The Constitution Committee was scheduled to meet on 8 April 2025 to discuss proposed amendments to the council's procedure rules and petition scheme, as well as receive an update on the one-year review of the council's constitution. The proposed changes to the procedure rules are intended to address issues raised in a Corporate Peer Challenge¹ and to improve the efficiency of council meetings. The committee was also expected to review feedback on the constitution from elected members, staff, and the public.

Proposed Amendments to Council Procedure Rules and Petition Scheme

The main focus of the meeting was scheduled to be on proposed changes to the council's procedure rules, which govern how the council conducts its business, and the petition scheme, which outlines how residents can submit petitions to the council. These proposed amendments are detailed in Appendix 1 and Appendix 3.

The proposed changes to the procedure rules include:

• Elected Mayor's Statement: Reducing the time allocated for the Elected Mayor’s statement from 10 minutes to 8 minutes, and reducing the time for responses from opposition group leaders from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. The report pack states that the intention is to ensure that the responses are replies to the Elected Mayor’s statement, and not political statements in their own right.
• Questions by the Public: Reverting to a requirement for questions to be submitted 8 clear working days in advance of a meeting, instead of the current 4 days. The report pack notes that the current 4-day rule was introduced in 2023 with the aim of providing members of the public an opportunity to have sight of the Council meeting agenda prior to submitting questions and to tailor questions accordingly. It also proposes reducing the time for responses to questions from 5 minutes to 3 minutes, and amending the rules for supplementary questions to only include points of clarification.
• Questions from Councillors: Reducing the number of questions per councillor from two to one, and reducing the time for responses from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.
• Deputations: Formally recording the custom and practice of deputations not being permitted at the Annual Meeting or budget setting meetings of Full Council, and reducing the number of deputations that may be submitted for a meeting from two to one.
• Petitions: Formally recording the custom and practice of petitions not being permitted at the Annual Meeting or budget setting meetings of Full Council. It was also scheduled for discussion that electronic petitions be submitted via the Council’s Mod.Gov portal² and providing clear rules as to how such petitions will be dealt with administratively, including how long they will remain open for signature.
• Opposition Sponsored Business: Limiting opposition groups to submitting one item of opposition sponsored business per municipal year, and formally recording the custom and practice of opposition sponsored business not being permitted at the Annual Meeting or budget setting meetings of Full Council.
• Motions: Limiting the number of motions that can be debated at any council meeting to a maximum of one per meeting, implementing clearer rules regarding the length of motions and what constitutes an acceptable motion for debate, and amending the deadline for the submission of motions to enable more lead in time for proposed motions to be considered in respect of any financial/legal/policy implications.

The report pack notes that the proposed changes are intended to address recommendations arising from a Corporate Peer Challenge, which suggested that the council should use its ongoing review of decision-making and the constitution to more effectively deliver the mayor's priorities.

Council Constitution One Year Review Update

The committee was also scheduled to receive an update on the one-year review of the council's constitution. The review included a survey of elected members, council staff, and selected members of the public. The survey results were included in the report pack.

Some of the feedback received via the survey relates to Part 4 of the Council Procedure Rules, which was already scheduled to be reviewed by the committee. Other feedback related to the constitution’s accessibility by way of its electronic presentation and challenges encountered being able to key word search the constitution in its entirety.

The report pack notes that the Constitution Officer Working Group recommended that the review be closed, and that the Monitoring Officer be delegated authority to proceed with taking forward any further explorations on the presentation of the Constitution and its accessibility.