How the council makes it decisions

Who makes decisions?

The majority of decisions are made by councillors but many are made by senior officers to keep services running day to day.

Who can do what is set out in the Delegation Scheme which is part of the Council’s Constitution. This sets out the structure and workings of the council in detail.

Councillors and officers are bound by a code of conduct. This ensures that they act fairly and properly in any decisions they take as elected representatives of their communities. Sometimes they choose not to vote on or take part in certain decisions if they have a direct interest in the issue.

Decisions made by senior officers are recorded in an Officer Decision Log.

The decisions made by a Committee are recorded in the minutes of the meetings. To view the minutes of a meeting that you are interested in, go to Meetings.

Council Meetings

Members of committees and bodies are appointed by Full Council. In most cases, membership is decided on a political basis according to the number of seats held by each political group. In some circumstances non-councillors can be co-opted on to a committee if they have a particular expertise or represent a particular section of the community. For example, some members of the Education Scrutiny Committee are teachers and school governors.

A diagram showing the relationship between council committees is available to view.

Council Meeting Structure

Public Participation

Residents are encouraged to attend meetings and participate. All meetings are open to the public except when confidential information is being discussed. Find out more about how you can have your say

How can I find out further information about meetings and how to participate?

Agendas for meetings can be found at local libraries and on the guildhall notice board, at least five days before the meeting.

You can find out about forthcoming executive and executive member business by looking at the council’s Forward Plan.

You can also view the council’s Accessing Information Protocol

Contact

If you want further information about council meetings contact Democratic Services:

write: Democratic Services, The Guildhall, York YO1 9QN
tel: (01904) 551088
fax: (01904) 551035
email: democratic.services@york.gov.uk

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