The Governance Committee meeting on 15 October 2025 was adjourned due to a lack of quorum. The committee was scheduled to discuss several items, including a review of the council's constitution¹.

Apologies for Absence

The meeting was adjourned at 7:15pm because it was not quorate². Councillor Susan Wise, Chair of the Governance Committee, apologised for any inconvenience caused.

Review of the Constitution

The committee was set to review the council's constitution, following a Constitution Workshop held on 22 September 2025. The Governance Committee Report - 15.10.25 outlined several proposed amendments to the constitution, which the committee was asked to recommend to the council for approval.

The proposed changes included:

• Removing references to Ward Assemblies from Article 6.5 Overview & Scrutiny.
• Amending Article 6.7, which details the terms of reference for the Housing Select Committee, to specifically include the council's landlord function.
• Reinstating wording in Article 9.1, which details the terms of reference for the Strategic Planning Committee, that was omitted from the published version of the constitution. The wording gives the Director of Planning, following consultation with the Monitoring Officer, the power to decide whether an application ought to be determined by the Strategic Planning Committee.
• Removing references to Deputations from the Council Procedure Rules.
• Amending the Scrutiny Procedure Rules to give the Proper Officer the power to decide, in consultation with the relevant Committee Chair, whether an item can be placed on the agenda.
• Including provisions in the constitution that were contained in the previous constitution, which would reserve certain planning matters to Planning Committees A and B. These matters include applications with ten or more valid planning objections, objections from a member of the council, or applications that are not in accordance with the approved development plan documents or other approved planning policies.
• Moving Rule 19, which reserves decisions relating to the provision of community education which would entail the cessation of the service to members, and Rule 32, which reserves decisions relating to Controlled Parking Zones to members, from the 'Adult Social Care & Health' Heading and the 'Finance' Heading respectively, to the 'Place' Heading in the Scheme of Delegation.
• Amending Rule 31, which currently reserves decisions relating to increases in charges for services exceeding the rate of inflation to members, so that the following is reserved to members: Any increases greater than specified in the fees and charges policy.
• Amending Rule 46 to ensure that Mayor and Cabinet decisions are not required for small variations to contracts.

The report also noted that the Monitoring Officer had received a request for the start time of meetings to be discussed at the Constitution Workshop. The recommendation was to include the following provision in the Committee Procedure Rules:

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

The committee was to consider any declarations of interest from members regarding items on the agenda, as outlined in the Declaration of Interests document. The document outlines the different types of interests, including disclosable pecuniary interests, other registerable interests, and non-registerable interests. It also details the impact of interests on members' participation in meetings.