Minutes:
The Mayor thanked Father Jeffrey for offering the blessing at the start of the meeting.
As this was his final ordinary Council meeting, he then provided a review of his year in office, highlighting the following for particular attention:
· He had enjoyed every minute of his duties as Mayor. Whilst the schedule was sometime punishing it had also been rewarding.
· A real memory would be meeting so many people in the borough, particularly those working in the voluntary sector who provided so many services to the Council. Without them he felt the borough would not be an exciting place to live and work.
· During his office as Mayor he had visited many schools and met many children and teachers. The Mayors debating competition for children at both primary and secondary level had been extremely enjoyable and had demonstrated some exceptionally brilliant debating skills.
· He had also met all five branches of scouts and cadets in the borough, with the young people benefiting immensely from their training. These talented young people had taught him to fly, albeit on a computer, and had also benefited from experience gained in other training including camping, swimming and sports, which combined well with their academic achievements in aviation science.
· He had visited a large number of elderly people’s organisations, with the elderly, he felt, contributing a great deal to the wellbeing of society. A lot of the elderly were really appreciative of his visits to their homes and rapport established with them.
· During his mayorship two significant events had taken place. The signing of the Armed Forces Covenant and on her Majesty’s advice, flying the Commonwealth Flag outside the Civic Centre.
· He had attended about 400 engagements during the year, although he felt it was not the number of appointments that mattered but the quality of people met that was important.
· As a Council, the Mayor advised he would like to see further development of the contribution from voluntary & community groups and individuals who had done so much good work for the people of Enfield.
· He also extended his thanks and gratitude to his fellow councillors and the Labour Group for nominating him as Mayor. It had been a real privilege to serve as the first citizen of the borough. As an ambassador of the borough, he had also tried his best to promote its profile locally, nationally and internationally. During his time as a Mayor, particularly while presiding over council meetings, he had tried to be as fair and impartial as possible but recognised he may, at times, have incurred the displeasure of some councillors and for this he apologised. Particular reference was made to the previous meeting with specific apologies offered to Councillors Oykener and Neville. The Mayor believed that honesty blossomed in magnanimity and as a result hoped that his fellow councillors had not been offended during his chairmanship of council meetings.
· He offered particular thanks to officers in the Mayoral team with specific reference to Rhoda, Melanie, Norman and Andy. Advice from John Austin and Asmat Hussain had also been immensely helpful. In terms of the religious blessings at council he pointed out that he had also provided opportunities for all religious groups in the borough to participate, which he hoped had impacted on the behaviour of all councillors.
· The Mayor advised that he had decided to leave politics altogether, at the end of his term of office, to concentrate on community development in the borough particularly in relation to Black and Minority Ethnic groups.
· Before concluding his review the Mayor announced he had decided to introduce a good conduct award for council meetings. Whilst appreciating that all councillors had contributed and behaved well during his time in office, he felt that some stood out in terms of their excellent conduct in the chamber. He therefore named the following councillors as recipients of his good conduct award for Council meetings during 2013/14:
Labour Group Conservative Group
Bambos Charalambous Mike Rye
Doug Taylor Edward Smith
Christine Hamilton John Kaye
Toby Simon Joanne Laban
Del Goddard Denise Headley
The Mayor then made the following announcements:
(a) Death of a former councillor
The Mayor announced, with sadness, the death of a past councillor Sir Colin William Carstairs-Turner, CBE, DFC who had served in the 1950s. He asked members to join him in extending the Council’s sympathies to his family.
(b) Council photo
All members were requested to remain in the chamber after the meeting for a group photograph to commemorate the Council during 2010 to 2014.
Councillor Taylor, Leader of the Council, took the opportunity to respond by congratulating and placing on record his thanks to Councillor Anwar for the work undertaken as Mayor, and way he had conducted himself in the role and in chairing the Council over the year. A particular focus had been the work he had undertaken with the local voluntary and community sector, and he wished him well for the further work he planned to undertake in this area once his term of office had come to an end.
In addition, Councillor Taylor thanked Councillor Cranfield, as Deputy Mayor, for the work and support she had provided to the Mayor during the year. This was an important role but one that could often be overlooked. As this was the final Council meeting of the current Administration he also placed on record his thanks to all of the previous Mayors and Deputy Mayors who had held office since 2010.
Councillor Lavender, Leader of the Opposition, endorsed the comments made and also congratulated and thanked the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the work they had undertaken during the year and for the way in which they had conducted Council meetings. He felt they had been a credit to the office and a great success in the role.
Before moving on, the Mayor reminded members that it had been the tradition in Enfield at the final Council meeting before a local election to offer those members not standing for re-election the opportunity to address the meeting. With the prior agreement of both Groups it had been agreed that each speech should be limited to a maximum of two minutes.
Before inviting members to speak, the Mayor expressed his thanks to those members not standing in the election for their services to the borough and wished them well for the future.
Councillors Constantindes, Anolue, Waterhouse, Ibrahim, Joannides, Goddard, Zetter & Berryman all spoke at the meeting outlining their personal experiences as councillors and thanking their fellow colleagues and officers for the support provided during the time they had served as members.