieve past part two papers, those papers that were discussed behind closed doors previously. We're putting a greater emphasis on orders in governance with a new committee to reflect this. Good governance is now at the heart of all that we do as a council. Finance, well, we got a legal budget through in March for the year ahead. So that was to cover our day-to-day spending, and it required us to put forward savings of 8.4 million, half of the core income of this council. We've got the proposals, we need to deliver on them, and that will be a challenge during this year. But we've been able to mitigate some of those savings too. So we can't run community centres, but we already have groups starting operations at the vine in Knapp Hill and in absent Mary's in Biflete. The community asset transfer program is working its way through. We hope to extend that as soon as we possibly can to public toilets, where we know there's some interest in maintaining and operating those. We all know we've kept pooling the park open by increasing charges and making sure that only budgets relating to that leisure facility are charged to the pool. Economic development is something we don't have particular teams for anymore, but we'll work closely with Surrey County Council to ensure that new and existing boroughs are supported in the borough. We've got a new finance director now, a permanent appointment, and he's working hard to get the council's financial systems in shape. But huge debt, 2.4 million and growing, 68 million a year in debt repayments and growing, they're not covered by income from the assets that they're paying for. In March, the government agreed a package which enabled us to set a budget and to be able to pay those debts for the year ahead. But that's not the answer, it was just a way forward a stop gap. Work continues to determine how working council can continue through this unprecedented situation. As a local council, we're doing all we can to try living within our armies. We've made really substantial steps there. But because of the historic level of debt, working remains in a very challenging situation. We cannot forget this, it overlies all that we've done as a council, and we're looking to our commissioners to continue working with us and with government to find a way out of this unprecedented situation. One thing that's perhaps we might forget potentially in our economic problems is our environmental commitments, but we're not going to forget them. The council has a strong record on the environment and green energy. Last year we agreed our environmental policy, and we have further steps on that next month. When reviewing the policy, we have our local environmental action group we are coming in to see us. I'd like to thank them, particularly for their patience, because we've delayed that session several times because of the financial matters. We will need to adapt what we're doing in that area, as in many others, but we will continue to deliver on the environment. I'd like to close by confirming my executive for the year ahead. I'm sorry to say we're losing council to brave some of the executive for personal reasons. He made a fantastic contribution to our work on the environment during his 18 months in the role, and will forever be remembered as the portfolio holder for acronyms. For the year ahead we're going to be an executive of six. Councillor first Forster, who will continue its great work as my deputy, will pick up the green and woken portfolio. I'm delighted that Councillor Roberts will retain responsibility for finance and economy despite having to put up with the huge challenge of that role over the last 12 months. Planning and regulation will stay under Councillor Laiens steady-hand. Councillor Johnson will continue his good work on the housing brief, and Councillor Nicholson will carry on her amazing work covering the sizable portfolio of living well. So to close, there are many challenges that face us in the year ahead, but we face those challenges with a strong group of council directors, a highly qualified guide and team of commissioners, council staff who are really committed to woken borough, an executive who will continue to pry through improvement and councillors who want the best for their borough. Let's all work together and make woken a successful council in the year ahead. Thank you. Councillor Boot, as the group leader for the independent group, would you like to respond? Thank you, Madam Mayor. Congratulations to our new Mayor, Councillor Louise Morales, and sincere thanks to our retiring Mayor, Councillor Laius-Reger, who has done such a wonderful job for us in the last 12 months. Many thanks also for the kind nominations to appoint myself as Deputy Mayor and myself and my consort, David, are very much looking forward to our exciting new roles and to supporting our new Mayor and her consort, her husband, Fernando. A big welcome to all of our new councillors. Myself and my group wish you every success and we are here to support and to help you, so do please reach out. Finally, a big thank you to all of the residents of working who turned out to vote and to put their trust and their faith in all of us to deliver at such a difficult time. I'm delighted that we have been able to form a coalition opposition group because it is going to be more important than ever for us to scrutinise, to challenge, to provide creative alternatives and insights and to ensure that we do the best job that we can all do. We are under no illusion that we have a huge battle ahead, but Madam Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, we need to work together as a team to play to all of our strengths and expertise at such a difficult time, and I look forward to doing this in a constructive way. Hopefully now we can draw a line in the sound and leave the past in the past, the blame culture, the criticism, the toxicity. We all have a huge job to do and we look forward to working together with the administration, the commissioners and officers to put working back on its feet successfully. I would like to add the thanks of my group to the leader, Councillor Barker, and to her excellent team for all of their incredible hard work in the past 12 months to navigate us through unprecedented waters, and also our thanks to our commissioners and our officers who have worked tirelessly and relentlessly to move us forward in such turbulent times. And as our leaders said, let's all work together to make this a successful council in 2024/25. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you. Item 10 on the agenda is a report on the outcomes of the borough elections held on the 2nd of May 2024. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate those elected to the council. Welcome back to the people who were re-standing and welcome in the new, and I hope you'll all really enjoy and appreciate being councillors for your terms. Is the council happy to receive the report? [Inaudible] Thank you. And now before the council now is for item 11, recommendations of the Standard and Audit Committee. Before the council now is a report on the recommendations from the Standard and Audit Committee, setting out the extracts from the minutes of the meeting held on the 29th of February 2024. In accordance with the Constitution, the recommendations are deemed to have been moved and seconded. Item 11A, amendments to the Constitution. The first item deals with the recommendations of the Standard and Audit Committee, proposing an amendment to the Constitution in respect of procurement. The recommendation will be introduced by the Chair of the Committee, Claire Story, Independent Co-opted Member. Claire. Thank you very much Madam Mayor. With your permission Madam Mayor, I would like to take items 11A and 11D together so that I can recuse myself in respect of items 11B and C in due course. Certainly. Thank you. Recommendation A of the Standards and Audit Committee seeks to remove a clause from the exceptions to standing orders, which allows the Executive to override a procurement decision together with consequential changes. It was considered that this ability to override the standing orders is out of step with good practice. Similarly, Recommendation D relates to the imposing of a financial limit on the delegated powers of the relevant strategic director of £1 million in relation to asset disposals and acquisitions without the prior approval of the Executive. It was noted at committee that the majority of the transactions in the current period will be, will be disposals due to the current financial situation. The recommendation also seeks to ensure the responsibility for decisions sits with the correct directorate. And as such, decisions relating to HRA property and land will move to the strategic director of communities. It's considered that both of these recommendations allow for greater transparency and accountability. Thank you. Do any members wish to debate the recommendations? No. In which case, as there's no further speakers, I would like to invite Claire to respond as a summing up, but it will actually be the same. Do you have a response? No, thank you. In which case does the council agree the recommendation? Okay, and then we have 11B, Amendment to the Constitution. I'll just wait for Claire's story to leave. Before the council now are the recommendations of the Standards and Audit Committee proposing an amendment to the Constitution in respect of amendments allowances. The recommendation has not been introduced by Claire's story. It's been introduced by the leader. Councillor BUCKER. Thank you. So, 11B relates to a discussion and an agreement that's reached at the previous Standards and Audit Committee earlier this year. It relates to allowances for Councillors. So, Councillors have, for quite some time, been able to claim an amount for booking apprentices to hold a Councillor's surgery. I think in years gone by, people would book a village hall or something to hold such events. In practice, that amount has not been claimed for many years. People now would tend to use a coffee shop or just sit in a village hall and be allowed to use it at no cost. So, because there could be a cost implication in future, if someone decides on some expensive venue, and because it isn't used any way, we're looking to remove that from the Standing Orders. Thank you. Do any members wish to debate the recommendations? Okay. Thank you. As there's no further speakers, Councillor BUCKER, do you wish to respond at all? No. Okay. Does the council agree the recommendations under 11B and 11C? And now we have 11D asset disposal thresholds. Hang on. We took them together. Okay. Okay. Apologies. 11C, amendment to the Constitution, responsibility for Standards and Audit Committee. I'd like to invite Councillor Anne-Marie Barker, Leader of the Council, to introduce the remaining recommendations from the Standards and Audit Committee. These recommendations proposed further changes to the Constitution are outlined under 11B and 11C. Councillor BUCKER. