The Chief Executive introduced the report which explained the background to a number of fairly minor amendments to the Constitution and invited the Policy and Resources Committee to propose these to Full Council.

Members raised comments and asked questions which included:

·         Referring to the proposed delegation set out in paragraph 3.17 of the report, considered the decision-making on the capital programme should be made by Full Council, rather than by an officer; and

·         suggested the number referred to in paragraph 3.17 was incorrect as it referred to council tax and not the capital programme.

In response, the Director of Resources explained that she had requested this delegation to enable the process to be more workable if there were any changes in the budget process.  She confirmed that the capital programme would be considered by this Committee, but the delegation to her would enable the best possible position for the Council to be achieved.

The Chief Executive acknowledged that there was an error in the paragraph number referred to in paragraph 3.17 and said this would be corrected when the report was submitted to Full Council.

Members agreed all seven recommendations, subject to the re-numbering of the paragraph referred to within recommendation (7).

Recommended:

That the following constitutional changes be recommended to Full Council:

(1)  Changes to the Environment committee areas of responsibility (paragraphs 3.1-3.3 of the report).

(2)  An update to the Audit committee areas of responsibility (paragraphs 3.4-3.6 of the report).

(3)  Changes to the table at section 3.6.7.4 of the contract standing orders (paragraphs 3.7-3.9 of the report).

(4)  An addition to the list of areas to which the contract standing orders do not apply (section 3.6.2.3 of the constitution) (paragraph 3.10 of the report).

(5)  Changes to the preamble to the scheme of officer delegations (sections 2.8.1.13 and 2.8.1.15 of the constitution) (paragraphs 3.11-3.14 of the report).

(6)  A further change to the preamble to the scheme of officer delegations (section 2.8.1.5 of the constitution) (paragraphs 3.15-3.16 of the report).

(7)  A new delegation to the Director of Resources (paragraph 3.17 of the report) – subject to amendment to the paragraph number referred to within paragraph 3.17.

Post Meeting Note:  With reference to the paragraph number referred to in paragraph number 3.17, the  intention is to add 2.8.7.26 as a new paragraph to include the new delegation and move all other numbers down and not for the new delegation to be included in the current 2.8.7.26 and so no re-numbering will be necessary.

The Monitoring Officer introduced the report setting out each recommendation one by one to be considered at the next Full Council. He explained that the first recommendation was for officers to be notified in sufficient time for any amendments to their reports going to service committees. The constitutional working group had discussed this recommendation and said it would give officers time to properly consider the amendment before it went to the service committee.

Councillor Mike Henderson proposed an amendment to remove ‘and seconder’ from the second line of 3.1.17 in the constitution (as at paragraph 3.4 of the report) as some Members who sat on the Committee were a smaller political party and could struggle to find a seconder for their amendments. This was seconded by Councillor James Hunt.

Members discussed the amendment and made comments which included:

·         Did not feel it was necessary as any member of the committee could ask another Member to second a future amendment regardless of the political party they represented; and

·         expected amendments to be rare and thought if members wanted to make amendments they could always ask other committee Members to second.

On being put to the vote the amendment was carried.

The Chair proposed the remainder of recommendation one as set-out in the report and this was seconded by Councillor Alan Horton. On being put to the vote recommendation one was carried.

The Monitoring Officer introduced the second recommendation which sought a change to Head of Planning delegations. The recommendation proposed that the Head of Planning wrote to town or parish councils to advise them where they had made a representation that was not based on appropriate planning considerations.

The Chair advised that the following amendments, as set out bold, had been put forward to Members in advance of the meeting.

“(1) The delegated powers in [2.18.15.1] above shall not be exercised in the following circumstances: […] Applications where the decision of the Head of Planning would conflict with any written representation received within the specified representation period from:

(i)            Any Member of the Borough Council;

(ii)          A statutory consultee;

(iii)         A Parish or Town Council;

Provided that any such representations from any of the above are, in the opinion of the Head of Planning, based upon relevant planning considerations.

(2) Where the head of planning determines that a representation from (i) above is not based on relevant planning considerations, the Member will be advised.

(3) Where the head of planning determines that a representation from (iii) above is not based on relevant planning considerations, they will write to the town or parish council to advise them of this. The ward Member(s) for the ward of which the parish falls within will also be notified.”

Members were invited to make comments on the amendments:

-       From experience, some Parish Councils had brought applications to Planning Committee which were ‘a waste of time’ as they did not bring the application forward with material planning considerations;

-       Parish Councils needed to have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 193