Council considered a report from the Monitoring Officer recommending changes to the Council’s Constitution following an annual review of the Constitution overseen by a “Cross-Party Constitution Group”.

Councillor Chapman, Cabinet Member for Customer Focused Services, presented the report.

Council had before it a proposed amendment which had been submitted by Councillor Henwood:

11.18 Motions on notice

(d) Listing motions on the agenda

Motions will appear on the agenda in the order that will rotate between different political groups at each meeting…

Change to

Motions will appear on the agenda in the order that will rotate between different political groups and an independent at each meeting…

4.6 Ward member decisions

a) Each member of the Council will (subject to the budget being approved annually by Council) be allocated an amount of money to spend in their ward (ward Member Budgets). Members representing wards not covered by a parish council may also be allocated a neighbourhood portion of Community Infrastructure Levey (CIL) monies. If the ward member changes during the year without their full allocations being designated (including any allocations carried forwards from the previous year), the replacement ward member will be able to allocate the remaining balance.

Change to

a)    Each member of the Council will (subject to the budget being approved annually by Council) be allocated an amount of money to spend in their ward (ward Member Budgets). Members representing wards not covered by a parish council may also be allocated a neighbourhood portion of Community Infrastructure Levey (CIL) monies. In wards where a parish council is located the equivalent (CIL) budget will be remitted to the parish council. If the ward member changes during the year without their full allocations being designated (including any allocations carried forwards from the previous year), the replacement ward member will be able to allocate the remaining balance.

Community Infrastructure Levey (CIL) monies awarded to parish councils via housing developments, should be spent in respective parishes to mitigate the problems associated the said housing developments, or for the benefit of parishioners living in the vicinity of the said housing development(s).

The Monitoring Officer gave the following advice on the proposed amendment:

       i.          The amendment to 11.18 d) could be debated by Council

      ii.          The amendment to insert text in paragraph 4.6 a) confirmed something that already happens

    iii.          The amendment to insert a second paragraph of text at 4.6 a) was not a matter for the Council’s Constitution.  Parish councils are not bound by the City Council’s Constitution and the rules governing CIL allocations are set out in the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations and parish councils allocating CIL monies would be responsible for abiding by those regulations.

Following this advice amendment i) above was seconded and debated by Council. On being put to the vote the amendment fell.

Councillor Chapman then moved the recommendations as set out in the agenda and the briefing note, which were agreed on being seconded and put to the vote.

Council resolved to:

1.     Note the list of amendments that the Monitoring Officer has made using delegated powers detailed in Appendix 1;

2.     Approve the list of proposed amendments to the Constitution detailed in Appendix 2 and highlighted in the draft Constitution at Appendix 3;

3.     Adopt the revised Oxford City Council Constitution attached at Appendix 3; and

4.     Delegate authority to the Head of Law and Governance to amend any further wording and/or numbering that is identified as being inconsistent with the changes approved by Council.

Councillor Malik left the meeting at the end of this item and Councillor Iley-Williamson arrived during this item .