How does the Council make decisions?

The Council - All 51 elected Councillors sit on the full Council, which decides the overall policies and sets the budget for each year. The Council also elects the Leader, the Cabinet and appoints the chairs of other Committees, which include:

• Development Control Committee
• Personnel Committee
• Licensing and Regulatory Committee
• Audit and Governance Committee
• Appeals Committee

For more information about the role and functions of these committees, see Part 2 of the Constitution This link will take you to an external website... .

The Cabinet - This is the part of the Council which is responsible for most day-to-day decisions. It is made up of the Cabinet Leader and between four and eight Councillors who are appointed by the Council. For details of which Councillors are on this, see our page about the Cabinet.

When major decisions are to be discussed or made, these are published in the Cabinet's Forward Plan This link will take you to an external website... in so far as they can be anticipated. If these major decisions are to be discussed with Council Officers at a meeting of the Cabinet, this will generally be open for the public to attend except where personal or confidential matters are being discussed.

The Cabinet has to make decisions which are in line with the Council's overall policies and budget. If the Cabinet wishes to make a decision which is outside the budget or policy framework, this must be referred to the Council to decide. For details of the policies and plans which the Council has in place to help determine its priorities and procedures see our Policies and plans pages.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee - The Scrutiny Committee is responsible for holding the Cabinet and Officers to account for their actions which they can do in a number of ways including, monitoring performance of the delivery of services. The Committee also has the right to 'call in' a decision of the Cabinet or an Officer exercising Cabinet functions. The decision can then be reviewed before it is implemented.

Details of when the Council, the Cabinet and the committees meet can be found in our Councillors and committees section.