County Committee members demoted

Two Derbyshire Reform councillors have been demoted from committee positions after they “didn’t realise the time commitment”.

Cllr Richard Morgan and Cllr Charlotte Gates, both Reform councillors on Derbyshire County Council, have been dropped from the committees they sit on due to attendance issues.

County councillors receive a basic allowance of £12,972, with extra allowances for chairmen and vice chairmen of the authority and committees, cabinet members and support members, and leaders of the main opposition and other minority group leaders.

Records on the county council website show Cllr Morgan, who represents the Horsley division in Amber Valley, has only attended one meeting out of the six he was supposed to – the administration’s first full council on May 21st.

He has been dropped from membership on the pension and investments committee and the audit committee, for which he did not receive additional allowances.

Meanwhile, Cllr Gates, who represents the Swanwick & Riddings division, also in Amber Valley, has attended one out of the four meetings she was supposed to, the administration’s second full council on July 9th.

This comes after Cllr Gates, who is a special educational needs teacher, was also replaced as support cabinet member for SEN in July after “struggling to get to meetings”.

Her additional allowance over the year for that support role was to be £7,536.

She has now been dropped from membership on the planning committee and appointments and conditions of service committee, for which she did not receive additional allowances.

Cllr Alan Graves, the council’s Reform leader, who is also a Derby city councillor, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It is just about their time availability for their work and at the end of the day we want to make sure councillors can attend the meetings that they are on.

“Cllr Gates was having some problems and she does a very important job in SEND. 

“I think that comes before going to any council meetings.

“Cllr Morgan has got a different problem, but it is all work-related.

“We knew there would be some adjustments as we work through this and some of them didn’t realise how much commitment there was in the time they needed during the day which impacts on their work commitments.

“Some employers are more helpful than others and the last thing I want is for them to lose their jobs.”

The changes in committee membership will be confirmed at a full council meeting next week, at which the authority will also approve merging the chairman and civic chairman roles into one position.

This new merged position, held by Reform’s Cllr Nick Adams, Dovedale & Ashbourne North, will have a reduced cumulative additional allowance, saving £7,016.

Without a change to the constitution, which has been required to amalgamate the positions, Cllr Adams is entitled to an extra £18,012 per year.

Following the agreement of the independent remuneration panel, Cllr Adams will instead receive an additional salary of £12,560, £5,452 less than he previously would have been entitled to.

Meanwhile, Reform’s vice civic chairman, Cllr Jodie Brown, will receive an increased allowance from £2,512 up to £4,186 – £1,674 more.

Cllr Adams and Cllr Brown will receive different salaries than before because the independent panel recognised that the respective roles will now require more time following the merges.

Overall, the changes have saved £3,778 per year instead of the intended £7,536.