Transcript

And a special welcome to all those who were re-elected and all the new councillors as well. Congratulations and I wish you well, but more on that later on. So before we start the meeting, may I inform members, officers and the public that we are not expecting a fire drill, but in the event of a fire alarm ringing, please do not exit via the lifts, but use the stairs via one of the main fire exits at either end of the chamber or the public gallery. For those of you not familiar with the building, the toilets are available just outside the chamber at the end of the members' foyer on the right-hand side. I would also politely ask that you turn off your mobile phones and any other electronic devices or switch them to silent. And at this precise moment, as I'm still the chairman of North West Hampshire Council, although the outgoing one, my charity is Teamwork Trust, and every time a mobile or computer or an iPad goes off, it's £10 to the chairman's charity, please. And we made a lot of money with that, I can assure you. So thank you. For clarity of all those here present, I believe the role of the chairman is to be politically neutral. So it's not my intention to participate in debate or vote on items, and that will be to the incoming chairman later on. And as chairman, I will support all members in carrying out their duties at full council meetings. I would also like to remind all members that should they leave the chamber during the debate of any item, they should satisfy themselves that they have heard enough of the debate to vote in an instructive manner. Furthermore, I would also be grateful if all contributions tonight can be concise, and that the various time limits for speeches are respected. The speeches are usually three minutes, unless it's a leader who's got five minutes. So thank you. And with that, I'm pleased to open the fifth annual meeting of North Northamptonshire Council. And if you bear with me. So I took over as chairman of North Northamptonshire Council on the 23rd of May, 2024, and became the fourth chairman of this new and thriving authority. It was an absolute honor and privilege to serve as chairman as a non-British or non-commonwealth-born chairman, and I recall fondly my German family watching the proceedings at the time. The office of chairman was originally described in November 2020 during the shadow time as comprising around 50 or so low-key events. Well, some 240-plus events and meetings later, I'm proud to say that I had a pretty good go at meeting some of our 365,000 residents, supporting a large number of the 100-plus towns and villages, their mayors, with their own fundraising, many organizations in raising their profile, raising funds for my own nominated charity, Teamwork Trust, and raising the profile of North Northamptonshire Council, which is very important. And thus, I think we became, Graham and I became a very cheap PR tool. Long-suffering Graham as consort and I took time out to meet and shadow our customer services team in Kettering, Thrupsen, and Corby during Customer Services Week. We can now confidently say that they are just an amazing team who want to help every single caller. We also chose to say thank you to all NNC refuse teams who may have been surprised at seeing a chain greeting them at 6 or 6.30 in the morning in the Wellingberg Catering and Corby depots. And if you ever visit the Corby refuse site, there's an awesome cafe just around the corner who serve a delicious breakfast. I have met so many wonderful people who, in turn, left lasting memories, for instance, the pricking ceremony. It was called that because a paper with the name of the new high sheriff is pricked with a sword and marked that way. I saw the previous high sheriff, Amy Crawford, leave and the new high sheriff supporting us, Jeremy Sherman, being sworn in at Rockingham Castle. We had the honour to welcome His Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester, to Earthlingberg Rock Frontier Centre to celebrate their centenary. HRH, the Princess Royal, visited recently the Youth Court and I could welcome her to Wellingberg. I felt extremely proud at doing such as a first citizen of North Northamptonshire. Many times I went out to awards, say, the Rose of Northamptonshire Awards to persons who went above and beyond in their daily work and received a well-deserved recognition for their voluntary work, attending twice the Ukrainian Republic Day to celebrate with our Ukrainian refugee residents their national day, although hinged with sadness seeing many tears of those attending as they couldn't celebrate it in their home country. Black History Month brought together the most amazing sports personalities from cricket, athletics and the first black female Olympian. I had previously the honour to bestow the free womanship in Wellingberg too. The cricketer Devon Malcolm, for instance, was one of those attending. I'm not biased just to cricket, but I met when Graham and I were courting, I was sitting on the side of a cricket pitch and he was playing. The wonderful Diwali celebrations are just a beautiful experience and we participated in them. Breaking the fast, or iftar, as it's called during Eid, with the Muslim communities coming together in the various locations, a most impressive and quite delicious experience. Being part of NNC's awards dinner, with the many sports organisations in our area attending, was just amazing and so was holding an actually Paralympian gold medal. In between, we often appeared at our fantastic NNC jewel, the Chester House Estate, that brings in valuable revenue and is a super venue. So much so, that I've in the meantime registered to volunteer at their Archaeological Resource Centre. I worked a lot in meetings and events across the county, in West North Hunts at times, with our fantastic North Huntshire Lord Lieutenant, Commander James Saunders-Watson, the previous High Sheriff, Amy Crawford, and my counterpart, Joe