1. The Constitution and Powers of the Council
1.1 Cambridgeshire County Council has a constitution which sets out how the Council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures that are followed to ensure that these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people. Some of these processes are required by the law, while others are a matter for the Council to choose.
1.2 The Constitution is divided into the following seven parts:
- Part A (The Constitution and How the Council Operates) – This part provides a brief introduction to the constitution and how the council operates, and it includes a glossary.
- Part B (Public Participation) – This part sets out the various ways in which members of the public can get involved with the Council.
- Part C (Full Council) – This part sets out the roles and responsibilities of the Full Council, and it includes the rules for Full Council meetings.
- Part D (Committees) - This part sets out the roles and responsibilities of the Council’s various committees, and it includes the rules for committee meetings.
- Part E (Joint Arrangements) – This part sets out the joint arrangements that the Council has agreed with other local authorities and bodies.
- Part F (Councillors) – This part sets out the roles of councillors, how they are expected to behave, and the level of allowances they receive.
- Part G (Officers) – This part sets out the roles and responsibilities of officers, how they are required to behave, and the financial and contractual rules they are required to follow.
1.3 The Constitution commits the Council to its core values of working in partnership with the public, businesses and other organisations, always acting in an open, transparent and accountable manner, producing value for money and continuous improvement of its services and ensuring equity in allocation and delivery of services.
1.4 The Council’s core values are:
- Accountability
- Respect
- Integrity
- Value for money
- Equity
1.5 This constitution, with all its appendices, forms the Constitution of the Cambridgeshire County Council.
1.6 The Council will exercise all its powers and duties in accordance with the law and the constitution.
2. Purpose of the Constitution
2.1 The purpose of the Constitution is to:
(1) Enable the Council to provide clear leadership to the community in partnership with citizens, businesses and other organisations.
(2) Support and encourage the active involvement of citizens in the process of local authority decision-making.
(3) Help councillors represent their constituents more effectively.
(4) Enable decisions to be taken efficiently and effectively.
(5) Create a powerful and effective means of holding decision-makers to public account.
(6) Ensure that those responsible for decision-making are clearly identifiable to local people and that they explain the reasons for decisions.
(7) Provide a means of improving the delivery of services to the community.
(8) Enable the Council to provide services and opportunities that are available to all and fairly allocated.
3. Duty to Monitor and Review the Constitution
3.1 The Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer shall monitor and review the operation of the Constitution to ensure that the aims and principles of the Constitution are given full effect.
3.2 A key role for the Monitoring Officer is to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the Constitution adopted by the Council, and to make recommendations for ways in which it could be amended in order better to achieve the purposes set out in Section 2 of this chapter. In undertaking this task, the Monitoring Officer may:
(a) Observe meetings of different parts of the member and officer structure;
(b) Undertake an audit trail of a sample of decisions;
(c) Record and analyse issues raised with them by members, officers, the public and other relevant stakeholders; and
(d) Compare practices in this authority with those in other comparable authorities, or national examples of best practice.
4. Changes to the Constitution
4.1 Changes to the Constitution will only be approved by the Full Council after receipt of a written report following consideration of the proposal by the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer, and usually on the recommendation of the Constitution and Ethics Committee, unless the change is such that it can be made by the Monitoring Officer under delegated powers.
4.2 When drawing up proposals to change from a committee form of governance to an alternative form of governance, or vice versa, the Council must take reasonable steps to consult with local electors and other interested persons in the area.
5. Suspension of the Constitution
Limit to Suspension
5.1 The chapters of this constitution may not be suspended. The rules specified below may be suspended by the Full Council to the extent permitted within those rules and the law.
Procedure to Suspend
5.2 A motion to suspend any rules will not be moved without notice unless at least one half of the whole number of serving councillors are present. The extent and duration of suspension will be proportionate to the result to be achieved, taking account of the purposes of the Constitution set out in Section 2 of this chapter.
Rules Capable of Suspension
5.3 The only rules that may be suspended in accordance with this chapter are the Council Procedure Rules.
6. Interpretation of the Constitution
6.1 Where the Constitution permits the Council to choose between different courses of action, the Council will always choose that option which it thinks is closest to the purposes stated above.
6.2 The ruling of the Chair of Full Council as to the construction or application of this constitution or as to any proceedings of the Council shall not be challenged at any meeting of the Council. Such interpretation shall have regard to the purposes of the Constitution contained in Section 2 of this chapter.
7. Publication
7.1 When a member is first elected to the Council, the Democratic Services Manager shall send an e-mail link to the electronic version of the Constitution to that member once the Democratic Services Manager has received the member’s declaration of acceptance of office. The Democratic Services Manager shall also offer to provide a paper copy of the Constitution on request.
7.2 The Democratic Services Manager shall ensure that copies are available for inspection at the Council’s principal offices and can be purchased by members of the local press and the public on payment of a reasonable fee. It shall also be available on the internet.
7.3 The Democratic Services Manager shall ensure that the Constitution as published on the Council’s website shall be kept up to date.
[Chapter A1 (The Constitution) was last amended on 11 February 2025]
A PDF version of this chapter is available to view or download on the CMIS section of the Council’s website, along with a PDF version of the full constitution.
