Agenda and draft minutes

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

Apologies were received from Cllr FJ Polthorpe.

To receive any questions from members of the public and replies thereto.

Public questions were received from:

Mr Nick Quinn

The Council Constitution is the most important policy in the Council. It is the bedrock for how the Council operates and affects all Members, Officers and the Public. It is based on legislation, but also contains good practice and specific local arrangements.

Because it is so central to the operation of the Council, changes to the Constitution must come through this Committee, and must be properly justified.

Some of the proposed changes will have a negative impact on the public’s ability to know about, query, or inform the discussion of draft policies or decisions, which may affect them - either as individuals or as part of the District.

The changes I refer to are:

The complete removal of public Statements and Questions at Planning Committee. The major changes to procedures and timescales for public questions in general. The Internet only posting the Notices of Meetings and Notice of Key Decisions. There is no proper justification given for why these changes are needed, or any consideration of possible side-effects.

No Equality Impact Statement;

No evidence of the real impact of public questions on meetings;

No assessment of any potential impact on Member/Officer workload;

No reference to the legislation allowing the changes to the publication of Notices.

Question 1:

Please will you tell me what specific piece of legislation allows Meeting, and Key Decision, Notices not to be published at Phoenix House?

Response from the Leader of the Council:

Following the amendments that will be proposed at this item one being that the notices will continued to be published at Phoenix House.

Question 2:

(through the Chair) will the Committee, for all the reasons given, please refuse to approve the proposed changes to the Constitution covering: “Public Questions Rules”; the “Procedure for speaking at Committee in the Protocol of Good Practice for Councillors Dealing in Planning Matters” and the “Access to Information Procedure Rules”?

Response from the Leader of the Council:

Following the amendments that will be proposed at this item it will seek to not have the removal of public question time. 

Supplementary question:

I came to the meeting to expect answers to the published agenda item, when I arrived I receive a revised agenda item surely this should have been published five days in advanced of the meeting not five minutes. Why was this done?

Response from the Monitoring Officers:

The reason why it had been submitted in advance was to give everybody the opportunity to read it before the meeting. Instead of Cllr Taylor making those amendments at the meeting. The document was published to make it transparent.

Robert Furmedge

Question 1:

Does the committee agree that the proposed change to remove Public Questions Time from the Planning Committee meetings will further reduce public confidence and trust in the planning system within Mid Devon and if not why not ?

Response from the Leader of the Council:

Following the amendments that will be proposed at this item it will seek to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

To consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 18 October 2023.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

To record any interests on agenda matters.

All members of the Standards Committee declared that they had been contacted prior to the meeting from Barry Warren a resident of Mid Devon.

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

The Chairman had no announcements to make.

To elect a Vice Chairman of the Committee.

The Chairman of the Standards committee invited nominations for the election of a Vice-Chairman.

RESOLVED that Cllr E Buczkowski be elected Vice Chairman of the Committee.

(Proposed by Cllr M Fletcher and seconded by Cllr A Glover)

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

The Committee NOTED the amendments to the constitution following motions approved by Council.

The following was discussed:

·         The motion 577 has not be included in the constitution.

·         To receive a table with the update of the constitution for future meetings and the extract from the constitution.

·         Evidence of the changes that have been made.  

To receive a report from the Director of Legal, HR & Governance (Monitoring Officer) on the proposed amendments of the Constitution.

The Committee had before it, a report * from the Director of Legal, HR & Governance (Monitoring Officer) outlining the proposed amendments to the Constitution.

The Leader of the Council highlighted the following:

·         An advisory from the Planning Advisory service (PAS) was received regards to the Planning Committee and the removal of Public Question Time.

·         The Leader of the Council and the administration do listen to the residents of Mid Devon Council and formally thanked all the public questions that had been submitted in advance.

·         The Leader of the Council thanked the former Leader for his document and invaluable to read it and helpful. To help the administration challenge and re look at a report that had been put forward. 

·         The first document that was published an amendment document had been circulated and published and outlined the amendments.

The Leader of the Council outlined the following amendment:

Under 9.1-

·         Residents, electors or business rate payers of the District wishing to raise a question under public question time are asked to provide their written questions to the Democratic Services team by 5pm three clear working days before the meeting to ensure that a response is received at the meeting to the written question.

·         Questions must be relevant to an item on the Agenda for that meeting (excluding the Minutes unless challenging the accuracy of the minutes). The exception to this is at Full Council when residents, electors or business rate payers can ask a question concerning any of the Council’s powers / duties or which otherwise affects the District.

