Issue - meetings

To consider the report on whether the Council should move to a Leader and Cabinet form of decision-making, with effect from the Council’s Annual General Meeting on 13 May 2026.

Consideration was given to the report on whether the Council should move to a Leader and Cabinet form of decision making with effect from the Council’s Annual General Meeting on 13 May 2026.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill proposed the abolition of the Committee system form of governance and that all local authorities which operated committee systems of decision making would be required to move to Leader and Cabinet systems within one year of the enactment of the legislation. 

It was anticipated that the effective date of the legislation would in or around Autumn 2025. The report proposed that the Council move to a Leader and Cabinet system before the this date as such a decision would proactively respond to the non-statutory Best Value Notice, received in May 2025, which required the Council to ensure it had effective governance processes in place that enabled decisions and improvements at pace; and also to the LGA Peer Review recommendation to urgently review the decision making framework, streamline current decision making arrangements and give more time and emphasis to scrutiny.

The recommendations were proposed and seconded and following debate were put to the vote.

RESOLVED:  That Council

1               approve a change in the Council’s governance arrangements from a Committee System to a Leader and Cabinet system, pursuant to Section 9K of the Local Government Act 2000, with this change taking effect at the Council’s Annual General Meeting on 13 May 2026.

2               agree the design principles set out in Appendix 2 to the report.

3               appoint a member Task and Finish Group

a.          the membership of which to be determined by the Council’s political group leaders, which will be empowered to drive-forward necessary arrangements associated with the introduction of a Leader and Cabinet model of decision-making; and

b.          with powers to make recommendations to the Council’s Corporate Policy Committee upon required constitutional and other arrangements related to this.

4               note the key constitutional documents and tasks, as set out in Appendix 3 to the report, which will need to be prepared in advance of the formal change of governance arrangements being implemented.

5        approve a budget of no more than £194,180 to fund the project, and for this to be funded from the Council’s agreed reserve for Transformation created at July Full Council and the associated 2025/26 supplementary estimate and reserve virement of £136,091 in line with the Financial Procedure Rules.