Committee Structure

Council

The full Council is the term for the assembly of all 78 elected members of the North Northamptonshire Council. The decisions made by Council are those decisions set out in legislation as non- executive. Examples of decisions which must be taken by the Council  are setting the council’s budget, agreeing the overarching policy of the council “the Policy Framework” and appointing non- executive committees.

 

In addition, the Council will allocate non-executive functions to Committees to deal with matters that require objective decision making. These include staffing, elections, planning and licensing.

Executive

The role of the Executive is to provide strategic leadership to the Authority and to discharge executive functions. The Council will elect a Leader from among the members of the Council and the Leader appoints a Deputy Leader and up to 8 other members to form the Executive.  

 

Executive functions can be discharged by the Executive as a whole, the Leader (or an individual Executive member if the Leader has given authority to them to do so) or an Officer in line with the Scheme of Delegation.

Executive Advisory Panels

Executive Advisory Panels (EAPs) are a key component of the Hybrid model of governance and the council’s approach to inclusive decision making. The Panels are established by the Executive and provide advice to them. They enable a cross party approach to policy formulation pre-decision. They are consultative forums with no decision-making powers.

 

To see agenda papers and minutes for meetings of EAPs held between May 2021 and December 2022, access Browse meetings and scroll down the page where you will be able to click on the relevant decommissioned EAP.

Regulatory and Governance

The Council has a number of committees which make decisions on behalf of the Council and which are separate to that of the Executive. These include audit and governance, planning, and licensing committees.

Scrutiny Committees

The Scrutiny Committees can scrutinise and review decisions made or actions taken in connection with the discharge of any Council functions. The Council has an over-arching Scrutiny Management Board and three Scrutiny Committees which perform all scrutiny functions on behalf of the Council. 

 

They can also investigate important public issues through Task and Finish Groups and where appropriate challenge or review executive decisions once they are made through the Call In Procedure Rules.

Joint Committees

The Council may establish joint arrangements with one or more local authorities and/or their executives to exercise functions in any of the participating authorities, or to advise the Council. Such arrangements may involve the appointment of a joint committee with these other local authorities by either Council or the Executive depending on the functions being exercised.

 

Where the Executive establishes a joint committee, they may only appoint members of the Executive and those members need not reflect the political composition of the Council as a whole.

Forums and Partnership Bodies

Shadow Authority

Between June 2020 and May 2021, a Shadow Authority and Shadow Committees existed in order to put in place appropriate steps to allow North Northamptonshire Council to be ready for its formal creation on 1 April 2021 and to provide governance functions until the election of new councillors on 6 May 2021.

Northamptonshire CC Legacy Committees

Prior to its abolition on 1 April 2021, Northamptonshire County Council was responsible for the ‘county’ functions now carried out by North Northamptonshire Council, as the successor authority that covers the north area of the former county.

 

Meetings held between May 2015 and 1 April 2021 can be found here.