Agenda and minutes
PDF 105 KBVenue: Witham Room - Council Offices, St. Peter's Hill, Grantham. NG31 6PZ
Contact: Lucy Bonshor
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Membership
The Committee to be notified of any substitute members. Minutes: The Committee were notified that Councillor Wilkins was substituting for Councillor Ian Stokes and Councillor Powell was substituting for Councillor Sampson. |
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Disclosure of interests
Members are asked to disclose any interests in matters for consideration at the meeting. Minutes: None disclosed. |
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Minutes of the meeting held on 12th June 2017
(Enclosure) Minutes: The decisions from the meeting held on 12th June 2017 had been ratified at Council on 15th June 2017. |
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Amendments to the Constitution
· Development Management Committee – proposed amendment to arrangements for questioning public speakers – Report LDS249 from the Chairman of the Development Management Committee (Enclosure)
· Employment Committee – proposed amendment to the Terms of Reference – ReportTC005 from the Chairman of the Employment Committee (Enclosure)
· Budget and Policy Framework Procedure Rules – proposed amendment to the consultation period - Report CFM440 from the Cabinet Member for Finance (Enclosure) Additional documents: Minutes: As the Cabinet Member for Finance had a prior engagement the Chairman agreed to change the order of the agenda and dealt with report CFM440 first.
Budget and Policy Framework – report CFM440
The Cabinet Member for Finance proposed an amendment to Article 4.21.2 of the Constitution relating to the budget and policy framework. Currently consultation in developing the budget was for six weeks and it was proposed to change this to a period of not less than two weeks which was in line with other authorities in the area. Context for the decision was given by the Assistant Director Finance. Responses to consultation happened in a timely fashion usually within the first few days. The proposal allowed more flexibility especially if the Government made a late announcement and it enabled the framework to be more responsive.
The proposal was moved, seconded and agreed.
Decision:
That the Constitution be amended at Article 4.12.2 as shown below in bold
4.21.2 Process for developing the Budget
(a) The Cabinet will publish in its Schedule of Decisions a timetable for making proposals to the Council for the adoption of an annual budget, including those decisions which are required by detailed at Schedule 2 of the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001(as amended) which are required to be made before the 8th February in any financial year and its arrangements for consultation after publication of those initial proposals. The Chairmen of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees will also be notified. The consultation period shall be a period of not less than two weeks.
Development Management Committee – report LDS249
The Chairman of the Development Management Committee presented report LDS249 which proposed changes to the arrangements for questioning members of the public speaking at meetings of the Development Management Committee (DMC) (Article 9.1.9 (a) viii). The Chairman of the DMC outlined for those Members present who were not Members of the DMC the procedure for speaking at the Committee and the times allowed and the proposal set out in report LDS249. He explained that speaking at committee could be very intimidating for members of the public. There was no proposal to stop the public speaking and the time allowed to speak would remain the same.
Agents, applicants and those with technical knowledge would still be allowed to be questioned by the Committee whether they were for or against an application. He felt that members of the public should not be “cross examined” as speaking in such a forum as the committee meeting was daunting to most people.
The Committee were informed that if the proposal was agreed then this would also require an amendment to be made to 9.1.9 (a) (v) of the Constitution to clarify that questioning would be in accordance with Article 9.1.9 (a) (viii).
The proposal was then discussed by Members of the Constitution Committee. Two other Members of the Council who had sat on the Development Management Committee or who substituted on the Committee were also given the opportunity to ... view the full minutes text for item 30. |
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Close of Meeting
Minutes: The meeting closed at 6:30pm. |