Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 July 2012.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 25 July 2012 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider a report of the Monitoring Officer.

The Working Party is invited to consider proposed amendments to the Constitution in relation to the arrangements for ‘Purdah’.

A representative of the Monitoring Officer submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) inviting the Working Party to consider a review of the existing arrangements regarding the council’s pre-election protocol. He advised that on the first page of Appendix A ‘Proposed Draft Protocol on the Pre-Election Period’ – ‘Decision Making and other business of the Council’ bullet point 7 should come before bullet point 6, and in bullet point 6 the words ‘with the Chair having a casting vote’ should be deleted in the final sentence.

Members expressed concern about the paragraph in the guidance on publicity for Council Officers in the pre-election period “Councillors involved in the election should not be invited to events organised by the Council that will attract significant public or media interest, and which are taking place in the pre-election period as they cannot be held at any other time’. It was felt that the word ‘significant’ was open to interpretation and that councillors up for re-election should not automatically be precluded from attending events, but that the Monitoring Officer should determine these on an individual basis.

RESOLVED – That the Monitoring Officer be requested to re-examine the paragraph in the proposed draft protocol on the pre-election period – guidance on publicity for Council Officers in the pre-election period :-

‘Councillors involved in the election should not be invited to events organised by the Council that will attract significant public or media interest, and which are taking place in the pre-election period as they cannot be held at any other time’.

To consider a report of the Monitoring Officer.

The Working Party is invited to consider the proposed amendments to the Constitution arising from the Localism Act 2011 and subsequent regulations or guidance.

With the agreement of the Working Party, this item was withdrawn.

To consider a report of the Democratic Services Manager.

The Working Party is invited to consider amendments to the Scheme of Delegation in relation to a proposed appeals process for the Obstructions Policy for Highways.

The Democratic Services Manager submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) inviting the Working Party to consider the appeals arrangements for the recently approved Obstructions Policies for the Highway.

RESOLVED – That the Working Party recommends that the appeals concerning Advertisement boards (A boards) and skips, containers and hoardings should be considered by the Head of Engineering Services on behalf of the Service Director (Place Management) and that the appeals concerning Highways Cafes and Goods on the pavement be considered by the Licensing, Environment & Safety Committee.

To consider a report of the Democratic Services Manager.

This report summarises the key issues arising from the recently published Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 which were laid before Parliament on 15 August and came into effect on 10 September 2012. These regulations clarify and extend the circumstances in which local authority executive decision making processes are to be open to the public. There are a number of areas where the regulations require amendments to current practice and will necessitate changes to the Council’s Constitution. There are also a number of areas where there is likely to be a significant impact on current practice and which will present a challenge to ensure compliance with the new regulations.

The proposed changes to the Constitution are set out in the appendices to the report.

The Working Party is invited to consider the report and the proposed changes to the Constitution as detailed in the appendices and to recommend that the Council Meeting adopt the amendments.

The Democratic Services Manager submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) summarising the key issued arising from the recently published Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 which were laid before Parliament on 15 August and came into effect on 10 September 2012. The regulations clarified and extended the circumstances in which local authority executive decision making processes were to be open to the public. There were a number of areas where the regulations required amendments to current practice and would necessitate changes to the Council’s Constitution. There were also a number of areas where there was likely to be a significant impact on current practice and which would present a challenge to ensure compliance with the new regulations.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

•           Whether there were financial thresholds for the publication of Officer decisions.

•           What arrangements the Council was putting in place for the publication of Officer decisions.

•           The implication for Democratic Services of the new arrangements and whether additional resources were required to administer them.

RESOLVED – (1) That the Council Meeting be recommended to adopt the amendments to the Constitution as detailed in the appendices to the report.

(2) That the arrangements for implementing the regulations be examined in a year’s time in the light of experience.

(3) That Members of the Working Party be advised of the contact details of the Deputy Monitoring Officer and that she be invited to attend the next meeting of the Working Party.

(4) That the Working Party’s best wishes be conveyed to Barry Khan, Monitoring Officer, on the birth of his son.