Redbridge Council is set to overhaul its constitution to make it more accessible and navigable for the public and councillors alike. The significant review, undertaken in two phases between June 2025 and February 2026, has involved a detailed redrafting led by the Constitutional Review Working Group (CRWG) with support from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS).
The General Purposes Committee, meeting on Thursday, 26 February 2026, recommended the revised constitution to Full Council for adoption on 26 March 2026. The revised constitution incorporates legal requirements and good practice
and has been reorganised into seven parts, with new sections detailing the roles and rights of the public and councillors. The length of the Articles has been significantly reduced, with content moved to more appropriate parts.
Phase 1 of the review, agreed by Council in June 2025, identified areas where urgent changes were needed. These included new versions of Council Standing Orders, Committee Procedure Rules, and Procedure Rules, and terms of reference associated with committees tasked with activity around grievance and disciplinary arrangements relating to certain senior officers. Phase 1 also included the preparation of a new set of 'Executive Decision-Making Procedure Rules' to rectify a deficiency in the clarity of rules relating to key decisions and the power of non-executive members to 'call-in' certain executive decisions.
Key changes include a reorganisation of the constitution into seven parts. The new section, 'Roles and Rights of Councillors', consolidates existing roles and job descriptions, rights to access information, and obligations regarding interests, better reflecting members' rights to access information in common law and removing ambiguity. Similarly, the new section, 'Rights of the Public', brings together rules related to public participation at Council and committees, the petition scheme, and procedures for disruptive behaviour, improving accessibility and navigability. Changes to the petition scheme bring greater clarity to how petitions will be handled and the timescales for this. Specifically, the new arrangements separate the process for preparing and submitting petitions from the description of how petitions will be dealt with at meetings. The scheme now sets out a clearer timetable for the preparation and validation of petitions, as previous timescales were inconsistent and inoperable under certain conditions. The new timescales are designed to provide more certainty and sufficient flexibility to manage the verification process.
Part 4: Decision Making, Responsibility for Functions and Delegated Powers, has also been reorganised to bring together material previously spread across the Articles, Cabinet Functions, and the Budget and Policy Framework Rules. Changes in this section are minor and predominantly relate to language, with navigability improved by presenting this material in a single place.
Part 5: Terms of Reference and Procedure Rules, gathers common arrangements for all formal committees in addition to the Procedure Rules for Council and Cabinet. The Governance and Assurance Committee terms of reference have been reviewed by a member working group. The appointment of committee Chairs has been moved from committees to Council, aligning with practice in the majority of London Boroughs. This change allows work planning to commence swiftly following the Annual General Meeting, rather than the initial meeting being dedicated to familiarisation and work programming.
Changes to the Council Procedure Rules aim to regularise deadlines for pre-Council activity, update voting procedures, and refine officer employment, finance, and contract procedure rules. Regularising deadlines for pre-Council activity is expected to improve usability and modernise language. The Council Procedure Rules have also been updated to include updating voting procedures for recorded votes. Procedural Rules relating to officer activity, specifically Officer Employment, Finance, and Contract Procedure Rules, have been updated to improve usability, align with changes made elsewhere in the Constitution, and reflect best practice. The Finance Procedure Rules and Contract Procedure Rules have been updated to ensure robust financial governance and effective financial challenge.
Part 6: Overview and Scrutiny and Policy Development Committees is a wholly new section that brings together (largely unchanged) elements of the previous Constitution. Part 7: Codes and Protocols has had its number reduced and focused on members, officers, and their relationship, with content updated only for officer titles and material transferred to other parts.
The revised constitution is intended to ensure the Council's governing document is robust, fit for purpose, and reflects legal requirements and good practice. The CRWG's proposed changes aim to create a more easily accessible and navigable constitution through significant changes to the structure and thematic grouping of previously disparate rules and procedures, thereby more effectively supporting decision-making and member oversight.
The revised constitution will bring together rules that were previously spread over a number of different parts of the constitution or appended codes and protocols, making them easier to navigate and cross-reference. Much of this material was previously duplicated elsewhere and not cross-referenced.
Review and redrafting of the Councils Constitution Phase 2 outlines the changes in detail.
