FOI request (FOIR-454150651)

Councillor Barnett

Requested Mon 26 September 2022
Responded  Fri 21 October 2022

Further to my previous e-mails can you please provide the following information in respect of Councillor Barnet and his position/authority as a Council Portfolio Holder:

Cllr. Barnet made his statement about the decision not to sell land to Hastings United on 18/03/2022. What Portfolio did he hold at that time? When did he become Leader of the Council as you stated in your response to me regarding my FOI request. It would appear that he was appointed Leader on 27/05/2022, that is after he had made the public statement.

Can you provide a reference in the Council's Constitution which gives authority to individual Portfolio Holders to make decisions on behalf of the Council instead of Cabinet or Full Council.

Finally can you provide details of the Council services included in any Portfolios held by Councillor Barnett when he made his decision not to proceed with the sale of land to Hastings United FC.

Response

At the time of 18/03/2022 Councillor Barnett was the Deputy Leader of the Council and Regeneration Portfolio Holder when he made the statement.

Please accept my apologies for the error made in our response to your Freedom of Information request, reference FOIR-444792587 - Tilekiln Recreation Ground, it was said that Councillor Barnett made the statement as Council Leader where in fact it was done in his capacity of Deputy Leader and Regeneration Portfolio Holder.

His Portfolio covered the following:

Regeneration

Culture

Museum

White Rock Theatre

Tourism and 1066 Marketing

Connecting Hastings and Rother Together (CHART)

Coastal protection

Coastal management

Foreshore operation

Lifeguards

HBC major events

Stade Saturdays

Beach Huts

Cliff Railways

Fisheries

>Hastings Castle

Civic and Ceremonial/Mayoralty

Cliff Railways

Leisure Development

Leisure Facilities

Active Travel

Outdoor Sports Facilities and Events booking

Councillor Kim Forward resigned as Council Leader on the 29 March 2021 and Councillor Barnett was officially elected as Leader of the Council at Full Council on 13th April 2022 after Councillor Kim Forward officially resigned at the meeting.

In respect of the constitution, this is publicly available to view on our website via the following link:

https://www.hastings.gov.uk/my-council/decision-making/constitution/