How we make decisions

See how the council makes decisions, who is involved, and view past decisions.

Council

All councillors meet together as the Full Council several times each year, at meetings that are open to the public.

Here, councillors decide the council's overall policies, set the annual budget, elect the council’s Leader, raise matters of concern and question the Cabinet over its activities. Members of the public can (submit petitions to the Full Council.)

Cabinet

The Cabinet is the part of the council responsible for most day-to-day decisions.

It is made up of the Leader and Deputy Leader and a small number of councillors whom the Leader appoints called cabinet members.

When major decisions, known as ‘key decisions’, are to be made by Cabinet, details of these must be published on a Forward Plan before they are considered. In practice, we publish all upcoming decisions where possible. Cabinet meetings are open to the public.

Councillors also make up some more specialist decision-making committees, such as the Planning and Licensing Committees.

The council and Leader delegate authority to certain officers also to take some decisions. Officers have a specific duty to ensure that the council, its Cabinet and committees act within the law.

Overview Committee

Overview Committee can request reviews into local issues, and feed in concerns and views before decisions are taken.

The Scrutiny Sub-Committee monitors Cabinet decisions and scrutinises the overall performance of the council.

See full details for committee meetings including agendas, minutes and audio recordings.

You can also see details on speaking at a council meeting.

View published decisions

Some departments publish their decisions somewhere else as different rules apply. You can view these below: