The meeting of the General Purposes Committee contained discussion of many significant changes proposed for Redbridge Council, including a new Pay Policy Statement 2025/26, changes to the Council's Constitution affecting planning matters, a proposed Monitoring Officer Protocol and a Public Participation Protocol for managing disruptive speakers at meetings.

Pay Policy Statement 2025/26

The report pack for this meeting contains Redbridge Council's proposed Pay Policy Statement for 2025/26. The document is provided to meet the Council's statutory obligations to disclose its policies on the remuneration of the Council's highest and lowest paid employees. It proposes the pay scales for all Council staff for the next financial year. The proposed Pay Policy Statement does not set out any changes to the Council's pay and grading structure, instead proposing that these will be adopted as and when any national agreement is reached.

Constitution Changes: Planning

The document pack contains a report about proposed changes to the Council's Constitution concerning planning matters. It proposes several important changes designed to ensure that the Constitution is fit for purpose . These changes include:

• An amendment to the Terms of Reference for Planning Committee to deepen the engagement of Planning Committee on strategic applications that do the most to shape our Borough for its residents and businesses. This will enable the Planning Committee to receive presentations about proposed developments from developers while they are still at the pre-application stage.
• Proposed changes to the procedures followed by Planning Committee to ensure that they are clearer and more precise, minimising the risk of challenge by Judicial Review or complaint to the Ombudsman.
• The introduction of a new Planning Code of Conduct to ensure that the probity challenges that are inherent in planning matters are managed safely.

Since the late 1990’s, following the Nolan Review¹ into ethical standards in public life, planning committees are expected to adopt a Planning Code of Conduct based on the Local Government Association’s (LGA) model code.

Monitoring Officer Protocol

A new Monitoring Officer Protocol was proposed. This would formalise the procedures to be followed by the Monitoring Officer, the Council’s primary source of advice on all legal issues, and to Members on their legal obligations .

The Monitoring Officer is responsible for ensuring that the Council and its Members act lawfully, do not cause maladministration, and comply with the Code of Conduct for Members. The Monitoring Officer is also responsible for investigating complaints of Member misconduct and making any public reports to the Council in cases of illegality.

The new Monitoring Officer Protocol sets out the resources that will be made available to the Monitoring Officer and the information that they will be provided with. It details the Monitoring Officer's relationship with other senior figures in the Council, like the Head of Paid Service and the Section 151 Officer², as well as the Monitoring Officer's role in standards matters and constitutional changes. The protocol makes clear that both Councillors and Officers are expected to report any breaches of law, policies, procedures or other constitutional concerns to the Monitoring Officer as soon as possible.

Public Participation Protocol

A new protocol relating to the Council's Standing Orders regarding public participation at Council, Cabinet and Committee meetings was also proposed. This protocol makes it clear that the Council welcomes contributions from members of the public, but also that the rules of the Council are expected to be followed, and that disruptive behaviour will not be tolerated.

We will take action to prevent misuse of public participation at meetings. If a Speaker behaves in a way that is unreasonably disruptive or vexatious and disregards the Council’s Constitution, we will follow this policy.

Polling District and Polling Places

The report pack contains a review of all Polling Districts and Polling Places in Redbridge, ward by ward. It proposes a number of changes to the current arrangements to ensure that all electors have reasonable facilities for voting . The report also states that the Council is obliged to carry out this review every four years.

The Representation of the People Act 1983 requires a review of polling districts and polling places to be carried out at least once every four years (and at other times if the Council think it necessary to do so).

The review proposes changes to the polling place for one polling district in Barkingside ward and several changes in Churchfields ward. It also proposes a new polling place for the polling district covering Downshall Primary School in Clayhall ward. The report says that the Cranbrook ward review has been deferred until early 2025.

The report pack contains a number of appendices listing each polling district and polling place for each ward.