Public Speaking Time/Open Session
In accordance with paragraphs 2.24 of the Council’s Committee Procedure Rules and Appendix on Public Speaking a total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to put questions to the committee on any matter relating to this agenda. Each member of the public will be allowed up to two minutes each to speak, and the Chair will have discretion to vary this where they consider it appropriate.
Members of the public wishing to speak are required to provide notice of this at least three clear working days’ in advance of the meeting and should include the question with that notice.
Minutes:
There were no members of the public registered to speak.
Councillor R Bailey addressed the committee as a visiting member and spoke on a number of matters, as summarised below.
Cllr Bailey thanked the Monitoring Officer for his detailed response on the costs of standards complaints. Cllr Bailey highlighted to the committee the costs of investigations relating to both Sandbach Town Council and Handforth Parish Council stating that whilst the work undertaken was not without cost, was vital to ensuring that the standards system was upheld. Cllr Bailey highlighted that the Audit and Governance Committee had considered the Member Code of Conduct Report relating to Handforth Parish Council in 2022 but had not considered the report of Sandbach Town Council. Cllr Bailey urged committee members to address this inconsistency.
Cllr Bailey referred to the minutes of the previous meeting and the member of the public that addressed the committee in relation to the potential impact of acting up arrangements within the organisational structure. Cllr Bailey asked committee members to listen to the audio-recording of the meeting where it was debated and suggested that an item subsequently be added to the committee work programme.
On the Annual Governance Statement, Cllr Bailey raised concerns in relation to both the planning backlog and the impact of the delayed implementation of the IT system for Planning and Land Charges. Cllr Bailey suggested that this matter should be considered further by the committee.
Lastly, Cllr Bailey spoke in relation to the Work Programme and highlighted that a recent FOI response confirmed that a significant amount of monies had not been utilised by the council from developer contributions. Cllr Bailey asked the committee when it would consider S106 matters in the public part of a committee meeting.