Agenda item

RESOLVED:       That the protocol for voting, as set out below, be approved, for the duration that meetings of the Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council are held remotely and that the Head of Legal Services be authorised to amend the Constitution accordingly to incorporate this:

·      The Chair will read the recommendation before members (or refer to the page number of the report where the recommendation is to be found).

·      The Chair will ask members whether there are any members who wish to object to the recommendation, providing a suitable delay to allow members to respond accordingly – they may do so either by relaying the objection verbally, using the hand raise functions on Microsoft TEAMS or utilising the chat facility on Microsoft TEAMS.

·      The Chair will ask members whether there are any members who wish to abstain on the recommendation, providing a suitable delay to allow members to respond accordingly – they may do so either by relaying the objection verbally, using the hand raise functions on Microsoft TEAMS or utilising the chat facility on Microsoft TEAMS.

·      Following this, it will be assumed that any members who have not indicated to the contrary will be deemed to be in favour of the recommendation.

·      The Chair will then confirm whether the recommendation has been approved or not.

·      In the event that the Chair is unable to confirm that all members were capable of being heard or they deem a roll call to be necessary to ensure the democratic process is complied with, the Chair shall be entitled to undertake a roll call of all members to confirm their vote.

·      Where the Chief Executive, Head of Democratic Services or Monitoring Officer are of the opinion that members have not had the ability to be heard, they will advise the Chair that a roll call of all members to confirm their vote should be held, the final discretion as to whether to hold such a roll call will remain at the discretion of the Chair

·      For the avoidance of doubt this revised protocol would not apply to meetings of the Licensing or Planning Committees (or any sub committees) because of a need to address additional matters as part of decision making processes in those meetings (i.e. the need to establish that a Member has heard all elements of the debate before a decision is reached).

·      It should be noted that Members will also be able to call for a recorded vote as per the requirements of the Council’s Constitution.