Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors T Sams and D Wilkinson.

The following Substitute Members were noted:

·  Councillor Couch for Councillor T Sams

·  Councillor J Wilkinson for Councillor D Wilkinson

There were no urgent items.

There were no Visiting Members.

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

RESOLVED: That all items on the agenda be taken in public as proposed.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 19 June 2024 be approved as a correct record and signed.

There were no petitions.

There were no questions from members of the public.

There were no questions from Members to the Chairman.

The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager gave a verbal update to the Committee on the work programme and advised that there would be a Boundary Review Update in November 2024.

RESOLVED: That the Committee Work Programme be noted.

There were no reports of Outside Bodies.

Councillor English outlined their current role and responsibilities at South East Employers and requested renewal of his position. This was approved by the Committee.

The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager advised the Committee that Maidstone Sea Cadets had contacted the Council to withdraw both Council appointed posts.

RESOLVED: That Councillor English’s appointment to Southeast Employers as the Council’s representative Trustee be renewed.

Note: Councillor Cooke arrived at 6.44 p.m. during the item’s consideration and stated that he did not have any disclosures of interest or lobbying to declare.

The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager outlined the report and advised that it covered two matters:

• A change to procurement documents made under the Monitoring Officer’s delegation implementing a decision made under Cabinet last year; and
  
  
• Changes to the rules on Quorum and adjournment to allow cancellation of a meeting after a period of time when Quorum is not met. This would allow meetings to be cancelled in instances of severe weather, where Quorum cannot be met.

In response to queries, the Committee were advised that rescheduling of cancelled meetings was covered in other areas of the Constitution and that additional wording was not needed to cover this.

RESOLVED: That

1. The proposed constitutional amendments to the rules on Quorum and Adjournments set out in the report are recommended to Council for approval; and
   
   
2. The changes to the constitution relating to procurement made under the Monitoring Officer’s delegation be noted.

The Director of Strategy, Insight and Governance introduced the report which proposed a reduction of the Planning Committee from thirteen to nine Members, which was preferred by the Planning Committee Chairman. The report included the resulting changes to seat allocations.

Several Members were strongly opposed to this recommendation, citing it as under-representative and undemocratic and arguing that the current Committee size was just as focussed and capable as a smaller Committee. It was raised that it was important to have well informed and trained Members on this Committee.

RESOLVED: That no changes be made to Planning Committee Membership.

6.30 p.m. to 7.16 p.m.