Agenda item

To consider the Terms of Reference of the Committee, as appended to the report of the Borough Solicitor.

Consideration was given to the proposed Terms of Reference of this Committee which, along with the Local Service Delivery Committee for Crewe, had been established by the Council at its meeting on 16 December 2011; the memberships had been approved at the Annual Council Meeting on 18 May 2012.  Members were advised that any changes to the proposed Terms of Reference would need to be approved by the Council this being a responsibility of Council as set out in Part 3 of the Constitution. 

Members sought clarification regarding the public speaking provision and it was confirmed that whilst this was not on the present agenda, as it had been intended that this would be a scene setting meeting, it would be a standard agenda item for future meetings. 

With reference to the membership of the Committee concern was expressed that it was not as recommended by the Constitution Committee (18 November 2011) which was that it should be comprised of members who represented wards in the unparished area of Macclesfield.  The recommendation of the Constitution Committee had been superseded by Council on 16 December 2010, when it was resolved that the Committee be appointed on a politically proportional basis.  The current membership reflected this decision.   The concern was that this meant that whilst provision had been made for the remaining Local Ward Councillors to receive copies of all agenda papers, and to be invited to participate in the meetings, they would not be entitled to vote. 

Assurances were given that that the process to be adopted by the Committee was that Members of the Committee would be invited to speak on a matter in the first instance, followed by Participating/Ward Members, and that heed would certainly be taken of what they had to say before any decisions/recommendations were made. 

Concern was also expressed by Participating/Local Ward Members that the proposed terms of reference (3), (4) and (5) related to finance; it was not considered appropriate that the Committee should be able to make recommendations to Cabinet that had financial implications and on which all Local Ward Members in the area concerned had not had the opportunity to vote. 

A discussion ensued on the current position in that Macclesfield did not, at this stage, have a Town or Parish Council.  It was pointed out that provision still needed to be made, however, for the devolution of services for which appropriate financial arrangements needed to be put in place; the Committee had been established to take on that role until such time as it was replaced by another body.  

With regard to the positions of Chairman and Vice-Chairman there was agreement that rather than being decided by the Group as was currently the case, they should be decisions of the Committee.  It was, therefore, agreed that an additional recommendation to this effect be added to the proposed Terms of Reference.

In the light of the discussion it was agreed that the following additions be made to the proposed Terms of Reference:

·        That the nomination and appointment of the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman of the Committee be a function of the Committee.

·        That the procedure for Participating members be that they be invited to speak and to participate after Committee Members but prior to any decisions being taken.

RESOLVED

That Council be recommended to approve the Terms of Reference for the Local Service Delivery Committee (Macclesfield) as set out in the report subject to the inclusion of the two additional points set out above.