Agenda item

The Mayor stated that in accordance with council assembly procedure rule 1.15 (2), the recommendations from the constitutional steering panel set out in the report were deemed to been moved and were subject to amendment only. He explained that several amendments had been received on various proposals therefore these would be voted upon separately.

 

Late Amendment D was moved by Councillor Chris Page and formerly seconded by Councillor Gordon Nardell.  Late Amendment D was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

Councillor Chris Page, seconded by Councillor Peter John, moved Amendment C1. Following debate (Councillors John Friary, Nick Stanton, Susan Elan Jones, Paul Bates, David Hubber and Aubyn Graham), Amendment C1 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

Councillor Chris Page, seconded by Councillor Peter John, moved Amendment C2. Following debate (Councillors Fiona Colley, Nick Stanton and Kim Humphreys),  Amendment C2 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

Councillor Chris Page, seconded by Councillor Peter John moved Amendment C3.  Following debate (Councillor James Gurling), Amendment C3 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

Councillor Chris Page, seconded by Councillor Peter John, moved Amendment C4. Following debate (Councillors Paul Noblet, Kim Humphreys, John Friary, Nick Stanton, Mark Glover, Lorraine Zuleta and Aubyn Graham), Councillor James Gurling, seconded by Councillor James Barber, moved that the question be put.  The procedure motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

Amendment C4 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

Councillor Chris Page, seconded by Councillor Peter John, moved Amendment C5..  Following debate (Councillors Toby Eckersley, Bob Skelly, Richard Livingstone and Nick Vineall), Amendment C5 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

Councillor Chris Page, seconded by Councillor Peter John, moved Amendment C6. Following debate (Councillors Lewis Robinson, Kim Humphreys, Mark Glover, Paul Noblet and Richard Thomas), Amendment C6 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

Councillor Chris Page, seconded by Councillor Peter John, moved Amendment C7. Councillor Lorraine Zuleta, seconded by Councillor James Barber, moved that the question be put.  The procedural motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

Amendment C7 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

The clerk advised that as Amendment A had been lost, Amendment C8 fell.

 

Councillor Chris Page, seconded by Councillor Peter John, moved late Amendment C9. Following debate (Councillor Nick Stanton), Amendment C9 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

At 10.05pm the bell was rung and the Mayor informed the meeting that the guillotine had fallen.  In accordance with council assembly procedure rule 1.10(4), the meeting had fifteen minutes to consider the report, thereafter the remaining amendments would be put to the vote without debate.

Amendment C9 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

Amendment C10 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

Amendment C11 was moved by Councillor Chris Page and formally seconded by Councillor Peter John. Following debate (Councillors David Hubber and Kim Humphreys), Amendment C11 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

With the meeting’s consent Councillor Chris Page proposed the following change to Amendment C12. (the additional wording is shown underlined):

 

 

14. Co-opted Members

 

Delete Overview and Scrutiny procedure rule 3.1 and insert:

 

“Overview and scrutiny committee and its sub-committees may appoint a number of people as non-voting co-optees, with the approval of the chair and vice chair of the overview and scrutiny committee who may be appointed to serve for the full year or for the duration of a specific task or review.”

Thereafter Councillor Chris Page, seconded by Councillor Peter John, moved revised Amendment C12.  Revised Amendment C12 was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

Councillor Chris Page, seconded by Councillor Peter John, moved late Amendment C13. Following debate (Councillors Columba Blango and Richard Livingstone), late Amendment C13 was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

Councillor James Gurling, seconded by Councillor James Barber, moved that the member and officer protocol and the communication protocol be referred to the constitutional steering panel for consideration.  The procedural motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

The remainder of the substantive motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

RESOLVED: 

1.  That the member and officer protocol be referred to  the constitutional steering panel for consideration (see item 6.1).

 

2.  That the communication protocol be referred to the constitutional steering panel for consideration (see item 6.2).

 

3.  That the changes to financial standing orders and contract standing orders together with further work on contract standing orders as set out in item 6.3 be agreed subject to recommendations 4 and 5 below.

 

4.  That the changes to financial standing orders and contract standing orders as outlined in tem 6.3A, and as set out below, be agreed.

 

Financial Standing Orders (FSOs)

Section 5 Monitoring and control of the revenue budget

 

i) That section 5 (c) (iii) be amended as follows: 

 

“If the virement is in excess of £250,000, it cannot be actioned until the strategic director has notified it to the finance director who will report it to the executive at the earliest opportunity. This must include the rule applies where there is movement of an approved budget from one service to another and to adjustments between subjective categories of income and expenditure such as to reflect additional grant or other income and associated expenditure.”

 

Contract Standing Orders (CSOs)

Section 5.2 Contracts from £5,000 to £75,000

 

ii) That council assembly commission officers to do further work on the £5,000 threshold with a view to coming back to council assembly in the autumn.

 

Section 8 Contract termination

 

iii) That section 8 be reworded as follows:

 

“A contract may only be terminated early or suspended by a chief officer, and only after consultation with obtaining approval from the monitoring officer and finance director; all such decisions will be advised in writing by the chief officer to the relevant member of the executive and executive member for resources”.

 

5.  That in paragraphs 2.1 and 2.3 of contract standing orders reference be made to the need to implement the council’s sustainable communities strategy as follows:

 

Appendix 2 – Contract Standing Orders

 

After paragraph 2.1, sub-paragraph (f) insert new sub-paragraph (g)

 

“(g) the council’s Sustainable Communities Strategy”.

 

In paragraph 2.3, line 4, delete “and quality considerations” insert, “, quality considerations and the need to implement the council’s sustainable communities strategy”.

 

New sentence reads “Variation is made on a similar basis so as to ensure that value for money, quality considerations and the need to implement the council’s sustainable communities strategy, are taken into account.”

 

6.  That the community council protocol (see item 6.4) be approved and included in the protocol section of the constitution.  That the monitoring officer, after consultation with the chairs and vice chairs make any future changes to the protocols.  That this be noted as an exception in Article 1.5(b) of the constitution.

 

7.  That the constitutional change outlined on tree preservation orders in item 6.5 to Part 3H of the constitution be agreed as follows.

 

In respect of Part 3(H): under the heading, “Matters Reserved for Decision Planning functions (non-executive)  Decision making,” insert a Paragraph 2 to read as follows;

 

  “To consider the confirmation of Tree Preservation Orders:”

 

In addition a sub-paragraph will be added to read as follows;

 

“Those which are the subject of a sustained objection, (a “sustained objection” is defined as an objection that is maintained, despite an attempt by officers to resolve it, or which officers consider incapable of resolution by negotiation).”

 

8.  That the schedule of other constitutional changes set out in appendix A of item 6.6. be agreed.

 

9.  That officers be authorised to undertake any consequential and cross referencing changes arising from the review of the constitution.