Agenda item

RESOLVED:

1.    That following consideration of the Constitution set out in the Annex A to the minutes, including the Standing Orders under which the Joint Committee would operate it was agreed:   

·         To delegate the executive functions to the Guildford Joint Committee;

·         The extended advisory functions that will come under the remit of the Guildford Joint Committee.

Cabinet recommendations to Full Council:

2.    That Council agrees to the establishment of the Guildford Joint Committee in place of the current Local Committee arrangements to take effect from 19 September 2018.

3.    That Council agrees to the delegation of the non-executive functions to the Guildford Joint Committee.

4.    That Council appoint a Chairman of the newly formed Guildford Joint Committee from 19 September 2018, when the Joint Committee would hold its first meeting.

5.    That Council appoint Mike Goodman, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, as the SCC Cabinet Member on the Guildford Joint Committee for the 2018/19 municipal year, subject to Council approval of the Constitution.

6.    That authority be delegated to the Legal Services Manager, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member and the SCC-appointed Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Guildford 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 Guildford Joint Committee, to replace the current Local Committee arrangements; to delegate recommended executive functions to the newly formed Guildford 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 Guildford 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 could be co-ordinated.

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

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

The Guildford 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 was supportive of the Joint Committee proposal.

The Cabinet Member for Community Services introduced this report that proposed to create a Joint Committee in place of the current SCC Guildford Local Committee and building on the positive partnership working between Surrey County Council (SCC) and Guildford Borough Council (GBC.  She explained how the Guildford Joint Committee would speed up decision making and strengthen local democracy. The closer working permitted by the new arrangement would allow both authorities to jointly respond on local issues.  The Joint Committee would also have an extended remit over and above that of the current Local Committee and would operate under an agreed framework for an initial 12 month period with the scope to delegate additional functions after this time in a structured format.

The proposals were also complementary to the work of the Local/Joint Committee Review Group led by Mrs Mary Angell.  The Cabinet Member thanked Mrs Angell for the work undertaken.

The Chairman of Guildford Local Committee spoke in favour of the proposals and thanked democratic services at Guildford BC for the work they had done.

A few Cabinet Members spoke in favour of joint committees and that they would like to see all local committees go this way in the future.

Thanks was also extended to the Community Partnerships Manager for his work on this.

RESOLVED:

1.    That following consideration of the Constitution set out in the Annex A to the minutes, including the Standing Orders under which the Joint Committee would operate it was agreed:  

·         To delegate the executive functions to the Guildford Joint Committee;

·         The extended advisory functions that will come under the remit of the Guildford Joint Committee.

Cabinet recommendations to Full Council:

2. That Council agrees to the establishment of the Guildford Joint Committee in place of the current Local Committee arrangements to take effect from 19 September 2018.

3. That Council agrees to the delegation of the non-executive functions to the Guildford Joint Committee.

4. That Council appoint a Chairman of the newly formed Guildford Joint Committee from 19 September 2018, when the Joint Committee would hold its first meeting.

5. That Council appoint Mike Goodman, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, as the SCC Cabinet Member on the Guildford Joint Committee for the 2018/19 municipal year, subject to Council approval of the Constitution.

6. That authority be delegated to the Legal Services Manager, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member and the SCC-appointed Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Guildford 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 Guildford Joint Committee, to replace the current Local Committee arrangements; to delegate recommended executive functions to the newly formed Guildford 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 Guildford 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 could be co-ordinated.

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

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

The Guildford 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 was supportive of the Joint Committee proposal.