Agenda item

The annexed circulated report of the Director of Governance, HR and Monitoring Officer was received to consider the formulation, by the committee, of a recommendation to full Council on the start time of future Full Council meetings.

In September 2022 Full Council agreed to trial an alternative start time for ordinary full council meetings of 2pm, instead of 7pm, with an agreement to review the decision after a reasonable number of council meeting had been held.

Since that decision seven meetings of full council had taken place, along with the Budget Full Council meeting, which started at 10am and a Special Full Council meeting, which commenced at 7pm. 

A recent questionnaire to councillors had resulted in 53 responses being received, details of which were appended to the report.

Also appended to the report were the following:

Appendix A - Details of Apologies, meeting duration and public participation;

Appendix B - Number of views on YouTube;

Appendix C - Comparison of start times of Council meetings with other authorities.

The decision on the start time of future Full Council meetings needed to be made by Councillors.

Members discussed the available options with views summarised below:

·         It was mooted that some full time/self-employed Members had found it difficult or impossible to attend daytime meetings because of work commitments and therefore evening meetings were preferable.

·         Some councillors raised concern that to do a full day’s work and then attend an evening council meeting, which potentially could continue until late at night, was also not conducive to good decision making.

·         Travel time to Corby, could often take over an hour from many parts of North Northamptonshire and needed to be factored in. A meeting would be followed, for some, by a lengthy return journey, after a tiring meeting. There was a duty of care to both Members, the Public and employees to ensure they returned home safely.

·         Analysis of attendance levels indicated that regardless of the time of meetings there was little difference in average attendance year on year from either councillors or the public.

·         Public participation was also at the forefront of members thoughts and It was noted that public participation, with a few exceptions, had been low and that consideration needed to be given to encouraging more public participation.  It was generally conceded that the public would attend if the subject matter on the agenda was something that they considered would strongly affect them, regardless of time.

·         It was suggested that should meetings be held late afternoon that public participation be moved to later the agenda. It was however, cautioned that this would not be advisable as the public generally needed to speak prior to council debating an item and making a decision.

·         Advice was sought on whether the format of the full Council agenda could be reconsidered. Currently questions from members and supplementary questions were raised at the beginning of the agenda; this frequently resulted in a delay in commencing the ‘business of the agenda’.

·         It was noted that there was a ‘guillotine’ on the conclusion time of meetings, where Members had the option to extend the length of the meeting to conclude the agenda business.  If questions were moved to the end of the agenda more time could be given to discussing the important business first when minds were fresh and alert and a decision on whether to extend the meeting could be made, depending on the time. It was noted that answers to questions were already provided prior to the meeting.  

·         It was also noted that during the first year of the council the meetings had been longer as there had been a great deal to discuss and consider. The length of meetings had often been extended with questions, and supplementary questions.

·         Prior to standing for election potential members had been informed that meetings would be held at different times of the day/evening and that this needed to be considered before putting themselves forward.

·         There were very few Full Council meetings during the year, and where possible every effort needed to be made by Councillors to attend on behalf of their constituents. It was noted, however, that there were always occasions where apologies needed to be submitted.

·         Members considered it important to encourage the younger generation to stand for election and that with different methods of working, and often more flexibility offered to employees with remote working, future participation should become an easier option, though it was appreciated that this would not be the case with all types of employment.

·         The Full Council meeting to discuss the budget would continue to be held at 10am due to the volume of business under discussion and the expected length of the meeting. This was noted. 

·         Generally, it was agreed that 7pm was too late for a meeting of Full Council to start. It was noted that a 6pm start could result in traffic delays with peak traffic periods. Many considered that 2pm was not an ideal option and felt that a late afternoon start would be more appropriate. 

It was proposed by Councillor Gill Mercer that the start time of Full Council meetings be moved to 5pm. This was seconded by Councillor Kirk Harrison.

Members debated this proposal with most agreeing that this would be a good compromise for many councillors.  It would ensure that travel time was prior to the peak rush hour, minds would be fresh and alert for the decision-making process. Public transport would be more available and accessible to attend and return home for both councillors and the public as meetings would conclude at a reasonable time for the return journey.

Following the debate, the Chair put the proposal as moved by Councillor G Mercer and seconded by Councillor K Harrison to the vote.

The motion was declared carried with nine votes in favour and two against.

Resolved to recommend to Full Council that:

(i)            future meetings of the Full Council commence at 5pm;

(ii)          the exception to this be the Budget Full Council meeting which would commence at 10am.