Page last updated at 16:16 GMT, Thursday, May 17 2012
Council Meetings
The Council is composed of 44
Councillors with one-third elected three years in four. Councillors
are democratically accountable to residents of their ward. The
overriding duty of Councillors is to the whole community, but they
have a special duty to their constituents, including those who did
not vote for them.
The Leader of the Council is Councillor
Keith House
The Deputy Leader of the Council is Councillor
Anne Winstanley
The Mayor
of Eastleigh is Councillor Wayne Irish
The Deputy Mayor of Eastleigh is Councillor Rupert Kyrle
Full Council
All Councillors meet together as the Full Council. Here
Councillors decide the Council's overall policies and set the
budget each year. The Council appoints the Leader of the
Council and other Committees (excluding the Cabinet which is
appointed by the Leader). At its ordinary meetings, the Council
considers recommendations from the Cabinet and other Committees on
those matters which only the Council can decide.
Full Council meetings are held every eight weeks in the Council
Chamber at the Civic Offices where the Mayor of the Council acts as
the Chair.
Meetings of the Full Council are normally open to the
public. The public can only speak on items that have been
recommended to Council for decision.
Cabinet
The Cabinet is the part of the Council
which is responsible for day-to-day decisions other than 'local'
issues (see Area Committees) and miscellaneous matters (see
Administration Committee).
The Cabinet is made up of between 2
and 9 Councillors (currently there are 8 Members of the
Cabinet) who are appointed by the Leader and have powers to
take decisions on the Council's behalf (generally concerned with
operation of Council services and the formulation of policy). They
also make recommendations for approval by the Council relating
to the Council's overall policy framework.
The Cabinet's work programme is set
out in the Council's Forward Plan, and includes those 'key
decisions' which the Council proposes to make. The Cabinet
publishes the Forward Plan each month, for a four month period.
Each cabinet member is given a portfolio:
Meetings of the Cabinet are
generally open to the public except where personal or confidential
matters are being discussed.
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