Agenda item

Report of Corporate Director – Commercial Development, Assets and Investment & (Interim) Monitoring Officer

 

Purpose of report

 

This report presents the recommendations of the Constitution Review Working Group on the ‘areas for further consideration’ for this Committee to determine what recommendations for constitutional change to make to Full Council to consider on 14 December.

 

Recommendations

            

The meeting is recommended to consider the recommendations of the Constitution Review Working Group on each of the ‘areas for further consideration’ (outlined more fully at Appendix 1) and make recommendations to Full Council accordingly:  

 

Rules of debate:

1.1          to make no changes to the current process as regards the order of speakers in a debate but to clarify that the seconder can speak at any point if they have reserved their right and that this does not mean they must be the penultimate speaker;

1.2          to make no change to the existing rule that once the proposer of a motion or amendments begins summing up, no further speakers will be heard

 

Length of speeches (including all committees):

1.3          to reduce the length of speeches for proposers to and proposers of amendments to five minutes (from current 10 minute)

1.4          to reduce the length of speeches for seconder, and seconder of amendments and all other speakers to three minutes (from current 5 minutes);

 

Deadlines for submitting amendments to motions

1.5          to make no changes to the existing deadlines (5pm, two working days before the meeting)

1.6          to increase the word limit for amendment to motions to 350 (from current 250) words

 

Process for dealing with motions with budgetary implications

1.7          to encourage members to submit motions early and discuss with officers to enable a review in the light of budgetary implications, with the introduction of a threshold of “£10,000 or more” to inform what “significant” means in terms of the current budget or capital expenditure

1.8          to allow amendments to motions deferred for budgetary reasons to be amended when resubmitted to Council

 

Motions without notice/procedural motions:

1.9          to make no changes to the current arrangement that a procedural motion, once proposed and seconded, requires only a simple majority to succeed

 

Recorded vote:

1.10       to make no changes to the current arrangement that a request for a recorded vote needs only a proposer and seconder to succeed

 

Public addresses (not Planning Committee)

1.11       to make no changes to current arrangements for

i)               public speakers to register by noon on the working day before the meeting

ii)              five minutes per public speaker

iii)            no time limit on the number of public speakers or the time allowed for the public address item

 

Order of business/finish time for Full Council

1.12       to make no changes to the existing order of business for Full Council

1.13       not to introduce a finish time/cut off time for Full Council

 

Planning Committee

1.14       to allow remote tools (drones) in facilitating site visits but to be clear that this should complement other evidence, not replace site visits and any such usage should ensure impartiality

1.15       to retain current arrangements whereby

i)               there is no separate slot for councillor questions of clarification to the officer after a presentation of a planning application

ii)              County councillors are allowed to speak as members of the public (i.e. no separate right to speak)

1.16       to introduce a ten-minute time limit for non-committee ward members in addressing the Committee

 

Terminology and glossary

1.15    to introduce a glossary to the Constitution to bring clarity to members of the public, officers and councillors

1.16    to achieve consistency within the Constitution by using the following words:

          i)        Executive (not Cabinet)

ii)              Chairman of a meeting (with the proviso that a person chairing a committee may call themselves by whichever term e.g. Chair)

iii)            Resident (rather than citizen)

1.17       to continue to use the following terms but provide contextual clarity (and explanation in the glossary) for the use of each:

i)               Councillor and member

ii)              Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service

iii)            Chief Finance Officer and S151 Officer

 

Annual Review of the Constitution

1.18       to introduce an annual review of the Constitution whereby

i)               At its October/December meeting, the Overview & Scrutiny Committee will consider and make recommendations to Full Council to agree in December

ii)              Such a review to include a notice of any changes made in year under officer delegations to reflect legislation and transfers of functions 

iii)            Any significant changes would be submitted to Full Council as necessary for consideration

 

 

Resolved

 

That the following changes to the Constitution be recommended to Full Council:

 

Rules of debate:

(1)           to make no changes to the current process as regards the order of speakers in a debate but to clarify that the seconder can speak at any point if they have reserved their right and that this does not mean they must be the penultimate speaker;

