Once a resolution is agreed, if a Council "change their mind", do they need to rescind the resolution?

Question

Our Council agreed a resolution on a matter which was subject to a legal Conveyance, without consulting anyone affected by their proposal; none of the other groups who would be affected and without any consideration or reference to the legal issues. Most Councillors do not appear to have been aware of the document. After the Council made their resolution, we have been trying to get the resolution rescinded. The Council has now written a post on their website saying that their plan will not go ahead. Is this sufficient? We suspect they will try again in the future. Does the resolution need to be officially rescinded? The clerk has written to us:

"I have consulted with Councillors and the National Association of Local Councils. There is no requirement to add an agenda item for a consideration of an action that is not proceeding".

Answer 1

The council can only make a decision not to proceed at a council meeting and this would need to be on the agenda. The announcement on the website therefore appears not to have any legal standing. How did they decide if they haven't discussed it? If they hadn't announced the decision not to go ahead, they could simply have ignored their previous decision and failed to act upon it. I hope this makes sense.

Comments

I agree with Dave and would go further because as far as I am aware all Councils have in their Standing Orders the ability to vote again on an item within six months if they’ve not been fully informed
In this particular case it is even more important as surely the Councillors want to establish why they were basically misled, who did it and how to prevent it happening again
In my experience a lot of Councils make vague decisions either through ignorance or to give themselves wiggle room
Before any resolution is agreed it should be clearly worded and read back to the meeting before the vote
I believe the resolutions should include time limits to report back and every resolution should be reported as being satisfied
In our Council a member of the public pointed out that over a period of some months 8 resolutions were passed that had not been acted upon

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I see too many unfulfilled resolutions. Based on the information we've been given, I certainly wouldn't want to leave this one floating in the maybe/possibly pool. The clerk's response is probably a case of asking the wrong question. If they asked, I presume, the local ALC, whether an agenda item is required for something the council does not intend to do, the answer would obviously be no.  If they'd asked whether it was required for a council to reverse a previous decision, I hope the answer would always be yes.

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Yes Totally agree. Much better to have an agenda item to rescind a previous resolution - i keep all our resolution on an Action tracker which I issue monthly and then discuss under Clerks Report. with a status - before moving to a new tab when all agree the item has been fulfilled / satisfied.

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ClerkinEssex if you ever want a new position let me know !