Meeting documents

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Ms A Baughan, S Broadbent, C Etholen, R Gaffney and B Pearce.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2015 (previously circulated)

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Regulatory and Appeals Committee held on 8 July 2015 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any disclosure of disclosable pecuniary interests by Members relating to items on the agenda.  If any Member is uncertain as to whether an interest should be disclosed, he or she is asked if possible to contact the District Solicitor prior to the meeting.

Members are reminded that if they are declaring an interest, they should state the nature of that interest whether or not they are required to withdraw from the meeting. 

No declarations of interest were received.

The Presenting Officer clarified that no dispensations were required to take part and vote at this meeting.  Under the terms of the Localism Act 2011, it was deemed that Members had a non disclosable pecuniary interest in the subject matter under consideration.

A report was submitted which requested that the recommendations from the independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) be considered and determined following the recent review having taken place with regard to Members Allowances. These recommendations were detailed in paragraph 8 of the report.

The report stated that the IRP had been appointed under the Local Authorities (Members Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 to consider and report upon its findings with regards to its views on the terms and conditions of the Allowances Scheme.  

The report also stated that the Panel had met in July and September of this year to consider amendments to the scheme of Members` allowances and several other associated issues. Previous reviews had also taken place in 2008, 2010 and 2013. The subsequent report from the current review was attached at Appendix 1 to the report. This detailed the methodology and process adopted by the IRP together with the data and documentation considered as part of the review.

In accordance with regulations, notice of the IRP report had been made public, whilst simultaneously being circulated to all Members of the Council.

All Members had been invited to submit representations to the Panel, indicating whether they also wished to make any representations in person. All the representations received were documented in the IRP’s report.  The current temporary levels and amounts put in place by the Leader of the Council were attached at Appendix A to their report, whilst the formal scheme was attached at Appendix B.

Members were reminded that the recommendations from the IRP were of an advisory nature and as such could be accepted, rejected or amended as was felt to be appropriate. The recommendations as agreed at this meeting would then proceed to Full Council for endorsement on 14 December.   

Members deliberated in some considerable detail on the recommendations before them, which they considered each at a time making the following comments:

Recommendation 1 - Rejected – Chairman`s Allowance to be same as Leader and should not be more – It was the majority view that the level of the Leader`s allowance should be set at a higher level than that of Chairman. However, it was agreed that a sub-committee should be established to undertake further work on the levels for the Leader & Chairman, which would report back to the Regulatory and Appeals Committee with its recommendations. 

Recommendation 2 - Agreed – Chairman`s allowance to exclude travel expenses – Any expenses should be claimed in the usual way as for any Member incurring expenses.

Recommendation 3 - Agreed – Establishment of a separate budget code for Chairman`s Office expenses and a portion not be held back for expenses incurred during the year. It was also recommended that £3,600 from the existing Chairman’s allowance figure should be allocated to fund this budget code (Chairman’s allowance therefore to be £15,500).

Recommendation 4  - Rejected – The temporary levels implemented by the Leader become permanent - It was felt that each Leader should retain the ability to make temporary changes to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

The Chairman thanked the Panel for its deliberations and for the detailed report produced.

 He also stated that it was his view that the Panel Members should involve themselves in learning more about the role of the Councillor, and their interaction with officers. It was suggested that perhaps they could shadow the Councillors to appreciate the extent of their responsibilities prior to the next scheduled deliberations.

Members were in agreement that a Special meeting of the Committee should be held on Monday 7 December at 7pm.  This was to be convened in order to consider the deadlines for Members` questions at Council.