Services » Corporate Affairs

In an Action Programme for the Millennium, the Government set out its commitment to the restoration of real decision – making and power to local authorities and local people. An important step in this direction was the proposal to establish policy centered Strategic Policy Committees (SPC) and Corporate Policy Groups (CPG) within each city and county authority.

SPCs will prepare the groundwork for policies, which will then be decided upon by City Council.

Objectives and Structure of SPCs and the CPG

The Strategic Policy Committees:

• Assist the Council in the formulation, development and review of policy
• Reflect the major functions or services of a local authority within a broader context
• are tailored to size, membership and administrative resources of the local authority, and have a minimum one third of their membership drawn from sectors relevant to the committee’s work

The Corporate Policy Group:

• Comprises the Lord Mayor as its chair together with the chairs of each of the SPCs
• Links the work of the different SPCs and provides a forum for policy issues which transcend the remit of individual SPCs
• Is supported by the City Manager
• Is represented by the Lord Mayor at meetings of Council

Cork City Council at its meeting held on 29th May 2000 adopted a scheme to enable the setting up of Strategic Policy Committees and a Corporate Policy Group in accordance with the guidelines for the establishment and operation of Strategic Policy Committees. The Scheme provided for five Strategic Policy Committees:

• SPC 1 – Housing and Community Services
• SPC 2 – Environment
• SPC 3 – Roads and Transportation
• SPC 4 – Development and Planning
• SPC 5 – Recreation, Amenity and Culture

Each Committee has 9 members, 6 members of Council and 3 from sectoral interests.

At a meeting of An Chomhairle held on 27th October 2009, An chomhairle approved the scheme for Strategic Policy committees and the membership of each Strategic Policy is lised below;

Membership of Committees

Scheme for Strategic Policy Committees as adopted by An Chomhairle on 27th October 2009 (26KB)