Issue - meetings

Report of the Monitoring Officer

The Monitoring Officer presented the amendments to the constitution and reminded the Group that at the last meeting on 28 September 2023, the Group approved the creation of a Working Group to consider outstanding changes to the Council’s Constitution and nominated two members to sit on this Group, Councillor Calvert and Councillor Thomas.

The Group noted that the Working Group met on 7 November and has concluded its work.

The Monitoring Officer advised that a further change has been proposed regarding the timing of the submission of motions to be heard at Full Council meetings. The proposal is to extend the timescales within which motions must be delivered to the Chief Executive from not later that seven clear working days, to not later than ten working days (except in exceptional circumstances).

The exact wording for all amendments were outlined in the appendices for the Group consider.

Both Councillor Calvert and Councillor Thomas shared their experience with the Group. They felt the report overall was well drafted and approved the changes. Councillor Thomas commented on the order in which speakers addressed the Committee as this was incorrect and asked the Monitoring Officer to check with planning officers.

Members commented on a Ward Councillors request that an application be referred to Planning Committee and that such a request should be made within the statutory consultee timescales of 21 days and in view of previous discussions at the meeting in September these timescales were often too tight.

The Group were advised that officers need to be made aware early in the process to allow time to write the reports for committee.

The Chairman advised that a Ward Councillor may make further comments or amend comments outside of this timeframe for example, where new information has become available. The Chairman suggested the Monitoring Officer makes the 21 days clear when reporting to Full Council in December.

It was RESOLVED that Governance Scrutiny Group considered and approved the proposed changes to the Constitution prior to consideration by Council.