Brighton & Hove City Council
Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee
4.00pm5 October 2023
Council Chamber, Hove ToWn Hall
DRAFT MINUTES EXTRACT
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Present: Councillor Sankey (Chair) Taylor (Deputy Chair), Shanks (Opposition Spokesperson), Cattell, McNair, Muten, Pumm, Robins, Rowkins and Williams |
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Other Members present: Councillors
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PART ONE
63 Constitution Review
63.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Governance People & Resources regarding the review of the council’s constitution.
63.2 Councillors Sankey, Robins, Williams, Taylor, McNair and Shanks asked questions and contributed to the debate of the report.
63.3 The Committee welcomed the proposed changes and expressed that the extension from 15 to 30 minutes for public questions at Council, its Committees and Sub Committees, with priority within the 30 minute period for public questions given to members of the public wishing to ask a question of full Council who have not asked a question at a full Council meeting in the previous six months was a positive step for public engagement in the city.
63.4 A member proposed that the reduction of Notice of Motions (NoMs) from 2 to 1 per group restricted debate and reduced residents say. They emphasised the importance of debate in a majority led authority and felt that consideration should be given to discontinuing or limiting amendments to NoMs. Further that, the timeframe for written responses should be specified.
63.5 The Executive Director Governance People & Resources advised that the current proposal of 1 NoM per Group would still be higher than a number of authorities across the country. He stated that, as it was expected that responses would be issued as soon as reasonably practicable after the meeting it was not felt necessary to specify a timeframe for written responses.
RESOLVED:
That the Committee -
(i) Recommends to full Council that it approves the proposed changes set out in paragraphs 3 and 4 below and reflected in Appendices 1, 1A & 2 and authorises the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer to take all steps necessary or incidental to implement the changes and re-publish the Council’s updated constitutional documents.
(ii) Approved the setting up of a Task & Finish Sub-Committee to make decisions in relation to the charity known as the Penny Gobby House School as set out in paragraph 5 in the report.
The meeting concluded at 6.50pm
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Signed
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