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MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL

COUNCIL

29 SEPTEMBER 2021

REPORT OF THE DEMOCRACY AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE HELD ON 8 SEPTEMBER 2021

NEW EXECUTIVE MODEL

Issue for Decision

At the Annual Council meeting on 22 May 2021, the following motion was approved:

“(1) That Council agrees, in principle, to revert to executive arrangements from its next Annual Meeting for the municipal year 2022/23 onwards.

(2) That Council recognises the substantial work required to bring forward final proposals, to review interim arrangements and other aspects of member involvement.

(3) That Democracy & General Purposes Committee be requested to consider the matters outlined in (2) and put a proposed executive arrangements model to Council for adoption in order to allow the executive arrangements to be adopted to meet the principle agreed in (1).”

Recommendations Made

1.   That the Executive Model outlined at 3.3 of the report to Democracy and General Purposes (Appendix 1) is adopted at the next Annual Meeting of Council in 2022;

2.   That the timetable set out in paragraph 2.4 and section 7 of the report (Appendix 1) be approved; and

3.   That the use of reserves to fund the work required to review and redraft the constitution be approved.

Reasons for Recommendation

The working group developed the model at 3.3 through a cross party group and sought to engage with as many councillors as possible to ensure there is consensus on the proposed executive model. The model proposed meets the requirements for greater member involvement and inclusivity in decision making. When surveyed 68% of respondents identified they agreed in principle with the model proposed.

At its meeting on 8 September 2021, the Committee discussed the report, attached at Appendix 1, which outlined the executive model proposed by the Committee’s working group and the response of the survey sent to Members. Four Policy Advisory Committees (PACs) had been proposed which would carry out pre-decision scrutiny, and one Overview and Scrutiny Committee which would meet legislative requirements. The survey of Members showed that 68% of respondents agreed in principle with the model outlined in the report.

In response to questions, it was confirmed that regulatory Committees were not illustrated within the proposed model. It was acknowledged that there would be resource implications within the Democratic Services Team. The Constitution would be amended from the 2014 version when an executive model was in place, and the Legal Team would be supporting this work alongside an external expert.

Alternatives Considered and Why Not Recommended

If the model proposed by the working group is not agreed and a new model is required then the timetable will be affected. In this scenario, it is likely that the working group would be tasked with creating a new model to be presented to the Democracy and General Purposes Committee on 10 November 2021, to be approved by Council on 8 December 2021. This would present a challenge to both the Working Group and Staff in completing the remaining work by April 2022. This would also impact the submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission on councillor numbers where governance has to be taken into account.

Background Documents

None.

Appendices

Appendix 1: New Executive Model – report to the Democracy and General Purposes Committee, 8 September 2021.