Council committees and meetings

Committee meetings

Here you can view information about each committee of the council, its composition, its meeting dates and its minutes, agendas and reports:

Committee meetings calendar 2019-20 (53.43 KB)

Latest Meetings

Meetings take place in the Council Chamber (CC) at the Town Hall and start at 6.30pm unless otherwise stated. Some of the meetings may not be open to the public and press, please email the democratic services team.

November 2019

4 November - Council (CC, No. 1 and Mabel Capper)
4 November - Taxi Sub-Committee (Tea Room and WW1) - 10.00am
5 November - Appeals Committee - (Tea Room and WW1) - 10.00am
6 November - Development Management Committee (CC, No 1, Mabel Capper)
11 November - Cabinet (CC)
12 November - Traffic Committee (CC)
14 November - Health and Wellbeing Board (CC) - 1.30 pm
19 November - Organisational Improvement & Development Policy Committee (CC)
21 November - Standards Committee (CC) - 5.00pm
21 November - Audit and Corporate Governance Committee (CC)
27 November - Building Stronger Communities Policy Committee (CC)
28 November - Health Scrutiny Committee (CC) - 6.30 pm

List of Committees

Appeals Committee

This committee has seven members.

The role of the Appeals Committee is to:

hear and determine any appeal lodged by an employee under the council's Disciplinary or Capability Procedures
hear and determine any dispute concerning remuneration, conditions of employment and working conditions to the extent that they are not the responsibility of some independent arbitrator or judicial body
hear and hear and determine an employee appeal against dismissal
hear and determine any appeal relating to any matter that is not the responsibility of any other committee of the council

We are currently experiencing some technical issues, if you would like to access meeting papers from Appeals Committee meetings please email us: contact@warrington.gov.uk

Audit and Corporate Governance Committee

This committee has 11 elected members.

The delegated functions of the committee are to:

Discharge the responsibilities set out in the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003
Develop, maintain, monitor and review the council's code of corporate governance and to undertake, as appropriate, an assessment of wider governance issues, including the constitution and the administration and conduct of the council's business and report to council as necessary
Oversee, monitor and review the finance procedure rules and report to council as necessary
Monitor and review the council's audit functions and requirements in relation to both internal and external audit
Agree, monitor and review the council's risk management strategy and to ensure that effective risk management is embedded throughout the council
Ensure the council has in place appropriate policies and processes to safeguard the council's resources and their use including appropriate mechanisms for anti-fraud and corruption
Monitor and review the Section 151 Officer (the council's chief finance officer) and his/her appointed deputies in the performance of their duties and responsibilities
Approve the council's Statement of Accounts and Statement of Internal Control as authorised by the full Council and as required under the relevant Accounts and Audit Regulations
Approve the council's council tax base each year.

Upcoming meetings:

21 November 2019
16 January 2020
13 February 2020
20 March 2020
9 April 2020

View the recent minutes, agendas and reports of the Audit and Governance Committee

Cabinet

The cabinet, previously known as the executive board, is accountable for certain functions operated by council officers. It has to operate in line with the council's constitution and has the power to set up sub-committees where appropriate.

It is made up of these councillors, who have the following responsibilities:

Cllr Russ Bowden - Leader of the Council
Cllr Cathy Mitchell - Deputy Leader/ corporate resources
Cllr Judith Guthrie - Environment and public protection
Cllr Tony Higgins - Leisure and community
Cllr Rebecca Knowles - Statutory health and adult social care
Cllr Maureen McLaughlin - Housing, public health and wellbeing
Cllr Hans Mundry - Transportation, highways and public realm
Cllr Hitesh Patel - Transformation
Cllr Matt Smith - Children's services

Overall Cabinet responsibilities:

To make key decisions that either have a significant impact on the community or have considerable financial implications
Full authority to implement the policy and budgetary frameworks of the council. This means that most decisions do not need the approval of full council
The cabinet can delegate decisions to an individual executive member or senior officer. However, all key decisions must be included in the council's forward plan.

Upcoming meetings:

14 October 2019
11 November 2019
9 December 2019
13 January 2020
10 February 2020
9 March 2020
6 April 2020

The Cabinet has public meetings every four weeks.

View the recent minutes, agendas and reports of the Cabinet

Chief Officer Employment Committee

This committee has five members.

The responsibilities of the committee include:

To discharge the council's role and responsibilities in selecting and/or appointing chief and deputy chief officers in accordance with the council's management structure and recruitment policies with particular regard to the requirements of the staff employment procedure rules.
To discharge similarly the role and responsibilities of the council in the dismissal of a chief of deputy chief officer again having particular regard to the requirements of the staff employment procedure rules.

Upcoming meetings:

View the recent minutes, agendas and reports of the Chief Officer Employment Committee

Constitutional Sub Committee

The constitutional sub committee is a sub-committee of the audit and corporate governance committee.

This committee has five elected members.

The delegated functions of the committee are:

To make recommendations to the audit and corporate governance committee upon the development and maintenance of, and amendments to, the council's constitution.

Upcoming meetings:

31 October 2019
2 April 2020

View the recent minutes, agendas and reports of the Constitution Sub-Committee

Council

The council is made up of 58 elected members, known as councillors, who each represent one of the 22 wards within Warrington.

