Agenda item

Constitution Update Report (deferred from Special Full Council held on 29.04.2021)

This item has been adjourned from the Special Full Council meeting on 29 April 2021.

 

This item will be debated at the rising of the Special Full Council starting at 10am on 30 April 2021.

 

This matter is the responsibility of the Leader of the Council, Councillor Federica Smith-Roberts.

 

To present the Committee with a number of proposed changes to the Constitution.

 

To view the documents for this item, please see the agenda for the Special Full Council meeting held on 29 April 2021.

Minutes:

During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

·       The Section 151 Officer gave an update on the figures and dates within the report.

·       Concern was raised as the Planning Committee appeared to have taken a while to settle down and that it needed to be streamlined.

·       Councillors agreed that the meetings of the Planning Committee took too long, including the debates on smaller less contentious applications.

·       Concern was raised on recommendation 2.3 and limiting the amount of public speakers at Planning Committee.

The Monitoring Officer advised that the Planning Advisory Service had given the advice on how to limit speakers and how that would work.

·       Councillors agreed that it was not democratic to lower the number of public speakers for the Planning Committee.

·       Councillors agreed that the debates at Planning Committee needed to be more focused and less repetitive.

·       Councillor Habgood proposed an amendment to the wording in the recommendations as follows: 2.2 All councillors were trained to be able to substitute for members of their own political group in the absence of a Planning Committee member of their political group and 2.8 Site visits for the Planning Committee were introduced for specific reasons only, held prior to the meeting taking place and follow the guidance as set out in the revised Planning Committee Member’s Code of Good Practice.  This was duly seconded by Councillor Whetlor.

The Leader of the Council was happy to accept the amendment.

·       Concern was raised on the amended wording for recommendation 2.2.

The Monitoring Officer advised that training was not compulsory, so could only be a recommendation for all councillors to take part.

·       Concern was raised on the logistics of a site visit.

·       Councillors did not agree on the lowering of seats on any of the Committees.

·       Councillor Cavill proposed an amendment to the recommendations as follows: 2.11 a list of such written off debts be referred to the Portfolio Holder quarterly for information. This was duly seconded by Councillor Blaker.

The Leader of the Council was happy to accept the amendment.

 

Resolved that Full Council approved the following:-

2.2      All Councillors were trained to be able to substitute for members of their own political group in the absence of a Planning Committee member of their political group.

2.4      The Planning Committee Procedure (attached as Appendix A) was adopted and added to the Constitution, as well as being published on the SWT website.

2.5      Planning Committee meetings should be 4 hours maximum (with the Chair having discretion to conclude an agenda item if part way through), and the procedure rules within the Constitution amended to only allow 2 x 30 minute extensions beyond the original 3 hour meeting.

2.6      Regular breaks were introduced for 15 minutes every two hours (to be taken off the duration of the meeting).

2.7      Where there was a controversial planning application going before the Planning Committee that a single item agenda meeting is held.

2.8      Site visits for the Planning Committee were introduced for specific reasons only, held prior to the meeting taking place, and follow the guidance set out on the revised Planning Committee Member’s Code of Good Practice (Appendix B).

2.10    That the amended Financial Procedure Rules (Appendix C) were approved.

2.11    A list of such written off debt be referred to the Portfolio Holder quarterly for information.