Decision details

That, in further implementation of the Chief Executive Officer’s emergency decisions on 7 April 2020 and 13 May 2020 (see Decision Records 2020/CEO Emergency Powers/14 and 2020/CEO Emergency Powers/21) re governance matters under the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 (which enable local authority meetings to be held virtually and which remove the requirement for an Annual General Meeting to be held):

a) the Council’s Council Procedure Rules (its Standing Orders), in so far as they are applicable to virtual meetings, shall, with any necessary modification as referenced in a Protocol for Remote Meetings, apply to such virtual formal meetings and Council Procedure Rule 22 shall be deemed to incorporate reference to virtual meetings;

b) the Protocol for Remote Meetings and supporting User Guides be approved; and

c) the consequential amendments to the Council Procedure Rules in relation to the 2020 Meetings’ Regulations and as set out in the note to the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) be approved.

*PLEASE NOTE This decision was originally published on or near the date of the decision and so call in no longer applies. It has been re-published as part of the change in committee management system that we use.*

To further implement the Chief Executive Officer’s emergency decisions on 7 April 2020 and 13 May 2020 (see Decision Records 2020/CEO Emergency Powers/14 and 2020/CEO Emergency Powers/21) re governance matters under the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 (which enable local authority meetings to be held virtually and which remove the requirement for an Annual General Meeting to be held during the Covid-19 pandemic).

Under the above referenced decisions, the Chief Executive Officer agreed, amongst other things, that:

i. The Annual General Meeting of the Council that was scheduled for 13 May 2020 be postponed and rescheduled for 22 July 2020;

ii. All current appointments be rolled on until the Annual General Meeting is held;

iii. The current Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Council continue in office until the Annual General Meeting on 22 July 2020.

iv. Subject to the successful adoption of a technological solution that enables the requirements laid out in the Regulations to be complied with, virtual meetings be introduced for the following committees (where the business either relates to the work being done by the Council in response to the Coronavirus pandemic or where a decision cannot be deferred for a compelling reason): Executive; Planning and Regulatory functions; Audit; and a sub-committee of the Pension Fund Committee.
Only the Executive would meet as scheduled. The Planning and Regulatory Functions committee would meet as required to deal with urgent planning applications, Audit would similarly only meet if required to make an urgent decision and Pension Fund Committee would form a sub-group to make decisions relating to changes in investment performance. All other formal, public committee meetings would be postponed until September 2020.

to ensure democratic openness and accountability in decision making, but also taking account of the officer work involved in preparing for committee meetings and the other more important use of their time during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The decisions taken by the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) on 15 May 2020 (under his delegated powers to amend the Council’s Constitution set out in Article 15.02(c) of the Constitution) make consequential changes to the Council’s Standing Orders by amending the Council Procedure Rules in the Constitution and adopting the Protocol for Remote Meetings and supporting User Guides in order to implement the above emergency decisions of the Chief Executive Officer.