Agenda item

To seek approval changes to the Council’s Constitution

The Committee considered a report which recommended changes to the Constitution for approval by Council.

The report proposed changes to Chief Officer: Property delegations which had previously been agreed by Governance and Audit Committee in June 2016. The existing delegations were no longer considered operationally fit for purpose as land and rent values had significantly increased since the existing levels had been set in the Council’s constitution. The proposed delegation levels for property transactions had been included in Appendix A and B of the report. This included increasing the authorisation of acquisition of freehold purchases to £400k from £100k.

The Committee proposed an amendment to the proposed delegation for negotiating and completing consents, rent reviews and lease renewals. Anything up to the statutory entitlement limit would be delegated to the Chief Officer: Property but anything higher would need to be agreed in consultation with the Executive Member and  Director; Corporate Services.

As a result of the Member’s questions and comments the following points were made:

·         The increase in the authorisation of acquisition of freehold purchases to £400k from £100k was more inline with the market conditions.

·         Tenants were protected and had a statutory right to reapply for a 15 year lease and the council had to legally comply to this request. As it was a legal obligation the council were unable to object.

Following the changes to the constitution made in response to the Overview and Scrutiny review of planning in 2016, it became apparent that one area of the Chief Officer: Planning, Transport and Countryside delegations needed to be updated. This was in relation to the 3-5 objection procedure. The changes of the delegations to the Chief Officer: Planning, Transport and Countryside was included in Appendix C of the report.

In some instances there were changes that could be made to the constitution that didn’t warrant referral to Council if delegation were to be given to the Borough Solicitor to be authorised to make minor amendments such as legislative amendments and alteration in post titles.

The Committee proposed that they monitor the changes that were made over the next twelves months bu the Borough Solicitor. The Borough Solicitor would notify the Chairman of Governance and Audit Committee of the proposed changes and it would be at the Chairman’s discretion to apply the changes. The Chairman would then forward on any changes to the rest of the Governance & Audit Committee Members.

As a result of the Member’s questions and comments the following points were made:

·         The Bracknell Forest Council Website showed the most up to date version of the Council’s constitution as well as showing previous versions.

·         The proposed amendments wouldn’t change the context of the constitution.

·         The change of job titles to staff members was not necessarily substantive. It was suggested that an email could be sent to Committee Members when these changes were made to monitor  how frequent the changes were.

·         Minor changes depended on the individuals view to whether they were deemed minor or not. If the change resulted in a decrease or increase in officer function then this was not a minor change.

·         Any structural changes would still go through Council.

·         The changes would allow new legislative changes be amended in the constitution. For example Designated Public Places provision had been amended under new legislation but still had the same powers under a different title.

RESOLVED that the Committee agreed the following recommendations, with the addition of the proposed amendments for Full Council approval:

1.    Adopt the changes to the Delegations of Chief Officer: Property set out in Appendices A and B of the report.

2.    Adopt the changes to the Protocol for Members in Dealing with Planning Matters set out un Appendix C of the report.

3.    Delegate to the Borough Solicitor the authority to make minor consequential changes to the constitution from time to time to reflect legislative amendments, alteration in post titles and such amendments as may be required to clarify the meaning and/or effect of constitutional provisions.