Decision Maker: Assistant Chief Executive - Legal and Democratic Services
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
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.
Publication date: 28/04/2021
Date of decision: 15/05/2020