1. The following Notice of Motion has been submitted by Councillors Fail, Beavers, Raynor and B Stephenson:
“This Council is concerned that a ‘calendar of meetings’ report has been presented to Full Council for noting rather than voting on. It is also concerned that there has been no thorough impact analysis or public consultation, and that Councillors have not had the opportunity to scrutinise.
To provide a way forward that is acceptable to all, the Council request the following:-
Full Council Meetings
To balance out the loss of a Full Council Meeting, para 11.3 of the Council Procedure Rules in Part 4.01 be amended to state that “A maximum of fifteen minutes will be allocated for questions or comments to and responses by each Member of the Executive (Cabinet).”
To ensure any future meeting changes are dealt with more smoothly, this Council requests that para 2 of the Council Procedure Rules in Part 4.01 the Council be amended in order to clarify the responsibilities, and to make it absolutely clear that the frequency of meetings and the basic content of meetings is an elected member responsibility.
Overview & Scrutiny Meetings
The suggested changes to O& S meetings are not in keeping with para 3.1 of Part 4.05 of the constitution (Ordinary meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be programmed to take place at approximately monthly intervals).
As such, prior to any change of frequency, a formal change of the constitution must be brought before Full Council.
Cabinet Meetings (for information only)
The changes to Cabinet are in keeping with para 1.6 of Part 4.04 of the constitution (The Cabinet will be scheduled to meet at least 8 times per year at times to be agreed by the Leader). Council proposes no action to be taken.”
2. The following Notice of Motion has been submitted by Councillors Gibson, Fail, E Anderton and Beavers:
“That this Council recognises the need for transparency and engagement with both residents and members. The democratic process is important to this Council and the Council will not play fast and loose with democracy.
Currently of the Full Council meetings per year the AGM and the Budget meeting do not facilitate the ability of Non Executive members to question or comment to the Portfolio Holders on their areas of responsibility.
This Council resists any suggestion that the number of Full Council meetings per year be reduced and as such the Council insists that any report proposing to reduce the number of Full Council Meetings be withdrawn immediately.”
Minutes:
The following Notice of Motion was submitted by Councillors Fail, Beavers, Raynor and B Stephenson in accordance with Paragraph 14.1 of the Council Procedure Rules.
“This Council is concerned that a ‘calendar of meetings’ report has been presented to Full Council for noting rather than voting on. It is also concerned that there has been no thorough impact analysis or public consultation, and that Councillors have not had the opportunity to scrutinise.
To provide a way forward that is acceptable to all, the Council request the following:-
Full Council Meetings
To balance out the loss of a Full Council Meeting, para 11.3 of the Council Procedure Rules in Part 4.01 be amended to state that “A maximum of fifteen minutes will be allocated for questions or comments to and responses by each Member of the Executive (Cabinet).”
To ensure any future meeting changes are dealt with more smoothly, this Council requests that para 2 of the Council Procedure Rules in Part 4.01 the Council be amended in order to clarify the responsibilities, and to make it absolutely clear that the frequency of meetings and the basic content of meetings is an elected member responsibility.
Overview & Scrutiny Meetings
The suggested changes to O& S meetings are not in keeping with para 3.1 of Part 4.05 of the constitution (Ordinary meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be programmed to take place at approximately monthly intervals).
As such, prior to any change of frequency, a formal change of the constitution must be brought before Full Council.
Cabinet Meetings (for information only)
The changes to Cabinet are in keeping with para 1.6 of Part 4.04 of the constitution (The Cabinet will be scheduled to meet at least 8 times per year at times to be agreed by the Leader). Council proposes no action to be taken.”
The motion was proposed by Cllr Fail and seconded by Councillor Beavers.
Councillor Michael Vincent proposed and Cllr Moon seconded an amendment (by deleting some words from the original motion and including others) as follows:
This Council believes that amendments to the constitution of this Council are a matter for the members and requests that a suitable amendment to the constitution be brought forward to confirm the same as soon as possible.
Further, it is recognised that reducing the number of meetings from 9 to 8 to increase the efficiency and productivity of this Council will reduce the time available to ordinary members to raise questions of the executive.
This is not desirable and so this Council proposes that the time for questions be increased proportionately to the time lost.
As such, and in addition to the immediate amendment aforesaid, the Council requests that the following amendments be brought to the meeting of 4 April 2018 so that, should the proposed amendments be approved, they shall take effect prior to the commencement of the calendar of meetings for the municipal year 2019/20:
“A maximum of eleven minutes will be allocated for questions or comments to and responses from each Member of the Executive (Cabinet)”
“Ordinary meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be programmed to take place at approximately six weekly intervals”
Councillor Beavers proposed and Councillor Fail seconded, in accordance with paragraph 15(h) of the Council Procedure Rules, that the meeting be adjourned for 15 minutes to enable the Labour members to consider the implications of the amendment.
However the proposal to adjourn the meeting was LOST, by 32 votes to 11.
Councillors Murphy, Henderson, Walmsley spoke in support of the amendment.
Councillors B Stephenson, Fail, R Duffy and Shewan spoke against the amendment.
A recorded vote was requested in accordance with Paragraph 18.4 of the Council Procedure Rules
The following members voted for the amendment:
Councillors I Amos, R Amos, Lady Atkins, Ballard, Berry, B Birch, C Birch, Bowen, Cartridge, Catterall, Collinson, Ellison, Greenhough, Henderson, Hodgkinson, Holden, Ibison, Ingham, Jones, Kay, McKay, Moon, Murphy, Orme, Pimbley, Robinson, A Turner, S Turner, A Vincent, Matthew Vincent, Michael Vincent, Walmsley and Wilson.
The following Members voted against the amendment:
Councillors E Anderton, Barrowclough, Beavers, I Duffy, R Duffy, Fail, Gibson, Raynor, Shewan, Smith, B Stephenson and E Stephenson.
The Mayor (Cllr M Anderton) abstained.
The amendment was CARRIED by 33 votes to 12, with 1 abstention.
The original motion therefore fell and was not debated further.
The approved amendment therefore became the substantive motion and, following a further vote, was approved by 33 votes to 12, with 1 abstention and it was agreed that:
This Council believes that amendments to the constitution of this Council are a matter for the members and requests that a suitable amendment to the constitution be brought forward to confirm the same as soon as possible.
Further, it is recognised that reducing the number of meetings from 9 to 8 to increase the efficiency and productivity of this Council will reduce the time available to ordinary members to raise questions of the executive.
This is not desirable and so this Council proposes that the time for questions be increased proportionately to the time lost.
As such, an in addition to the immediate amendment aforesaid, the Council requests that the following amendments be brought to the meeting of 4 April 2018 so that, should the proposed amendments be approved, they shall take effect prior to the commencement of the calendar of meetings for the municipal year 2019/20:
“A maximum of eleven minutes will be allocated for questions or comments to and responses from each Member of the Executive (Cabinet)”
“Ordinary meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be programmed to take place at approximately six weekly intervals”.