Committees and Forums

The Council is composed of 39 Councillors who are each elected to serve for four years and are divided into the following political groups.  The current composition of the Council is:

• Liberal Democrat = 23 seats
• Conservative = 11 seats
• Labour = 3 seats
• Independent = 1 seat
• Vacancy = 1 seat

The roles and functions of each committee are summarised below. See the Council's Constitution for full details of the roles and responsibilities.

Click on the name of the Committee below to view details of the Councillors who sit on them and meeting dates.

The Policy and Resources Committee sets and co-ordinates all policy for itself and the service and other committees which have been delegated by Council. It reviews and scrutinises the policies made or proposed to be made by the Council and recommends appropriately to the Council:

• whether any new policies are required;
• whether any existing policies are no longer required;
• whether any changes are required to any existing policies;                 
• whether any action is required to make the policies more effective.

The Policy and Resources Committee has set up 4 sub-committees which are: Local Plan, Equalities, Covid 19 Response and Constitution.

There are two Service Committees:
      Infrastructure, Housing and Economic Development Committee
      Leisure, Environment and Community Committee

Their functions are:

• To make all decisions in respect of their areas of responsibility provided these are within their allocated budgets and agreed policies;
• To consider any matter referred to them by the Council or the Policy and Resources Committee and recommend or report to the Council or the Policy and Resources Committee accordingly;
• To review performance against the previous year's plans of the services within their remit;
• To consider any matter identified by the Policy and Resources Committee for consideration within their remit;
• To determine an annual Work Plan;
• To liaise and seek views of the local community and other interested parties in relation to the above matters;
• To consider any submitted Community or Councillor Calls for Action.

The Planning Committee is a regulatory Committee of the Council, established to be responsible for development control and related town and country planning matters. The main function of this Committee is to determine applications for planning permission.

The Licensing Committee and Regulatory Services Committee are responsible for Licensing, Electoral and miscellaneous matters and external Health & Safety at Work.

The role of the Audit Committee is to:

• Approve (but not direct) internal audit's strategy, plan and performance.
• Review summary internal audit reports and the main issues arising, and seek assurance that action has been taken where necessary.
• Consider the reports of external audit and inspection agencies.
• Consider the effectiveness of the authority's risk management arrangements, the control environment and associated anti-fraud and anti-corruption arrangements. Seek assurances that action is being taken on risk related issues identified by auditors and inspectors.
• Be satisfied that the authority's assurance statements, including the Statement on Internal Control, properly reflect the risk environment and any actions required to improve it. 
• Ensure that there are effective relationships between external and internal audit, inspection agencies and other relevant bodies, and that the value of the audit process is actively promoted.
• Review the external auditor's opinion and reports to Members, and monitor management action in response to the issues raised by external audit.
• Approve the statutory Statement of Accounts. 

The Environmental Forum comprises Councillors, Parish Councillors and representatives from a variety of environmental groups.

Local Area Forums provide an opportunity for the public to raise matters and express their opinions.