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So, yes, this is a further proposal that came from the Standards and Audit Committee last year. It delegates minor amendments in relation to the Standards and Audit Committee. All of the Governments and Audit Committees it now is to the monitoring officer. It also seeks to secure a standard off-the-shelf version of a local authority constitution as a recommendation as something that could be used by local authorities across the country. Do any Members wish to debate these recommendations? As we have no Members wishing to debate, no further speakers. I'd like to check. Does the Leader wish to respond? No. Okay. Does the Council agree the recommendations under 11B and 11C? Thank you. Agenda item 11, sorry, 12, recommends the adoption of the revised constitution which has been updated to reflect the changes agreed previously by council in recent months. The report will be introduced by Councillor BACHA, Leader of the Council, Councillor BACHA. And we'll just wait for Clare Story to return. Thank you. Previous Councillors will recall that towards the end of last year, we had the last meeting we put through various changes, including moving from a single overview and scrutiny committee to three overview and scrutiny committees. And that was something that we'd worked on throughout the early part of 2024 to achieve that new standard. The changes to the constitution are required to set up those three committees rather than just the one committee and then to look at the scheme of delegations. So, for example, when there is something discussed by the executive, if the oppositional, indeed not the opposition, if any Councillor has an issue with the approval that is decided upon within five days, another member of the Council can call that in and it has to go to a scrutiny committee. It would have just been one before. Now it would need to go to the appropriate scrutiny committee that covers that particular of the Council's business. All of the changes are set out in the new revised constitution. There may be still a few tweaks, as you know, there's been a bit of a rush on this. I noticed a missing bracket on one of the points, which I've highlighted to the officers. But I think generally quite a good job has been done actually by officers in a very short time. I would like to thank Mr. John's and Mr. Jeffery's, particularly for their hard work to get this to us. But essentially, it is just adopting the constitution to deal with the situation we're in now and the arrangements that we made at the end of the last municipal year. So, I would ask for your support in moving this forward. Thank you. Thank you. Do any members wish to debate the recommendation? No, as there are no further speakers. Councillor BUNKE, do you wish to respond? Thank you. So, does the Councillor agree the recommendations? Thank you. Next item, item 13 on the agenda is the calendar of meetings for the coming year. This report will also be introduced by Councillor BAKA, Leader of the Council. Councillor BAKA. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. This follows on from the previous contribution I made. We've set up these three new overview and scrutiny committees. And the previous members will know we also had some training and some work shopping on overviews, scrutiny and the work that we should do in that area to make it really effective earlier in this year in 2024. What we're looking to do with the new committees is to have two things happen. One, to have a training meeting, to train and support everybody to get the most out of the scrutiny function. Get everyone up to speed on that. And secondly, to have a first meeting of each of these new overview and scrutiny committees to determine what areas might be looked at in the year ahead. So, kind of a planning meeting. So, there will both be private meetings of the committees and it will then be picked up and there will be an informed discussion on the project plan for the year of the committees. But because of that, we've had to change some dates, so the first meetings in public of the committees have moved back a little in the year. And this report simply asks you to confirm that you're happy with that arrangement. Do any members wish to debate changing the calendar at all? Thank you. As there's no further speakers, does the Council agree the recommendation? Thank you. Item 14, before the Council now are the proposed appointments for Councillors for the coming year, including the membership of the committees. The report will be introduced by Councillor Barker. Leader of the Council. Councillor Barker. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yes, so we have before as the committee membership. This was discussed at the selection committee with myself and the leader of the opposition and our deputies. I think we're all in agreement about what's been proposed here and I'd like to ask for support of all members to this. Thank you. Anyone wish to debate? No. Okay. In which case does the Council agree the recommendations? Thank you. Which brings us to the end of the meeting of the Council. We now come to the first four more meetings of the committees. For each of the meetings, I will ask for the appointed members to stand up before moving to the first agenda item. The first four more meeting is that of the shareholder executive committee. Please can the members of the shareholder executive committee stand. Thank you. In accordance with this constitution, I now invite the leader to preside over the first four more meeting of the shareholder executive committee. Yes, I'm presiding. I'm going to get asked to nominate a vice