Decision Making and Voting at Council meetings

Decision Making
The Leader was elected by members at the Annual Council meeting on 18 May 2011 for a 4 year term of office. The Leader holds all the Executive powers. The Leader has appointed a Deputy Leader and 5 other members to be portfolio holders and to form the Executive.

The Leader has arranged for the majority of decisions to be taken by the Executive though there are certain decisions which must be taken at a meeting of a full Council, such as setting of the Council Tax and major policy. The decisions of the Leader and the Executive are monitored by scrutiny committees which may require the Leader or the Executive to reconsider any decision it has taken. When the Council has given responsibility for certain areas of decision making to the Leader or the Executive it may not then take a decision which falls within that area. However, it may decide that, in future, similar types of decision should be a matter for the full Council.

The Planning Applications Committee and the Licensing Committee take decisions within policy framework set by the Council or the Government and the Standards Committee determines allegations of any breach by members of the Borough Council and the parish councils in the area.

Voting at Committee meetings
Decisions taken by the Council, a Committee or the Executive are taken by a majority vote. Members usually vote by a show of hands but if at least three councillors request a roll call vote, each vote will be recorded. In addition, if a councillor asks for his or her vote in respect to any decision taken to be recorded this will be noted.
If there are an equal number of votes for and against a proposal, the chairman of the meeting has a casting vote. If, however, the chairman has not voted initially, he or she cannot, after the votes have been counted, achieve an equality of votes by voting at this time and then apply a casting vote.

Forward Plan
The Council produces a Forward Plan each month to give advance notice, to members of the Council and the public, of key decisions to be made by the Council, Executive or officers on its behalf. This is to give people the opportunity to make their views known at the earliest possible stage.

Key decisions are those which are financially significant or which have a significant impact on their communities. A key decision has been defined for the purposes of this Council to be a decision which involves income or expenditure over £100,000, or £100 million if it relates to treasury management matters, or which will have a significant effect on people or organisations in two or more wards, or which is made in the course of developing proposals to the Council to amend the policy framework.

The Forward Plan is prepared for the following four month period but is only valid for the first month. It is published 14 days before the first day of every month.

View The Forward Plan

Information Bulletin
The Information Bulletin is produced monthly for councillors and members of the public. The Bulletin contains articles and reports, including monitoring and position statements of services undertaken by the Council and notification of new relevant legislation together with its effect or potential effect on the Council. The Bulletin also contains information of consultations by Government departments and other public bodies.

View The Information Bulletin