Purpose

Section 223 of the Local Government Act 1972 provides that
“Any member or officer of a local authority who is authorised
by that authority to prosecute or defend on their behalf, or to
appear on their behalf in, proceedings before a magistrates’
court shall be entitled to prosecute or defend or to appear in any
such proceedings.”

The purpose and reason for this decision is for Bethany Marwood
(Revenue Officer – Recovery) to be able to issue, defend and
appear on behalf of the Council in proceedings before the
Magistrates’ Court only in the exercise of the functions of
her role.

To facilitate the discharge of Council functions both civil and
criminal in the Magistrates’ Court only in so far as relevant
to the role.

Decision

In accordance with Section 223 of the Local Government Act 1972
provides that “Any member or officer of a local authority who
is authorised by that authority to prosecute or defend on their
behalf, or to appear on their behalf in, proceedings before a
magistrates’ court shall be entitled to prosecute or defend
or to appear in any such proceedings and under section 2.35.5 of
the Constitution the Head of Legal & Democratic Services hereby
approves and delegates authority to Bethany Marwood (Revenue
Officer – Recovery) the power to:-

Institute and conduct all civil and criminal proceedings by the
Council in the Magistrates’ Court only in so far as relevant
to her role.

Alternative options considered

Option 1 -
To approve the delegated authority as set out above

Option 2
To require the Service Manager to approve and conduct all
Magistrates’ Court proceedings on behalf of the Revenues
team. This would be time consuming and an inefficient use of
council resources.

Recommend Option 1