chair. I think you have to ask for it. You have to ask for it. You're the chair. You'll automatically chair. According to the constitution, you need to ask if there is a nomination for a vice chair. Right. Well, I should like to nominate Councillor FORC to ask the vice chair of the shareholder executive committee. Chairman, I wish to second that. Anne-Marie is supposed to say, but we'll all say congratulations, Councillor FORC to be duly elected vice chair. I think actually Councillor VARCA has to say that because you're the chair of the shareholder committee. Congratulations, Councillor FORC. You're now the deputy of the shareholder executive committee. Thank you. I have to explain this is the first time I think we've done this because that committee is a new one. We will obviously practice it and refine it before next year. We've now come to the meeting of the audit and governance committee. Please can the following members stand noting that Councillor Rice has given his apologies for this meeting. Councillor COSNahan, Councillor Greentree, Councillor ODS, Councillor RAGIA and Clare Story. Can I have a nomination for the chair of audit and governance committee? I'll nominate Clare Story for the chair. Are there any other nominations? No, congratulations, chair, you're duly elected. Oh, apologies, hang on. Is that a second? Yes, I'd like to second. The Clare Story is the chair, please. Are there any other nominations? No, congratulations, chair, you are duly elected chair of the audit and governance committee. Can I have a nomination for the vice chair of the audit and governance committee? I would like to nominate Councillor ODS. What have I ever done to you? Is that a seconded? I would like to second that. Are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor ODS. You are duly elected vice chair of the audit and governance committee. Thank you. Constitution of the Standards Panel. Committee is asked to agree the membership of the Standards Panel as set out in the report before you. And I would like to draw your attention to an amendment to the list of substitutes of the panel, whereby Councillor ODS should be listed in place of Councillor Rice, who's already included as a member of the panel. Do the committee agree the membership of the panel? Thank you. Do we actually have to have the Constitution of the Standards Panel standing for that? So points forward to Madam Mayor and the current members of the audit and governance meeting should be standing as they agree this, just so we know just to make absolutely certain. I had a feeling we should have stood. Okay, could the Standards Panel please stand for this motion? Okay, so we've got the membership of the Standards Panel as set out in the report before you. Does the committee, those of you standing, agree the membership of the panel? Thank you. Please be seated. The next committee is the first meeting of the Community and Housing Scrutiny Committee. Please can the following members stand. Councillor Islam, Councillor Bosundi O'Brien, Councillor Greentree, Councillor Jordan, Councillor McCutty, Councillor Mumtaz, Councillor Sullivan. A Gender Item 1 of the Housing and Community Scrutiny Committee is the election of chair. Could I have a nomination for the chair of the Communities and Housing Scrutiny Committee? I'd like to propose Councillor Steve Greentree as the chair. Is that seconded? I would like to second that. Are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor Greentree. You are duly elected chair of the Communities and Housing Scrutiny Committee. The next item is the election of the Vice Chair. Do I have a nomination for the Vice Chair of the Communities and Housing Scrutiny Committee? I would like to nominate Councillor Jordan as the Deputy Chairman. Thank you. Is that seconded? That's you. I would like to second that. But are you allowed to nominate? We need someone on the committee who is amongst those who are standing to nominate a Vice Chair of the Communities and Housing Scrutiny Committee. I would like to second that. Thank you. Are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor Jordan. You are duly elected Vice Chair of the Communities and Housing Scrutiny Committee. Thank you. Please be seated. Congratulations. Yes. Okay. We now come to the first meeting of the Employment Committee. Please can the following members stand. Councillor Aisling, Councillor Barker, Councillor Graves, Councillor Houghs, Councillor Creepers, Councillor Morley, Councillor Roberts. And the first item on the agenda of this Employment Committee is the Election of Chair. Can I have a nomination for the Chair of the Employment Committee? Thank you, Madam Mayor. Can I nominate Councillor Barker, please? And is that seconded? Thank you. Are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor Barker. You are duly elected Chair of the Employment Committee. Next item on the agenda is the Election of the Vice Chair of the Employment Committee. Can I have a nomination for the Vice Chair of the Employment Committee? I would like to propose Councillor Roberts as the Vice Chair. And is that seconded? I would like to second that, Madam Mayor. Are there any other nominations? We are doing very well tonight. Congratulations. Councillor Roberts, you are duly elected Vice Chair of the Employment Committee. Thank you. Please be seated. We now come to the first meeting of the Environment and Place Scrutiny Committee. Please can the following members stand. Councillor Acabali, Councillor Graves, Councillor Cooper's, Councillor Leach, Councillor Martin, Councillor Maudley, Councillor Raja. And a agenda item on this agenda is the Election of Chair of the Environment and Place Scrutiny Committee. Can I have a nomination for the Chair of the Environment and Place Scrutiny Committee? Thank you Madam Mayor. I would like to nominate Councillor Morley as Chair of the Committee. And is that seconded? I would like to second that, Madam Mayor. And are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor Morley. You are duly elected Chair of the Environment and Place Scrutiny Committee. The next item on the agenda is the Election of the Vice Chair. Can I please have a nomination for the Vice Chair of the Environment and Place Scrutiny Committee? I would like to pose Councillor BRILLY as the Vice Chair. And is that seconded? Thank you. Are there any other nominations? Are you happy to accept this nomination? No, I don't have a nomination. Do we have another nomination for the Vice Chair of the Environment and Place Scrutiny Committee? Thank you. I would like to nominate Councillor Martin. Okay, we have a nomination for Councillor Martin. Do we have a seconder for Councillor Martin? I'll seconder, Councillor Martin. Congratulations, Councillor Martin. You are duly elected Vice Chair of the Environment and Place Scrutiny Committee. Thank you. Please be seated. Licensing Committee. We now move to the meeting of the Licensing Committee. Please can the following members stand. Councillor Bosundi O'Brien, Councillor Graves, Councillor Hous, Councillor Jordan, Councillor Kupa's, Councillor Leach, Councillor Martin, Councillor Muntas, Councillor Pierce, Councillor Spencer. Item one is the Election of Chair. Can I please have a nomination for the Chair of the Licensing Committee? Yes, Madam Mayor, I'd like to nominate Councillor Robleach. And is that seconded? I'd like to second that, please, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor Leach, you are duly elected Chair of the Licensing Committee. The next item on the agenda is the Election of the Vice Chair. Can I have a nomination for the Vice Chair of the Licensing Committee? Yes, Madam Mayor, if I may nominate Councillor Jordan as Vice Chair. And is that seconded? Are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor Jordan, you're duly elected Vice Chair of the Licensing Committee. We now have the Constitution of Subcommittees. Subcommittees of the Licensing Committee. A gender item three of the Licensing Committee deals with the membership of subcommittees. The committee is asked to agree the membership of the subcommittees under the remit of the Licensing Committee as set out in the report before you. Are the membership of subcommittees agreed? Thank you. Please be seated. And now we move to the Planning Committee. This is the first meeting of the Planning Committee. Please can the following members stand. Councillor Kostnerhan, Councillor Gevade, Councillor Jordan, Councillor Leach, Councillor Leon's, Councillor Martin, Councillor Mukherjee, Councillor Panda, Councillor Spencer and Councillor Sullivan. And please could I have a nomination for the Chair of the Planning Committee. Madam Mayor, I'd like to propose Councillor Leon's as the Chair of the Planning Committee. Is that seconded? I would like to second Councillor Lyons as well. Are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor Lyons, you're duly elected Chair of the Planning Committee. I wish you well. It's sometimes tough. Election of Vice Chair, could I have a nomination for the Vice Chair of the Planning Committee? Yes, Mr. Mayor, I wish to propose Councillor Kostnerhan. Is that seconded? I'm happy to second that. Are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor Kostnerhan, you're duly elected Vice Chair of the Planning Committee. Thank you. Please be seated. We move to the first meeting of the Resource and Finance Scrutiny Committee. Please can the following members stand noting that Councillor Rice was unable to attend this meeting. Councillor Booty, Councillor Kostnerhan, Councillor Greentree, Councillor Gervade, Councillor Odes, Councillor Panda, and Councillor Pierce. A gender item 1 is the election of Chair. Can I have a nomination for the Chair of the Resource and Finance Scrutiny Committee? Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd like to nominate Councillor Booty. And is that seconded? I'm on seconded, Councillor Booty. Are there any other nominations? Congratulations, Councillor Booty, you're duly elected Chair of the Resource and Finance Scrutiny Committee. And the second item on the agenda is the election of the Vice Chair. Could I please have a nomination for the Vice Chair of the Resource and Finance Scrutiny Committee? I would like to nominate the absent Councillor Rice. And is that seconded? I'm happy to second that. Are there any other nominations? I appreciate that Councillor Rice isn't here today, but I'm sure he'll be able to catch it up on the webcast and see himself be nominated as Vice Chair. So congratulations on video, Councillor Rice, you're duly elected Vice Chair of the Resource and Finance Scrutiny Committee. And now we have the Council, before you sit down, don't just sit down, just yet, the Council Committee is asked to agree the membership of the Finance Working Group as set out in the report before you. Is the membership of the Working Group agreed? Thank you, please be seated. And thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This brings us to the end of this evening's business. I was told it would probably finish at 9.30. Slightly end of time. Thank you, everybody. [BLANK_AUDIO]