Agenda item

Report by Head of Corporate and Community (attached).

Council considered a report by the Head of Corporate and Community (circulated previously) regarding the Constitution.

The Head of Corporate and Community highlighted the following:

·         Council was advised at its meeting on 25^th July 2018 that since the introduction of the Localism Act 2011, Councils that were previously required to adopt Executive arrangements could revert to a Committee structure if they wished to do so.

·         Council had requested officers to explore the options for making such a move and a Cross Party Working Group of Councillors was formed to consider this.  The working group had met a number of times to firstly identify and consider advantages or disadvantages of an Executive model of governance and a Committee system, and to also identify the elements of a governance structure which it felt were crucial to North Devon.

·         Prior to 2000, all Local Authorities operated a committee structure whereby all statutory powers were given to the Council to allocate to committees and officers.

·         In 2000, legislation was introduced whereby any Local Authority with a population in excess of 85,000 moved to an Executive model with a Leader and Cabinet.

·         In 2007, legislation was introduced to change the Executive arrangements.  The Council had adopted a Strong Leader model whereby powers were divided between Council and the Executive.  All Executive powers were delegated to the Leader, who then had the authority to decide whether to delegate these powers further.  The Leader had appointed an Executive with two Executive committees (i.e. North Devon Crematorium Joint Committee and the Building Control Joint Committee).  Council had appointed committees to exercise the Council functions.

·         The working group identified that the important elements included wide political involvement in decisions, ownership of decisions, speedy decision making and resilience to political change.  It considered a number of different models and considered that the Committee system, if designed correctly, could achieve all of those important elements.

·         The main features of a Committee system are that decision making powers can be delegated to Committees which were politically balanced.  It was perceived that because there was a wider range of political groups involved in decision making, decision making would be  more inclusive.

·         There was also no requirement to have an Overview and Scrutiny Committee under a Committee system, although if one was created, it had to comply with the same legislative requirements as under an Executive model.

·         Two versions of a possible new Constitution had been prepared, Version 1 with an Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Version 2 without an Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

·         The main features common to both versions of the Constitution.

·         As the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had a role to play in developing policies and the budget and also in considering matters that may have an impact on Council policy or issues affecting the area, in Version 2 a Policy Development Committee had been included to fulfil this function.

·         In developing the two models, certain minor issues had come to light in relation to the existing Constitution or have been recommended as part of various audits.  These changes which would be required to be made to the constitution were contained in Appendix 1.  Some of these changes had been made by the Monitoring Officer under delegated powers.

·         Since 2007, around 25 Local Authorities had reverted back to a committee structure.  The Local Government Information Unit Policy Briefing dated December 2014 gave examples of other Local Authorities that had moved to a committee structure and read quotes from the briefing to Council.  Many Local Authorities had not adopted an Overview and Scrutiny Committee as under the committee structure model all committees would be politically balanced, therefore scrutiny would occur at committee meetings.

·         The main change proposed was to move all functions delegated currently to the Executive to a Strategy and Resources Committee.

·         Following the decision by Council, a further meeting of the cross party working group would be arranged, all Members would be consulted and a report brought back to Council prior to the May 2019 Elections.

Councillor Meadlarkin advised that the Ilfracombe Harbour Board had requested that the constitution be amended to retain four Councillors appointed, with three representing Ilfracombe and one representing Lynmouth.

The Head of Corporate and Community advised Council that co-opted Members appointed to the Harbour Board could be given voting rights.

It was moved by Councillor Jones and seconded by Councillor Barker “that this Council does not give further consideration to revising the Constitution; that the changes made to the Constitution under delegated powers as set out in Part 1 of Appendix 1 be noted; and that the changes to the existing Constitution outlined in Part 2 of Appendix 1 be approved.”

A further amendment was moved by Councillor R. Cann and seconded by Councillor Bonds “that the recommendations in the report be adopted”.

The amendment was carried.

            RESOLVED: