West Northamptonshire Council Constitution review 2021

Overview

We are seeking views from individuals and organisations within the communities of West Northamptonshire on how our Council Constitution could be improved.

How the Council exercises its powers and duties in accordance with the law is set out in its Constitution. The Constitution describes how the Council operates, how decisions are made, and the procedures that are followed to ensure that it is efficient, transparent and accountable to its local citizens.

The purpose of the Constitution is to:

1. enable the Council to provide clear leadership to the community in partnership with citizens, businesses and other organisations;
2. support the active involvement of the public in the process of local authority decision-making;
3. help councillors to represent their constituents more effectively;
4. enable decisions to be taken efficiently and effectively;
5. create a powerful and effective means of holding decision-makers to public account;
6. ensure that decision-makers are clearly identifiable and that they explain the reasons for decisions;
7. provide a means of improving the delivery of services to the community
8. set out the respective responsibilities of members and officers of the Council and how they inter-relate.

The Democracy and Standards Committee, chaired by Councillor Suresh Patel, has established a Task and Finish Group, to carry out a review of the council's Constitution to ensure that it complies with legislative provisions and represents best practice. It wishes to develop a Constitution that reflects the values of the new council, is transparent, accountable, efficient, accessible, inclusive, concise and facilitates accountable decision-making.

Why your views matter

During August 2021, the Task and Finish Group is seeking views from individuals and organisations within the communities of West Northamptonshire on how the Constitution could be improved. Please see below a link to the current Constitution.

• Current West Northamptonshire Council Constitution, July 2021 (PDF 2,593KB)

Reports with consultation feedback and proposed amendments to the Constitution will be made to the Democracy and Standards Committee and Cabinet during the Autumn, before adoption of the new Constitution at the full Council meeting on 2 December 2021.

How to have your say

Please tell us your views by completing this questionnaire. Your feedback will be part of a report with many other people’s feedback, so you will not be personally identified.

Alternatively, you can email or send your comments in by post using the contact details below.

If you have any queries, comments or would like a copy of this questionnaire in another format (including paper) you can contact us by email or post. Our contact details are as follows:

Email address: tracy.tiff@westnorthants.gov.uk

Postal address: 

• Tracy Tiff
• Deputy Democratic Services Manager
• Democratic Services
• West Northamptonshire Council
• The Guildhall, St Giles Square
• Northampton
• NN1 1DE

This consultation will run from Monday 2 August to midnight on Tuesday 31 August 2021.

For information about how consultation and engagement responses are managed, please see the consultation and engagement privacy notice.