 

(2)           to make no change to the existing rule that once the proposer of a motion or amendments begins summing up, no further speakers will be heard

 

Length of speeches (including all committees):

(3)           to reduce the length of speeches for proposers to and proposers of amendments to five minutes (from current 10 minute)

(4)           to reduce the length of speeches for seconder, and seconder of amendments and all other speakers to three minutes (from current 5 minutes);

 

Deadlines for submitting amendments to motions

(5)           to make no changes to the existing deadlines (5pm, two working days before the meeting)

(6)           to maintain the current word limit for amendment to motions as 250 words

 

Process for dealing with motions with budgetary implications

(7)           to encourage members to submit motions early and discuss with officers to enable a review in the light of budgetary implications, with the introduction of a threshold of “£10,000 or more” to inform what “significant” means in terms of the current budget or capital expenditure

(8)           to allow amendments to motions deferred for budgetary reasons to be amended when resubmitted to Council

 

Motions without notice/procedural motions:

(9)           to make no changes to the current arrangement that a procedural motion, once proposed and seconded, requires only a simple majority to succeed

 

Recorded vote:

(10)        to make no changes to the current arrangement that a request for a recorded vote needs only a proposer and seconder to succeed

 

Public addresses (not Planning Committee)

(11)        to make no changes to current arrangements for

i)               public speakers to register by noon on the working day before the meeting

ii)              five minutes per public speaker

iii)            no time limit on the number of public speakers or the time allowed for the public address item

 

Order of business/finish time for Full Council

(12)        to change the order of business for Full Council so that motions are taken after questions and reports (noting that the Constitution allows the Chairman to amend the order of business in any case in any given instance)

(13)        to introduce a finish time of 11pm for Full Council meetings with the provisos that the meeting would not stop mid-way through an item; the Chairman of the Council has discretion to continue the meeting to conclude business if, in the opinion of the Chairman this would be appropriate; and, that any motions not considered would be carried forward to be considered at the next scheduled Full Council meeting.

 

Planning Committee

(14)        to allow remote tools (drones) in facilitating site visits but to be clear that this does not replace the option for physical site visits and any such footage and usage should be approved by Planning Officers to ensure impartiality

(15)        to retain current arrangements whereby

i)               there is no separate slot for councillor questions of clarification to the officer after a presentation of a planning application

ii)              County councillors are allowed to speak as members of the public (i.e. no separate right to speak)

(16)        to introduce a ten-minute time limit for non-committee ward members in addressing the Committee

 

Terminology and glossary

(17)    to introduce a glossary to the Constitution to bring clarity to members of the public, officers and councillors

(18)    to achieve consistency within the Constitution by using the following words:

          i)        Executive (not Cabinet)

ii)              Chairman of a meeting (with the proviso that a person chairing a committee may call themselves by whichever term e.g. Chair)

iii)            Resident (rather than citizen)

(19)         to continue to use the following terms but provide contextual clarity (and explanation in the glossary) for the use of each:

i)               Councillor and member

ii)              Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service

iii)            Chief Finance Officer and S151 Officer

 

Annual Review of the Constitution

(20)       to introduce an annual review of the Constitution whereby

i)               At its October and December meetings, the Overview & Scrutiny Committee will consider and make recommendations to Full Council to agree in December

ii)              Such a review to include a notice of any changes made in year under officer delegations to reflect legislation and transfers of functions 

iii)            Any significant changes would be submitted to Full Council as necessary for consideration

 

The Committee considered a report from the Corporate Director – Commercial Development, Assets and Investment & (Interim) Monitoring Officer that presented recommendations from the Constitution Review Working Group on the ‘areas for further consideration’ to enable the Committee to make recommendations for constitutional change to Full Council to consider on 14 December.

 

The Chairman advised the Committee that the recommendations would be taken in turn, with the opportunity for debate on each one. In the course of discussion a number of amendments were proposed, debated and voted on.