Guilford, always promoting our wonderful part of the Shire, and they in turn supported a number of our events. I was proud that our personal friend, the Bishop of Bricksburg, officiated my civic service and the Lord Lieutenant, the High Sheriff, some 20 local cadets from the different services and mayors from the surrounding areas attended the All Hallow Church civic service in Wellingborough. Sometimes, I went to the furthest places I just didn't know to hand out Summer Reading Challenge awards to primary school children, like Glapthorne Primary School. I didn't know where Glapthorne was before, and I'm not ashamed to admit when I don't know something. What a beautiful school. My own fundraising for Teamwork Trust comprised organising two well-attended concerts at the Corby Core Theatre, headlined by the Britain Got Talent finalist, North Huntshire Sings Out, and one at the Castle Theatre, headlined by the Rock Choir and some 170 singers distributed over the stage and in the galleries. I held a civic dinner at the Manor in Corby, which is the catering training kitchens at Tresham College. It was absolutely outstanding food and enabled the young chefs of tomorrow to showcase their skills. Those re-elected members will recall that I found an ingenious way to raise funds for Teamwork Trust by setting the £10 fine if a member or officer's phone or other IT equipment went off during council or committee meetings. I was amazed when I collected about £330 with that, and I would like to thank all those who so generously contributed, including some at the top table this evening. I'm not mentioning you, Adele. What I learned during my time as chairman was that our wonderfully diverse community has so many superb volunteers, and without them, the fabric of our society would not function. A huge thank you, however, goes to our officers, who so generously supported me to carry out my work as chairman, and that thanks goes especially to Alison Beattie. Your support was absolutely outstanding. Thank you so much. Alison, I've got a little something for you here. And if I give that to you... Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure to work with you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. That's okay. Thank you also to Graham for supporting and guiding me, and NNC Council for giving me this opportunity in the last 12 months. May I end with the advice that the chairman, as we started when I opened the meeting, the meeting is always apolitical when the chain is on, not the matter what one's own thoughts are. I wish you all well, and please remember that our residents must always remain at the heart of your decision-making, irrespective of any personal or political beliefs, and that our officers are the experts to put members' decisions into practice. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, with that, I would like – I have got two representatives here from Teamwork Trust, And I would like to ask Helen, Burdett Wright and Rick to please accept a cheque for my fundraising amounting to £4,248.44. So, with that, we go to one election. And I've received a nomination, and may I now see Councillor Elizabeth Wright to move the nomination of Councillor Helen Campbell. I'm delighted to propose Councillor Helen Campbell to be appointed as Chair of North Northamptonshire Council for £25,26. Thank you very much. Please may I see Councillor Graham Cheatley to second that nomination. I would like to second the motion. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Campbell, I can't see where she is. Do you accept your nomination? Okay. Are there any other nominations for Chairman? No? It's a bit like a wedding? I can say now, or be quite forever. So, with that, I now move to a vote. And will you please, hopefully all your electronic devices are on. The vote will commence in a second, and please vote whichever way you wish. The vote has now commenced. There are ten seconds remaining. I think, Councillor Pangelli, do you have an issue there with your unit? Just a second. Is there anybody else who's got a problem with their unit? The vote has now ended. The results are as follows. Fifty-six in favour, four abstentions, two against. Councillor Campbell, with that, I declare that you will be the new Chairman of North Northamptonshire Council for 2025 and 2026, and I wish you the best of luck. Thank you, Councillor Coulthoune. Sorry, Councillor Coulthoune. Thank you, Chair. I'd just like to say, Chair, I thank you on behalf of the whole bulk of the Labour Group. You've been a wonderful Chair, very impartial, very fair. And on a personal level, during your term of office, and my term of office as Mayor of Cordby, we had the great pleasure of working together quite a bit. I really valued it, and your friendship, and your empathy. I would like to wish you and Graeme all the best in your retirement and in your beautiful new home. All the best. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Howell. Sorry. Thank you, Chair. Councillor Lorman has been a true ambassador for North Northamptonshire Council and really raised the profile of this new authority. The role of Chairman should not be taken lightly, and every effort should be taken to promote North Northamptonshire Council in a positive way. And I would like to say a huge thank you to Laura and Graeme also, and wish her all the very best in her new home as well, and whatever she does going forward. And I know that you will be as diligent in any new role as you have been in this. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you. That is very kind. After 22 years as a councillor, as a borough councillor, town councillor, and so on, I felt it is right for me to have different things to look at, and we can now concentrate on the last 10% of unpacking our boxes in peace. So, Councillor Campbell. Okay. Thank you so much. I have actually once said I do in this room once before, seven years ago, when it's... I'm honoured. Thank you. It's going to be an exciting year. Thank you. Okay. The next item of business is... Please, may I see Councillor Eddie MacDonald to second that nomination, please. Chair, I second that nomination. Thank you. I move to a vote. Please use your electronic voting buttons, which will appear on your microphone unit once the vote has commenced. You will have 30 seconds to vote. Thank you. The vote has now commenced. Okay. There are 10 seconds remaining. The vote has now ended. The results are as follows. 56 in favour, four abstentions, three against. Thank you. Members have voted, and share council, for the 2025-26 year. Thank you. Was that a phone? Now, I do intend on carrying on the previous chairs, a contribution to charity, so that will be £10, please, sir. Okay. I would like to say thank you to everyone who's voted for me tonight, and for all my residents in Burton-Latman-Barton-Seagrave Ward in Ketrin, Northamptonshire. It's a complete honour to be Vice-Chair under Helen's leadership, and I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about my role. Thank you. Okay, next. Are there any apologies for absence, please? Do we have any? Yes. Councillor Brackenbury. Thank you, Adam Chair, and may I also congratulate you and the Vice-Chair on your appointment, and I'm sure we will be getting to know one another a lot better soon. On behalf of the Conservative group, may I extend the apologies of our leader, Councillor Helen Harrison, and also Councillor Scott Edwards is coming. Scott Brown, I beg your pardon. Indeed, that was a Freudian slip. Excuse me, Chair. Councillor Scott Brown is on his way, but he's unavoidably delayed, and so he will be arriving a little later in the meeting, and he's apparently volunteered to make a small donation to the Chair's fund for his tardiness as well. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Thank you. Any other apologies for absence? No. None? Brilliant. Okay. Thank you. Agenda item number four, declarations of interest. Are there any declarations of interest that councillors wish to make related to the items of business to be discussed? No. Okay. Minutes of the meetings held on the 20th of February and the 5th of March. The next item is to agree these minutes. Are there any issues in relation to the accuracy of these minutes? No? I would like to move the minutes of the 20th of February and the 6th of March 2025. Please, may I see a seconder? Councillor Jan O'Hara, thank you. We're going to do a very quick hands in the air to vote on this. May I see those hands in favour of the minutes, please, in the air first. Thank you. Those against? And any abstentions? Thank you. The recommendation is carried. Okay. Thank you. I would like to welcome, firstly, the members of the public gallery to the meeting. As well as those watching online via the webcast. Please, may I remind those in the public gallery for your safety to remain seated and only stand when walking to your seat and on exiting the gallery. For clarity, I believe the role of chairman is to be a politically neutral, so it is not my intention to participate in debate or vote on items brought before this council. As chairman, I will support all members in carrying out their duties at full council meetings. As chairman, can I respectfully ask that councillors stand where able when they address the chamber, that all contributions be concise and that the time limits for speeches are respected. We are all about efficiency as a council and these meetings should reflect that. Mobile phones should be turned off or turned to silent, please. I will continue with the previous chairman's tradition of requesting a £10 donation to chairman's charities if mobile phones interrupt meetings. Speaking of which, I am pleased to advise that there will be two chairman's charities this year. I was torn between two, close to my heart, and the monitoring officer did confirm that I could have two. The first is the Kingswood Community Centre, who do fantastic work to support my local community, especially with children and young people. The second is the Orton Centre here in Corby. Dementia is something that touches many of our lives. The services provided really do bring joy, as well as enabling people to continue to live independently. It also gives carers much-needed respite. Finally, the role of the chairman goes beyond these meetings. I will be representing the council at various civic events throughout the year. I'm very much looking forward to connecting with communities across North Northamptonshire during my time as chairman. Thank you. Agenda Item 7, Report of the Returning Officer. Please may I see Adele Wiley, Chief Executive and Returning Officer, to present this report. Thank you, Chair. And if I could just seek your indulgence just for a moment before I present the report at hand and welcome all elected members to North Northamptonshire Council. On behalf of all of our fantastic staff, many of who are here this evening and many who are watching online, we really look forward to working with all of you alongside you in the next four years and helping you to deliver on your priorities. So, on to the report at hand. Following a local government boundary review of North Northamptonshire Council's ward boundaries in 2023, the amount of councillors reduced from 78 to 68 members across 31 new wards. North Northamptonshire Council has 12 wards which are represented by three members. We have 13 wards which are represented by two members and we have six wards which are represented by one member. That is a change to the previous four years where all wards were represented by three members. I think it would be remiss of me to not express my sincere condolences to a candidate from the High and Ferris ward who sadly passed away prior to the scheduled poll and I'm sure that we will all send our thoughts and our condolences to their friends and family. The election for this ward, which will comprise two