Decision details

Cabinet (and Full Council) approval is sought to establish the Joint Committee. The formation of the Joint Committee will require agreement by Runnymede Borough Council in parallel, and it is due to be considered by their Corporate Management Committee on 22 March, and by Full Council on 19 April.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet makes the following recommendations to the Full County Council on 22 May 2018:

Cabinet recommendations to Full County Council:

1.    That Council agrees to the establishment of the Runnymede Joint Committee.

2.    That Council agrees to the delegation of the non-executive functions to the Runnymede Joint Committee.

3.    That Council appoint a Chairman of the newly formed Runnymede Joint Committee from 18 June 2018, when the Joint Committee would hold its first meeting.

4.    That authority be delegated to the Director of Legal, Democratic and Cultural Services, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, and the SCC-appointed Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Runnymede Joint Committee, to agree to any minor amendments to the Constitution, which may be required.

Reasons for decisions:

Cabinet and full Council agreement was required to establish a Runnymede Joint Committee, to replace the current Local Committee arrangements; to delegate recommended executive functions to the newly formed Runnymede Joint Committee; and to agree the Constitution and Standing Orders under which the newly formed committee would operate.

Joint Committees were an innovative two tier response to central government policy initiatives. Positive conversations were being held with other Surrey Borough and District Councils on the formation of further Joint Committees with SCC.

The creation of the Runnymede Joint Committee builds on a strong track record of joint and collaborative working between the two authorities and provided a platform on which future joint arrangements would be co-ordinated.

This approach has already proved successful in Woking and Spelthorne, where Joint Committees had been operating since June 2014 and January 2017 respectively and had been shown to improve partnership working.

The new Joint Committee would simplify and speed-up local decision making processes, enabling for the first time, all functions and budgets delegated to it to be jointly decided upon.

Cabinet (and full Council) approval is sought at the current time in order for a Runnymede Joint Committee to be established from the beginning of the new municipal year in May 2018.

The Runnymede Joint Committee proposal was complementary to the work and remit of the current cross-party Local/ Joint Committee Review Group. The review aims “to set out the council’s vision for local governance and engagement including the future role of local/ joint committees in supporting members in their role as community leaders”, an aim reflected in the ambition of the proposed Joint Committee. The Chairman of the Review Group Councillor Mary Angell is the current Chairman of the Runnymede Local Committee and very supportive of the Joint Committee proposal.