Agenda item

Programme of Meetings 2024/25

Purpose

To set a programme of Council and Committee meetings for 2024/25.

Recommendations

1. Agree the programme of meetings from June 2024 to May 2025 as set out in Annexes A and B.

2. 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.

3. Delegate authority to the Democratic Services Business Manager to set the meeting dates for the Performance and Appointments Committee.

4. 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).

5. Agree that, subject to any alternative proposals Council considers and agrees, meeting start times will be rolled forwards from 2023/24.

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to set a programme of Council and Committee meetings for 2024/25.

The Leader, Councillor Joe Harris introduced this item to Full Council as the proposer of the recommendations.

It was outlined that the Programme of Meetings would never be ideal for all councillor preferences, but that the programme would be a compromise for all.

The Leader noted that previously the Council like Gloucestershire County Council had held morning meetings but that this was not seen as best practice.

It was noted that many Members have employment and childcare commitments which evening meetings suit better.

The Leader in proposing this item also proposed the following amendment by the Liberal Democrat Group to the recommendations:

5. Agree ~~that, subject to any alternative proposals Council considers and agrees, meeting start times will be rolled forwards from 2023/24.~~ meeting start times as shown in Section 4.1 of the report except for meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny and Audit and Governance Committees which will start at 4pm.

6. Change the start time for meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Audit and Governance Committee to 4pm with effect from their meetings in January 2024

Upon doing so, Councillor Twells raised a Point of Order in regards to the proposing of the original recommendations and the amended recommendations at the same time. The Director of Governance ruled that the original recommendations of the report should be proposed and then followed by amendments in the order as received. It was also confirmed that the Conservative amendment to this item had been received first, and would need to be considered first.

The Deputy Leader in seconding the original recommendations, welcomed the efforts by officers to avoid meetings falling on Gloucestershire school holiday dates where possible for those with families who wish to be on holiday.

Councillor Stowe then proposed an amendment to the motion which struck out recommendation 1 and 5 of the report and inserted the following replacement recommendation:

1. Instruct Officers to revise Annex A and B with new meeting times so that no meeting time agreed by Full Council starts after 3pm and request that this revised programme of meetings be returned to January Full Council for approval.

The following points were then raised by Councillor Stowe:

· It was outlined that some Members with employment and family commitments may not be able to make meetings starting later in the day. It was also noted that there were concerns with evening meetings in being able to attend Town and Parish Councils.

· It was outlined that the proceedings of meetings were webcasted which means that residents could tune into meetings later in the day.

· It was also noted that the work of officers to attend meetings outside of normal working hours needed to be considered.

Councillor Twells formally seconded the amendment and reserved his right to speak.

There were various comments around the organisation of meetings in the day, and the impact on participation opportunities for residents.

It was outlined by Members that compromise was important and that individuals would have different needs depending on their circumstances.

There were various points made about the attendance at Town and Parish Council meetings as well as District meetings.

It was noted that the travel required for meetings from some parts of the District needed to be taken into consideration.

There were comments made around officers using flexible working where needed in order to meet out-of-hours commitments to serve the Council.

Councillor Twells in seconding the amendment felt that a 3pm start would be reasonable compromise for Members and Officers, and hoped that the debate would avoid any debates between different groups of people.

The amendment from Councillor Stowe and seconded by Councillor Twells was then put to a vote.

RESOLVED: That Council:

3. Delegate authority to the Democratic Services Business Manager to set the meeting dates for the Performance and Appointments Committee.

Voting Record: 10 For, 19 Against, 2 Abstention, 2 Absent/Did not vote

For	Against	Abstention	Absent/Did not vote
Chris Twells	Angus Jenkinson	Dilys Neill	Helene Mansilla
Daryl Corps	Claire Bloomer	Nigel Robbins	Andrew Maclean
David Cunningham	Clare Turner
David Fowles	Gary Selwyn
Gina Blomefield	Ian Watson
Jeremy Theyer	Joe Harris
Julia Judd	Jon Wareing
Len Wilkins	Juliet Layton
Tom Stowe	Lisa Spivey
Tony Slater	Mark Harris
	Michael Vann
	Mike Evemy
	Mike McKeown
	Nikki Ind
	Patrick Coleman
	Paul Hodgkinson
	Ray Brassington
	Roly Hughes
	Tony Dale

*As there was a vacancy in the Lechlade, Kempsford and Fairford South Ward, the total number of Councillors was 33.

The amendment was lost.

Before the Liberal Democrat Group amendment was put to a vote, Councillor Evemy as the seconder noted in addition that the proposed amendment to Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Audit and Governance Committee timings from January onwards would be a good compromise for those Members with other commitments.

The revised amended motion from the Liberal Democrat Group proposed by Councillor Joe Harris and seconded by Councillor Mike Evemy was then put to a vote.

Voting Record: 28 For, 3 Against, 0 Abstentions, 2 Absent/Did not vote

For	Against	Abstention	Absent/Did not vote
Angus Jenkinson	Chris Twells		Helene Mansilla
Claire Bloomer	David Cunningham		Andrew Maclean
Clare Turner	Len Wilkins
Daryl Corps
David Fowles
Dilys Neill
Gary Selwyn
Gina Blomefield
Ian Watson
Jeremy Theyer
Joe Harris
Jon Wareing
Julia Judd
Juliet Layton
Lisa Spivey
Mark Harris
Michael Vann
Mike Evemy
Mike McKeown
Nigel Robbins
Nikki Ind
Patrick Coleman
Paul Hodgkinson
Ray Brassington
Roly Hughes
Tom Stowe
Tony Dale
Tony Slater

*As there was a vacancy in the Lechlade, Kempsford and Fairford South Ward, the total number of Councillors was 33.

Supporting documents:

Agenda item

Programme of Meetings 2024/25

Related Pages