Mayor Making ceremony postponed
Our annual Mayor Making ceremony has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
What usually happens?
Each year the council holds its Annual General Meeting of Council at which there is a ceremony to welcome in the new Mayor of Kirklees for the next year.
Deputy Mayor Councillor Nigel Patrick was due to take over from current Mayor of Kirklees Councillor Mumtaz Hussain on 20 May 2020.
What will happen now?
Due to social distancing requirements, the meeting cannot take place and we will reschedule it when it is safe to do so. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor will remain in their current roles until this can be done.
Councillor Shabir Pandor, Leader of Kirklees Council, said: “Our traditions and democratic processes run through everything we do and this will always be the case.
“However, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions that puts on all of us, we have no option but to postpone our Annual General Meeting of Council and our Mayor Making ceremony.
“The Government has also enacted legislation to allow all councils to postpone their AGMs in line with postponing the local elections until next May and under the circumstances I agree with the Government that this is the right thing to do to ensure public safety and save lives.
“I’d like to thank Councillor Hussain for agreeing to continue in the role of Mayor for the time being. I’m looking forward to when we finally get back to normality and we can welcome Councillor Patrick in as the new Mayor of Kirklees but for now he will continue to work closely with Councillor Hussain to help him carry out Kirklees’ civic duties.
“We are dealing with some of the biggest challenges we have ever faced as a council and right now our most important task is to keep people safe and healthy. Postponing this event simply had to be done for that reason.”
We have been working to put the right systems in place to hold public meetings virtually. On Friday 1 May at 3pm Cabinet will be meeting online for the first time and you can watch it live here.
Preparations are also being made to host Planning and Scrutiny Committee meetings in the same way.
A prudent decision to defer Mayor welcome ceremony until things get back to normal. Hope Councillor Hussain will carry on undertaking his civic duties to the best of his ability during these strange times.
Is there any way Council could ensure availability of masks and gloves in Kirklees for purchase by the public? It’s a shame that these products are not available for purchase at affordable prices and online vendors are ripping off the public.