Agenda and draft minutes

The Mayor for 2025/26, Councillor Josh Allen, welcomed all to the meeting.  A brief statement followed about the filming of proceedings and filming generally within the Town Hall, followed by a fire safety announcement.

To elect the Mayor of the Borough for the Municipal Year 2026/27.

It is a statutory requirement to appoint the Mayor as the first item of business.  The ceremonial handing over to the new Mayor will take place at the Mayor-Making Council meeting on Saturday, 20^th June 2026 at 10.30am in the Council Chamber

It was proposed by Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP and seconded by Councillor Melissa Fisher, that Councillor Noordad Aziz be elected Mayor of the Borough of Hyndburn for the Municipal Year 2026/27.

The nomination was put to the VOTE and was CARRIED.

Resolved                                 -      That, in pursuance of Section 23 of the Local Government Act 1972, Councillor Noordad Azizbe elected to the Office of Mayor of the Borough of Hyndburn for the Municipal Year 2026/27.

There was a round of applause from the Chamber and a brief adjournment was called, whereupon the newly-elected Mayor, Councillor Noordad Aziz and the retiring Mayor Josh Allen, along with the Leaders of the political groups present and the Chief Executive, retired to the Mayor’s Parlour.

Following the adjournment, Councillor Aziz took his place in the Mayor’s seat and the former Mayor attached the Mayoral Fob to the Chain of Office.  The Mayor then read aloud and signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office of Mayor.

The new Mayor thanked the outgoing Mayor and Mayoresses for their service and commented that they would be a hard act to follow.  The Mayor also thanked those councillors and officers who had supported him throughout his years as an elected member, leading up to this honour.  He indicated that he would make a more formal acceptance speech at the appropriate item.

To elect a Deputy Mayor of the Borough for 2026/27.

The Mayor invited nominations for the election of Deputy Mayor of the Borough of Hyndburn for the Municipal Year 2026/27.  It was proposed by Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP and seconded by Councillor Meissa Fisher that Councillor Stewart Eaves be elected to the Office of Deputy Mayor.  It was further proposed by Councillor Gaynor Hargreaves and seconded by Councillor Ashley Joynes that Councillor Joel Tetlow be elected to the Office of Deputy Mayor.

The Mayor decided to take the vote in the order that the individual had been nominated.  Accordingly, the nomination of Councillor Eaves was taken first.  That nomination was put to the VOTE and was CARRIED.  No vote was, therefore, required on the second nomination.

In response to a point of order raised by Councillor Fazal, the Chief Executive reiterated that it was not now possible to hold a vote on the nomination of Councillor Tetlow.  He explained that a majority of more than 50% of the votes cast had been in favour of Councillor Eaves and clarified that in any vote, abstentions did not constitute a vote and should not be counted in the calculation of a majority.

Resolved                                 -      That, in pursuance of Section 24 of the Local Government Act 1972, Councillor Stewart Eaves be elected to the Office of Deputy Mayor of the Borough of Hyndburn for the Municipal Year 2026/27.

Councillor Eaves then read aloud and signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office of Deputy Mayor.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Lance Parkinson and Miles Parkinson OBE.

There were no declarations of interest or dispensations submitted.

a)    Mayor

b)    Leader of the Council

c)    Chief Executive

The Mayor announced that during his tenure he would aim to ensure that everyone in the Chamber was treated with respect and dignity.  The culture around debate in the Chamber had moved forward in a positive manner in recent times.  He acknowledged the role played by the late Councillor Marlene Haworth, in improving members’ behaviour at meetings.  He encouraged all to fulfil their office with integrity and he undertook to Chair meetings with this objective in mind.

Councillor Dad made the following announcements:

Congratulations

The Leader offered his congratulations to the Mayor on his appointment.  He could justifiably be very proud of his 14 years’ service as a councillor and he thoroughly deserved the position.  Councillor Aziz was a Great Harwood man through and through.  Councillor Dad expressed delight both for Councillor Aziz and for his family.

He also paid thanks to Mr Josh Allen, who had been an excellent ambassador for the Borough during his mayoral year.

Bullough Park – Green Flag Bid

The Council was due shortly to submit a bid for the Green Flag Award for Bullough Park in Accrington.  If successful, the award would complete a record-breaking number of such awards in the Borough.  Some £50k had been set aside in the budget to carry out a number of improvements at the site.  This was in addition to the £200k already spent on improvements to date.  Work to date had included the planting of some 3,600 trees, and the creation of a pond and wildflower meadow.  Future work included improved accessibility and the provision of some new benches.

The park could soon join the 11 other Green Flag open spaces in the Borough.  Judging would take place in April 2027.  Improvements across the Borough had ben on-going for around two decades and was a credit to the dedicated staff involved.  The aim was to obtain the same recognition for Bullough Park.

Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre

Work had now commenced on the roof repairs, with contractors on site from last week erecting the necessary scaffolding.  Around £0.5m had been committed to the renovation of the Civic Theatre since 2025, including £10k from Theatres in Trust.  The Leader thanked Councillor Zak Khan for his interest in this project and his support.

David Welsby, Chief Executive, made the following announcement:

Local Elections Outcome

He welcomed new councillors to the authority and to their first formal meeting.  New members present tonight comprised Councillor Sohail Asghar (Progressive Hyndburn) and Councillors Paul Brown, Jordan Fox, Gaynor Hargreaves, Ashley Joynes, Anthony Mitchell and Joel Tetlow (Reform UK).  The Council now had three main political groups and a fourth smaller group comprising Councillors Shabir Fazal and Sohail Asghar.  He also welcomed back Councillors Jodi Clements (Labour and Co-operative) and Steven Smithson (Conservative) who had been re-elected.

To confirm as correct records the minutes of the Council meeting and Special Council meeting both held on 26^th March 2026.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 26^th March 2026 were submitted for approval as a correct record.

In respect of Minute 367 – Announcements: Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), Councillor Steven Smithson asked for an update and queried whether it was known if the May 2027 local elections would go ahead.  The Leader responded that the Government was committed to LGR and that five different proposals had been submitted by the various councils in Lancashire.  A decision was expected in July on the Government’s preferred option.  The next stage would be to consult upon this option and to consider the details.  The question of local elections in 2027 had not yet been raised with local authorities by the Government, but if it did, the Council would provide a response.

Resolved                                 -      That the Minutes of the Council meeting held on the 26^th March 2026 be approved as a correct record.

Report attached.

Members were asked to appoint the Leader of the Council for a one year term, from this meeting until the Council’s Annual Meeting in 2027, and nominations were invited accordingly.

In December 2010, the Council had adopted the Leader and Cabinet Executive (England) Model, in accordance with the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.  This had taken effect from 9^th May 2011.

Under this arrangement, the Council had elected the Leader for a four-year term.  The Localism Act 2011 had subsequently removed the requirement for the Leader to be elected for a four-year term, leaving the duration of tenure to local choice.  In 2024, the Council had reverted to electing the Leader annually.  It was proposed that the Council should retain the system of appointing the Leader annually for 2026/27.

The Leader was responsible for –

• determining the size of the Cabinet (which must be a minimum of 3 councillors, up to a maximum of 10, including the Leader);
• appointing the members of the Cabinet and appointing one of the Cabinet to be the statutory Deputy Leader of the Council;
• allocating portfolios or areas of responsibility to the various Cabinet members;
• allocating decision-making powers to the Cabinet and to individual Cabinet members; (although in Hyndburn the Cabinet made all decisions collectively) and
• removing and replacing Cabinet members.

In addition, the Leader was responsible for deciding how the Council’s executive functions would be exercised and for making the delegation of executive powers to officers.  Council would still approve a scheme of delegation of non-executive functions to officers and this would be considered later in the agenda.

The Leader nominated a statutory Deputy Leader, who would exercise the Leader’s powers if the Leader was unable to act, or the post of Leader became vacant.

Council was, therefore, requested to elect a Leader in accordance with those arrangements.

The report included a suggestion that if more than one nomination was received at the meeting, these would be put to the vote in turn and alphabetically by surname, as had happened in previous years.  However, the order of voting was at the Mayor’s discretion.

A nomination for Councillor Zak Khan was MOVED and SECONDED, following which a nomination for Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP was MOVED and SECONDED.

The Mayor considered the order in which to take the votes and, having previously taken votes in the order of receipt of the nomination for the Appointment of Deputy Mayor (Minute 2 refers), he determined to do similarly for this item.

On being put to the VOTE the motion to appoint Councillor Zak Khan as Leader of the Council for 2026/27 was LOST.

Then, on being put to the VOTE the motion to appoint Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP as Leader of the Council for 2026/27 was CARRIED.

The Mayor gave his congratulations to Councillor Dad.  The Leader then thanked the Council for supporting his appointment to this role for a third consecutive year and also thanked  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Report attached.

The following list of persons elected at the Borough Council elections on 7^th May 2026 was provided:

Resolved                                    -    That the list of persons elected at the Borough Council elections on 7^th May 2026 be noted.

