MISCELLANEOUS RULES OF PROCEDURE
101. INSPECTION OF LAND, PREMISES, ETC
(1)
(a) A Member, other than by invitation or for the purpose of interviewing the Director or Head of Business Unit concerned, shall not, unless acting under the direct authority of the Council, or with the permission of the Cabinet or Statutory Board concerned, its Chair, the Director or Head of Business Unit concerned, visit or enter upon any of the premises belonging to any Business Unit of the Council for the purposes of inspection or enquiry, or enter upon any works being carried out by or on behalf of the Council.
(b) Without such authority or permission a Member shall not question or obtain or seek to obtain any information concerning the business of the Business Unit from any Officer of the Council except the Director or Head of Business Unit concerned or some person authorised by him to act in his place.
(2) The permission of the Cabinet, Statutory Board or the Chair referred to in this Standing Order shall not be unreasonably refused. Any Member aggrieved by such refusal shall have the right to appeal to the Standards Board whose decision shall be final, subject to such direction as the Council may at any time give by resolution.
102. CUSTODY OF COMMON SEAL
The Common Seal of the Council shall be secured by a lock, the keys of which shall be kept in a safe place in the custody of the Head of Law and Corporate Governance or a duly designated Officer in the Council’s Legal Services Section.
103. SEALING OF DOCUMENTS
(1) The Common Seal of the Council shall not be affixed to any document unless the sealing has been authorised by the Council or, where appropriate, of the Cabinet or a Statutory Board. A resolution of the Council or of the Cabinet or individual decision taker authorising the acceptance of any tender, the purchase, sale, letting or taking of any property, the issue of any stock, the presentation of any petition, memorial or address, the making of any Council Tax or contract, or any other matter or thing, shall be a sufficient authority for sealing any document necessary to give effect to the resolution.
(Amended 29/11/02; 1/3/05)
(2) The sealing shall be attested by at least one of the following persons, viz., the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, the Chief Executive, the Head of Law and Corporate Governance or, in their absence, a Director. An entry of every sealing of document shall be made and consecutively numbered in a register and shall be signed by the person or persons who shall have attested the Seal.
104. SIGNATURE OF DOCUMENTS
Unless any enactment otherwise requires or authorises or the Council shall have given the necessary authority to some other person for the purpose of such proceedings, any document which will be a necessary step in legal proceedings on behalf of the Council or which requires to be signed on behalf of the Council shall be signed by the Chief Executive or the Head of Law and Corporate Governance or, where the document has been previously approved by the Council’s Legal Services Section, by any Director or Head of Business Unit concerned with the matter to which the document relates.
105. INTEREST OF OFFICERS IN CONTRACTS
(1) The Chief Executive shall record in a book to be kept for the purpose particulars of any notice given by an Officer of the Council under Section 117 of the Local Government At, 1972, of a pecuniary interest in a contract, and the book shall be open during office hours to the inspection of any Member.
(2) If any Officer, who is responsible for advising the Council or its Cabinet, Statutory Boards or Scrutiny and Review Panels, has any pecuniary interest direct or indirect in any contract, proposed contract or other matter which is before the Council or the Cabinet, Statutory Board or Scrutiny and Review Panel at which he is present, the Officer shall declare the nature of his interest orally at the meeting at the earliest opportunity.
All declarations made in accordance with this Standing Order at a meeting of the Cabinet, Statutory Board or Scrutiny and Review Panels shall be recorded in the minutes of that meeting and no further declaration shall be required at the Council meeting to which these minutes are submitted.
106. DISPENSATIONS
The Head of Law and Corporate Governance shall keep a record of all dispensations granted by the Secretary of State for the Environment under the provisions of Section 97 of the Local
Government Act 1972 and such record shall be open at all reasonable hours to inspection by any elector within the area of the Borough.
107. CIVIC CEREMONIES
Members representing the ward where any Civic Ceremony attended by the Mayor in his official capacity is being held, and which particularly affects their ward, shall be included in the list of persons invited to the ceremony.
108. MATTERS OUTSIDE THE PROVINCE OF THE COUNCIL
Matters which, in the opinion of the Mayor, are not relevant to any operation over which the Council has power or which do not affect the Borough, shall not be submitted to the Council, the Cabinet, Statutory Board, Scrutiny and Review Panels and Area Forums.
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