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Issue - meetings

Programme of Meetings

 

 

Meeting: 22/01/2025 - Council (Item 72)

72 Programme of Meetings for 2025/26 pdf icon PDF 543 KB

Purpose

To set a programme of Council and Committee meetings for 2025/26.

 

Recommendations

That Council resolves to:

  1. Agree to move the date of the next budget meeting from Wednesday 26 February 2025 to Monday 24 February 2025 at 6.00pm.
  2. Agree the programme of meetings for 2025/26 as set out in Annexes A and B.
  3. Delegate authority to the Director of Governance and Development (Monitoring Officer), in consultation with Group Leaders, to make changes to the programme of meetings in the event that there is any future decision of Council to change the committee structure or committee remits that impacts the programme of meetings.
  4. Delegate authority to the Democratic Services Business Manager to set the meeting dates for the Performance and Appointments Committee.
  5. Delegate Authority to the Director of Governance and Development (Monitoring Officer) to set dates for member training and briefing sessions, any working groups established by the Council and any meetings of the Licensing Sub-Committee (Licensing Act 2003 Matters) and the Standards Hearings Sub-Committee (if required).
  6. Agree that, subject to any alternative proposals Council considers and agrees, meeting start times will be rolled forwards from 2024/25.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to invite Council to agree a programme of Council and committee meetings for the 2025/26 civic year.

 

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation, Councillor Mike Evemy, proposed the schedule of meetings for the next municipal year June 2025 to May 2026. A request was also made to change the date of the February 2025 budget meeting, where the Council would set the budget and council tax, from 26 February 2025 to 24 February 2025 at 6.00 p.m. The change was proposed to give officers additional time to complete the council tax billing, as February was a short month.

 

The programme included a reduction in the number of Cabinet meetings to nine per year. This would allow the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to meet before each Cabinet meeting, and improve the Committee's ability to review Cabinet reports in advance of decisions being taken.

 

Further recommendations were also discussed, delegating authority to the Director of Governance and Development to make necessary meeting adjustments, as well as to set dates for training and briefing sessions. The Head of Democratic and Electoral Services was also assigned the responsibility of scheduling Performance and Appointments Committee meetings. The maintenance of the current meeting start times, as outlined in paragraph 5.1 of the report was also brought to the Members' attention.

 

In discussion it was noted that:

  • The February 2026 budget Council meeting had also been moved forward from a Wednesday to a Monday to give officers additional time to complete the council tax billing.
  • The impact of the revised Cabinet cycle on the work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was welcomed.
  • It was suggested that parish councils should be notified to town and parish councils to assist them in planning their own meetings.

 

Councillor Mike Evemy summed up and clarified that the meeting times would also be rolled forward as no alternatives had been presented.

 

The recommendations, having been proposed by Councillor Mike Evemy and seconded by Councillor Tom Stowe, were put to the vote and agreed by Council.

 

Did not vote: Councillor Joe Harris.

 

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