Resolutions: what is a valid amendment to be voted on?

Question

Some confusion at our latest  Council meeting. A proposal was made, and seconded, to accept a Planning Application. No debate had taken place at that time. Opponents to this immediately proposed what appeared to be the exact opposite. The second proposal was allowed and voted on. The chair then  ruled that we did not need to vote on the primary proposal as it was a direct negative. 

However Councillors have complained that the Chair acted incorrectly: the secondary proposal was invalid as it should have represented an amendment to the first and shown to be in basic agreement. The two (primary and amendment) should then have been voted on separately. The arguments continue.

Could someone advise please? 

Answer 1

What do your standing orders say? I would certainly expect that a resolution, properly put forward and seconded, should be dealt with (including amendments if proposed) before another resolution is proposed and voted on.

Comments

Thanks for your comment. In the event the negative of the Resolution was voted on before the Proposer and Seconder had been able to speak.  Now the issue is: as Standing Orders specifically says that the negative of the Primary resolution is not a valid amendment (quite rightly): is the vote that was carried (8 for, 8 against with the Chair casing vote) valid? I suspect there is nothing that can be done about it. The argument is that the same result would have happened. I am not so sure.