·         Contributions from members of the public will be limited to 3 minutes, and 30 minutes (extendable at the Chairman’s discretion) will be available at the beginning of meetings for such questions.

·         NB Planning Committee has its own arrangements for public questions.

·         9.5 Recording of Questions by the Public. The minutes shall contain a condensed written record of questions made by the public which accurately conveys the context. The minutes are not verbatim.

·         20.1 Removal of member of the public to be as follows.

(a) If a member of the public interrupts proceedings, the Chairman will warn the person concerned.

(b) If they continue to interrupt, the Chairman will order their removal from the meeting room or online.

·         The proposed changes to 4.0 and 4.1 were removed.

·         The proposed changes to13.3 were removed.

·         The proposed changes under Appendix J 9.1, 9.2 and 9.3 were removed.

Consideration was given to:

·         A debate on the original document before the amendments.

·         The time on the changes to the constitution following a previous planning committee decision from 21 March 2018.

·         The importance of the constitution updates.

·         The task and finish group that reported to Standards Committee in June 2023 with recommendation to Full Council in September on Council Procedure rules and the constitution was changed in December.

·         As referred to in the report at 2.4 who is we? And who made the decision to do another review after 6 to 8 weeks after all the hard work from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

To receive a report from the Director of Legal, HR & Governance (Monitoring Officer) on the Governance proposed changes to the Policy Development Groups.

The Committee had before it, a report * from the District Solicitor and Monitoring Officer outlining Governance proposed changes to the Policy Development Groups.

The Leader of the Council highlighted the following:

·         The vision and ambition for the Council, as the new administration the values are different from the previous administrations in the direction and focus of attention.

·         Since the new administration the Leader was extremely proud of the achievements that had already been made.

·         As per Full Council work has been carried out in relation to a more robust implementation of the hybrid system, utilising the Policy Development Groups and the Programming Panel to better develop policy and set strategic direction.

·         To add an additional Policy Development Group to align with the new Corporate Plan.

The Cabinet Member for Finance highlighted the following:

·         The additional fifth Policy Development group (PDG) to align with the merging Corporate Plan.

·         The thematic area need further discussions and changes some of the areas for example the grounds maintenance grass cutting moved to the correct Policy Development Group (PDG).

The following was discussed:

·         The background section of the report does not include that many elected members previously stated that the Policy Development Group (PDG) was not working effectively. An alternative was suggestion to have two overview scrutiny committees, this was not agreed.

·         February 2023 majority of members voted to move to a committee system.

·         The proposal in the report would not improve the decision making or make the Council more democratic. The new PDG would cross over other PDG’s.

·         The allowances that would come with the creation of this PDG.

·         The clear vision of the Council and the ambitious of the committee supporting the recommendations.

·         Any changes to the number of members to sit on the new PDG.

·         The improvements to the community and the Council.

RESOLVED that:

·         Standards Committee to recommend to Full Council that there be five (5) Policy Development Groups: Planning, Environment & Sustainability; Community, People & Equalities; Homes; Economy & Assets; Service Delivery & Continuous Improvement.

·         Standards Committee recommend to Full Council that the Constitution is amended to reflect the changes to the PDGs.

·         That the Standards Committee recommend to Full Council that delegated authority is provided to the Director of Legal, HR & Governance (Monitoring Officer) to amend the Constitution as per the above and any other amendments required to reflect the new PDGs.

(Proposed by the Leader of the Council and seconded by Cllr A Glover)

Note: Cllr N Woollatt voted against.

Note:  * Report previously circulated.

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

The Committee NOTED a verbal update from the Director of Legal, HR and Governance (Monitoring Officer) which provided an update on complaints received

The following was highlighted:

·         One formal complaint about a District Councillor had been received in regards to respect.

The following was discussed:

·         As to where the complaint had come from.

To receive a verbal update on the Book of Motions.

The Committee NOTED a verbal update from the Democratic Services Manager which provided an update in regards to the book of motions being more accessible on the website and changes to the document following the outcomes of the motions.

The following was discussed:

·         Following the outcome of motions for members to be updated with the information.

·         To include the information in the additional column when the Constitution had been updated.

To consider items for the next meeting.

The Committee requested that the following be on the agenda for the next meeting:

·         Code of Conduct Complaint Appeal Procedure and Guide to making a complaint about a Councillor review.

·         The Constitution Language such as the use of Chairman