Agenda item

The Committee noted that both Guildford and Waverley had adopted the current Pre-Election Publicity Policy in April 2022, which was identical for both councils.

The main purpose of the existing policy was to protect the interests of the Council, and to provide guidance to Councillors and Officers on publicity and the use of Council resources during the pre-election period.  A key aspect of the existing Policy was to limit the Council and Committee meetings during the pre-election period. Specifically:

o   Regular Full Council, Executive, and Committee meetings (excluding Planning Committee, Licensing Sub-Committee and Licensing Regulatory Sub-Committee) would not be scheduled during the pre-election period;

o   Where an unscheduled election was called, meetings scheduled to take place in the pre-election period (other than meetings of the Planning Committee, Licensing Sub-Committee and Licensing Regulatory Sub-Committee) may be cancelled if it was considered by the Joint Chief Executive prudent to do so; and

o   Extraordinary Full Council and/or Special Committee meetings would be arranged if, in the opinion of the Joint Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer, it was considered to be in the Council’s interests to hold them for urgent items of business.

However, after further careful review and consideration, it was proposed that the Pre-Election Publicity & Decision-Making Policy be amended to provide more flexibility for the Proper Officers of the Council to assess and decide which council meetings could be held during the pre-election period on a case-by-case basis. Such an approach provided the Proper Officers with the flexibility to take into account whether a forthcoming election was in respect of Borough elections, or another election, and the level of political sensitivity around each election which could impact on Council business.

The Committee considered a report which recommended the adoption of a revised Pre-Election Period Publicity & Decision-Making Policy, focusing on the Pre-Election published guidance by the former DCLG and LGA which emphasised that councils should continue to discharge normal council business during the pre-election period.              

The report had been considered initially by the Joint Constitutions Review Group (JCRG) at its meeting on 18 December 2023.   The JCRG had supported the proposed revised Policy and had referred it to this Committee and Waverley’s Standards & General Purposes Committee for formal consideration.  The Committee was asked to consider the amendments to the Pre-Election Publicity & Decision-Making Policy and to recommend the adoption of the revised Policy by the Council at its extraordinary meeting on 23 January 2024.

The Committee noted that Waverley’s Standards & General Purposes Committee, at its meeting held on 8 January 2024, had endorsed the proposed amendments to the Pre-Election Publicity and Decision-making Policy, subject to one minor amendment.

Having considered the report and the amendment suggested by Waverley’s Standards & General Purposes Committee, the Committee

RESOLVED: To recommend to Council the adoption into the Constitution of the proposed revised Pre-Election Publicity & Decision-Making Policy, as set out in Appendix 3 to the report submitted to the Committee, subject to the inclusion of the minor amendment proposed by Waverley’s Standards & General Purposes Committee to the fourth bullet point in paragraph 8 of the Policy as follows:

·      “continue with business as usual Council, Executive, and Committee meetings, subject to the proviso that the business to be transacted at those meetings, including motions brought and conduct displayed at those meetings, does not, in the view of the Monitoring Officer, contravene the provisions of this policy”.

Reasons:

·      To protect the interests of the Council, and to provide guidance to Councillors and Officers on publicity and the use of Council resources during the pre-election period.

·       To provide further flexibility for the Councils’ Proper Officers to assess and decide which council meetings can be held during the pre-election period.