Cabinet portfolios and Committee memberships announced at Buckinghamshire Council

Matthew Clark | May 1, 2020

The holders of Cabinet portfolios and Committee memberships at Buckinghamshire Council were announced at a meeting held on Thursday 30th April 2020.

At the Buckinghamshire Council Cabinet held on Thursday 30th April 2020 the seventeen Cabinet Members of the new council were confirmed as well as the announcement of the membership of council committees.

As the local elections due to take place on Thursday 7th May 2020 were postponed the government put into place special arrangements for the political governance for the new Buckinghamshire Council which is laid out in the Local Government (Coronavirus) (Structural Changes)(Consequential Amendments) (England) Regulations 2020.

The Government specified that all current Shadow Authority councillors will be councillors of the new Buckinghamshire Council and that the existing seventeen Shadow Executive members will form new Cabinet of Buckinghamshire Council until the elections are held in May 2021.

As a result Martin Tett would continue as Leader of the new Buckinghamshire Council, while Angela Macpherson and Katrina Wood were confirmed at Deputy Leaders at the Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday 21st April 2020.

The regulations also set out appointments to various committees and the Select Committees as established under the constitution of the new council.

The members of the Cabinet and their portfolios that were announced on Thursday 30th April 2020 are:

Martin Tett, Leader
Angela Macpherson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member Adult Social Care
Katrina Wood, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member Resources
Steve Bowles, Cabinet Member Town Centre Regeneration
Bill Chapple, Cabinet Member Environment and Climate Change
John Chilver, Cabinet Member Property & Assets
Anita Cranmer, Cabinet Member Education and Skills
Isobel Darby, Cabinet Member Housing & Homelessness
Tony Green, Cabinet Member Youth Provision
Clive Harriss, Cabinet Member Sports and Leisure
Patrick Hogan, Cabinet Member Culture
David Martin, Cabinet Member Logistics
Nick Naylor, Cabinet Member Transport
Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member Children’s Services
Warren Whyte, Cabinet Member Planning and Enforcement
Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member Communities & Public Health
Fred Wilson, Cabinet Member Regulatory Services

Full details of the specific services covered by each portfolio can be found on the Buckinghamshire Council website.

Councillors have also been nominated to serve on the new council committees, this has been done according to proportionality arrangements that reflect the current political make-up of the council.

Once the regulations come into force, the appointments will be confirmed on Monday 11th May 2020. The Membership of Select Committees was also reported.

In the case of Community Boards, all Buckinghamshire Council councillors from the respective area are members of these new Boards. Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health, Gareth Williams, announced the names of Chairmen of these Boards so that they can begin to plan how they will work at a local level:

Amersham – Graham Harris
Aylesbury – Mark Winn
Beaconsfield and Chepping Wye – Anita Cranmer
Beeches – David Anthony
Buckingham and villages – Charlie Clare
Chesham and villages – Patricia Birchley
Denham, Gerrards Cross and Chalfonts – Santokh Chhoker
Haddenham and Waddesdon – Michael Rand
High Wycombe – Arif Hussain
Missendens – Peter Martin
North West Chilterns – Gary Hall
South West Chilterns – Dominic Barnes
Wendover – Julie Ward
Wexham and Ivers – Jilly Jordan
Wing and villages – Anne Wight
Winslow and villages – Susan Renshell

Details of Board membership and that of other committees can also be found on the Buckinghamshire Council website.

The Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, Martin Tett, said: ‘The new Cabinet is large, as required by Government, but has the advantage of including a strong mix of councillors from all the former councils. This brings a wealth of local knowledge and expertise that will be of great benefit to the new council over the next year as we continue to respond to the current emergency and focus on helping our residents and businesses recover from this crisis.

We have worked well together as a team since May last year creating the new council and I look forward to continuing this work as we develop the new council for a better future together for the residents and businesses of Buckinghamshire.

If social distancing measures remain in force, which is likely, the council will be looking at ways to enable committees and the usual business of the council to be conducted effectively, while keeping members safe.

Similarly, the make-up of committees represents the opportunity to build a strong, new culture, with more diversity and opportunity whilst retaining the expertise of the past.‘

*Source of article : Press release from Buckinghamshire Council.