Issue - meetings

Report of the Monitoring Officer

The Monitoring Officer presented the Amendments to the Constitution report which had been prepared following an annual review of the constitution. She explained that the Council had a statutory duty to keep its constitution under review to ensure that it was relevant, up to date and fit for purpose. She said that, as minimum, the Council must undertake a review of its constitution on an annual basis, which this report demonstrated compliance with. She noted that this was her first review of the constitution since joining the Council and that she brought her experience from elsewhere and also her review of best practice in neighbouring local authorities.

The Monitoring Officer referred Members of the Group to Appendix 1 which set out the proposed amendments, which followed on from feedback from Councillors, Officers and members of the public. She said that the first two amendments related to matters of clarification, the first in respect of situations where the ombudsman were to consider complaints against the Council from members of the public and the second in relation to the scheme of delegation to Officers in respect of planning matters covered by the Local Development Order. She said that the remaining changes related to rules that governed Council meetings and were intended to assist with the efficient running of those meetings, and also to address accessibility issues in the current rules.

The Monitoring Officer said that subsequent to the publication of this report, the Council had received a report from the Local Government Association who had undertaken a review of the Council’s last meeting held in December 2024. They had considered this good opportunity for the Council to review its arrangements for the running of Council meetings.

The Chair clarified that Members of the Group were asked to consider the proposals put forward in the Amendments to the Constitution report.

Councillor Birch said that he thought that opposition Councillors required tools to be able to provide scrutiny of the ruling Group and thought that recorded votes were a part of that. He said that opposition groups were disadvantaged and had the odds stacked against them and said that the proposal in relation to recorded votes was counter to democracy and transparency.

The Chair suggested that the Group focus on and consider the proposals one by one.

Citizen’s Rights

The Chair suggested that the Council should have opportunity to review a complaint through its formal procedure before consideration by the Ombudsman. Councillor Birch asked whether the Council had time limits for completion of complaints. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that there set time periods for completion of the different stages of the complaints procedure. She confirmed that the amendment did not change the right for members of the public to complain to the Ombudsman, only that they would need to go through the Council’s formal complaints procedure first as required by the Ombudsman. She confirmed that the Council’s complaints procedure would need to be followed fully before the Ombudsman would consider a complaint.

Members of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35