Decision details

The Council considered the report of the Corporate Governance Working Group (CGWG) which set out a number of recommendations to improve the way the committee structure at the Council operated.  Following a resolution by the Council in May 2020 the CGWG had met twice to consider items relating to the six-month review of the new Committee structure and the arrangements for remote Committees at Maldon District Council.

The report set out a number of recommendations and provided background and rationale for each.

The Leader of the Council presented the report highlighting how the Motion agreed earlier on in this meeting would have an impact on the recommendations set out in the report.  He then proposed a number of amendments to the Officers’ recommendations and outlined his reasoning behind each change.  This proposal was duly seconded.   The Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance responded to the proposed changes advising that Officers would meet the requirements of Members and the decision made by the Council.

Members discussed the proposal from the Leader of the Council and in response to comments raised and further propositions the Leader further amended his proposal to as follows:

(i)              that all suspended Committees be reinstated from October 7 September 2020 after the Statutotory Annual meeting of the Council with all Council and Committee meetings to be held remotely until legislation changes;

(ii)            that regular Council and Committee meetings be scheduled with a 6pm start time from October 2020, with the exception of the Performance Governance and Audit (PGA) Committee which will start at 2pm (allowing for input of external agencies), and these arrangements be reviewed after six months.  Ad-hoc Committee meetings, such as the Joint Standards Committee, are to be scheduled as required at a time to suit;

(iii)          that the remote meeting protocol is updated to highlight that Members can use personal devices;

(iv)          that Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee are given training and a clear remitbased on the guidance issues by the MHCLG in June 2019;

(v)            that from the Statutory Annual meeting of the Council the membership numbers for the Strategy & Resources, Performance, Governance& Audit and Overview and Scrutiny Committees be more equally split, with the programme Committees not having the same members as those serving on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and that a six-month review to these arrangements takes place;

(vi)          that public participation also allows for video and audio to be broadcast at Committee meetings, with the operational introduction of this being delegated to the Programmes, Performance and Governance manager;

(vii)        that if there are less than three items of non-urgent business on an agenda a decision should be made whether to cancel a Committee meeting at the discretion of the Committee Chairman or Vice-Chairman and that items for noting are not brought before Committees but are posted on the I Drive and brought to the Members’ attention through the agenda paper;

(viii)       that Planning enforcement reports are no longer presented at scheduled Area Planning Committee meetings but a monthly report is circulated for information for Members’ feedback and that the Chairman of the Area Planning Committees can arrange daytime meetings for detailed enforcement discussions, as necessary;

(ix)          that the Interim Measures Group arrangements, introduced by the Council in March 2020 to deal with the Covid-19 Emergency be suspended from following the Statutory Annual meeting of the Council September reinstatement of Committees from 7 September 2020.

(x)            That a revised schedule of meetings be brought to the next meeting of the Council for approval.

In respect of the schedule of meetings and approval of Committee meeting days for September 2020, it was noted that this would be delegated to the Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance.

These amendments to Councillor Fluker’s’ original proposal were duly seconded. 

The Chairman put the revised recommendations to the vote and these were agreed by assent, however Councillor C Swain asked that his vote against the proposals be recorded and Councillors C Morris and N J Skeens asked that their abstentions also be recorded.

RESOLVED

(i)              that all suspended Committees be reinstated from 7 September2020 with all Council and Committee meetings to be held remotely until legislation changes;

(ii)            that regular Council and Committee meetings be scheduled with a 6pm start time from October 2020, with the exception of the Performance Governance and Audit (PGA) Committee which will start at 2pm (allowing for input of external agencies), and these arrangements be reviewed after six months.  Ad-hoc Committee meetings, such as the Joint Standards Committee, are to be scheduled as required at a time to suit;

(iii)          that the remote meeting protocol is updated to highlight that Members can use personal devices;

(iv)          that Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee are given training and a clear remit based on the guidance issues by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in June 2019;

(v)            that from the Statutory Annual meeting of the Council the membership numbers for the Strategy & Resources, Performance, Governance & Audit and Overview and Scrutiny Committees be more equally split, with the programme Committees not having the same members as those serving on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and that a six-month review to these arrangements takes place;

(vi)          that public participation also allows for video and audio to be broadcast at Committee meetings, with the operational introduction of this being delegated to the Programmes, Performance and Governance manager;

(vii)        that if there are less than three items of non-urgent business on an agenda a decision should be made whether to cancel a Committee meeting at the discretion of the Committee Chairman or Vice-Chairman and that items for noting are not brought before Committees but are posted on the I Drive and brought to the Members’ attention through the agenda paper;

(viii)       that Planning enforcement reports are no longer presented at scheduled Area Planning Committee meetings but a monthly report is circulated for information for Members’ feedback and that the Chairman of the Area Planning Committees can arrange daytime meetings for detailed enforcement discussions, as necessary;

(ix)          that the Interim Measures Group arrangements, introduced by the Council in March 2020 to deal with the Covid-19 Emergency be suspended from following the reinstatement of Committees from 7 September 2020.

(x)            that a revised schedule of meetings be brought to the next meeting of the Council for approval.