Published on Wednesday 06 June 2018
Plans to implement the new Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council took a step forwards on 6 June 2018 as the Shadow Authority held its inaugural meeting.
The Shadow Authority is made up of all 125 council seats across the four preceding councils and the meeting saw all councillors come together for the first time. The authority includes a total of 120 people as the five councillors representing the Christchurch divisions of Dorset County Council are also Christchurch Borough Council councillors.
At its first meeting members agreed to elect Cllr Ray Nottage of Christchurch Borough Council as its Chairman and Cllr Ann Stribley of Borough of Poole as its Vice-Chairman as well as adopting a constitution for the Shadow Authority.
Cllr Ray Nottage, Chairman of the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Shadow Authority, said: "The first meeting of the Shadow Authority was a historic occasion and an important step forward for local government in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
"I would like to thank Members for supporting me in taking up this role and I look forward to Councillors working together to ensure the best outcomes for residents from across the conurbation as we continue the process to create the new council.
"We have a lot of work to do before 1 April 2019 to ensure key senior staff appointments are made and to set the budget, but it is important we address both the opportunities and challenges we face together."
Councillors also agreed to appoint Jane Portman to the Interim role of Head of Paid Service for the Shadow Authority. Tanya Coulter and Adam Richens were appointed to the designated roles of Interim Monitoring Officer and Interim S151 Officer for the Shadow Authority. These roles cover the interim period whilst the Shadow Authority operates and permanent appointments to the new Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council roles will be made at a later date.
Following the legislation being passed the Shadow Executive Committee has also been established. The Committee will take key decisions on service delivery in much the same way as the Joint Committee has and where necessary make recommendations to the
Shadow Authority for consideration. The Executive Committee will meet for the first time on 15 June, 9.30am at Borough of Poole’s Civic Centre. At its first meeting Members will elect a Chair and Vice-Chair. The Councillors elected to those roles will also take on the roles of Leader and Deputy Leader for the Shadow Authority.
The Shadow Authority agreed to hold further meetings in October 2018 and February 2019 with the dates to be agreed.