Agenda and minutes

1.1

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Sue Auckland, Simon Clement-Jones, Ben Curran, Dawn Dale, Neale Gibson, Francyne Johnson, Bernard Little, Bob McCann, Joe Otten, Ruth Mersereau, Moya O’Rourke, Martin Phipps, Colin Ross, Jack Scott, Sophie Thornton, Richard Williams, Paul Wood and Ann Woolhouse.

2.1

There were no declarations of interest made by Members of the Council.

3.1

There were no questions relating to urgent business under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 16.6(ii).

4.1

The Lord Mayor (Councillor Gail Smith) reminded the Council of her announcement made at the previous meeting on 2^nd March that she would permit public questions relating to the Council’s governance arrangements to be asked at this meeting.

4.2

She reported that questions on that subject matter from two members of the public had been received prior to the published deadline for submission of questions for this meeting.  One of the questioners was unable to attend the meeting and had asked that her questions be read out at the meeting on her behalf.  The Lord Mayor stated that, on this occasion, she would use her discretion, as chair of the meeting, and permit this in order that the questions can be asked and responded to before Members of the Council debate the subject matter under the next item of business on the agenda.

4.3

The Lord Mayor added that questions on the subject matter from another member of the public had been received immediately prior to the start of the meeting and again she proposed to use her discretion, as chair of the meeting, and permit the questions to be asked.

4.4

Questions From Alan Kewley

4.4.1

Following our referendum in May 2021, what difference will ordinary citizens see when the new Local Area Committees (LACs) are implemented in May, 2022.

This referendum result was supposed to give ordinary citizens more involvement in Council decisions before they are implemented but these new LACs seem much the same as previous Local Area Partnerships which were in place from 2013 to 2021 under a different name.  I attended the Council meeting in 2013 when Local Area Partnerships were introduced to replace the previous Community Assemblies.  They used the same boundaries but added Ward Forums to give ordinary citizens easier access to the decision-making process via their elected Councillors, which was welcome.

I’ve attended transitional meetings of now new South West LAC and raised questions about Ward Forums, but have not had a clear answer, nor had an opportunity for discussions.

Following our Referendum result, it’s even more important that regular Ward Forums are included – each with an electorate of about 15,000 – to give them more “bottom-up” involvement in the new decision-making process.  So therefore, my question is – Please reconsider this, otherwise most of the electorate will feel excluded from this new, but remote process.

4.4.2

In response, Councillor Julie Grocutt (Executive Member for Community Engagement and Governance) thanked Mr. Kewley for his question.  Councillor Grocutt commented that the Council already had seven Local Area Committees (LACs) in operation, each of which comprised the local Councillors from four wards, and were working with local communities to develop and deliver local plans.  She added that if Mr. Kewley was suggesting that Ward Forums be held in addition to the LACs, so that individual Wards have local meetings, then this would be a matter for the Councillors in each Ward to consider.  Councillor Grocutt indicated that she thought this was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1

RESOLVED: On the Motion of Councillor Dianne Hurst, seconded by Councillor Sue Alston, that, in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 4 (Suspension and Amendment of Council Procedure Rules) and 11 (Motions which may be moved without notice):-

(a) Council Procedure Rule 17.5 be suspended to remove the time limit on the speeches of the mover and seconder of the motion and all other speakers shall have 2 minutes; and

(b) Council Procedure Rule 17.6 be suspended to remove the 25-minute time limit for the item of business.

5.2

It was moved by Councillor Julie Grocutt, and seconded by Councillor Penny Baker, that, as recommended in the report of the Director of Legal and Governance published with the agenda, and in accordance with the recommendations made by the Governance Committee at its meeting held on 9 March 2022, as relates to a new committee system of governance for Sheffield City Council, it be:-

RESOLVED: That:-

(1)       the various elements of a committee system of governance set out in this report and its appendices, be agreed for implementation from the May 2022 AGM in line with the legally binding referendum of 6 May 2021 and subsequent resolution of Full Council on 19 May 2021;

(2)       the Governance Committee be instructed to conduct a review of the new governance system, commencing six months after implementation (November 2022) with a view to recommending improvements to Full Council for May 2023.  This review will:-

a.               Use the previously agreed ‘strategic aims’ and ‘design principles’ found at Appendix 2 as its success criteria;

b.               Actively seek and use feedback from residents, stakeholders, partners, councillors and officers to inform its assessment against those criteria, in line with the new ways of working expected of all decision-makers within the new system; and

c.                Take account of any changes to the local and national context;

(3)       all existing delegations to officers made by the Executive continue in force and effect save that a requirement to act in consultation with an Individual Executive Member will be read as a requirement to act in consultation with the appropriate Policy Committee Chair (as per section 6.12, recommendation 89 of the attached report);

(4)       the elements of a revised constitution which accompany this report (Appendix 5) be approved with effect from the 18 May 2022 Annual Meeting of the Council; and

(5)       the Director of Legal and Governance be requested to submit the full Constitution for approval to the 18 May 2022 Annual Meeting of Council.

5.3

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Cate McDonald, and seconded by Councillor Sioned-Mair Richards, as an amendment, that the motion now submitted be amended by the addition of a new paragraph (6) as follows:-

“(6) an additional recommendation relating to the role of the Policy Committees be inserted in the report, after paragraph 48, as follows:-

49. It is the responsibility of each Committee to work within the budget framework agreed by Council. This includes taking timely action to address any overspend within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.