What is the Constitution?

Our Constitution sets out how the Council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures which are followed to ensure that these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people. Some of these processes are required by the law, while others are a matter for the Council to choose.

At its meeting on 12th December 2024, the Council considered a report on a new Constitution for the Council. At that meeting it resolved:
1. That the whole of the proposed new Constitution set out at Appendix 1 to the submitted report, subject to a minor alteration to Part 2, Section 3, paragraph 3.35 regarding the duration of meetings shall be four and a half hours after the commencement of the meeting, be approved.
2. That the whole of the new Constitution, except all those provisions relating to changes to the number of committees, the sizes of committees plus the quorum requirements for these, the change of name for Development Control Committee to Planning Committee and the creation of a Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to have effect on 1 January 2025, be approved.
3. That all those provisions in the new Constitution relating to the number of committees, the sizes of committees plus the quorum requirements for these, the change of name for Development Control Committee to Planning Committee and the creation of a Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the numbers of Members allocated to Committees be adopted at the Annual Council in May 2025, be approved.

You can access the new Constitution and the previous version using the links below.