Tuesday
23
April
Independent legal advice on climate debate
02/09/2020 @ 02:48
Independent legal advice is being sought to find out whether a vote calling on Powys County Council to declare a climate emergency should stand.
The motion brought forward by Liberal Democrat Cllrs Jake Berriman and Jackie Charlton was discussed and eventually approved after an extensive debate at a full council meeting on 30 July.
The first vote was on a motion to refer the declaration to a working group so that costs could be worked out and then brought back to full council.
This was proposed by Conservative Cllr Amanda Jenner and followed criticism of the declaration by Tory cabinet members Cllr Aled Davies and James Evans, who believed more work was needed on costs.
This vote was tied at 28 a piece and two abstentions.
At the meeting PCC chairman, Cllr Beverley Baynham, used her casting vote against the referral.
The vote on the actual climate emergency motion was then taken and passed with 29 votes for, 20 against and four abstentions.
Powys County Council chief executive, Dr Caroline Turner, has told councillors of the situation and at the moment the minutes, the official record for the meeting, has not been published.
Dr Turner said: “A mistake was made in counting the vote.
“Whilst most were able to vote electronically on the referral motion some were unable to do so, and they were all asked by the chair of council to give their vote verbally.
“A mistake was made in counting and combining the electronic and verbal votes, and the vote was wrongly declared at the meeting.”
Dr Turner explained that the error had been found while going through the votes and an extra vote for the referral had been found.
If the votes had been counted correctly the referral motion would have won and stopped the actual climate emergency vote talking place at all.
Dr Turner added: “This is an unprecedented and unusual situation, and for this reason I will seek independent legal advice on whether the vote declared by the chair during the council meeting should stand, or whether the correct list of votes as compiled for the minutes should stand.”
Depending on the legal advice, the climate emergency motion could be declared null and void.
PCC monitoring officer, Clive Pinney will also be asked to find out how the mistake happened and what arrangements are needed to make sure it does not occur again.
Dr Turner hopes the legal advice will be given so that a decision can be made before the next full council meeting which is due to take place on Thursday, 24 September.
The motion brought forward by Liberal Democrat Cllrs Jake Berriman and Jackie Charlton was discussed and eventually approved after an extensive debate at a full council meeting on 30 July.The first vote was on a motion to refer the declaration to a working group so that costs could be worked out and then brought back to full council.
This was proposed by Conservative Cllr Amanda Jenner and followed criticism of the declaration by Tory cabinet members Cllr Aled Davies and James Evans, who believed more work was needed on costs.
This vote was tied at 28 a piece and two abstentions.
At the meeting PCC chairman, Cllr Beverley Baynham, used her casting vote against the referral.
The vote on the actual climate emergency motion was then taken and passed with 29 votes for, 20 against and four abstentions.
Powys County Council chief executive, Dr Caroline Turner, has told councillors of the situation and at the moment the minutes, the official record for the meeting, has not been published.
Dr Turner said: “A mistake was made in counting the vote.
“Whilst most were able to vote electronically on the referral motion some were unable to do so, and they were all asked by the chair of council to give their vote verbally.
“A mistake was made in counting and combining the electronic and verbal votes, and the vote was wrongly declared at the meeting.”
Dr Turner explained that the error had been found while going through the votes and an extra vote for the referral had been found.
If the votes had been counted correctly the referral motion would have won and stopped the actual climate emergency vote talking place at all.
Dr Turner added: “This is an unprecedented and unusual situation, and for this reason I will seek independent legal advice on whether the vote declared by the chair during the council meeting should stand, or whether the correct list of votes as compiled for the minutes should stand.”
Depending on the legal advice, the climate emergency motion could be declared null and void.
PCC monitoring officer, Clive Pinney will also be asked to find out how the mistake happened and what arrangements are needed to make sure it does not occur again.
Dr Turner hopes the legal advice will be given so that a decision can be made before the next full council meeting which is due to take place on Thursday, 24 September.
By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service
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