Agenda and minutes

Venue: Bromley Civic Centre

Contact: Graham Walton  0208 461 7743

Items
No. Item

10.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND NOTIFICATION OF SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mike Botting, Mike Jack, Josh King and Ryan Thomson. Councillor Peter Dean attended as substitute for Councillor Botting. Councillor Alison Stammers was due to attend as substitute for Councillor Jack, but she also sent apologies.

11.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

12.

CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES OF THE MEETINGS HELD ON 18 AND 26 MAY 2022 pdf icon PDF 102 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

With respect to minute 9, the Director of Corporate Services and Governance reported that hybrid facilities were in place to allow members and officers to join meetings remotely. Members still needed to be physically in the room to be able to be counted as present and vote. Meetings were not being live-streamed, and there were financial and staffing implications to this. The Chairman requested a report for the next meeting on options for recording and live-streaming meetings.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings held on 18 and 26 May 2022 be confirmed.

13.

QUESTIONS

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions that are not specific to reports on the agenda must have been received in writing 10 working days before the date of the meeting - by 5pm on 22 June 2022.

 

Questions specifically on reports on the agenda should be received within two working days of the normal publication date of the agenda.  Please ensure that questions specifically on reports on the agenda are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Thursday 30th June 2022.

Minutes:

No questions had been received.

14.

APPOINTMENT OF HONORARY ALDERMEN pdf icon PDF 209 KB

Minutes:

Report CSD22079

 

The Committee received a report proposing that it should agree nominees for appointment as Honorary Aldermen for consideration at a special meeting of the Council.

 

RESOLVED that the appointment of Honorary Aldermen be considered by the Constitution Working Group and reported back to this Committee in the Autumn.

 

 

15.

MINOR CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE - STANDARDS COMMITTEE pdf icon PDF 291 KB

Minutes:

Report CSD22080

 

The report proposed that an amendment be made to the Council’s Constitution regarding the composition of the Standards Committee. As currently worded, the Constitution prevented members of the Executive from sitting on the Standards Committee, but, following the Localism Act 2011, this provision was no longer required in law and could be removed.

 

The Constitution also limited the membership of the Committee to five members – three from the majority group and one each for the next two groups. Now that there were four groups on the Council, members considered that it was appropriate to alter this to allow representation from all groups.

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to update Article 9 of the Constitution – The Standards Committee – by

(1) Replacing the current paragraph 9.2 (a) with –

“The Standards Committee will have a membership comprising one member from each minority group and sufficient members of the majority group to maintain a majority.”

(2) Replacing the current paragraph 9.2 (b) with –

“Members of the Executive may sit on the Standards Committee, subject to not being in a majority.”

(Councillor Nicholas Bennett did not vote on resolution (2).)

16.

CONSTITUTION WORKING GROUP pdf icon PDF 195 KB

Minutes:

Report CSD22087

 

At its last meeting, the Committee had agreed to set up a working group to review the Council’s Constitution. This report provided further detail and suggested terms of reference -

(1)  To consider the overall structure of the Constitution.

(2)  To identify aspects of the Constitution that can be simplified and improved.

(3)  To make recommendations to General Purposes and Licensing Committee for consideration by full Council.

The Chairman stated that she hoped that the Working Group could meet in the first week of September. A key issue would be to agree a new framework for the Constitution, and deal with some pressing issues affecting full Council meetings, such as the Petition Scheme and the Council Procedure Rules. The Working Group could then consider what other issues it should prioritise.

 

RESOLVED that

(1) The proposed terms of reference for the Constitution Working Group be approved as set out above and in paragraph 3.5 of the report.

(2) That Councillors Kathy Bance, Nicholas Bennett, Robert Evans, Simon Fawthrop, Chloe-Jane Ross, Melanie Stevens and Pauline Tunnicliffe be appointed to serve on the Working Group.

 

 

 

 

17.

WORK PROGRAMME AND MATTERS ARISING pdf icon PDF 219 KB

Minutes:

Report CSD22078

 

The Committee considered its work programme for 2022/23.

 

At the last meeting, the Committee had deferred one outside body appointment – to the Management Committee of the Wood Lodge Living Skills Centre. Councillor Kira Gabbert proposed that the role be shared between the three Bickley and Sundridge ward councillors. This arrangement would be checked with the Management Committee.

 

RESOLVED that

 

(1) The Work Programme be noted.

 

(2) The appointment to the Management Committee of the Wood Lodge Living Skills Centre be shared between Councillors Kira Gabbert, Kate Lymer and Colin Smith.

18.

LICENSING SUB-COMMITTEE - MINUTES 25 MAY 2022 pdf icon PDF 201 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received the minutes from the Licensing Sub-Committee meeting on 25th May 2022.