 

In relation to recommendation 1.4, reducing the length of speeches for seconder, it was proposed by Councillor Perran Moon and seconded by Councillor Ian Middleton that the limit remain at 5 minutes as this would offer consistency across all elements of speaking.

 

On being put to the vote, the proposed amendment was lost and subsequently fell.

 

It was proposed by Councillor Doug Webb and seconded by Councillor Phil Chapman that the length of speeches for seconder, and seconder of amendments and all other speakers be reduced to three minutes (from current 5 minutes), as set out in the report. On being put to the vote, this was agreed.

 

With regard to recommendation 1.6, increasing the word limit for amendments to motions to 350 (from the current 250), Councillor Ian Middleton proposed that the limit be increased to 500 words explaining that he was also in favour of an increase to the motion word limit. Increasing the word limit for amendments would allow the proposers of amendments to add and explain their reasoning. There was no seconder for the proposal.

 

It was subsequently proposed by Councillor Lucinda Wing and seconded by Councillor Phil Chapman to maintain the current word limit for amendments to motions at 250 words as maintaining the current limit would stop amendments taking over the motion. On being put to the vote, this was agreed.

 

In relation to recommendation 1.12, making no changes to the existing order of business for Full Council, it was proposed by Councillor Doug Webb and seconded by Councillor Lucinda Wing to change the order of business for Full Council so that motions are taken after questions and reports (noting that the Constitution allows the Chairman to amend the order of business in any case in any given instance). Some Committee members commented that by moving motions to the end of the agenda it would prevent public engagement, as residents may not be able to stay to the end of a long meeting. Other Committee members commented that, whilst it was a difficult balance, council business had to take priority.

 

On being put to the vote the recommendation was agreed.

 

With regard to recommendation 1.13, not introducing a finish/cut off time for Full Council, it was proposed by Councillor Lucinda Wing and seconded by Councillor Phil Chapman that an 11pm finish time be introduced. Councillor Wing explained that the introduction of a cut off time would help the welfare of all involved with a full Council meeting, particularly as meetings started at 6:30pm and some recent meetings had lasted over 4 or 5 hours.

 

Some members of the Committee felt that introducing a cut-off time, particularly following the recommendation to move motions to the end of the agenda, would mean that some issues would not be debated.

 

In response to the concerns from the Committee the Corporate Director – Commercial Development, Assets and Investment & (Interim) Monitoring Officer advised that the meeting would not automatically finish at 11pm. The Chairman would have discretion to allow the meeting to continue past 11pm, in the event that an item or motion was mid-discussion at that time. A system would also be introduced to schedule any motions that needed to be carried over to the next meeting.

 

On being put to the vote, the recommendation was agreed.

 

In relation to recommendation 1.14, allowing remote tools such as drones to facilitate site visits for Planning Committee, the Committee felt that this was a good idea in light of recent events with Covid, but that it needed to be managed to ensure footage shown to the Planning Committee was impartial.

 

It was therefore proposed by Councillor Lucinda Wing and seconded by Councillor Les Sibley to allow remote tools (drones) in facilitating site visits, but to be clear that this does not replace the option for physical site visits and any such footage and usage should be approved by Planning Officers to ensure impartiality.

 

On being put to the vote, the recommendation was agreed.

 

Regarding point ii) of recommendation 1.18, the use of the word Chairman (with the proviso that a person chairing a committee may call themselves by whichever term), it was proposed by Councillor Perran Moon and seconded by Councillor Ian Middleton that references should be changed to ‘Chair’. On being put to the vote the proposed amendment was lost and subsequently fell.

 

It was then proposed by Councillor Ian Middleton and seconded by Councillor Perran Moon that references should be changed to ‘Chairperson’. On being put to the vote the proposed amendment was lost and subsequently fell.

 

It was then proposed by Councillor Lucinda Wing and seconded by Councillor Phil Chapman that references should remain as ‘Chairman’, as set out in the report. On being put to the vote, this was agreed.

