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The Mayor announced that she had accepted an
urgent motion for consideration at the meeting concerning the
proposed closure of almost all staffed railway ticket offices in
England, including Stevenage.  This has
been circulated to Members on a supplementary agenda and would be
considered as the first item under Agenda Item 11 – Notice of
Motions.  The time taken to debate this
urgent motion would not affect the 90-minute slot for consideration
of the three motions previously submitted.
 
The Mayor stated that she was aware that there
was no provision for the consideration of urgent motions in the
Council’s Constitution, but she was exercising my discretion
to allow this motion to be debated tonight.  Officers would look to incorporate such a
provision as part of the Constitutional Review recognising, of
course, that there must be sufficient grounds as to why such a
motion was urgent and could not wait until the next Council
meeting.
 
The Mayor then presented Long Service Awards
to Councillors Jackie Hollywell (25 years’ service), Graham
Snell (25 years’ service) and Jeannette Thomas (20
years’ service).
 
The Mayor announced that it was an honour and
a privilege for her to be in the role for 2023/24.  She had attended over 45 events in her first seven
weeks, as well as newspaper coverage and an interview on
international television.  She thanked
those councillors who had given her advice and wisdom, as well as
those who had supported her at events, and those who had
accompanied her on some of her engagements when her Consort had
been unavailable.  She also thanked the
Deputy Mayor for stepping in and attending events when she herself
had been unavailable.