Agenda item

The Council reviewed its Constitution at each Annual meeting.  Members considered a report which set out outcomes of the latest meeting of the Constitution Review Working Group (CRWG), held on 12th March 2024, at which various changes to the Council’s constitution were discussed.  These proposed recommendations were considered at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 22nd April 2024.

In presenting the report, Councillor K. May highlighted a change to the CRWG’s proposals which had been suggested by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.  The Board had endorsed the recommendations made by the CRWG, subject to an amendment to the proposed changes to the Scrutiny Procedure Rules to enable an issue to be discussed more than once in a 6-month period, subject to certain parameters.  The proposed change had been included in the appendix to the report before the Council. 

During consideration of the report a member thanked the Democratic Services Team for their work on the Member Officer Protocol and welcomed the clarification in that of the expectation for officers to respond promptly to Members’ queries. Reference was also made to the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee’s request for the publication of a Whistleblowing Strategy, and this was due to be presented shortly.  The Committee was also looking at appointing an Independent Member.

Councillor May proposed, Councillor S. Baxter seconded and it was

RESOLVEDthat

1)    The current version of the Officer Scheme of Delegations is agreed as set out at Appendix A;

2)    The Joint Arrangements, at Part 7 of the constitution, be updated, as detailed in Appendix B;

3)    The Planning Procedure Rules, at Part 14 of the constitution, be updated, as detailed in Appendix C and the Planning Call in process be removed from the Officer Scheme of Delegations at Part 6 of the constitution;

4)    The Scrutiny Procedure Rules, at Part 12 of the constitution, be updated as detailed in Appendix D;

5)    The Audit, Standards and Governance Committee Procedure Rules, at Part 13 of the constitution, be updated as detailed in Appendix E;

6)    The amendments to the Member Officer Relations Protocol, at Part 22 of the constitution, whereby the Member Enquiries Guidance should be added as an appendix to that part of the constitution, be approved; and

7)    The Committee terms of reference for the Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committees A and B for the number of Councillors be amended as detailed in Appendix G.