Agenda and draft minutes

To elect a Chairman for the municipal year 2023/24.

The Chairman of the Council invited nominations for the election of a Chairman for the municipal year 2023/24.

Cllr M Fletcher MOVED, seconded by Cllr B Holdman that Cllr A Glover be elected Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2023/24.

It was therefore RESOLVED that Cllr A Glover be elected Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2023/24.

To elect a Vice-Chairman for the municipal year 2023/24

Cllr L Taylor MOVED, seconded by Cllr M Fletcher that Cllr S Robinson be elected Vice Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2023/24.

It was therefore RESOLVED that Cllr S Robinson be elected Vice Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2023/24

To consider a start time for future meetings of the Committee.

The Committee AGREED to continue to meet at 6.00pm for the remainder of the 2023/24 municipal year.

To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of Substitute Members (if any).

Apologies were received from:

-       Cllr D Wulff who was substituted by Cllr B Holdman

-       Cllr S Penny who was substituted by Cllr Mrs F J Colthorpe

Cllr S Keable attended the meeting online. 

To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

Note:   A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

None received.

To consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 8 February 2023.

That the minutes of the previous meeting be NOTED, with the amendment that Cllr P Colthorpe’s apologies be added to the minutes.

To record any interests on agenda matters.

Members were reminded of the need to make declarations of interest when necessary.

To receive any announcements the Chairman of the Committee may wish to make.

The Chairman had no announcements to make.

To consider any amendments to the Constitution following Motions approved by Council in the period since the last meeting.

The Committee is requested to note minute 11 which was approved by Council on 24 May 2023.

Cllr N Woollatt MOVED, seconded by Cllr Mrs F J Colthorpe that this item be deferred to the next meeting so that the information needed to enable the committee to monitor and check that the constitution has been updated could be provided.

Upon a vote it was declared to have been CARRIED.

The Committee were presented a report* which outlined a task and finish group’s recommendations on changes to the constitution with tracked changes provided. The Chair opened the floor to Members who raised the following points/questions:

The following was discussed:

·         Rule 12.1 was raised and it was asked whether there was any reason why it had been suggested to be removed. The District Solicitor & Monitoring Officer explained that unfortunately the previous District Solicitor & Monitoring Officer had not left notes relating to this and confirmed that there was not an issue for it to be kept in the Constitution.

To which the Committee AGREED that rule 12.1 remain in the constitution.

·         It was raised that point 4 within Appendix A on the topic of Motion 577 had merit and that this should be discussed further by the Standards Committee.

·         The Chief Executive advised that issues could arise if an answer was given at a meeting but an answer in writing was still desired, particularly as ‘substantively’ could be subjective.

To which the Committee AGREED that Motion 577 be bought to the next meeting of the Standards Committee for discussion.

·         Substitute Councillors for committees was raised, in particular whether a substitute should be from the same political group and if the need for a trained substitute outweighed the need for a substitute to be from the same political group.  Planning and other Committees in particular were discussed as these required training to be a Committee Member.

·         The legal position on substitutes covering for differing political groups was sought, to which the District Solicitor & Monitoring Officer agreed to investigate this further.

To which the Committee AGREED that the following recommendation be deferred to the next meeting of the Standards Committee to be discussed further on how it would be managed:

“The rules on Substitute Members be amended so that trained substitutes may come from any group where there is no other trained Member in the permanent Members’ political group.”

·         Concern was raised over the restriction of public questions as well as public engagement. It had been common practice to provide written answers to public questions.

·         Questions sent in advance of a meeting should be answered at the meeting. However, questions not submitted in advance and could not be answered during the meeting should expect a written response.

·         Questions not related to an agenda but related to the Council’s functions that would be submitted in advance could be considered. 

·         The Chief Executive clarified that answers should be given by Councillors and not the officers. With questions submitted in advance of the meeting officers would do what they can to provide answers at the meeting.

·         It was raised that questions asked at Planning Committee meetings differed and that there was a need for officers to answer questions from a technical perspective.

·         It was also raised whether public questions and answers should be minuted verbatim. The District Solicitor & Monitoring Officer advised that minutes should not be verbatim, this included questions from members of the public. It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Members are asked to note that the following items are already identified in the work programme for the next meeting:

-        Annual report of the Monitoring Officer for 2022/23.

It was AGREED that the following items be added to the agenda for the next meeting of the Committee:

-        Annual Report of the Monitoring Officer

-        Recommendation G of the Task & Finish Group (Council Procedure Rules)

-        Update on the Book of Motions

To receive an update from the Monitoring Officer with regard to any on-going complaints being dealt with. 

The Committee NOTED a verbal update from the District Solicitor & Monitoring Officer which provided an update on complaints received since the 8 February 2023, the following was highlighted:

-       One council complaint which had been closed

-       Six district council complaints which had been closed.

-       Three current potential which require further information.