Agenda item - Annual Review and Appointment of Cabinet Working Parties, Joint Committees/Panels and Other Groups: 2015/2016

Report No: CAB/SE/15/032

Cabinet Member: Leader of the Council

Lead Officers: Fiona Osman and Joy Bowes

RESOLVED

That:

(1) for the reasons given in paragraph 1.2.2 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/032, further consultation be carried out with all councillors and partners on the future of the Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill and Rural Area Working Parties with the outcomes and potential way forward being reported back to Cabinet on 8 September 2015.

(2)

(a) the Grant Working Party continues to operate in accordance with its amended Terms of Reference, as detailed in Appendix A of Report No: CAB/SE/15/032; and

(b) the Service Manager (Legal) be given delegated authority to appoint Members and substitute Members to the Grant Working Party, in line with the political balance requirements (see Section 1.4 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/032), on the basis of nominations from the Group Leaders.

(3)

(a) The Sustainable Development Working Party continues to operate at the present time in accordance with its current Terms of Reference, as detailed in Appendix B to Report No: CAB/SE/15/032, as amended to delete reference to the Policy Development Committee;

(b) the Service Manager (Legal) be given delegated authority to appoint Members to the Sustainable Development Working Party, in line with the political balance requirements (see Section 1.4 below), on the basis of nominations from the Group Leaders; and

(c) the future direction of the Sustainable Development Working Party, as outlined in Section 1.2.9 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/032, be noted.

(4)

(a) The West Suffolk Joint Growth Steering Group, West Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Panel, West Suffolk Joint Health and Safety Panel and the West Suffolk Joint Staff Consultative Panel continue to operate in accordance with their current Terms of Reference contained in Appendices C, D, E and F to Report No: CAB/SE/15/032 respectively;

(b) the Service Manager (Legal) be given delegated authority to appoint Members and substitute Members to the Joint Panels and Steering Group, as set out in Section 1.3.1 above, on the basis of political balance requirements, where appropriate (see Section 1.4 below) and on the nominations from the Group Leaders; and

(c) meetings of the Joint Steering Group and Panels set out in Section 1.3.1 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/032, continue to be scheduled as and when required but with regard to the discussion outlined in Section 1.3.4.

(5)

(a) The Service Manager (Legal) be given delegated authority to appoint two full Members and one substitute Member to the Anglia Revenues and Benefits Partnership Joint Committee, on the nomination of the Leader of the Council;

(b) the potential requirement to only have one full Member representative from each of the Councils represented on the Anglia Revenues and Benefits Partnership Joint Committee, as set out in Section 1.5.2 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/032, be noted. Any required changes to the Council’s representation on the Joint Committee be delegated to the Service Manager (Legal) and the Leader of the Council to action accordingly; and

(c) following the adoption of the Joint Development Management Policies Document and subject to the approval of Forest Heath District Council, the Joint Development Management Policies Committee be disbanded, with any residual joint planning policy matters being taken through the West Suffolk Joint Growth Steering Group and Cabinet/Council.

(6)

(a) The Cabinet’s existing informal Working Groups be retained or disbanded as indicated in Section 1.6.2 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/032; and

(b) provided that resources are available to support them, further informal task-and-finish working groups continue to be established to consider specific issues as required throughout 2015/2016.

The Cabinet considered Report No: CAB/SE/15/032 (previously circulated), which presented the annual review of Cabinet Working Parties, Joint Committees/Panels and Other Groups: 2015/2016.

Councillor Griffiths, Leader of the Council, drew relevant issues to the attention of the Cabinet, including that the Cabinet was required to review the membership and Terms of Reference of its Working Parties, Joint Committees/Panels and Other Groups for 2015/2016.

The existing Terms of Reference (ToR) for the relevant bodies were attached as Appendix A to F inclusive.

An amendment to the ToR of the Sustainable Development Working Party contained in Appendix B. This made reference to membership being drawn from several committees, including the Policy Development Committee. As this Committee no longer existed, this needed to be deleted from the ToR and the recommendation amended accordingly.

A discussion was then held on the proposed review of the Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill and Bury St Edmunds Area Working Parties, as detailed in Section 1.2.2 of the report. It was proposed that the consultation period should be extended and the outcomes of this and a potential way forward would not be reported until the Cabinet meeting on 8 September 2015. Councillor Thorndyke asked whether during this review period, the Area Working Parties could be re-appointed. In response, the Leader explained that he could, if necessary, convene an informal meeting of relevant ward councillors to advise the Cabinet on any urgent locality issue which could not be dealt with by another committee, working party or panel, or by alternative means of consultation.

Other Cabinet Members supported this approach and considered that greater use could be made of twin and triple-hatted Members for bringing matters to the fore, rather than duplicating work across a number of similar forums operating across the three tiers of local government and partnering bodies.