An ‘urgent’ review of the Isle of Wight Council’s constitution will get underway soon.
The constitution sets out how the council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures that should be followed to operate democratically, accountably and transparently to local residents.
Clarification or improvements are needed
However, since its last review 20 months ago in November 2020, more areas where clarification or improvements are needed have been highlighted — particularly in the planning department.
At a meeting of the council’s audit committee on Monday, the body was notified the review will start shortly to address the matters and told every councillor would be consulted.
‘Snagging list’ of issues
Minor revisions have been made along the way on an ad hoc basis, the council says, with a ‘snagging list’ kept when issues are mentioned or happened upon through the working of the council.
In the council’s recent planning peer review, carried out by the Local Government Association (LGA), it was recommended the council undertakes an urgent review of the constitution, particularly the code of practice ‘to effectively deliver the council’s democratic function’, due to issues seen in the planning committee in the last year.
Brodie: “Current code of practice is in disrepute”
Speaking at the planning committee on Tuesday, Cllr Geoff Brodie said the current code of practice is in disrepute and there would always be tensions in the planning committee until it was fixed, calling for the matter to be dealt with as soon as possible by the planning committee.
The findings of the review will be reported to the audit committee and the changes then recommended to full council for approval, as soon as possible.
A deeper and wider review is being separately considered as part of an informal ‘Transformational Change Working Group’, who will also report back to the audit committee at a later date.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
