Following the agreement of the Full Council to continue the meeting, the Deputy Mayor restarted the discussion on the Notice of Motion 1 – Motion Amending the Requirements of A Procedural Motion and Councillor Crow’s moved Procedural Motion.

Councillor Lunnon responded to the Procedural Motion, and in doing so spoke, against it as he felt it duplicated the previous discussion earlier during the meeting (item 7) regarding the use of the Chair’s/ Deputy Mayor’s casting vote.

The Deputy Mayor sought advice on the Procedural Motion from the Head of Legal, Governance and HR as the Monitoring Officer, who commented that there was a technical point as to what the appropriate body (referred to in 11.1F) for constitutional amendments would be. Ultimately the Full Council had the responsibility, but it does delegate discussion on the constitution to the Governance Committee. The Monitoring Officer’s advice given on the use (and potential suspension) of the Chair’s casting vote an earlier in the meeting (item 7) remained the same and it was stressed that that advice would be provided to the Governance Committee or Full Council. 

The Deputy Mayor invited any further comments on the Procedural Motion and on the Notice of Motion. Councillor Burrett spoke in support on the Procedural Motion.

The Deputy Mayor accepted Councillor Crow’s proposed Procedural Motion re: 11.1FTo refer something to an appropriate body or individual, namely the discussion on the proposed Constitutional change to the Governance Committee, and put it to the vote.

There were 18 votes in favour and 18 against with 0 abstentions.

Having put it to the vote which resulted in a tie, the Deputy Mayor used her casting vote to decide against the Procedural Motion and declared that the Procedural Motion re: 11.1F had fallen by 19 votes against the motion and 18 for the motion and 0 abstentions.

Following an invitation from the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Crow then moved the ConservativeAmendment, (as published in Supplementary Agenda Order Paper).  The proposed amendment was 'Full Council resolves to refer to the Governance Committee for detailed consideration, as per the usual practice for changes to the constitution, the following proposed change to section 13.1 of the Full Council Procedure Rules within the Constitution, so that it reads:

All Full Council Procedure Rules, except Rules 1.2(C1) (signing of minutes) and 10.4 (holding a recorded vote), may be suspended if they receive a majority of support from members present, as set out in Rules 10.2 (majority) and 10.3 (Mayor's casting vote). Suspension will only apply for the duration of that meeting.'

Councillor Burrett seconded the amendment and spoke on the Amendment.

Councillors Lunnon, B Burgess, and McCarthy all spoke on the debate on the Notice of Motion and the Amendment.

The Mayor then called for a vote on the Conservative Amendment to Notice of Motion 1 – Motion Amending the Requirements of a Procedural Motion

There were 18 votes in favour and 18 against with 0 abstentions.

Having put it to the vote which resulted in a tie, the Deputy Mayor used her casting vote to decide against the Conservative Amendment and declared that the amendment had fallen by 19 votes against the motion and 18 for the motion and 0 abstentions.

The Mayor then called for a vote on the Notice of Motion 1 – Motion Amending the Requirements of a Procedural Motion

There were 18 votes in favour and 18 against with 0 abstentions.

Having put it to the vote which resulted in a tie, the Deputy Mayor used her casting vote to decide in favour and declared that the Notice of Motion 1 – Motion Amending the Requirements of a Procedural Motion had been carried.

RESOLVED

Full Council resolves to amend section 13.1 of the Full Council Procedure Rules within Constitution, so that it reads:

All Full Council Procedure Rules, except Rules 1.2(C1) (signing of minutes) and 10.4 (holding a recorded vote), may be suspended if they receive a majority of support from members present, as set out in Rules 10.2 (majority) and 10.3 (Mayor's casting vote). Suspension will only apply for the duration of that meeting.