members, has been rearranged to take place on Thursday the 12th of June 2025 with the count taking place on Friday the 13th of June 2025. So for the other wards, North Northamptonshire Council elections took place on the 1st of May with the verification and count held on the 2nd of May at Kettering Conference Centre. I'm sure that you all recall it. The overall turnout on the 1st of May 2025 across the 30 wards contested was 31.6 from an electorate of 263,915 and the overall result of the election for the 66 members elected is shown within your papers. But for clarity, Reform UK now have 39 councillors at North Northamptonshire Council. Conservative have 13 councillors. Green have eight councillors. Labour have four councillors. We have one independent councillor and one Liberal Democrat councillor. A list of all persons elected to become members of North Northamptonshire Council for a four-year term until 2029 is attached into Appendix A to your report. Chair, that concludes my presentation and the recommendation is that Council notes that the list of persons elected to serve on North Northamptonshire Council for 2025 to 2029. Thank you. Thank you. Please, may I see Councillor Martin Griffiths to move the recommendations of this report. I'd like to move the recommendations in that report. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you. Please, may I see Councillor David Howes to second the recommendations. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, firstly, I'd like to congratulate you and the Vice Chair on your positions. It's certainly not an easy task to become the Chairman. My best wishes to you. It's going to be a difficult time throughout the year, but I'm hoping that you're going to relish every opportunity. So, congratulations. I'd like to second the report. It's not the report numbers that I was rather hoping to be seconding, but I'm happy to second it. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Councillor. By convention, we do not have a debate on this report, so thank you. We will now move to vote. Please use your electronic voting buttons, which will appear on your microphone unit once the vote has commenced. You will have 30 seconds to vote. Thank you. The vote has now commenced. There are 10 seconds remaining. The vote has now ended. The results were as follows. 63 in favour, zero abstentions, zero against. Thank you. Thank you. The recommendation is carried. Agenda item eight, political leadership. Please may I see Councillor Kirk Harrison to move the recommendations of this report. Thank you, Chair. I would like to move the recommendations in the support. Thank you. Please may I see Councillor Jan O'Hara to second the recommendations. Thank you. Thank you to move a second to the recommendations. Thank you. Thank you. By convention, we do not have a debate on this report, so thank you. We will now move to a vote. Please use your electronic voting buttons, which will appear on your microphone unit once the vote has commenced. You have 30 seconds to vote. Thank you. The vote has now commenced. Thank you. Thank you. The vote has now ended. The results are as follows. 59 in favour, three abstentions, zero against. Thank you. The recommendation is carried. The recommendation is carried. Councillor Fedorovic, would you like to speak? Yes. I didn't realise there wasn't a convention to speak on an item that is noted. Is that the case? That's correct, Councillor Fedorovic. I assume you may want to speak later when we're inviting. Thank you. We now move to receive nominations for the position of Leader of the Council for a four-year term through to the end of 2028-29 municipal year. Please, may I see Councillor Chris Kellett to move the nomination of Councillor Martin Griffiths. I'd like to propose Martin Griffiths. Thank you. Thank you. Please, may I see Councillor Brian Benneworth to second the nomination. Thank you, Chair. I'd like to second the nomination, Griffiths. Thank you. Councillor Griffiths, do you accept the nomination? I do. Thank you. Are there any other nominations? No. No. Thank you. Thank you. We will now move to vote. Please use your electronic voting buttons, which will appear on your microphone unit, once the vote has commenced. You will have 30 seconds to vote. Thank you. The vote has now commenced. There are 10 seconds remaining. There are 10 seconds remaining. The vote has now ended. The results are as follows. 52 in favour. 52 in favour, 7 abstentions, 5 against. Thank you. The vote is carried. I hereby declare Councillor Martin Griffiths, duly elected as leader of North Northamptonshire Council for the four-year term through to the end of 2028-29 municipal year. I will now invite the leader, Councillor Griffiths, to address the council for up to five minutes, and then I will invite each group leader to address the full council for up to two minutes each. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. I wanted to start my address to council this evening by saying thank you to all the people of North Northamptonshire. I am truly honoured to be re-elected, and it is a privilege to be chosen to be leader of the council. On Thursday 1st May, and in the days and weeks preceding it, people from all walks of life signalled their clear desire for change. The overwhelming majority of people put their mark on their ballot paper for reform, not just here in North Northamptonshire, but across the whole of Northamptonshire and the UK where elections took place. I think it is fair to say on the 1st May, we witnessed a significant, if not monumental, event, a turning point both in politics in the future of this country. I thank those who put their faith in us by giving us their precious vote. I do not take that responsibility lightly. My fellow councillors and I are absolutely committed to delivering changes for the better. We are focused on developing a new contract with those in our local communities that make up North Northamptonshire. As