Agenda item

The Council was reminded that both Guildford and Waverley Borough Councils had adopted an identical Pre-Election Publicity & Decision-Making Policy in April 2022. The main purpose of the 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) might 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 both councils 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 the 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 Council considered a report which recommended the adoption of a revised Pre-Election Period Publicity & Decision-Making Policy, which focused on the Pre-Election published guidance by the former DCLG and LGA which emphasised that councils should continue to discharge normal council business i.e., ‘Business as usual’.

The report had been considered initially by the Joint Constitutions Review Group (JCRG) at its meeting on 18 December 2023.   The JCRG supported the proposed revised Policy, and had referred it to the Corporate Governance & Standards Committee and Waverley’s Standards & General Purposes Committee for formal consideration, with a further recommendation that each committee recommends the adoption of the proposed revised Policy to their respective full Council meetings.

At its meeting on 8 January 2024, Waverley’s Standards & General Purposes Committee, endorsed the recommendation, subject to an amendment of 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”.

The Corporate Governance & Standards Committee, at its meeting on 18 January 2024, also endorsed the revised Policy and had supported the amendment proposed by the Waverley Committee.

Upon the motion of the Lead Councillor for Regulatory & Democratic Services, Councillor Merel Rehorst-Smith, seconded by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Julia McShane the Council

RESOLVED:  That, subject to the agreement of Waverley Borough Council at its extraordinary Council meeting on 24 January 2024, the revised Pre-Election Publicity & Decision-Making Policy, as set out in Appendix 3 to the report submitted to the Council, be adopted for inclusion in the Council’s Constitution, subject to the amendment of 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.