Legal and Democratic Services

Democratic Services

We deal with…

• Meetings of the Council and its committees, including the Cabinet - providing agendas, records of meetings and decisions taken, dates of meetings, which councillors serve on which committees, Public Question Time and public participation in Development Control Committee.
• Electoral registration and elections
• Councillors - providing public information on all District Councillors and which wards they cover; support and training for councillors.
• Scrutiny support - assisting members of the Overview & Scrutiny Committees.

Read our Customer Service Standards for Democratic Services

Legal

The Legal Services team provides and commissions legal support for the Council as a corporate entity and for all of the Council’s functions.  The Solicitor to the Council is the Council’s Monitoring Officer with a statutory duty to secure the legality of the Council’s actions and to lead in the management of the Council’s responsibilities on ethical governance.  The principle activities of the team are as follows;

Benefits/ Revenues

General advice.

Code of Conduct

Monitoring Officer gives advice, carries out Local Investigations, Local Determination, Appeal Submissions.

Contracts

Contracts for goods, service and works/ EU Procedure, Contract Management Regs.

Conveyancing

Land/Property Sale, Land/Property Purchase, Business Leases, Licences, Agreements relating to land, Easements, general advice/management issues.

Corporate Governance

Constitution,Code of Conduct, DPA/FOI, general advice.

Employment

Procurement of advice for; Tribunals, Compromise Agreements, general advice/disciplinary procedures.

Environmental Health and  Health & Safety

Prosecutions, Appeals, general advice, drafting notices.

Housing

Contracts for services and miscellaneous agreements, general advice re: Homelessness and Allocations. Appeals, ASBO’s.

Legal advice to Full Council, Cabinet and Committees

Other Committees, Development Control Committee, Standards Committee.

Licensing

Advice to officers, members and Licensing Committee, Appeals. advice on policy.

Planning

Enforcement Notices, S106 Agreements (mainly outsourced), Tree Preservation Orders – advice, Revocation Orders, Prosecutions, Appeals, inquiries, general advice.

RIPA

Advice and assistance on complex authorisations.

Road traffic

Off-street parking orders – advice, Road Traffic Orders, general advice.

Generally

Corporate advice to Senior Management, training on substantive legal issues to Officers and Members, and training on process/procedures.