well as congratulating my fellow Reform UK councillors for being elected, I would also like to congratulate members from other parties here this evening. I also want to acknowledge the hard work of the previous administration in the first four years of this council. And I would like to take the opportunity to wish the former council leader all the very best in his future endeavours. There are a number of new as well as long-serving standing members in this chamber this evening who are clearly well-respected in their wards. This is important as the work we do within our communities is what we should all be judged on and it is where we can make the most difference to our residents. I truly believe that this chamber will make better decisions when we have a broader range of views represented not only in this chamber but across the democratic core of this council. On this point, some long-standing members of this chamber will have noticed the new layout of this room this evening. This is more than a moving of furniture. It is a symbolic act of how I would like this council to work in the future. I am keen to help remove what could at times feel like a combative environment in the past. I would like to change the way we do business in this chamber and the way we work as a council. I would like to see more collaborative working, more cross-party policy formulation and more scrutiny of policy and performance. To do this, I feel we need to find better ways to access and use significant knowledge, experience and expertise we have across the whole range of this chamber, not just that in any one party. And I want to do this because I'm very conscious that we represent everyone in North Northamptonshire. I believe that to reform public services, we need to start here in our democratic core. We need to change the way we serve our local people to provide better services to our residents. I strongly believe that despite the significant majority there is in this chamber, we can do more for the people of North Northamptonshire if we work together in a collaborative and constructive way, even when we do not agree. We have an incredible team of councillors with professional experience from all walks of life. This evening, a new executive will be agreed which will bring a fresh perspective to this council. We will have a wealth of experience and fresh views which together will make a powerful contribution to the development of public services in North Northamptonshire. I'm very conscious that we are at the start of a journey and not at the end and there is a great deal of work to be done. One of the key things we will focus on now is setting our new corporate plan for the next four years. I'm very keen to take stock of where we are now as a council and a place and work collaboratively with our members, partners and other key stakeholders to set out the priorities for the future. I intend to do this shaped by the strengths of the council today and our knowledge of those areas where we know we need to do better. We must never forget that we are voted for by our residents and we must therefore listen to them as we set our priorities. That is why I have asked that we undertake the first resident survey for our council within our first few months and we will also consult on the priorities we propose in our new corporate plan. To our residents I want to set out a very clear contract with you so that you know what you can expect from your local council. To our partners I want to build on the work the council has already done with partners in areas such as the Big 50 Vision for North Northamptonshire. I don't think anyone can argue that working to make the area a proud prosperous and proactive place are not worthy ambitions. To our brilliant staff we have been so impressed by the way that they have adapted to the changes and challenges so far and the work that they do on a day-to-day basis. Whilst we set policy and priorities we know that we cannot achieve our ambitions to be an exemplar council without you the staff. Working alongside you and building strong relationships is vital for a future successful council and local community. In terms of the type of council I want to lead I have always believed that a happy working environment is a productive working environment. My deputy Eddie MacDonald and I share an office in the Cube here in Corby. We both believe in an open door policy which is why I will be purchasing a door stop for our office. In conclusion I look forward to working with elected members and with our hard working staff and partners on the journey to create a council that is an exemplar and a place everyone in North Northamptonshire can be truly proud of. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you councillor. Please may I see councillor David Howes deputy leader of the Conservative group to address the annual council please. Thank you Madam Chair. So first of all my heartfelt congratulations to councillor Griffiths and all of the elected members in the room. I think we all understand how important and the privilege it is to be elected and hopefully we will all work together as much as we can. If you would indulge me Madam Chair the leader of the Conservative group isn't here tonight as you know she has asked me to read out a few words which with your indulgence I will do that now. Could I first give my sincere apologies for not being here today. I had a very long term personal engagement that could not be changed. I do not mean any disrespect to any of you. I would like to congratulate Reform UK on their success at the elections and Councillor Martin Griffiths on being elected by his group to become leader of the council. I believe that we are handing over a well run council delivering high quality services. It took a great deal of hard work over the last four years to get to the point to get to this point sorry. I also know that there are still many improvements that need to be