Some wards have more than one councillor serving them and the number of seats varies depending on the area and population served. The borough has 14 three-member wards and 8 two-member wards. Each councillor serves on the council for a four-year term.

Full Council meetings

All councillors meet together as the full council every eight weeks. Here councillors decide the council's overall policies and set the budget each year.

A full list of the functions of the council can be found within the council's constitution

Political make up of the Council

The council is controlled by the Labour Party. The breakdown of seats is:

Conservatives – one seat
Labour – 43 seats
Liberal Democrats – 12 seats
Independent – one seat
Independent – one seat

Leader of the council

The leader of the council is Cllr Russ Bowden. The deputy leader is Cllr Cathy Mitchell.

Upcoming meetings:

4 November 2019
16 December 2019
24 February 2020
23 March 2020

View the recent minutes, agendas and reports of the Full Council

Committee of the Council placements 2019-20 and Outside Body representations 2019-20

View the recent minutes, agendas and reports of the Committee of the Council placements

Development Management Committee

This committee has 12 elected members.

The committee makes decisions with respect to planning matters (including the granting of planning permissions and decisions with respect to enforcement of planning matters), and tree preservation orders:

Applications for development which, in the opinion of the executive director of environment and regeneration services, are major strategic planning applications
Applications for development which have given rise to material planning objections received from ten persons or more at the end of the statutory consultation period
Approval of, or consultation upon, planning policy documents in accordance with the Local Authorities (Functions and Responsibilities) (England) Regulations 2000 and any subsequent amendments there to.

Upcoming meetings:

9 October 2019
6 November 2019
18 December 2019
22 January 2020
5 February 2020
4 March 2020
1 April 2020
22 April 2020

View the recent minutes, agendas and reports of the Development Management Committee

Health and Wellbeing Board

This committee has 27 members.

three senior officers of the council
six councillors
four representatives of NHS Warrington clinical commissioning group (CCG)
one joint council/CCG officer
13 representatives from partner organisations eg NHS providers, social care providers, voluntary organisations, education, housing and the criminal justice system.

The main role of the board is to encourage those who arrange for the provision of health and social care services in Warrington to work closely together and in an integrated manner. Its main aims are to:

deliver improved wellbeing, morbidity, mortality and equality outcomes for Warrington residents
promote integration and partnership working between the NHS, social care, public health and other local services
improve local democratic accountability across the health and social care system

It also carries out the council’s responsibilities in respect of approving key strategic documents such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), Local Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment and the annual plans for use of the Better Care Fund [NHS website].

The board also oversees the borough-wide Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2019-2023.

Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2019-2023 (4.89 MB)

Upcoming meetings:

14 November 2019
23 January 2020
26 March 2020

View the recent minutes, agendas and reports of the Health and Wellbeing Board

Health and Wellbeing Board Annual Reports

Health Scrutiny Committee

Upcoming meetings:

28 November 2019
30 January 2020
16 April 2020

View recent meeting minutes, agendas and reports for the Health Scrutiny Committee

Independent Remuneration Panel

Upcoming meetings:

View the recent meeting minutes, agendas and reports of the Independent Remuneration Panel

Licensing Committee

This committee has 15 elected members.

The delegated functions of the committee are to:

Receive reports in respect of the operation of the ‘Licensing Reviews' under the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005 and to receive reports in respect of all other licensing regimes which are the responsibility of the Council
Determine applications for licences under the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005 in respect of which relevant representations have been received and not withdrawn
To determine a review or variation of any licence under the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005
To recommend to Full Council fees payable for all matters arising under the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005 for which fees may be set
To consider and make recommendations in relation to the making of Alcohol Consumption in Designated Public Places Orders under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001
Determine applications for Hackney Carriage and private hire drivers' licences where the applicant has failed to meet the criteria of being a fit and proper person
Determine an appeal from the decision of an authorised or delegated officer to suspend, revoke or refuse to renew any existing licence
Determine any objections in relation to the fees payable to the Council in respect of any licensing application or registration
Determine objections in relation to the fixing and variation of the table of fees relating to Hackney Carriages
Establish sub-committees and to determine the procedures to be followed for hearings.

Upcoming meetings:

14 January 2020
10 March 2020

View the recent minutes, agendas and reports of the Licensing Committee

Licensing Sub Committee

This committee has three elected members (constituted from the 15 Licensing Committee members)

The delegated functions of the committee are to consider the following when an objection has been made:

Application for personal licence
Application for premises licence/club premises certificate
Application for provisional statement
Application to vary premises licence/club premises certificate
Application to vary designated premises supervisor
Request to be removed as designated personal licence holder
Application for transfer of premises licence
Application for interim authority
Application to review premises licence/club premises certificate
Decision on whether a representation is irrelevant, frivolous, vexatious or repetitious etc.
Decision to object when the council is a consultee and not the relevant authority considering the application
Determination of a police objection to a temporary event notice
Determination of contents of notice seeking additional information
Decision to dispense with a hearing if all persons required by the Licensing Act agree that such a hearing is unnecessary
Appointment of authorised officers for the purposes of the Licensing Act
Determination of all administrative matters arising in relation to applications under the Licensing Act