By Julia Penhaligon Frantic last-minute talks are taking place between Cornwall Council officials and back-bench councillors to avoid the possibility of a revolt over a controversial £150 million outsourcing deal…
To view the rest of this article, please subscribe to Cornwall Reports
A390 Development brief call in cabinet https://democracy.cornwall.gov.uk/documents/s41979/Call-In%20of%20Cabinet%20Decision%20-%20A390%20Development%20Brief%20and%20Transport%20Strategy.pdf
From this link, it appears that Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16 says that only three scrutiny committee members are required to trigger “call-in” and that it is for the Monitoring Officer to decide if those three members have done so properly. Alternatively, the chair of a scrutiny committee can do so alone. A further alternative is for any 10 councillors to take action. It is therefore perhaps surprising that “call in” does not happen more often! Thanks again, Edwina. Readers who want even more detail should try page 8 of the council’s constitution, paragraph 17: https://democracy.cornwall.gov.uk/documents/s133323/ConstitutionComplete.pdf
Ive found one call in of a cabinet decision. It was about the waste to energy centre.
You can only call on if you believe the process has not been thorough and all the facts have not been taken into account. It’s like a judicial review.
I can’t find the other call one yet but think it was about parking charges. It’s a scrutiny function so would only have been in first administration as we changed to policy advisory panels in 2013 administration and back to scrutiny again in 2017. 2013-17 there was 1 scrutiny management committee to look at all decisions.
https://democracy.cornwall.gov.uk/documents/s50643/Call-In%20Of%20Cabinet%20Decision%20-%20Cornwall%20Energy%20Recovery%20Centre.pdf
Many thanks
Call in has been used before, I was involved in at least 2 call ins back in the first Indy/Tory administration as an opposition member. One was parking charges, one about the incinerator. Think you need to check your facts.
Thanks, Edwina, I was not aware of these and I still can’t find the references – can you remember the dates? The precedent for constitutional procedure could be instructive.