Agenda item

The Constitution Committee is scheduled to meet on 18 July 2022 to consider proposed amendments to the Constitution. Any recommendations from the Constitution Committee will be published via a supplement as soon as possible after its meeting.

The Chairman of the Constitution Committee presented a report which provided Full Council with an opportunity to consider proposed revisions to the Council’s Constitution.

 

Several amendments to the Council’s Constitution were raised by Councillors Richard Cleaver and Ashley Baxter during debate at the Annual Meeting of the Council held on 26 May 2022 which they agreed to withdraw so they could be considered by the Constitution Committee. The Constitution Committee met on 18 July 2022 to consider these amendments, together with other constitutional matters which had been highlighted prior to the meeting.

 

The Chairman of the Constitution Committee explained the basis for each recommendation of the Committee contained within the report and it was agreed these should be debated separately.

 

Recommendation 1

 

It was proposed and seconded the term ‘Chairman’ be amended to ‘Person Presiding’ in respect of the Council’s Committees throughout the Constitution.

 

This matter had been raised at a recent development session for Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen where the question was raised as to whether the term ‘Chairman’ was appropriate from a gender-neural perspective.

 

The following points were noted during debate of the motion:

 

·         The term ‘Person Presiding’ gave the impression of someone acting as a judge

·         It was universally known the person chairing a meeting was a Chairman. It should, however, be up to the individual Chairman at the meeting as to how they wish to be addressed based on their personal preference

·         If the Council worried more about the future than it did regarding the policing of language it would be much further ahead

·         It was problematic to retain ‘Chairman’ as a default and the default terminology should represent more universal language

·         In response to a comment made during discussion of this item which referred to this matter as ‘woke nonsense’, the term was commonly used when frightened of change and was a phrase that could easily have been used previously to resist any progress towards equality

·         The proposal should be supported on the basis that each person presiding would be able to express how they personally wished to be addressed at meetings

·         The term ‘Chairman’ did not demean anybody and there was nothing to be ashamed about when being referred to as a Chairman

·         The term ‘Person Presiding’ would not make it clear who the appointed or elected Chairman was and could relate to anyone presiding a meeting rather than the person who had been elected or appointed into the position

 

Having been proposed and seconded, upon being put to the vote the motion was lost.

 

Recommendation 2

 

It was proposed and seconded that Paragraph 7 of the Council Procedure Rules be renamed ‘Notice and Summons to Meetings and Cancellation, Postponement or Rescheduling of Meetings and that Paragraphs 7.4 and 7.5 of the Council Procedure Rules be amended to include the words ‘cancel or reschedule’ along with the existing word ‘postpone’.

 

The proposed wording sought to add more clarity regarding the Chairman’s discretion to vary the date of a meeting.

 

The following points were noted during debate of the motion:

 

·         This amendment was proposed following an issue regarding the recent rescheduling of a meeting of an Overview and Scrutiny Committee, with the revised date being set before the originally agreed date. The ability to do this had been challenged as the Constitution only made provision for postponements under the Chairman’s discretion

 

Having been proposed and seconded, upon being put to the vote the motion was AGREED.

 

Recommendation 3

 

It was proposed and seconded that a new paragraph be added under section 6 of the Planning Procedure Rules as follows:

 

“The relevant Ward Councillor is defined as a Councillor representing those wards which fall inside or adjacent to the planning application”.

 

This proposal related to the definition of ‘relevant Ward Councillor’ in respect of those Councillors entitled to speak during consideration of a planning application at the Planning Committee.

 

The following points were noted during debate of the motion:

 

·         Clarity was sought regarding the proposed wording and whether under the proposition a Councillor from an adjoining electoral ward to that of the site of an application would be entitled to speak as a relevant Ward Councillor. This was confirmed as being correct.

·         Clarification was provided that the proposal related solely to the public speaking element of consideration of a planning application at the Planning Committee and was separate to the provision set out elsewhere in the Constitution regarding a Ward Councillor’s right to ‘call-in’ an application to the Planning Committee

·         Any Councillor had the right to request to speak at the Planning Committee through Chairman’s discretion

 

A procedural motion to defer this motion to the Constitution Committee was proposed and seconded. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Planning Committee would be invited to attend the meeting and the proposed wording could be re-considered in the context of the content of the Local Code of Practice for the Planning Committee. Upon being put to the vote the procedural motion was AGREED.

 

Recommendation 4

 

It was proposed and seconded a new paragraph be added under Council Procedure Rules and Overview and Scrutiny Committee Procedure Rules relating to public speaking, as follows:

 

“A public speaker who has put a question in person may also put one supplementary question without notice to the Councillor who has replied to their original question. A supplementary question must arise directly out of the original question or the reply”.

 

This proposal sought to re-introduce the ability for members of the public to ask a supplementary question at meetings of the Council and Overview and Scrutiny Committees having registered their original question.

 

The following points were noted during debate of the motion:

 

·         It was already difficult enough for people to engage with and participate in the Council’s meetings and the least the Council should offer was a supplementary question, as was previously the case

·         Sometimes questions were not answered sufficiently or were misunderstood, with supplementary questions in the past having been used to seek further clarity regarding an answer provided

·         If a supplementary question was too difficult to answer at the time of the meeting, the Councillor answering the question could commit to providing an answer outside of the meeting

·         The Chairman would have the ability to rule a supplementary question out of order should it not be relevant

 

Having been proposed and seconded, upon being put to the vote the motion was lost.

 

Recommendation 5

 

It was proposed and seconded to add the words ‘between meetings, changes to …’ at the beginning of paragraph 4.4 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules.

 

The proposed wording sought to add more clarity regarding the management of the work programme for Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

 

Having been proposed and seconded, upon being put to the vote the motion was AGREED.

 

Clarification was sought regarding the constitutional amendments considered by the Constitution Committee which it did not agree to put forward as formal recommendations to Full Council in respect of whether any explanation would be provided to Councillors as to the reasons why they were not supported. The Chairman of the Constitution Committee stated that the draft minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18 July 2022 would published shortly and would outline the issues raised during discussion of each suggested amendment.

 

DECISION:

 

That Full Council:

 

1.    Approves the renaming of Paragraph 7 of the Council Procedure Rules to ‘Notice and Summons to Meetings and Cancellation, Postponement or Rescheduling of Meetings and the amendment of Paragraphs 7.4 and 7.5 of the Council Procedure Rules to include the words ‘cancel or reschedule’ along with the existing word ‘postpone’.

 

2.    Defers consideration of the definition of relevant Ward Councillor in respect of Section 6 of the Planning Procedure Rules to the Constitution Committee.

 

3.    Approves the addition of the words ‘between meetings, changes to …’ at the beginning of paragraph 4.4 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules.