At the Annual Town Council Meeting of 11 May 2023 the appointments and structures as below were agreed.

Town Council Leader Cllr Brian Smedley

Deputy Leader Cllr Kathy Pearce

Mayor Cllr Mick Lerry

Deputy Mayor Cllr Jacqui Solomon

The Council structure would continue on an Executive system of portfolio Holders backed by 2 support members in a PFH-Triad to ensure debate and agreement amongst leader groups. Increased public involvement was also encouraged through the Forum system.

EXECUTIVE AND PORTFOLIOS The Policy & Finance Executive should consist of the 8 portfolio holders (PFH) . 3 rule changes were agreed as below
  1. That the TRIADS be allowed to send any one of the 3 should the PFH not be available.
  2. That there be a new CIVIC Triad comprising a) Current Mayor b) previous Mayor and c) Deputy Mayor (ie next Mayor).  This triad should be present at Exec, but non-voting.
  3. The opposition Conservative group are entitled to send an observer to the P&F Exec, nominally the Leader of the Opposition, but able to substitute.

 COUNCIL STRUCTURE

BTC council structure 2023-24
TRIADS The 3 member Triads are a crucial part of sharing the load and having full discussion of a topic or policy. They should meet regularly and share the workload within their realm. Ie taking Chairs and vice chair of committees and forums and nominating to the appropriate ‘outside body’. The proposed Triad system for 2023-24 is as follows.
FINANCE Leader Brian Smedley
Deputy Leader Kathy Pearce Economy PFH Mick Lerry
Town Council Leader, PFH Finance Clr Brian Smedley
This PFH and triad should focus on the 4 key forums of HISTORY DAY -TWINNING-TOURISM-BRIDGWATER TOGETHER. The new LCN role will fall within this department and will require a BTC rep to compliment the 8 unitary councillors. The Leader will Chair the P&F Exec.
CLIMATE Deputy Kathy Pearce
Liz Leavy Jacqui Solomon
Deputy Leader and Climate/Environment PFH Kathy Pearce
This PFH will include the new ENVIRONMENT committee, which all 3 should serve on plus 6 others. Triad should run the 4 areas covering Allotments, cemeteries, seed the day and parks and gardens. This can be any way they see fit but could include a Forum or a working party or directly by the triad.
ECONOMY Mick Lerry
Dave Loveridge Tony Heywood
Mayor of Bridgwater & Economy PFH Cllr Mick Lerry
This PFH will also include the STAFF brief (the working party should include the Leader & Deputy) The Triad should also have input on Town Team, Town Deal, Markets. The brief would now include the Town Development Forum.
PROPERTY Tim Mander
Leigh Redman Mick Lerry
Property & Planning PFH Cllr Tim Mander
The property portfolio will include chairing the Premises ctte and also the Planning committee. The brief will extend to the new buildings that the town takes on and the property PFH should have a degree of consultation with other portfolios that include property elements. We are proposing Tim Mander because of his work experience at Sedgemoor in the field of property and the extra and specific workload due to the creation of Unitary and the demise of Sedgemoor.  
TRANSPORT Dave loveridge
Mick Lerry Tim Mander
Dave Loveridge (Transport PFH)
The Transport Forum is a successful self-functioning body with established outside involvement and should continue with more of an environmental drive to it. It will also include the Nuclear related transport bodies.
CULTURE Irena Hubble
Liz Leavy Mick Lerry
PFH for Culture, Heritage and the Arts Cllr Irena Hubble
This PFH will cover not just culture but arts and heritage. The PFH and Triad should take shared roles on the BCP and SEED groups in whatever format and ensure at least one is represented on the Art Centre & Museum. One of  triad should chair the Museum sub ctte
COMMUNITY Liz Marsh
Tim Mander Brian Smedley
PFH for Community and this year’s Mayoress, Cllr Liz Marsh
The main role of this PFH is liaison with our core grant funded community centres – Victoria, Sydenham and Hamp. It should also provide the structure for liaison with the Police plus other community initiatives such as the Community Drop ins (warm rooms) etc
YOUTH Jacqui Solomon
Irena Hubble Liz Marsh
PFH for Youth and Deputy Mayor Cllr Jacqui Solomon
The brief of this PFH is maintain and run the Youth Forum plus encourage links from schools.
CIVIC Mayor Last Mayor Next Mayor
This new civic triad of past, present and future Mayors should meet to plan and discuss mayoral role and functions. It will also be eligible to send a rep as an observer to Exec

