Decision Making
Decisions about Town Council policy, strategy and spending are made by the Council as a corporate body. The Council decides what it wants to achieve in its four year term, sets the budget, determines the precept and oversees activities. Our activities are guided by a suite of relevant policies.
Important decision making is done at meetings and recorded in our minutes. Some decisions are delegated to committees or sub-committees but most will be made at full council meetings. Council and committee meetings are open to members of the public who may attend to listen to the debate and and observe the voting. Day to day decision making and operational management of the council is delegated to the Town Clerk and the staff team.
The arrangements for delegating decision making to committees and officers is laid out in the council's current scheme of delegation which you can access below. The agendas of council and commitee meetings are published in advance so that members of the public know which decisions are to be taken at each meeting.
The government has published a guide to openness and transparency in local government which explains your rights to access meetings of the council and records of certain decisions taken by the council's officer. You can access the guide here.
Sandy Town Council is chaired by the Town Mayor. The Town Mayor is a councillor who is elected at the annual meeting of the council for a period of one year. The Mayor does not usually make decisions on behalf of the council although they have a second or casting vote to use if the voting is tied.
In order to help councillors to make good decisions Sandy Town Council employs specialist external advice services including legal, human resources, IT and health and safety support.
Sandy Town Council aims to take into account the views of all sections of the community when it makes decisions. People who live and work in the community of Sandy can communicate their views to the council in a number of different ways.