The above link takes you to the current Constitution as agreed by Council.

This Constitution sets out how the Council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures which are followed to ensure that these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people. Some of these processes are required by the law, while others are a matter for the Council to determine. 

The Constitution is divided into four parts:

Part A

Introduction and explanations as well as top level decision making information such as the Budget and Policy Framework and Key Decision thresholds.

Part B

This includes most high level information in areas such as Corporate Delegations, Council, Executive and Scrutiny arrangements and Access to Information.

Part C

This section contains Codes and Protocols such as around Member Conduct, Financial Regulations, Planning and Licensing Codes.

Part D

This section contains supplementary information to the main constitution include Corporate Financial Delegations, Directorate Schemes of Delegation, Meeting Procedures and similar.

The Constitution is periodically updated to ensure that it incorporates current legislation and reflects the Councils local choice functions.

Please note that Directorate Schemes of Delegation in Part D above are currently being refreshed. Where a new scheme has not been published the previous schemes set out in Part 8 of the previous Constitution (Directorate Delegations) still apply.