Issue - meetings

Decisions taken by Leader of the Council under Urgency Procedures

Meeting: 09/11/2021 - Cabinet (Item 67)

67 Decisions taken by the Leader of the Council under urgency procedures: Northampton Partnership Homes - Westbridge lease and development, Planning Policy Committee and Appointment to West Midlands Rail Ltd pdf icon PDF 583 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED: That Cabinet noted the decisions taken by the Leader of the Council set out at Appendices A, B and C.

 

REASONS RESOLVED:

a) Where decisions that would otherwise be taken by Cabinet have been taken by the Leader of the Council, it was considered best practice to report those decisions to the next available meeting of the Cabinet.

b) In the case of NPH, the decision taken provided NPH with accommodation that enables them to operate effectively and deliver against the management agreement with Council.

c) In the case of the Planning Policy Committee, the agreement of the terms of reference for this committee enabled items that would otherwise be taken by Cabinet to be taken by that committee. This improved the efficiency of Cabinet decision making, while improving the accountability of planning policy decision by including members who are not part of the executive as non-voting members of the committee.

d) In the case of West Midlands Rail Ltd. The Council was required to appoint a director in its capacity as one of the partner local authorities.

e) Full reasons for the recommendations were set out in the decision records appended to this report.

 

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:

The options considered were whether to wait for the next Cabinet meeting or to proceed under the Leader’s statutory powers. Cabinet members were consulted and agreed the proposed solution was beneficial to the Council and it was important to meet the timeframe of NPH’s board to ensure that a decision in principle could be communicated.

Minutes:

The Chair presented the report, copies of which had been previously circulated the three decisions were presented individually to Cabinet.

 

A councillor queried whether the planning policy committee was a sub-committee of Cabinet and as such Cabinet would have voting power, this was then confirmed.