made. It took hard work to get to this point and it will take a lot more hard work to continue that journey of constant improvement. Our residents deserve the best and we the Conservative group are here to help in any way we can. We will give Councillor Griffiths and his executive our full support when we agree with what they are proposing. When we think mistakes are being made we will argue our case on points of policy and performance. Finally I would like to clearly reiterate the Conservative group's commitment to maintain the high quality of debates on the issues and to keep personal comments and insults out of this chamber. We look forward to working with reform and all councillors across the chamber to improve the lives of people in North Northamptonshire. Thank you very very much. Thank you Councillor Harris. Please may I see Councillor Emily Fedorovic the leader of the Green Group to address the Council. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Chair. I thought I'd come up here as customised. I thought it'd be nice to see you all. I thought that'd be nice. Thank you Chair. Thank you Deputy. I just also want to congratulate you. I hope you have a wonderful time in your year as Chair. It's a really lovely honour and it is such a lovely honour to be elected by our local people and for us all to be in this room today. It's a very special moment. So I wish you all the very best for the next four years. I look forward to collaborating with you and hearing about what you want to do for the local residents. But yes, today marks a change in leadership for the Council and I just want to begin by acknowledging that with change always brings opportunity. And as the leader of the Green Group I extend congratulations to Councillor Martin Griffiths and Councillor Eddie MacDonald and their appointments as leader and deputy leader of the Council. I know it will be very interesting working with you guys and I can see there's already some things that we have some shared views on already. Let me be clear though. We will not support leadership or action that is dictated by Westminster and time and time again residents have told us that they want local decisions made in the interests of local people and that is what I've heard from a vast majority of people in this room. We don't want national figureheads or parties running this council. We want it to be run by the local people, by the people and represented by us in this room. While not many reform councillors in this room have stated their intention is to take Westminster policies into the way that we run this council. Actions speak louder than words and we will be, yes, keeping a close eye on that. We do, however, welcome signs that the culture of this council is beginning to shift. For too long, precious time and public money have been wasted on infighting and political game playing and squashing good ideas just because of political lines. The Green Group has consistently called for more cooperation, more listening and more focus on our communities. We do sense a change in tone and that is something we will continue to support so long as it's backed by meaningful action. But we must also be honest about our red lines. We will not support a platform that centres on being vocal to hostility, to celebrating the amazing diversity in our community or privatising the NHS or refusing to protect communities from the real and very growing impacts of climate change. These principles are fundamentally at odds with the values of our leading group and it's something that we will have to navigate. But I believe that the values of local people are down to dealing with things that are on our doorsteps, housing, bins, things like that. And I very much hope that the national policies don't have to get in the way of us doing good for our local communities because that's what matters. We're here to hold this council to account and ensure that every pound of taxpayers' money delivers real benefit for local residents. Having fresh voices in this chamber can bring fresh thinking. That's what we need. But also having a council full of new councillors, many of whom have stood on national slogans rather than detailed local plans, brings uncertainty too. So people are going to be looking to our council to see where we're going. Our group does bring experience, deep local knowledge and real understanding of what our communities need. And we need to use all of that, use all of our experiences to get the best for local people and keep this council on the right course. So let's not forget, the people of this borough overwhelmingly voted for something different. Look in this room. There has been a significant change and they have sent a message to the traditional two-party race. They elected you and they elected us with a hope for something better. And that brings us serious responsibility. Westminster is already pushing national policies down to our communities and our residents see through that. And so do we. And we want to keep things going in a good direction of collaboration for the benefits of local people. So this is your chance to show that you're here to serve the people of this place, not a party line. Not as we have been seen for the last four-plus years with all of our previous parties just following party lines. We will be watching. We will be constructive. And we will be standing up for local people every step of the way. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Please, may I see Councillor Mark Pengeli, the leader of the Labour Group, to address the Council. I'll stand here, Chair, if it's OK. It's too far for me to go. Yeah, thank you. And I'd like to congratulate Martin, who was sitting back there only a few months ago on his rise to power. And I trust Martin will work with all parties and all the people, and I just let him let you know that we'll also be holding you to account as the reform leading group because the people in North North Hampshire deserve better than they've had over the last four years. A late great friend of mine was a guy called Jimmy Cain. And Jimmy Cain used to talk about Corby. And you're in Corby today, and welcome to all the people that have come from other parts of North Hampshire. But you used to talk about North Hampshire as Corby being of 57 different varieties of beans of the country. And people came to Corby from all over the UK. They came from Scotland, Ireland, Wales. They came from Europe. They came from Poland. They were displaced people from all over Europe, came to Corby, and they're all part of the community. And hopefully going forward, we let everybody know that they're part of the community. People, new people coming to this country, and people that have been here for years, they're all part, and we all welcome them. Moving forward, what we saw with the last council was many failures. And what we need to see is some improvements. The roads in North North Hampshire are falling apart. They're embarrassing. And I'd like to see the reformed council make a commitment to having a full scrutiny review of the here contract. Not where we are now, and looking at where they're performing, but the full contract, because this council didn't have a say in it all them years ago. It started off by North Hampshire County Council, and we've inherited it. So it's something we have to look at. Labour have put millions of pounds into North North Hampshire for road improvements. We want to see improvements on this side because you've got the money. On housing, a lot of you probably haven't even answered any emails yet, but I can tell you now, for all those experienced councillors, housing is a major issue. People just can't get housing. And in Corby, in the last four years, we saw no new housing plans. They were all the old council's ideas that came forward. Nothing new from this council. Labour, again, have relaxed a lot of the restrictions on housing. They've put money into housing. We need to see council housing built in North North Hampshire. On the centre of education, there are hundreds and, well, thousands of people in North North Hampshire being let down. We have to look at send education and find massive improvements on that as well. And adult social care, and I work with adult social care, what a brilliant job they do. But we are spending so much money on it. We have to look at what we can do to improve every part of this council. So as I said, we will work with everybody on this council, but we'll be holding you to account where we have to. And hopefully we can see four years of improvements for all of North North Hampshire. Thank you, councillor. Please, may I see councillor Jim Hakewell, the leader of the Communities Alliance Group, to address the council. I hate the limelight. Thank you, chairman, and congratulations to you and to your deputy, and for already running the meeting beautifully. Thank you. So I'd like to congratulate everybody who is elected on May the 1st in this chamber tonight. One thing, amongst many other things, that all councillors here tonight have in common, is that each of us experienced our first day being a councillor on one day in the past. For some of us, that's a very recent experience. For others, a somewhat distant memory. And I definitely fit into the latter category on that. I'd like to welcome Councillor Simon Fairhall to the council in particular, not least because he felt able to create an alliance between us, the appropriately named Communities Alliance. Thank you, Simon. The wonderful aspect of being a councillor is that it doesn't matter how long ago or how recently we have been elected. Each and every one of us has a valuable contribution to offer today, tomorrow, and in the weeks and months and years ahead. As councillors, we are not alone. We have 3,000 dedicated staff to help and guide us to deliver the services to our 370,000 residents. There will be many within the council and in our communities who naturally are nervous of what the future will bring. I happily quote the words of the late MP, Jo Cox, from her maiden speech. We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us. We have just had an election. Do you remember that? The next election will be in 2029. For the next four years, we can and should work together, setting aside political differences, but at the same time, welcoming and scrutinising innovative ideas and experiences from whomever and wherever those ideas come. I congratulate Councillor Martin Griffiths, who I've known for a long time, on his taking up his leadership position. I did put also Councillor MacDonald, but he hasn't taken his position up, but I shall go ahead of time and say congratulations to you too. We've known each other a long time. Councillor Fairhall and I look forward to working cross-party for the benefit of everyone in North Northamptonshire's towns and villages. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, councillors, for your contributions. I now invite the leader of the council to confirm the executive appointments at the start of this new municipal year. Thank you, Chair. For one minute, I thought I'd lost some papers, but Ben got me out of trouble, as usual. I would like to go through the executive members that I have put in place. Firstly, I would like to say that as leader of the council, I'll take up the role diligently of leading this council, be it around housing, Big 50, human resources and devolution, but specialising on the housing issue, because I agree we have got a serious job to do in respect of housing. My deputy leader, who I have to say has let me down a bit tonight, because he did promise to wear a kilt this evening, but I'll forgive him on this occasion. Eddie will be the deputy leader and executive member for adult services, adults commissioning, health and social care integration, and safeguarding of adults and care and support needs. Councillor Graham Cheatley, our executive member for finance, efficiency and change. You may stand up. Let's everybody see. Thank you. Councillor Ken Harrington, our executive member for assets, waste and environmental services, councillor Elizabeth Wright, our executive member for children, education and families. I have to say something about Elizabeth. She's also our group secretary. We had a group meeting the other day, and I actually got the minutes of the group meeting before I got home. So I think that actually is testament to how hard she works. Also, councillor Chris McGiffin, our executive member for highways and travel. Thank you. Councillor Jan O'Hara, executive member for planning and economic growth. Well done. Councillor Kirk Harrison, our executive member for regulatory services. Something that has been referred to in the past as the boring, and we're going to do the boring well. Thank you. Councillor Greg Wilcox, our executive member for communities. And Councillor Barry O'Brien, our executive member for health and leisure. Thank you ever so much. That's my team. Thank you. Thank you, councillor Griffiths, and congratulations to all those appointed to the executive. Okay. Committee membership and appointment of chairs and vice-chairs for 2025-26. Please may I see councillor Martin Griffiths move to the recommendations in the report. I move the recommendations in this report as detailed. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Please may I see councillor Chris McGiffin to second the recommendations. I second the recommendations as suggested. Thank you. By convention, we do not have to debate on this report, so thank you. We will now move to a vote. Please use your electronic voting buttons, which will appear on your microphone unit, once the vote has commenced. You will have 30 seconds to vote. Thank you. The vote has now commenced. There are 10 seconds remaining. The vote has now ended. The results were as follows. 56 in favour, 8 abstentions, 0 against. Thank you. So, the recommendations are carried. Thank you. That now concludes the process of appointing two committees and committee chairs and vice-chairs. Democratic services will be in touch with members to place appointments into diaries, as well as to facilitate initial briefings to committee chairs and vice-chairs. Please note that council is being requested to note the strategic appointments made by the leader and only to approve the community appointments. There is one contested outside bodies appointment, so we will deal with the uncontested nominations first, on block, and then move to the contested nomination. May I please see Councillor Greg Wilcox to move the uncontested community nominations. I'd like to move the proposal. Thank you. Thank you. May I please see Councillor Graham Cheatley to second the uncontested community nominations. Yes, I'll second the recommendations. Thank you. By convention, we do not have a debate on this item, so thank you. We will now move to vote on the uncontested community nominations only. Please use your electronic voting buttons, which will appear on your microphone unit once the vote has commenced. You will have 30 seconds to vote. Thank you. The vote has now commenced. There are 10 seconds remaining. The vote has now ended. The results are as follows. 57 in favour, 6 abstentions, 0 against. The vote has carried. We will now move to the contested community nomination for Kettering General Hospital Governors' Council. We have the following nominations for Kettering General Hospital Governors' Council. They are for Councillor Julie Lumsden and Councillor Steve Geary. Please, may I see Councillor Barry O'Brien to move the nomination of Councillor Julie Lumsden. Thank you. Thank you. Please, may I see Councillor Ken Harrington to second the nomination of Councillor Lumsden. Second the nomination. Thank you. Thank you. Please, may I see Councillor Emily Fedorovic to move the nomination of Councillor Steve Geary. Thank you very much, Chair. I would like to move the recommendation of Steve Geary for this committee. He operates in this ward. It's the General Hospital Peter Ward in Kettering, and that's where he will be doing predominantly an awful lot of work and working with the hospital. So, this is why we put him forward for the nomination. Thank you. Thank you. May I please see Councillor James Towns to second the nomination for Councillor Geary. Thank you, Chair. I'm pleased to second the nomination for Councillor Geary. I know he's already been involved with Kettering General Hospital, so it would be a good choice. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We will now move to vote. May I see a show of hands first for Councillor Julie Lumsden, please, as outside body representative for the Kettering General Hospital Governor's Council. Thank you. Thank you. May I now see a show of hands for Councillor Steve Geary, please, as outside body representative for Kettering General Hospital Governor's Council. Thank you. Councillor Julie Lumsden has the majority of votes, and so is Julie appointed as outside body representative for Kettering General Hospital Governor's Council. Okay, thank you. That now concludes the process of appointing two outside bodies. Democratic Services will be in touch with those members appointed to provide contact details and further information on the outside body that they will serve. Madam Chairman, can I just add something, if I may, if you'll indulge me, that we will, the gentleman nominated has experience, but we can only nominate to what we are represented, what we're given by the various boards that we take part in. Words for that effect. Thank you, Councillor. Okay, so thank you, councillors and officers and members of the public, watching in the public gallery or via the webcast. There being no other urgent business, that now completes the business of the meeting. I now declare the meeting closed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.