Agenda item

1)    From Councillor Paul Wood

The Localism Act 2011 permits Councils to change from one form of governance to another.

This Council currently operates the leader/cabinet arrangement but this could be changed back to a committee system.

A committee system operated at SKDC for many years prior to the leader/cabinet arrangements and was very successful. Committees are the most democratic form of decision making and enable all Councillors to be involved and gain experience in many areas.

I am aware of other Councils reverting back to a Committee system and in particular Nottinghamshire County Council which is Conservative led have agreed to return to Committees following a Nottinghamshire Conservative manifesto pledge. They have successfully organised this change in the period from November 2011 to 17^th May 2012 when the new system will commence. Nottinghamshire have also contained all costs within their existing budgets.

I propose that South Kesteven District Council agree to return to the Committee system and set a timescale to achieve this.

Decision:

That the Council rejects the motion:

The Localism Act 2011 permits Councils to change from one form of governance to another.

This Council currently operates the leader/cabinet arrangement but this could be changed back to a committee system.

A committee system operated at SKDC for many years prior to the leader/cabinet arrangements and was very successful. Committees are the most democratic form of decision-making and enable all Councillors to be involved and gain experience in many areas.

I am aware of other Councils reverting back to a Committee system and in particular Nottinghamshire County Council which is Conservative-led have agreed to return to Committees following a Nottinghamshire Conservatives manifesto pledge. They have successfully organised this change in the period from November 2011 to 17 May 2012 when the new system will commence. Nottinghamshire have also contained all costs within their existing budgets.

 I propose that South Kesteven District Council agree to return to the Committee system and set a timescale to achieve this.

Councillor Wood proposed the motion:

“The Localism Act 2011 permits Councils to change from one form of governance to another.

This Council currently operates the leader/cabinet arrangement but this could be changed back to a committee system.

A committee system operated at SKDC for many years prior to the leader/cabinet arrangements and was very successful. Committees are the most democratic form of decision-making and enable all Councillors to be involved and gain experience in many areas.

I am aware of other Councils reverting back to a Committee system and in particular Nottinghamshire County Council which is Conservative-led have agreed to return to Committees following a Nottinghamshire Conservatives manifesto pledge. They have successfully organised this change in the period from November 2011 to 17 May 2012 when the new system will commence. Nottinghamshire have also contained all costs within their existing budgets.

I propose that South Kesteven District Council agree to return to the Committee system and set a timescale to achieve this.”

The motion was seconded.

In proposing the motion, Councillor Wood explained that several councils, including Nottinghamshire County Council had taken decisions to return to a committee system. He suggested that, on its introduction, the Leader/Cabinet model had been unpopular because the committee system gave all Councillors the opportunity to be involved in decision-making.

The following points were raised during debate:

·         The committee system had previously received criticism because of the amount of time taken for decision-making

·         All councillors were elected and should have an opportunity to represent the people who elected them

·         Prospective election candidates may be encouraged if they could actively take part in decision-making

·         The committee system provided greater opportunities for the involvement of opposition and backbench councillors

·         Regulations which provided details of items that could be delegated to committees were not yet available. Making decisions before their content was known could lead to the Council having to make changes to incorporate the Regulations’ stipulations

·         Committee minutes were presented at Council meetings, so all Councillors knew what was happening on all Committees

An amendment was proposed:

“That this item be referred back to a special working party with the remit of reporting on the advantages and disadvantages of the committee structure and report back to the next full council meeting.”

This was seconded. Several Councillors spoke on the amendment and welcomed further consideration and a report to a future council meeting.

It was proposed and seconded that the question be now put. The amendment was put to the vote and lost.

Further debate on the proposition continued, during which Councillors queried whether the Regulations needed to be available before a decision was taken given that several councils were already going through the process to return to a committee system. The Monitoring Officer clarified that the provisions within the Localism Act that allowed councils to consider different governance systems had been enacted, however the Secretary of State had yet to make Regulations about the functions that could be delegated from the council to various committees. If the Council decided to return to a committee system before Regulations were released, there was a risk that any new arrangements would not comply with regulations and the Council would then have to make changes.

It was proposed and seconded that the question be now put. On being put to the vote, the motion was lost.

Following recent comments made by a Councillor on a social networking site, the Councillor was asked to make a publicly recorded apology to the former Chairman and the office of Chairman. The Councillor made a statement defending and explaining his actions but no apology was forthcoming and a number of Councillors left the chamber.