Agenda and draft minutes

Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting.

None advised.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 12^th January 2023.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the Democracy and Standards Committee held on 12th January 2023 be approved and signed as a correct record.

To receive communications from the Chair.

None advised.

The Director of Legal and Democratic presented the report which had been deferred from the meeting of the committee held in January. It was pointed out that paragraph 6.4 was left from the previous report and should be ignored. The report detailed the recommendations from two external reviews in relation to the Council’s governance arrangements. The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) carried out a review of the Council’s scrutiny function, whilst the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) carried out a peer review of the Council’s’ planning service.

The proposal was to divide People Scrutiny Committee into two committees, with one covering adults and health and the other covering children and education. The three area planning committees would be replaced by two non-area committees.

Consideration was given to the report with the following points raised:

•          The Chair of Strategic Planning advised that he was in favour of the reduction in the number of committees and that discussions had taken place with the Chairs of the Daventry and South Northants area committees

•          Nine members on each of the local planning committees was too small and eleven was preferable

•          The start time of each committee could be set at Council or left to each committee to decide

•          The view was expressed that there had been little member consultation on the proposed changes

•          Decisions should not be taken until the PAS report had been made public.

•          Consideration would be given to the likely number of applications to be covered by each planning committee to balance the workload

•          There were concerns regarding how the north and south of Northampton would be split  as this could affect political representation in these areas

•          Clarification was required on what applications are submitted to Strategic Planning Committee and which are referred to the local planning committees

•          The PAS report recommended planning committees should have no substitutions as it was not generally considered good practice

•          It was appreciated that no substitutes at all could potentially lead to an inquorate meeting if there were apologies and declarations of interest in an item, therefore two substitutions were recommended

•          A large number of substitutions could result in the nature of a committee being altered for applications

•          Discussion took pace regarding how the allocation of two substitutes could work with regards to political group representation.

•          It was pointed out that the planning committees were quasi-judicial and should be non-political.

Councillor Stone proposed that the local planning committees have a membership of eleven, with substitution arrangements remaining the same as currently and the situation to be reviewed in six months. The proposition was seconded by Councillor Sally Beardsworth. On being put to the vote, the proposition was declared failed.

The Vice-Chair suggested that recommendations 3.1 a, b and c and h, I and j were approved, recommendation e) be approved in principle, subject to further consideration by the committee, with the remainder deferred until after the Cabinet meeting on 11th  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

In response to questions the Director Legal and Democratic undertook to consider and provide clarification on the criteria to decide which applications are submitted to Strategic Planning Committee and which are referred to the local planning committees for the next review of the Constitution. With regards to a number of live applications, the Monitoring Officer would discuss the situation with the Assistant Director of Planning.

Following a discussion regarding the transparency of members allowances increases, the Director Legal and Democratic advised that the members’ allowances scheme allowed for indexed annual increases as agreed by the Independent Remuneration Panel.  The scheme had been agreed by Council.

The issue of potential misuse of voting systems was raised. It was noted that this was difficult to police but misuse of the system could lead to Code of Conduct complaints. It was suggested that a note be added to the Constitution indicating that any misuse of the voting system could lead to action being taken.

RESOLVED:

That the Democracy and Standards Committee:

a) Noted and approved the updates to the Constitution as set out in Section 5; and

b) Recommended the updates to Council for approval.

To consider the Councillor Development Programme 2023/2025

The Deputy Democratic Services Manager outlined the update report and reminded members to complete and return their questionnaires.

RESOLVED:

That the Democracy and Standards Committee:

a) Noted the progress undertaken on developing a Councillor Training Programme for 2023/24.

b) Noted that monthly all Councillor briefing sessions have been added to the Councillor meeting calendar in regular time slots and topics for each session included when agreed.

c) Considered other potential opportunities to deliver and promote learning and development opportunities for Councillors.

The Deputy Democratic Services Manager advised that the recommendation had now been published by the Boundary Commission, which had recommended 75 members with a mix of 1, 2 and 3 member wards. Members’ were able to feedback directly to the Commission.

The Director Legal and Democratic advised that communication would take place with parishes with regards to warding arrangements. The Council would now need to undertake a Community Governance review.

RESOLVED:

 The Democracy and Standards Committee noted the verbal update on the boundary review

To review the Work Programme 2023/2024 for the Democracy and Standards Committee

Consideration was given to the Democracy and Standards Committee 2023-24 Work Programme. 

It was noted that an additional meeting of the Committee would be scheduled for April.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee Work Programme is noted.

The Chairman to advise whether they have agreed to any items of urgent business being admitted to the agenda.

None advised.