Norfolk councillors have backed a motion requiring tougher oversight of large contracts after a string of budget overruns on projects inherited from the previous administration.

The Gateway assurance framework, already being rolled out by the current administration for its largest contracts, will now be formally completed across all 'Gold' and qualifying 'Silver' contracts — categories covering the council's biggest and highest-impact spending commitments.

Under the new rules, any major contract forecast to bust its budget by a significant margin must be flagged to the relevant scrutiny committee at the next quarterly reporting cycle — rather than waiting until the end of the financial year or project completion, when it may be too late to intervene.

All major contracts must also include performance milestones, break clauses, and financial penalties for late delivery or cost overruns, where legally possible. The council will additionally publish an annual public summary of contract variations and overspend across all major projects.

Cabinet must report back within nine months on progress, including an assessment of the contract risks inherited from the previous administration.

Two amendments to the motion were defeated. One, proposed by the Reform UK group, would have softened the language around why overspends happen, acknowledging factors such as inflation and unforeseen circumstances. A second Conservative amendment would have required the report to distinguish between genuinely new controls and those building on existing procurement processes. Both were rejected by the majority.

The motion was proposed by Cllr Kabeer Kher and passed with 49 votes in favour, 6 against, and 22 abstentions.