Agenda item

To outline two issues which were recently discussed by the Governance and Audit Committee and to obtain a Council view on the way forward in each case.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 18) concerning two issues that were recently discussed by the Governance and Audit Committee and to obtain a Council view on the way forward in each case .

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Tony Vickers and seconded by Councillor Jeff Brooks.:

“That the Council:

1.      Agrees that in future all March Council meetings (budget meetings) should commence at 6.30pm.

2.      determines whether to undertake a review of the current governance arrangements (Executive and Scrutiny) with a view to returning to a committee system of governance in accordance with Section 21 of the Localism Act 2011.”

Prior to the discussion commencing the Chairman announced that he would be dealing with these two issues separately.

In debating whether the Council meeting to discuss the budget which was usually held in March should start at 6.30pm Councillor Vickers felt that it was important to ensure that adequate time was afforded to members to debate these important issues.

Councillor Gordon Lundie supported the idea and stated that he looked forward to debating the medium Term Financial Strategy, Revenue and Capital Programme budgets in full at the meeting.

Councillor Alan Law reported that he would be asking the Governance and Audit Committee to consider a proposal that paragraph 4.13.7 of the Constitution be amended to include a requirement that all substantial amendments to the budget would need to be submitted to the S151 Officer three clear working  days before the meeting to give him adequate time to consider the proposals.

Recommendation one of the Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.

Before debating the second recommendation (to undertake a review of the Council’s Governance arrangements) Councillor Vickers proposed that the motion be amended as set out below and this was seconded by Councillor Jeff Brooks:

“That the Council

1.         notes the provisions in the Localism Act which enable the Council to change its governance arrangements at any Annual General Meeting of the Council but then not to revisit the subject for at least 5 years;

2.         also notes that a number of Councils of varying political composition have achieved such a change already since the Localism Act was passed in November 2011;

3. agrees to establish a Task Group, reporting through the Governance and Audit Committee, to investigate the merits and costs of changing its current governance structures from the Leader and Executive model to a Committee System and report to Council in due course for further consideration.”

Councillor Vickers stated that he was of the opinion that a Committee System would result in more open, transparent, efficient and accountable decision making. He felt that it was important to afford back benchers the opportunity to participate in decision making. Councillor Vickers noted that the introduction of the Localism Act meant that local authorities could introduce a new governance model at the next Annual meeting , where as the Localism Bill had suggested that  these changes could only be made after an election. He noted that many other council’s were opting to return to a Committee System and he asked that West Berkshire Council agree to undertake  a review with a view to returning to this governance model in May 2013.

Councillor Gordon Lundie explained that the review would involve a significant amount of time and effort and as he was of the opinion that it would not address the issues highlighted by Councillor Vickers he did not feel that a review would be a good use of resources. The Conservative group did not support the return to a Committee System and he therefore felt that a review was not a good use of resources. He noted that the Council already supported around 23 committees which included back benchers in their membership. He noted that if there was a democratic deficit it fell within the Conservative Group and as Leader of the  group it would be up to him to address this issue with his Members. He would be happy to discuss better representation on Committees with the Leader of the Opposition outside of the meeting. He noted that the Conservative Group had been elected to run the Council by means of an Executive Structure and he would therefore not be supporting a review of the Council’s governance structures.

Councillor Alan law stated that a return to the Committee System would add complexity and delays in decision making that this was not appropriate in these cost cutting times.

Councillor Jeff Brooks stated that he was a Member of West Berkshire Council when the Executive System was introduced and he was not in favour of it and felt that it did not work. He felt that the Cabinet Model of governance was unnecessarily confrontational. He noted that a number of other councils were opting to return to the Committee System and he urged Members to vote to do the same locally. He felt that the Committee System was more inclusive and involved a greater number of Councillors in decision making which he felt resulted in more rigorous decision making. He felt that the Executive System did not make best use of all Members strengths.

Councillor Tony Vickers urged Members to agree to undertake a review so that costed proposals could be brought forward for Members to make an informed decision on.

Amended Motion was put to the vote and declared LOST.

In accordance with Procedure Rule 4.15.2 it was requisitioned that the voting on the Amended Motion be recorded. The names of those Members voting for, against and abstaining were read to the Council as follows:

FOR the Amendment:

Councillors: David Allen, Jeff Brooks, Mollie Lock, Royce Longton, Alan Macro, Gwen Mason, Geoff Mayes,  David Rendel, Julian Swift-Hook, Tony Vickers  and Keith Woodhams (11)

AGAINST the Amendment:

Councillors: Peter Argyle, Howard Bairstow, Pamela Bale, Jeff Beck, Brian Bedwell, Paul Bryant, Virginia von Celsing, Keith Chopping, Hilary Cole, Roger Croft, Richard Crumly, Adrian Edwards, Sheila Ellison, Marcus Franks, Dave Goff, Paul Hewer, David Holtby, John Horton, Carol Jackson-Doerge, Mike Johnson, Graham Jones, Alan Law, Tony Linden, Gordon Lundie, Tim Metcalfe, Joe Mooney, Irene Neill, Andrew Rowles, Garth Simpson, Anthony Stansfeld, Ieuan Tuck, Quentin Webb, Emma Webster and Laszlo Zverko (34)

In view if this decision Councillor Tony Vickers withdrew the substantive motion.