Report attached.

The Leader of the Council submitted proposals for the appointment of Committees, Sub-Committees, Panels and Working Groups for the Municipal Year 2026/27, including the terms of reference for those bodies.  In accordance with paragraphs 3.2, 4.5, 5.1 and 5.3 of the report, Appendices 1, 2 and 3 comprising the terms of reference and the proposed membership of the various bodies were tabled at the meeting, by way of an addendum to the main report.  The addendum also included updated political balance information and revised committee sizes, following the formation of a fourth political group on the Council.

The annual meeting of Council was required to establish Committees, Sub-Committees, Panels and Working Groups and to determine their terms of reference. 

The current terms of reference for the various constituted bodies were set out in Part 3 of the Constitution - Responsibility for Functions and were reproduced in the addendum to the report:-

            Appendix 1:     Terms of Reference of Council, Cabinet and Committees.

            Appendix 2:     Terms of Reference of Panels and Working Groups.

Where appropriate, any minor and consequential amendments had been made to the existing terms of reference, to incorporate revised legislation and changes to national policies.

Allocation of Seats

The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 required that the number of seats on committees and sub-committees reflected the overall political balance of the Council.  Section 15(1)(b) of the Act required the Council to review the representation of different political groups on those bodies at the Annual Council meeting (or as soon as practicable after that meeting).

The overall political balance on the Council had changed following the local elections on 7^th May 2026.  There were now four political groups across the Council and the number of seats held by each political group for the 2026/27 Municipal Year was as follows:-

Table 1

The Council comprised 35 elected members.

The total seats available across the Council was 87, which should, in so far as was practicable, be divided between the political parties in the ratios as set out above.

It should be noted that some adjustment to the ratios shown above might be required in the final allocation of seats across the Council to take into account the following principles as required by the legislation:

(a)   Not all seats to go to the same group;

(b)   If a group has a majority on the Council, it should receive a majority of seats on each committee;

(c)   Total number of seats across all bodies must be proportionate (subject to (a) and (b));

(d)   Seats on each body (ie. Committee, sub-committee etc) must be proportionate (subject to (a) to (c)).

Details of the Council’s proposed committees and sub-committees, the number of seats available and allocation of seats were set out in Table 2  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report attached.

A report relating to the appointment of Council representatives to outside bodies and organisations for the Municipal Year 2026/27 was submitted for approval.  In accordance with paragraph 1.1 of the report, Appendix A comprising the list of outside bodies and the proposed appointments, was tabled at the meeting in an addendum to the main report.

In accordance with the Council’s Procedure Rule A1.2(x), the Council was required to receive nominations and make appointments to outside bodies and organisations, except where appointment to those bodies had been delegated by the Council or was exercisable only by the Executive.

An exercise was carried out by Member Services during 2020 to ascertain the status of all outside bodies to which members might be appointed and to obtain copies of their key governance documents, so that members could better understand their responsibilities and prepare for their role.  The outside bodies list had been comprehensively updated in 2021/22 to take account of feedback obtained during that exercise and other reported changes.  Minor updates had been included in subsequent years.

There were no changes proposed to the list of outside bodies for 2026/27.  The proposed councillor appointments were set out at Appendix A, included in the addendumto the report.  Where no names had been submitted in advance and these had not subsequently been provided at the meeting, a delegated authority to the Chief Executive to make the appointments in consultation with the relevant political group leaders was proposed.

Councillor Khan indicated that where any vacancy had been identified as a Conservative position, he would be happy to consider sharing the seat across the Opposition groups.

Resolved                               -   That the appointments to outside bodies and organisations for the Municipal Year 2026/27, as set out in Appendix A of the addendum to the report, be approved, and in the case of those details which are not available in time for the meeting, that the Chief Executive be authorised to approve the membership in consultation with the leaders of the relevant political groups.

Report attached.

The Council considered a report of Executive Director (Legal & Democratic Services)seeking approval for the scheme of delegation to officers for the 2026/27 municipal year.

It was good practice to review the Council’s scheme of delegation to officers regularly to keep it up to date.  This helped to ensure that the Council’s decision-making processes operated as effectively as possible and in accordance with legal requirements.  The scheme was therefore updated each year at the Council’s Annual Meeting.

The scheme of delegation set out both the executive and non-executive functions that were delegated to chief officers.  The non-executive delegations related to the legal functions of the full Council and its various committees, and these were the delegations that legally required approval by the Council.  As a matter of law, the delegations relating to the functions of the Council’s Cabinet would be delegated to chief officers by the Leader of the Council and this would formally be done in writing and as soon as possible after this meeting.

