Agenda item

Recommended Change

Proposed Amendment

Section 3.1

(c)  At the moment there is little guidance in the Constitution with regard to the nature of Motions. The Constitution should be amended so that it states Motions should also not be vexatious, frivolous and must be factually accurate to align with the standard wording in many constitutions at other local authorities.

Amendment 1

Replace section 3.1(c) with the following:

(c) At the moment there is little guidance in the Constitution with regard to the nature of Motions. The Constitution should be amended so that it states Motions should also not be unlawful, defamatory and must be factually accurate to align with the standard wording in many constitutions at other local authorities in Oxfordshire. Where a motion is refused on these grounds it will be returned to the councillor who submitted it along with an explanation in writing about why it cannot be published in its current form.

Section 3.1

(d)  A word limit of 250 words be applied to motions.

Amendment 2

Replace section 3.1(d) with the following:

(d) A word limit of 650 words be applied to motions.

N/A

Amendment 3

The following should be inserted at Section 3.1:

(e) Points of reference to support a motion should be allowed where required and these should be excluded from the word count.  This should be in the form of a clickable link to be included in the online version of the agenda and/or a footnote list of references cited in the motion. 

Section 3.3

It is proposed that amendments should be received by 12 noon on the second working day before the Council meeting to enable them to be reviewed. Amendments will then be published on the afternoon of the working day before the meeting. In practice this is likely to be a Friday afternoon. Amendments will continue to be considered in the order submitted.

Amendment 4

Delete section 3.3 in its entirety

Section 3.4

Any amendment must not take the original motion over 250 words and not amount to a direct negative or nullify the original Motion.

Amendment 5

Replace section 3.4 with the following:

Any amendment must not take the original motion over 1000 words and not amount to a direct negative or nullify the original Motion.

Section 3.6

It is proposed to change the deadline for the receipt of written questions to noon on the eighth working day before Council (to align it with the receipt of Motions and enable written questions to be published with the agenda). A written response would be published on the afternoon of the working day before the meeting. 

Amendment 6

Delete section 3.6 in its entirety