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Governance Committee - Wednesday, 10th December, 2025 7.00 pm
December 10, 2025 View on council website Watch video of meeting Read transcript (Professional subscription required)Summary
The Governance Committee was scheduled to meet to discuss several items, including a review of the council's constitution. The committee was also expected to review the minutes from previous meetings and consider any declarations of interest from members.
Review of the Constitution
The Governance Committee was scheduled to review the council's constitution1, and to consider recommending several amendments to the council for approval. These potential amendments arose from a Constitution Workshop held on 22 September 2025.
The proposed changes to the Articles of the Council included:
- Removing references to Ward Assemblies from Article 6.5, Overview & Scrutiny.
- Amending Article 6.7, regarding the terms of reference for the Housing Select Committee, to specifically include the council's landlord function. The amended article would read:
To fulfil all overview and scrutiny functions in relation to the discharge by the authority of its housing functions, specifically including the Council's landlord function. This shall include the power to...
- Reinstating wording in Article 9.1, which details the terms of reference for the Strategic Planning Committee, that had been omitted from the published version of the constitution. The omitted wording stated that the committee also had responsibility for:
and any other application, which in the opinion of the Director of Planning following consultation with the Monitoring Officer, ought to be determined by Strategic Planning Committee.
Other proposed amendments included:
- Removing references to Deputations from the Council Procedure Rules.
- Amending the Scrutiny Procedure Rules to change the process for placing items on the agenda. Instead of the Proper Officer being required to comply with any requests, the Proper Officer would make a decision in consultation with the relevant Committee Chair.
- Amending the Planning Committee provisions to include matters reserved to Planning Committees A and B, such as planning objections, applications not in accordance with the development plan, and matters relating to the demolition of public houses.
- Amending the Scheme of Delegation to move rules relating to community education and Controlled Parking Zones from the 'Adult Social Care & Health' and 'Finance' headings to the 'Place' heading, and to revise the wording regarding increases in charges for services and decisions about extensions, variations, or framework agreements.
- Including a provision in the Committee Procedure Rules stating that:
The start time of ordinary committees of the Council for each municipal year shall be determined and agreed by each committee at its first meeting following the Annual General Meeting of the Council.
Declarations of Interest
Councillors were asked to declare any personal interest they had in any item on the agenda, including disclosable pecuniary interests2, other registerable interests3, and non-registerable interests4.
Minutes
The minutes from the Governance Committee meetings held on 8 July 20255 and 15 October 20256 were included in the report pack.
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The constitution is the document that governs how the council makes decisions, how scrutiny operates, how the public engages with the council, and how the council operates. ↩
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Disclosable pecuniary interests include employment, sponsorship, contracts, beneficial interests in land, licenses to occupy land, corporate tenancies, and beneficial interest in securities. ↩
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Other registerable interests include membership or position of control in a body appointed by the council, any body exercising public functions or influencing public opinion, and any person from whom a gift or hospitality with an estimated value of at least £25 has been received. ↩
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Non-registerable interests arise when a matter affects the wellbeing of a member, their family, friend, or close associate more than it would affect those in the local area generally. ↩
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The minutes from the meeting on 8 July 2025 record that the committee agreed to defer discussion of the Petition Scheme to a later meeting, and recommended that the council include previous temporary arrangements regarding the use of substitutes in the Committee Procedure Rules. ↩
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The meeting on 15 October 2025 was inquorate and could not proceed. ↩
Attendees
Topics
No topics have been identified for this meeting yet.