Constitution Working Group
Minutes:
102.1 The Monitoring Officer Introduced paper BC/21/37 which explored the advantages and disadvantages of different governance models and summarised the key points investigated by the Constitution Working Group.
102.2 Councillor Ward MOVED recommendation 3.1a as this would allow some of the recommended changes to be implemented and allow the next council in 2023 to make a final decision based on how those changes have worked in practice.
102.3 Recommendation 3.1a was SECONDED by Councillor Arthey.
102.4 Councillor Beer enquired who was on the Constitution Working Group and when where they appointed.
102.5 The Monitoring Officer replied that Councillors Plumb, Busby, Jamieson, McLaren and Malvisi had been appointed to the working Group and the appointments had been made by full Council at the last Annual Council meeting.
102.6 Councillor Hinton asked the Monitoring Officer how many questions had been received in advance before the meeting as requested.
102.7 The Monitoring Officer explained the reason for asking for questions to be sent to her by email before the meeting and reported that no questions had been received.
102.8 Councillor Hinton asked for clarification of the timing of implementing a changed governance system and if it was a statutory requirement for the implementation to be made at the Annual Council meeting.
102.9 The Monitoring Officer replied that it was a statutory requirement that any change to the governance model would come into effect at the Annual Council meeting, therefore if a decision to change the governance model was made at this meeting it could be implemented at the Annual Council meeting in 2022, if the decision was made not to change the governance model the next opportunity would be May 2023.
102.10 Councillor Hardacre questioned if the Cabinet members had an interest in this item as they received an allowance and therefore should not vote.
102.11 The Monitoring Officer replied that all councillors are granted a dispensation to allow them to participate in discussions about governance models or allowances.
102.12 Councillor Lindsay stated that he would prefer the committee system and gave examples in his opinion why the Cabinet model has not worked.
102.13 Councillor Hinton drew councillors’ attention to paragraph 4.15 of the report which in his opinion outlined one of the problems with the existing Cabinet governance system as ordinary councillors feel left out of the decision making process.
102.14 Councillor Melanie Barrett stated that the number of councillors had reduced since the Council last had a committee system and there may be a problem filling all committee placings and changing to a committee system would not address councillors feeling excluded.
102.15 Councillor Davis gave his experiences of being a member of various Cabinets.
102.16 Councillor Beer stated that Cabinet were removed from councillors and the general public and summarised issues which had made councillors feel disconnected.
102.17 Councillor McCraw stated that a decision should not be made that committed the next Council to a particular governance model.
102.18 Councillor Parker gave his opinion that a Cabinet system worked well with a political majority but a committee system was a better system overall, however he felt that it was not for this Council to determine the next Councils governance model.
102.19 Councillor Ward stated that he was happy with the current membership of the Cabinet and additional members had been added for specific reasons.
102.20 Councillor Beer left the meeting before the vote at 18.15pm and Councillor Newman left the meeting after the vote at 18.17pm
It was RESOLVED:
That the Leader and Cabinet model of governance be retained and additional measures implemented to engage with all members of Babergh District Council, and that a further review of governance arrangements be undertaken after the ordinary elections in 2023.
Supporting documents: