Agenda item

(The Leader of the Council) To consider the attached report (C-086-2009/10).

(1)        That the meetings of the Finance & Performance Management Cabinet Committee & Scrutiny Panel in January 2011 be held on the same evening when considering the prospective budget for 2011/12; and

(2)        That, as attached at Appendix 1 of the report, the draft Calendar of Council Meetings for the period May 2010 to May 2011 be recommended to the Council for adoption.

The Leader of the Council presented a report on the Calendar of Council Meetings for 2010/11 for consideration by the Cabinet prior to final approval by the Council.

The Cabinet were reminded that the Calendar had developed over time to meet the changing needs of the authority. Democratic Services had been requested to consider ways of reducing the number of member meetings being held by the Council. The proposed calendar showed a 5.4% reduction in the number of member meetings for 2010/11, which would generate a total projected saving of £8,910.

The Leader reported that the draft Calendar kept the current format of three area based Planning Sub-Committees, following consultation with Members over an alternative structure. The number of Council meetings had remained the same but the number of Cabinet meetings had been reduced by one with meetings now to be held every six weeks. For Overview and Scrutiny, there was a reduction of seven meetings in total, one for the main Committee and six for the Scrutiny Panels. The timing of the main Committee had been changed so that it was now held approximately one week before the Cabinet.

The Leader added that Licensing Sub-Committee meetings had been moved from Thursday mornings to Tuesday mornings to allow for greater availability of Democratic Services Officers. There were no changes currently planned for the Standards Committee, Local Councils’ Liaison Committee, the Housing Appeals and Review Panel, the Audit & Governance Committee and the Joint Consultative Committee, although there was the potential to reduce the number of meetings for the latter two Committees.

It was reported that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee had recommended that the Finance & Performance Management Scrutiny Panel and Cabinet Committee meetings should be held on the same evening in January 2011 when considering the 2011/12 Budget. The Portfolio Holder for Finance & Economic Development was in favour of this plan and It was subsequently agreed. It was highlighted that more meetings might be required for the North Weald Airfield Strategy Cabinet Committee following its absorption of responsibility for Asset Management Strategy matters, and that the Area Plans Sub-Committee South scheduled for 8 September 2010 clashed with the beginning of the Jewish festival of Rosh Hashanah.

Decision:

(1)        That the meetings of the Finance & Performance Management Cabinet Committee & Scrutiny Panel in January 2011 be held on the same evening when considering the prospective budget for 2011/12; and

(2)        That, as attached at Appendix 1 of the report, the draft Calendar of Council Meetings for the period May 2010 to May 2011 be recommended to the Council for adoption.

Reasons for Decision:

It was an item for action within the Democratic Services Business Plan for 2009/10 & 2010/11 to review the Calendar of Meetings and make proposals each year.

A review of Member meetings had also been requested by the Joint Member & Officer 2010/11 Budget Working Group to generate savings for the 2010/11 budget.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

Individual frequencies of meetings could be varied; in practice additional meetings were added as and when issues dictated and meetings would be cancelled if there was a lack of business.

To keep the Finance & Performance Management Cabinet Committee and Scrutiny Panel on separate evenings.