Issue - meetings

To consider alternative arrangements to restrict the appointment of substitute members for planning matters.

The Board considered alternative arrangements to restrict the appointment of substitute members for planning matters.

A local protocol contained in the Constitution provided that no Member should sit or be a substitute on a planning committee without planning training.  Following discussions by members of the Strategic Planning Board restrictions were recommended. 

It was proposed that no substitutions should be made to the Northern Planning Committee except with a Member from the Southern Planning Committee and vice versa and that the substitute member may come from a different political group and that no substitutions should be made to the Strategic Planning Board.

The proposal would require a change to the Constitution and would therefore be considered by Governance and Constitution Committee and Council and as the proposal was an exception to the strict rules on proportionality, the proposal could only be affected if passed by Council with no Member voting against it. 

RESOLVED:

That the Governance and Constitution Committee and Council amend the scheme of substitution in the Constitution as follows:

a)         No substitution shall be made to the North Area Planning Committee except with a Member from the South Area Planning Committee and vice versa. The substitute Member should wherever possible come from the same political group but may come from a different political group

b)         No substitutions shall be made to the Strategic Planning Board from the area committees or at all.