Meeting documents

to be presented by Sarah Ashmead, Sara Turnbull

Sarah Ashmead, Hugh Peart and Sara Turnbull attended the meeting to provide an update on the draft changes relating to the Constitution.

·         Sarah Ashmead provided a background to the reasons for the changes being implemented and advised that these reflect the Localism Act and other legal requirements.

·         The Constitution document with the tracked changes was discussed in depth by the Committee.

·         Sarah Ashmead explained that there were two sets of changes visible in the document;

1.    Those underlined with no bold text which were the minor changes that the Monitoring Officer would make under her delegated powers.

2.    Those highlighted in yellow which were the substantive changes.

·         Tim Butcher advised that he wanted the committee to take a look at the changes page by page on the projector screen today in preparation for when the document is taken to full council for agreement.

A Member asked for clarity on the staff members who were referred to as "statutory officers".

·         Sarah Ashmead advised that the 3 statutory officers were:

                      I.        Head of Paid Service (Chief Executive)

                    II.        S151 Officer (Director of Assurance)

                   III.        Monitoring Officer (Director Strategy & Policy)

·         Sarah Ashmead advised that following the change in legislation, following any investigation the decision on whether to dismiss either of the above posts from now on will be a Full Council decision.

Comments raised during the discussion in relation to the changes made:

·         Article 7- The Executive, item 7.9, "In the absence of a Cabinet Member, a key decision may be taken by a Managing Director or relevant senior officer in consultation with the appropriate Deputy Cabinet Member".

·         Article 13 – Finance, Contracts and Legal Matters, item 14.4, It was clarified that following the changes in legislation, any and all contract’s should be made in writing, no matter what their value.

·         Article 16- Suspension, Interpretation and Publication of the Constitution, item 16.1, a sentence was removed "unless at least one quarter of the Council is present". Sarah Ashmead confirmed that this sentence had been removed as it was deemed unnecessary, all meetings are required to be quorate for any motions to be passed, and if a meeting is not quorate then the motion cannot go ahead. This sentence was just a repetition of this point.

·         Meetings of the Council, Item 7, Motions of Notice, item 2, discussion took place over the time deadlines for a notice of motion. The sentence had been amended to state "no later than 9.30am on the Monday morning", however all Committee Members felt this time was unrealistic, and proposed that this be changed to Midday on the Monday. All agreed to this change and Sara Turnbull advised this would be amended. A member also suggested that any other deadlines for members should also reflect the midday deadline, to avoid any confusion. All agreed to this.

                                                                                            ACTION: Sara Turnbull

·         Meetings of the Council, Item 15, Summons and Agenda Procedure, a number of members expressed confusion over this point. Sarah Ashmead advised that the original point 2 had been removed and replaced with the subsequent point 3 (now point 2) to avoid repetition.

·         5 days’ Notice Rule – A member queried whether this related to working days only. Sara Turnbull advised 5 clear working days, which is stated higher up in the explanation.

·         Meetings of the Council, Item 16, Inspection of Documents, a sentence had been removed which stated "Members of the public may submit comments in writing about any published report, within five days of its publication. Where practicable, such comments will be attached to the report". Sara Turnbull advised that this had been removed as only specific items require public involvement and when this is the case this is stated in the report.

·         Part 5 Codes and Protocols, Allegations on Members Conduct, Sara Ashmead advised that although the detailed wording regarding "How to deal with a complaint regarding members", had only just been updated, the practice had been enforced since 2007 when the policy was agreed by full council.

·          Register of Members’ interest Pro-Forma, the form has now been updated. A member queried the headline paragraph stating "Members must register the interests of their husband or wife, civil partner or any person that they are living with as husband, wife or civil partner, as if they are their own interests, when they know about them". Many members felt that this was too vague, as it did not extend to adult children that perhaps a member may live with, who may have conflicting interests. Hugh Peart agreed with this however he advised that the text had been extracted directly from the piece of legislation and therefore needed to remain. Sarah Ashmead also confirmed that once the amended constitution had been agreed at Full Council, the new form will be circulated to all Members for completion.

·         Lobbying of Councillors/Members’ Procedure’s, item 16, Sarah Ashmead confirmed that there had been a change in the legislation, which had been enforced for some time, advising "Members can form a view on any Planning matter". Following discussion with specific examples given, Hugh Peart advised that if a member is a decision maker within a planning committee, although they are able to form a view, to avoid any conflict of interest they should not take part in any Action Groups within their constituency opposing the scheme. However, if the Member is not a decision maker and is purely reflecting the opinion of their constituents, they are able to take part in any Action Groups. The members requested that this item be widely promoted to all members to confirm that they are able to form a view. Sarah Ashmead agreed and confirmed this would be circulated following Full Council sign off of the Constitution.

ACTION: Sara Turnbull

·         Minuting of Reasons for Refusal or Granting Permission, item 32, a sentence has been added to advise "The committee is required in such circumstance to give reasons for not agreeing to the officer recommendations". Hugh Peart advised that although this point is not a statutory change, it is advisable as should a declined decision go to an appeal hearing and there not be sufficient supporting evidence for the refusal, it is very likely that the decision would be overturned. It is therefore best practice to provide detailed reasons for a refusal of a planning matter. This item was challenged by some members, who believed that this point might contradict democratic rights however after further discussion all agreed to the change.

RESOLUTION

After the detailed discussion, all members agreed to the recommendations stated in the officer’s report which were as follows:

1.    To note the minor changes approved by the Monitoring Officer made under delegated powers from Council. These changes are those which are shown as underlined tracked changes (with no highlighted text in bold) in Appendix 1.

2.    To agree to recommend to County Council for approval the proposed tracked changed which are highlighted in yellow in Appendix 1.

This is subject to the amendment agreed by the Committee that the proposed time for motions and written questions to Full Council is changed to Noon on the Monday before the meeting.