To notify the Chairman of any items that appear later in the agenda in which you may have an interest.

No declarations of interest were received.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 27^th February 2007

The Minutes of the meeting held on 27^th February, 2007 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

The Mayor reported that since the last meeting she had attended 22 functions and events including :- events at Spennymoor Rotary Club, the Bowls Trophy Presentation at Ferryhill Leisure Centre and a Social Evening hosted by Sedgefield Borough Twinning Association at Ferryhill.  She had also attended four retirement events for members of staff.

In addition the Mayor reported that she had attended a number of charity evenings, civic balls as well as diamond and golden wedding anniversary celebrations.

Report of Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer

Consideration was given to a report of the Chief Executive (for copy see file of Minutes) dealing with a further Review of the Council’s Constitution for the purposes of Article 16 of the Constitution.

It was explained that the recommendations in the report were based on advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer, following meetings of the Constitutional Review Group and reflected areas where it was considered appropriate to make further changes in particular :-

§             Changes to Overview and Scrutiny Committees proposed by Overview and Scrutiny Committee 1 on 20^th February, 2007.

§             Changes to the Scheme of Delegation to Officers proposed by the Director of Neighbourhood Services to assist in the implementation of the Health Act 2006.

RESOLVED :            That the amendments set out in the Appendix to the report be approved and the Monitoring Officer be directed to :- 

                        1.   Amend the Constitution accordingly and make all the necessary and consequential amendments.

                        2.   Publish the amended version of the Constitution on the Council’s website.