The proposed scheme of delegation for 2026/27 was set out in Schedule 1 to the report.  There had been no changes that increased or decreased the delegations to chief officers.  Instead, the scheme had been updated as follows:

• to reflect the outcome of the recent organisational review, which had led to changes to the responsibilities of some chief officers and some changes to job titles;
• the layout of the scheme had been changed to make it easier to use and, in particular, the executive and non-executive delegations to each chief officer had been grouped together rather that set out in different sections of the scheme as previously;
• the delegations to the Head of Environmental Health had been simplified to refer to the various environmental health functions in more general terms, rather than including a very long list of environmental health legislation as previously.  This was considered to be easier to understand and more comprehensive, as it avoided the risk of specific pieces of legislation or regulations being omitted by accident.

Resolved                                   -    That the Council agrees the scheme of delegation to officers, as set out in Schedule 1 to the report.

Report attached.

The Council considered a report of Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, Leader of the Council, proposing a number of updates to the Council’s written constitution following the annual review of the same.

The Council was required by law to have a written constitution.  The Council’s written constitution was reviewed regularly, and a copy of the constitution was available on the Council’s website.  The constitution set out the following:

• the terms of reference and size of each committee and working group;
• the rules that applied to Council meetings (e.g. re quorum, motions, ways of voting, length of speeches etc);
• the rules that applied to Cabinet meetings;
• the rules that applied to overview and scrutiny committee’s (e.g. call-in of Cabinet decisions, appointment of co-optees, formation of annual work programme, calling officers and members to give account);
• the Council’s code of conduct for councillors, plus the code of conduct for members of the Planning Committee and Licensing Committee, and the member / officer relations protocol; and
• the rules relating to procurement by the Council (i.e. the purchase of works, goods and services), the Council’s financial procedures and the rules relating to access to meetings, reports and background papers.

A review of the constitution was undertaken annually to:

(i)    ensure the constitution accurately reflected the Council’s political management arrangements; and

(ii)   ensure the constitution reflected changes to the law, staffing structures and best practice guidance.

Member Training

Members would shortly be offered training on the Council’s decision-making processes.  This would cover constitutional requirements (such as the rules for voting, motions, call-in etc), as well as legal requirements for sound and lawful decision making.  This training was especially useful for newly or recently elected councillors.

Officers would also offer training to any newly appointed committee chairs and vice chairs, to assist them in their new role.

Local authorities were recommended, as a matter of good practice, to supplement their member code of conduct with specific codes of practice to assist councillors involved in the planning and licensing processes.  These were complex areas, involving quasi-judicial decision-making and where there was a real risk of legal challenge, whether on appeal or via judicial review.  The Council’s Planning and Licensing codes of practice were designed to give members guidance about dealing with the difficult issues that could arise – such as conflicts of interest, dealing with applicants, possible bias and predetermination etc.  In accordance with the Council’s Member Development Strategy 2020-2027, councillors sitting on the Planning, Licensing and Taxi Licensing Committees were required to have undergone training each year before they served on their respective Committees and took part in decision making.  It is therefore intended that all members serving on the Planning, Licensing and Taxi Licensing Committees would receive training in respect of their respective code of practice as soon as possible in the new municipal year.  These sessions would be as short and informal as possible and would be delivered by Legal Services staff and their Planning and Licensing colleagues at no  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Schedule attached.

The proposed Timetable of Meetings for 2026/27 was submitted for approval.  As in previous years, it was anticipated that there was some flexibility around agreed dates, subject to consultation with Chairs, Vice-Chairs and the political party leaders about any in-year changes.

Councillor Dad highlighted that the most up to date version of the timetable indicated that date of next Council meeting was 25^th June (not 9th July) and that the next Cabinet would be held on 24th June (not 17th June).

Resolved                                    -    That the Timetable of Meetings for 2026/27 be approved.

Report attached.

A report relating to the annual attendance of Members at Council meetings held in 2025/26 was submitted for information.  The report, detailing the attendance of Councillors at eligible meetings of the Council, was submitted each year to the Annual Meeting of the Council.

Councillor Walsh reported that she had been present at the both the Annual and Special Council meetings on 15^th May 2025, but attendance at Annual Council was for part of the meeting only due to travel issues.

Resolved                                    -    That the report be noted and that the attendance of Councillor Kate Walsh at the Annual Council Meeting on 15^th May 2025 be formally recorded.

Report attached.

This item was withdrawn, as the elected member concerned was present at this meeting and such attendance remained within the 6 months’ timeframe permitted.