Issue - meetings

Council gave consideration to a report which presented the 19/20 and 20/21 Annual Review of the Constitution and arising recommendations as considered by the Governance and Audit Committee on 13 April and recommended for approval.

The report also included an Annual Report from the Monitoring Officer for the period 19/20 and 20/21. The report aimed to provide an holistic view of all governance associated matters.

The Governance and Audit Committee Chairman in presenting the report advised Members that comprehensive reviews were undertaken in 2011,14 , 17 and large sections of the document were also amended in 2018.  As such a number of relatively minor amendments , detailed in Section 2 of the report were being proposed.  All changes included a rationale for doing so. It was noted that changes made during Annual Reviews were driven by a number of factors, including responding to questions and motions, with Members’ attention being drawn to sections 2.6 and 2.7.

These constitutional amendments would be supported by a number of training sessions throughout the year aimed at Parish Councils and their understanding of the planning process, in a bid to  develop a common understanding of the process and help reduce any confusion and ultimately complaints

As part of the last Annual Review considered by Council in May 2019, Members had agreed a list of associated work to be undertaken during the 2019/20 civic year.  Section 5 of the report provided a brief update of the work which had undertaken and the arising outcomes over the two year period.

Whilst undertaking the annual review of the Constitution a number of other associated actions for further work, development or “watch in brief” had been identified, these were detailed at Section 6 of the report and progress and any arising recommendations from this work would form part of the 21/22 review reportable to Governance and Audit in April 2022.

The remaining sections of the report 7 -13  made up the Monitoring Officers Annual Report which aimed to provide an holistic overview of all governance associated matters and again covered a two year period on this occasion.

In the ensuing debate Members welcomed the report and in particular those amendments being proposed to further assist Parish Councils in the responding to planning applications process.

Whilst the amendments to Membership restrictions relating to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee were welcomed it was suggested this matter should have ben considered prior to the Committee’s membership have been determined.

Having being moved and seconded it was

RESOLVED that the recommendation from the Governance and Audit Committee be accepted and as such: -

(a)         the outcome of the annual reviews detailed within the report be noted;

(b)         the amendments detailed throughout Section 2 of the report, including those detailed in Appendix 2 relating to the Planning Delegation scheme be approved, adopted and implemented with immediate effect;

(c)          that the proposed amendments, raised through the review process, but which are not being progressed, detailed at Section 2.8 be not included;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26