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Contents 1.
Form
and Composition of the Executive Arrangements 2. Exercise of Council Functions 3. Responsibility for and Delegation of Cabinet Functions 4. Sub-delegation of Executive Functions 5. Limit on Exercise of Executive Functions 7. Functions Relating to Town & Council Planning & Development Control 9. Functions Relating to Health & Safety at Work 10. Functions Relating to Elections 11. Functions Relating to Name & Status of Area & Individuals 12. Power to Make, Amend, Revoke or Re-enact Byelaws 13. Power to Promote or Oppose Local or Personal Bills 14. Functions Relating to Pensions etc 17. Other Delegations by Council 18. Clarification of Planning Delegations 20. Public Rights of way Matters |
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Form and Composition of the Executive Arrangements 1 The Council operates a Leader and Cabinet Executive Model. In this Council the Executive is referred to as the Cabinet. The following is a summary of the Executive arrangements. The proceedings for Cabinet which include appointment of the Leader and Cabinet are set out in in Article 7 and the Cabinet Procedure Rules. 2 Subject to a job sharing arrangement as outlined in Part 4.4 of the Constitution the Cabinet consists of the Leader of the Council (the “Leader”) and nine other Councillors appointed to the Cabinet by the Leader. 3 The Leader will appoint a Deputy Leader who will act as Leader in the Leader’s absence and may also if s/he thinks fit remove the Deputy Leader from office at any time. In these circumstances the Leader shall inform the Monitoring Officer immediately. The Deputy Leader may exercise all of the functions of the Leader where the position is vacant or where the Leader is absent or otherwise unable to act. |
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Exercise of Council Functions 1 The Cabinet is appointed to carry out all of the Council’s functions which are not the responsibility of any other part of the Council, whether by Law or under this Constitution. 2 The exercise of all Executive functions shall be and shall be deemed to be exercised on behalf of and in the name of the Council of the City and County of Swansea. 3 There are certain functions which may only be carried out by Council and which are stipulated in the Local Authorities Executive Arrangements (Functions and Responsibilities) (Wales) Regulations 2007 (as amended). These, together with a record of who has delegated authority to deal with them are set out in the tables below. 4 There are also functions informally called Local Choice Functions which Cabinet may opt to discharge itself or may ask another part of the Council to carry out. The Local Choice Functions and any associated delegations are set out below. 5 There are also certain plans and strategies which are not to be the sole responsibility of Cabinet and these are contained in Article 4 of this Constitution. |
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Responsibility for and Delegation of Cabinet Functions 1 The Leader may exercise Executive Functions himself/herself or may otherwise make arrangements to delegate responsibility for their discharge. The Leader may delegate Executive Functions to: a) The Cabinet as a whole; b) A Committee of the Cabinet (comprising executive Members only); c) An individual Cabinet Member; d) A joint committee; e) Another local authority or the executive of another local authority; f) Delegated Officers identified in Article 12 and Part 7 of this Constitution 2 The exercise of all delegated authority for functions shall include doing anything which is necessarily incidental to the exercise of that function unless they are expressly limited. 3 The Leader will determine the portfolios of individual Members of the Cabinet. Individual Cabinet Members are authorised to exercise functions in relation to their portfolio subject to limitations. The current portfolios are set out in the Terms of Reference below. 4 The Leader has powers under s.15(4) of the Local Government Act 2000 to discharge personally or to arrange for discharge under others’ delegated powers any Executive functions not covered by the Scheme of Delegations for the time being. 5 The Leader has authority to appoint representatives of the Council onto outside bodies where those outside bodies relate to Executive Functions of the Council. This is subject to the provisions of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (Duty to allocate seats to political groups). 6 The right to revoke the delegation of Executive functions in whole, in part or on terms is reserved to the Leader. |
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Sub-delegation of Executive Functions 1 Where the Cabinet, a Committee of the Cabinet or an individual Member of the Cabinet is responsible for an Executive Function, they may delegate further to joint arrangements or an Officer. 2 Unless the Leader directs otherwise, a Committee of the Cabinet to whom functions have been delegated by the Leader or Cabinet may delegate further to an Officer. 3 Where Executive Functions have been delegated, that fact does not prevent the discharge of delegated functions by the person or body who delegated. |
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Limit on Exercise of Executive Functions 1 Individual Cabinet Members Where any delegated power is allocated to an individual Cabinet Member and that Member is absent or otherwise unable to act the power is allocated to the Leader and in the Leader’s absence to the Deputy Leader. a) Any delegated power includes the authority to undertake any action incidental to the application of the delegated power. b) Subject to the following prescriptive provisions, individual Cabinet Member may exercise their delegated powers to make decisions on any matters falling within the Cabinet Member’s portfolio (other than decisions which are contrary to the Policy Framework or contrary to or not wholly in accordance with the approved Budget) which, if delayed, would seriously prejudice the Council’s or the public’s interests. c) To authorise the disposal of surplus goods acquired in connection with services falling within the Cabinet Member’s portfolio having an estimated total value exceeding £100,000 but not exceeding £200,000. d) To declare land or buildings utilised in connection with services falling within the Cabinet Member’s portfolio surplus to requirements. e) To approve, subject to the budget process: i) Fees and charges for new services in accordance with any relevant charging policy approved by the Cabinet; and ii) Increases in existing fees and charges which are in accordance with any relevant charging policy approved by the Cabinet and which are necessary to reflect either inflation or other increases in costs. 2
Officer
Delegation Responsible Officers can only exercise delegated authority for functions for which they have budgetary and management or operational or statutory responsibility. Decisions taken under delegated authority will be recorded in the register maintained by the Head of Democratic Services. a) The exercise of functions by Responsible Officers in relation to the approvals of disposals, acquisitions and leases shall be undertaken in accordance with the Land Transaction Procedure Rules and shall be limited as follows: i) Acquisition of freehold or leasehold property (where a premium only is payable) up to £1,000,000; ii) Acquisition of freehold or leasehold property where a rent is payable – up to £250,000 per annum; iii) Disposal of freehold property or leasehold property (where a premium only is payable) up to £1,000,000; iv) Disposal of leasehold property where a rent is payable – up to £250,000 per annum. b) Delegated Authority will also be given to Responsible Officers for disposals and leases transactions where the Land Transaction Rules do not apply. c) In cases where the consideration is not straightforward such as involving varying rents or a combination of rental and premium the Head of Property or his nominee shall assess the total capital value of the transaction to establish if such value exceeds the limits of this delegation. d) Subject to any limitations imposed by the Leader, all Responsible Officers may authorise another Officer to exercise their delegated functions provided that the Responsible Officer has line management responsibility for that Officer. In those circumstances it is expected that a written “chain of authority” will be maintained. 3 General The exercise of Executive functions by the Leader, Cabinet, individual Cabinet Members or responsible Officers and anyone authorised under this Scheme of Delegation shall be subject to any budgetary or policy framework which has been approved by Council. a) If a policy or budgetary framework has been approved by Council then it will be the responsibility of the Leader, the Cabinet, individual Cabinet Members and Responsible Officers to implement that policy or budgetary framework and not to do anything in exercising Executive functions which contravenes that policy or budgetary framework. b) If no policy framework has been approved by Council in circumstances where the Council has a legal duty to have in place a policy framework then those functions cannot be exercised until the Council approves the policy framework. c) The exercise of all Executive functions are to be exercised in accordance with any Procedure Rules within this Constitution. 4 Amendments to the Scheme of Delegation The Leader may amend the scheme of delegation relating to Executive Functions at any time. In doing so the Leader will give written notice to the Monitoring Officer and to the person, body or committee concerned. The notice must set out the extent of the amendment to the scheme of delegation, and whether it entails the withdrawal of delegation from any person, body or committee. a) The Monitoring Officer will present a report to the next ordinary meeting of the Council setting out the changes made by the Leader. b) Where the Leader seeks to withdraw delegation from a committee of the Cabinet notice will be deemed to be served on that committee when s/he has served it on its chair. |
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Council Delegations The functions reserved to Council by Schedule 1 to The Local Authorities Executive Arrangements (Functions and Responsibilities) (Wales) Regulations 2007(as amended) are listed in the table below, together with the body/Officer to whom they are delegated in the right hand column of the table. In the event that only Council is listed in that column then only Council can exercise that function. 1 Council retains responsibility for the function even though it may be delegated. 2 In addition to the table below there are statutory plans/schemes/strategies listed in Article 4 which will consequently require the approval of Council. Key:
Note:
In relation to Planning, further clarification is provided onwards: |
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Functions Relating to Town & Council Planning & Development Control
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Licensing & Registration Functions (in so far as not covered by any other paragraph of this Schedule) (in so far as not covered by any other paragraph of this Schedule)
Note: * (B6-B11) Acts shown repealed by Gambling
Act 2005. |
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Functions Relating to Health & Safety at Work
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Functions Relating to Elections
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Functions Relating to Name & Status of Area & Individuals
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Power to Make, Amend, Revoke or Re-enact Byelaws
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Power to Promote or Oppose Local or Personal Bills
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Functions Relating to Pensions etc
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Miscellaneous Functions
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Local Choice Functions
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Other Delegations by Council
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Clarification of Planning Delegations Where functions are delegated to both the Planning Committee and the Head of Planning & City Regeneration the
functions will be exercised by the Officers in the following circumstances: 1
Planning
Applications, Other Applications, Related Matters and Planning Call In by
Councillors 2
Councillors
shall be notified in advance, by e-mail, of all valid planning applications
received. 3
Subject
to 6 and 8 below, the determination of all applications for Planning
(Permission, Approval, Prior Approval or Consent) submitted under the following
legislation/circumstance shall be delegated to the Director of Place (DoPl) or Head
of Planning & City Regeneration (HoP&CR): a)
Town
and Country Planning Acts 1990 - 2008; b)
The
Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) Act 1990; c)
The
Planning (Hazardous Substances) Act 1990; d)
The
Caravan Sites and Control of Development Acts 1960 and 1968; e)
Making
of representations following formal consultation in respect of development by
the National Assembly of Wales, Government Departments, Statutory and other
bodies; or f)
Development
on land in the area of another local authority. 4
The determination of applications identified in
3 above will be referred to the Planning Committee where: 5
Departure Applications. The
application is contrary to the provisions of the Development Plan, and is being
recommended for approval by the Head of Planning & City Regeneration; 6
Councillors / Officer Applications. The
application has been submitted by any Officer involved in the planning process
or a Councillor. An Officer is involved in
the planning process if they are a member of staff in the planning section, or
involved in enforcing planning matters, or giving advice or support to Officers
or Councillors involved in the planning process or could be perceived to be
involved in the planning process; 7
EIA Development. The
application involves an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). 8
Alternate Development Threshold. The
application relates to the following forms of development: a) The
winning and working of minerals or the use of land for mineral-working
deposits; b) Waste
development; c) The
provision of dwellinghouses where: i) The
number of dwellinghouses to be provided is 20 or more; or ii) The
development is to be carried out on a site having an area of 1 hectares or more
and it is not known whether the development falls within sub-paragraph (c)(i); d) The
provision of a building or buildings where the floor space to be created by the
development is 2,000 square metres or more; or e) Development
to be carried out on a site having an area of 2 hectare or more. 9
Councillor Call In. A
Councillor has requested by letter, email or fax within 21 days of being
notified that a valid application has been received (or within the
specified re-consultation period), –
i.e the “Call in Period”, that it be
reported to the Planning Committee and the objection threshold is reached
within the “Call in Period”, namely: a)
The
application is subject to 20 letters of objection from different people at
different addresses; or b)
A petition
of 30 or more signatures from different people at different addresses. 10
Chair of Planning Committee Referral.
Where a “Councillor Call In” has been made within the “Call in Period” but the objection
threshold has not been reached the Chair of the Planning Committee can direct
that the application be determined by Planning Committee where the development
has a quantifiable community wide impact or there is a quantifiable community
wide interest in a development which goes beyond protecting the private
interests of one person, or group of persons against the activities of others. 11
Head of Service Referral. The
application is, in the opinion of the Head of Planning & City Regeneration,
of strategic importance or the application should, in the opinion of the Head
of Planning & City Regeneration be determined by Planning Committee. 12
Councillors
may withdraw a Councillor Call In at any time prior to the relevant Committee
agenda being finalised. Such withdrawal
may follow contact between the Councillor(s) and Planning Officer(s). 13
If a
Councillor wishes to use the Councillor Call In to call in an application which
is within the area of another Councillor(s) they must inform the Councillor(s)
in whose area the application falls giving their reason prior to making the
Planning Call In. 14
In the
case of 13 above, the Councillor making the Councillor Call In must also give
written notice (letter, e-mail or fax) to the Head of Planning & City
Regeneration stating that the Councillor(s) in whose area the application falls
has been informed of the intended Councillor Call In. Any application called in by a Councillor in
another Councillor(s) area shall not be valid unless it contains the required
written statement. 15
The
Council has a duty to ensure that it maintains an efficient planning service
and to progress planning applications in a timely fashion. Whilst the Call-in procedure is a fundamental
and important part of the democratic process, unnecessary ‘call-ins’ can lead
to unreasonable delay. a)
Therefore,
where it is considered that a member or members is/are unreasonably calling in
planning applications or otherwise potentially abusing the ‘call-in’ process,
the Chair of the Planning Committee will, in the first instance, discuss the
situation with the member/members concerned. b)
In the
event that the issue is not resolved then the Chair of Planning Committee and a
member from the Planning Committee will review all applications for ‘call-in’
to Committee with the member/members concerned and have the authority to
withdraw any “Councillor Call In” requests.
The decision of this panel is final. |
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Enforcement Matters The implementation of all enforcement powers
shall be delegated to the Director of Place or Head of Planning & City
Regeneration, except where the proposed action would lead to the loss of a
residentially occupied unit. |
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Public Rights of Way Matters The determination of
all rights of way matters, other than decisions relating to the following (which will be reported to the Planning
Committee): 1
Public Rights
of Way creation, diversion and extinguishment orders (under all Acts) that,
after public consultation, are likely to be challenged or be contentious; 2
Application
to the Magistrates Court to stop up or divert a public right of way; 3
Determination
of applications for new rights of way and corrections to the records of
existing rights of way (keeping the Definitive Map under continuous review); 4
Traffic
Regulation Orders, (other than for temporary closures or restrictions which are
needed for safety reasons; to allow works to be carried out; or for the holding
of a special event).” |