Decision details

The Legal, Governance and Democracy Specialist (Deputy Monitoring Officer) presented the report on behalf of the Legal, Governance and Democracy Lead Specialist (Monitoring Officer) who had sent her apologies to the meeting.

Members highlighted that they wished to receive more regular updates regarding Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), and suggested a Task and Finish group to allow the committee to put ideas forward and look at existing examples of how unitary councils may operate. Members noted that there was concern that if such arrangements were not considered the opportunity to feed into the LGR process would be lost.

The Chairman thanked Members for their comments, and noted that he shared the same view and wanted to ensure that there was discussion between Officers and Members about how they could feed into the process.

The Chairman proposed that officers meet with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman to work out what would be appropriate given current constraints on Officers’ time. The outcome would then be reported back to the Committee.

Members concluded by noting that the Council had done some great work over the years on exciting projects and that they would like to see them carry over into the new unitary authority.

RESOLVED – That:-

1)    The Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s updated Work Programme for 2021/22 be agreed;

2)    The Forward Plan published on 11 January 2022 be received; and

3)    The Chair and Vice-Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee would meet with relevant Officers to explore options for the involvement of the Committee in the preparations for Local Government Reorganisation.