Issue - meetings

To approve the recommended changes to the Constitution (Council Procedure Rules) for referral onto Full Council following a further review undertaken by the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance through a Working Party constituted for this purpose.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    RECOMMENDS TO COUNCIL that the Council’s Constitution be amended to reflect the proposed changes as set out in the Appendix attached hereto this report;

(b)    further RECOMMENDS TO COUNCIL that the implementation of the new Council Procedure Rule 12 be reviewed after six months’ operation;

(c)    supports the proposal that the Planning Committee continues its current practice of undertaking a site visit in respect of all planning applications that are submitted to it for its consideration and requests Full Council to do likewise;

(d)    requests the Monitoring Officer to amend the Council’s procedure for Planning Committee Site Visits, as set out in the Members’ Planning Code and Protocol (in Part 6 of the Constitution) to appropriately reflect the matters raised by the Review of the Constitution Portfolio Holder Working Party; and

(e)    further requests the Monitoring Officer to submit the Site Visit Procedure, as amended, to Full Council for its approval and adoption, following consultation, as appropriate and necessary, with the Planning Committee and the Standards Committee.

Cabinet considered a report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder (A.8), which requested it to approve the recommended changes to the Constitution (Council Procedure Rules) for referral onto Full Council following a further review undertaken by the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance through a Working Party constituted for that purpose.

It was reported that the proposals covered a number of amendments to the Council Procedure Rules 11, 12 and 14, in order to ensure the Council’s Constitution remains effective, efficient and consistent at an operational level.  The key changes to each of those Rules were highlighted within the body of the Portfolio Holder’s report.

Cabinet recalled that, at its meeting held on 16 December 2022 (Minute 83 referred), it had considered the outcome of the annual review of the Council’s Constitution that had been undertaken by the Review of the Constitution Portfolio Holder Working Party. At that meeting Cabinet had deferred consideration of the proposed changes to Council Procedure Rules (CPR) 12 and 14 pending their re-consideration by the Review of the Constitution Portfolio Holder Working Party (CRWP).

Accordingly, the CRWP had met on 23 January 2023 to further discuss those proposed changes to CPRs 12 and 14. In addition, the CRWP had considered, at the request of Councillor Baker, a matter pertaining to CPR11.2 as well as the outcome of the recent consultation exercise with Members on the procedure for the Planning Committee’s site visits.

With the permission of the Leader of the Council, Councillor Baker addressed the Cabinet in relation to the issue of Planning Committee Site Visits.

Having considered the outcome of the further review of the Constitution carried out by the Review of the Constitution Portfolio Holder Working Party and the Portfolio Holder’s recommendations arising therefrom, and in order to enable those recommendations to be submitted to the Full Council for approval and adoption:-

It was moved by Councillor G V Guglielmi, seconded by Councillor Stock OBE and:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    RECOMMENDS TO COUNCIL that the Council’s Constitution be amended to reflect the proposed changes as set out in the Appendix attached hereto this report;

(b)    further RECOMMENDS TO COUNCIL that the implementation of the new Council Procedure Rule 12 be reviewed after six months’ operation;

(c)    supports the proposal that the Planning Committee continues its current practice of undertaking a site visit in respect of all planning applications that are submitted to it for its consideration and requests Full Council to do likewise;

(d)    requests the Monitoring Officer to amend the Council’s procedure for Planning Committee Site Visits, as set out in the Members’ Planning Code and Protocol (in Part 6 of the Constitution) to appropriately reflect the matters raised by the Review of the Constitution Portfolio Holder Working Party; and

(e)    further requests the Monitoring Officer to submit the Site Visit Procedure, as amended, to Full Council for its approval and adoption, following consultation, as appropriate and necessary, with the Planning Committee and the Standards Committee.