 

In relation to point i) of recommendation 1.20, it was proposed by Councillor Perran Moon and seconded by Councillor Lucinda Wing that the recommendation be amended to read ‘at its October and December meetings’, rather than ‘October/December’ as had been included in the report. This would allow the Overview and Scrutiny Committee sufficient time to put together a working group if required, to work through a first draft of any changes required. On being put to the vote this was agreed. 

 

Resolved

 

That the following changes to the Constitution be recommended to Full Council:

 

Rules of debate:

(1)           to make no changes to the current process as regards the order of speakers in a debate but to clarify that the seconder can speak at any point if they have reserved their right and that this does not mean they must be the penultimate speaker;

 

(2)           to make no change to the existing rule that once the proposer of a motion or amendments begins summing up, no further speakers will be heard

 

Length of speeches (including all committees):

(3)           to reduce the length of speeches for proposers to and proposers of amendments to five minutes (from current 10 minute)

(4)           to reduce the length of speeches for seconder, and seconder of amendments and all other speakers to three minutes (from current 5 minutes);

 

Deadlines for submitting amendments to motions

(5)           to make no changes to the existing deadlines (5pm, two working days before the meeting)

(6)           to maintain the current word limit for amendment to motions as 250 words

 

Process for dealing with motions with budgetary implications

(7)           to encourage members to submit motions early and discuss with officers to enable a review in the light of budgetary implications, with the introduction of a threshold of “£10,000 or more” to inform what “significant” means in terms of the current budget or capital expenditure

(8)           to allow amendments to motions deferred for budgetary reasons to be amended when resubmitted to Council

 

Motions without notice/procedural motions:

(9)           to make no changes to the current arrangement that a procedural motion, once proposed and seconded, requires only a simple majority to succeed

 

Recorded vote:

(10)        to make no changes to the current arrangement that a request for a recorded vote needs only a proposer and seconder to succeed

 

Public addresses (not Planning Committee)

(11)        to make no changes to current arrangements for

i)               public speakers to register by noon on the working day before the meeting

ii)              five minutes per public speaker

iii)            no time limit on the number of public speakers or the time allowed for the public address item

 

Order of business/finish time for Full Council

(12)        to change the order of business for Full Council so that motions are taken after questions and reports (noting that the Constitution allows the Chairman to amend the order of business in any case in any given instance)

(13)        to introduce a finish time of 11pm for Full Council meetings with the provisos that the meeting would not stop mid-way through an item; the Chairman of the Council has discretion to continue the meeting to conclude business if, in the opinion of the Chairman this would be appropriate; and, that any motions not considered would be carried forward to be considered at the next scheduled Full Council meeting.

 

Planning Committee

(14)        to allow remote tools (drones) in facilitating site visits but to be clear that this does not replace the option for physical site visits and any such footage and usage should be approved by Planning Officers to ensure impartiality

(15)        to retain current arrangements whereby

i)               there is no separate slot for councillor questions of clarification to the officer after a presentation of a planning application

ii)              County councillors are allowed to speak as members of the public (i.e. no separate right to speak)

(16)        to introduce a ten-minute time limit for non-committee ward members in addressing the Committee

 

Terminology and glossary

(17)    to introduce a glossary to the Constitution to bring clarity to members of the public, officers and councillors

(18)    to achieve consistency within the Constitution by using the following words:

          i)        Executive (not Cabinet)

ii)              Chairman of a meeting (with the proviso that a person chairing a committee may call themselves by whichever term e.g. Chair)

iii)            Resident (rather than citizen)

(19)         to continue to use the following terms but provide contextual clarity (and explanation in the glossary) for the use of each:

i)               Councillor and member

ii)              Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service

iii)            Chief Finance Officer and S151 Officer

 

Annual Review of the Constitution

(20)       to introduce an annual review of the Constitution whereby

i)               At its October and December meetings, the Overview & Scrutiny Committee will consider and make recommendations to Full Council to agree in December

ii)              Such a review to include a notice of any changes made in year under officer delegations to reflect legislation and transfers of functions 

iii)            Any significant changes would be submitted to Full Council as necessary for consideration