The Council was required by Section 37 of the Local Government Act 2000 to keep the Constitution up to date.

The report set out a number of proposals for revising the following Parts of the Constitution:  Articles of the Constitution (Chapter 2); Council Procedure Rules (Part 4.1); Financial Regulations (Part 4.5); Member’s Planning Code of Good Practice (Part 5.2), and Delegations to Staff (Chapter 8 Appendix A). 

The cross party Constitution Working Group was consulted on the proposed changes and the attached documents reflected the significant and detailed contribution of the Working Group’s Members. 

Cllr Tumbridge MOVED and Cllr Wiles SECONDED the recommendations in the report and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that:

Council approves the changes to its Constitution as detailed in the revised documents attached as Appendix A of the report. 

Reason for recommendation

As set out within the report, a regular review of the Constitution was required; the report and the attachments set out the reasoning behind items proposed for change.