First meeting for area’s new ‘supercouncil’
The presiding councillor for the new council, will chair all meetings of the council, which will operate during a shadow period. This is Councillor James Tinsley (DUP). The deputy presiding councillor is Councillor Stephen Martin (Alliance).
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Hide AdMr Tinsley said: “I am delighted to be the presiding councillor and I consider this to be a great honour. I would like to thank all colleagues for their support.
“I would like to thank our new Chief Executive, Dr.Donaldson and officers from Lisburn and Castlereagh councils for efforts to date, to get the meeting, with a new process and procedure, organised in such an effective way.
“This is a challenging time and it is a period of significant change for local government and we look forward to meeting these challenges in order to provide the highest possible services to our expanded ratepayer base.”
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Hide AdMr Martin also commented. He said: “I look forward to working with all Elected Members and with Officers as the official business begins in earnest.
“We will see this new body become one of the new 11 local authorities and we are committed to working to drive the process forward with the work plans and priority areas identified.”
Special Responsibility positions for Elected Members were decided by the new council under the D’Hondt method of appointment.
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Hide AdThe Council will run until March 31 2015 in shadow form and the new council will then be the local authority for the area. Council Meetings are open to members of the public to attend.
Committees, with Chair and Vice-Chair representation were appointed.
These include Leisure Services Committee Councillor Thomas Beckett (Chair) and Councillor John Gallen (Vice-Chair) and Shadow Planning Committee Councillor David Drysdale (Chair) and Councillor Robbie Butler (Vice-Chair).