COMMITTEES

Apart from the elected Committees Mayor Mick Lerry emphasised the desire to ‘share power’.
There are several committees which any member of council can be on. Town Council is not bound by politically proportionality rules but if it were, for fairness, then the balance would be that the Conservative Group should have 18.75% of all committee places. There are 29 committee places (Environment 8 Premises 10 Planning 11). This means 5 Conservative seats. We have allocated this as requested (Environment 1 Premises 2 Planning 2) The Executive  is comprised of the 8 Portfolio Holders as voting members. We have introduced observer status for the Mayoral Triad and for the Conservative Group as a key element of scrutiny and openness. This is in line with the system previously operated by Sedgemoor whereby the portfolios were chosen from the ruling group. The relevant Triad members should nominate chairs and vice chairs from amongst them. POLICY & FINANCE EXECUTIVE (8 x PFH)
Ch -Leader/Finance Economy Culture Transport
Deputy/Climate Community Property Youth
ENVIRONMENT
Ch-Pearce Vc Solomon Morgan Lilley
Mander Loveridge Hubble Leavy
PREMISES (PROPERTY)
Ch Mander Vc Redman Lerry Smedley Pearce
Glassford Solomon Leavy Lilley Slocombe
  PLANNING
CH- Mander Vc Lerry Leavy Heywood
 Glassford Morgan Loveridge Solomon
Hubble Lilley Aujla  

Management Committees

BLAKE MUSEUM
Ch Leavy Vc Hubble Mander
Glassford Loveridge Slocombe (sub Aujla)
BRIDGWATER ARTS CENTRE
Hubble Leavy Smedley Mander
The Bridgwater Town Council system of Community Forums will open up the councils structures to the public
BRIDGWATER ART CENTRE PROPOSAL ;- The current arrangement is that the BTC nominated Cllrs are DIRECTORS  however, annual meeting agreed they should be ‘observers’ so they could vote at BTC meetings but not at BAC ones FORUMS These are open to ANY member of the council but should be organised by the relevant Triad and chaired by one of the Triad members. Triads can also choose to set up additional forums if they feel appropriate. Forums should be open to councillors, relevant groups of experts and members of the public, ideally delegates from organised bodies.
Town Development Tourism History Twinning Transport
Ch Lerry Ch Smedley Ch Smedley Ch Mayor Ch Morgan
Police Community Climate
Ch Smedley Ch Marsh Ch Pearce
LOCAL COMMUNITY NETWORKS
Redman  Smedley Pearce Bruce BTC Tim Mander
Slocombe Duddridge Rodrigues Dingwall BW Without rep
The proposed geography of Somerset’s LCNs
Bridgwater is Area 8 LCN. The 8 county councillors are automatically on it but both BTC and ‘BW Without’ need to appoint a delegate. Tim Mander is the BTC rep on the LCN 8 Area.       OUTSIDE BODIES
Wyndham Lecture Trust LERRY
Town Team LERRY
Carnival LEAVY
BCP HUBBLE
SEED (trustee) LERRY
Tidal barrier (stakeholders) LERRY
Tidal Barrier Enhancement PEARCE
Hamp Community Association REDMAN LEAVY
Sydenham Community Centre MORGAN GLASSFORD
Victoria Community Centre LERRY MARSH
Bw Memorial Homes SOLOMON
Friends of Wembdon rd cem LILLEY SLOCOMBE
Together Team (ONE TEAM) REDMAN MARSH LEAVY
MORGAN LOVERIDGE LILLEY
Kingsdown Pavillion MORGAN GLASSFORD
All EDF related bodies REDMAN SOLOMON GLASSFORD
SLOCOMBE MORGAN
Brent Marshall MORGAN
Allotments PEARCE
Bank Signatories REDMAN PEARCE LEAVY
SMEDLEY
Parret Drainage Board LEAVY MORGAN
  MEETINGS Meetings will be held at the following times-
Meeting Lead May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan24 Feb Mar Apr
Full Council 7pm Mayor Thu 11 ANNUAL Thu 3 Thu 12 Thu 7 Thu 18 Thu 14 Annual town meeting  Thu 18
Finance 9.30 Leader Mon 3 Mon 18 Mon 20 Mon 5 Mon 22
Planning 11am Cllr Mander Thur 18 Thur 1 Thur 22 Thur 13 Thur 3 Thur 24 Thur 14 Thur 5 Thur 26 Thur 16 Thur 14 Thur 11 Thur 1 Thur 22 Thur 14 Thur 4 Thur 25
Premises 10am Cllr Mander Wed 21 Wed 13 Wed 13 Wed 20
Museum 11am Cllr Leavy Mon 8 May
Environment wed 10am Cllr Pearce Wed 7 Wed 26 Wed 18 Wed 24 Wed 27
     

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