Committees and meetings

How does the council work?

The council is made up of 46 councillors (or elected members) who are elected every four years. Councillors are democratically accountable to the residents of the ward they represent.

Currently the council comprises of:

Conservative: 22 members

Labour: 15 members

Independent: 6 members

Liberal Democrat: 3 members

All councillors meet together as the Full Council (meet every six weeks) and these meetings are open to the public.

Council meetings are presided over by the chairman of the council. The chairman is elected annually by the full council.

The Cabinet

Each year the council appoints the cabinet which comprises of the leader of the council together with a further five cabinet members. The cabinet is held to account by overview and scrutiny committees.

Although all decisions of the cabinet are taken collectively, individual members have lead responsibility for a range of services, known as a portfolio area. The portfolio areas are:

The cabinet is also responsible for developing the policy framework and budget. Following their approval by the council, the cabinet will implement both.

View cabinet dates and agendas

View latest cabinet decisions (PDF File, 154kb) Forward Plan

If there are any major decisions to be made then these will become part of the cabinets' forward plan. Where these major decisions are to be discussed, this will usually happen at a meeting of the cabinet that is open to the public.

Decisions made at cabinet are posted on our website within 24 hours.

The cabinet has to make decisions which are in line with the council’s overall policies and budgets, any decisions it may wish to make outside these must be referred to the council for consideration.

Regulatory Committees

The council has five regulatory committees:

  • Planning - considers all planning applications, appeals and planning contraventions. It also discharges all other functions relating to town and country planning and development control.
  • General Purposes - considers applications for hackney carriage and private hire licences. It also deals with licensing functions other than those falling within the remit of the Licensing Committee and functions relating to parishes, elections and electoral registration.
  • Licensing -  is required under the Licensing Act 2003 to discharge licensing functions such as issuing licences for the sale of alcohol and late night refreshments.
  • Audit and Accounts - oversees the authority's internal control framework and approve the Council's published accounts
  • Standards – is responsible for the conduct of members of the district and parish councils.

 These committees oversee the quasi-legal services that the council has a statutory duty to provide to the community.

Overview and Scrutiny Committees

There are three Overview and Scrutiny Committees, which both complement and scrutinise the work of the cabinet and council as a whole. These are:

These committees commission reports, which advise the cabinet and council on specific aspects of policy, budget and service delivery. The cabinet or council may also consult them on forthcoming decisions and the development of policy documents. These committees also play a key role in reviewing council services.

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