Agenda and minutes

It was proposed, seconded and

          RESOLVED:-

That Councillor Mrs P A Warby be elected Chairman of the

Working Party for 2014/2015.

No apologies for absence were received.

No substitutions were declared.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2013 (copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2013 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

It was proposed, seconded and

RESOLVED:-

That Councillor J Thorndyke be elected Vice-Chairman of the Working Party for 2014/2015.

The Democratic Services Manager presented a written briefing note on members’ attendance statistics. Members were reminded that at a meeting of the Working Party on 2 May 2013, they had resolved to not compile members’ attendance statistics in future years due to the scope of the report not covering the full duties and responsibilities of Councillors.

At an informal Cabinet briefing in April 2014, cabinet members had suggested that attendance statistics could be recorded and published as part of the implementation of a new Committee Management System that was due to be launched later that year provided that an explanation was provided that the figures were not an accurate reflection of all the meetings attended and duties undertaken by Councillors.

The Democratic Services Manager informed members that the new system had been implemented on 12 November 2014 and attendance would be recorded and published on the website from this date. Statistics were being compiled for the period from May 2013 until 12 November 2014 and would be published on the new website in due course.

Report No: DRW/SE/14/001

The Electoral Services Manager introduced this report which reviewed the designation of polling districts in the borough. The report described the consultation process and gave details of the responses received. Two of the responses regarding ward and borough boundaries had not been included in the report as they fell outside of the remit of this review which was only able to consider polling district boundaries.

The report highlighted two main areas where further representations had been received and these had been investigated further as follows.

St Olaves Ward consisted of one polling district and one polling station located at the New Bury Community Centre. The proposal was to split this ward into two polling districts and have a second polling station at the Northumberland Avenue Methodist Church. Officers were minded not to recommend this proposal as the current polling station was already located centrally in the polling district.

Risbygate Ward consisted of two polling districts and two polling stations. The first proposal was to create a new polling district called Risbygate Part Three and move electors in Station Hill, part of Tayfen Road and Tayfen Terrace from Risbygate Part Two into this new area. The electors in this new area would poll with those in Risbygate Part One at the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

The current polling station in Risbygate Part Two (the Quaker Meeting House) was often required to hold two polling stations due to the number of electors and there had previously been concerns regarding access and parking. A further proposal was therefore to split Risbygate Part Two into two polling districts, creating a new polling district, Risbygate Part Four. The only cost implication would be room hire for an additional polling station. Officers recommended these proposals.

In considering both areas, members agreed that there were a number of similarities in the two representations. In St Olaves Ward, members felt that there would be benefit in creating a separate polling district and polling station for residents on the Mildenhall Road estate. Councillor Nettleton had suggested that the dividing line should follow the line of Northumberland Avenue, including properties on both sides of the road. He had previously had discussions with the Chairmen of the relevant residents associations and was confident that his proposal would receive their approval.

RECOMMENDED:-

That the Schedule of Polling Districts be amended to reflect the following changes:

(1)     Move electors from Station Hill, Tayfen Road (part of) and Tayfen Terrace from Risbygate Part Two to Risbygate Part One.

(2)     Split Risbygate Part Two into two polling districts with the dividing line being Spring Lane and the Nature Reserve between Spring Lane and Beetons Way.

(3)     Split St Olaves into two polling districts, with the dividing line to include all properties along Northumberland Avenue.

Report No: DRW/SE/14/002

(Councillor Farmer declared a non-pecuniary interest as a member of Bury St Edmunds Town Council during the consideration of this item.)

The Legal Services Manager introduced this report which sought to provide a comprehensive set of options regarding a Community Governance Review in the borough. The last review had been conducted in 2010-2011 when minor changes had been made and there had been a proposal to create a new parish at Moreton Hall although this had not been taken further by the Working Party at the time.

Councillor Beckwith had submitted a Motion on Notice to the Council meeting on 30 June 2014 which had been referred for further consideration to this Working Party. Haverhill Town Council had also asked the council to look at parish boundaries in reference to growth in and around Haverhill under Vision 2031, and a number of requests had been received from parish councils affected by growth.

This report asked the Working Party to recommend to Council that a review be undertaken, that a budget be allocated to conduct such a review with the Working Party indicating their preferences for the method of consultation, and that an indicative timetable be approved.

Although the purpose of a review would be to consider the areas that had already put forward, there would be opportunity for interested parties to propose other areas for consideration. The Working Party would then consider all proposals and set the scope for the review.

Members of the Working Party considered a number of options for the method of consultation and unanimously agreed that the review should be web-based and widely publicised, with appropriate organisations and representatives being targeted; responses would be made online and collated electronically. Individual letters would not be sent to every household.

In response to member questions, it was clarified that officer recommendation (d) was linked to the advice in paragraph 2.10.3 of the report which indicated that changes to parish arrangements could not be made in time for the 2015 elections and “would be most likely to be brought in for the 2019 elections.”  However, the Legal Services Manager clarified that, while the normal practice was indeed to link implementation to usual date of elections (on the four yearly cycle), the report should have made it clear that, under the regulations, there may also be scope for the Borough Council to consider whether there was justification for implementing changes at an earlier date, with a shorter than normal first period of office for any parish councillors elected under them (since elections would also then be needed in 2019 as well). This could incur the cost of stand-alone elections for the Borough Council where a new parish council was being created. Noting this clarification, the Working Party felt that this would be a matter that the Borough Council should address at a later stage of any review, when it was clearer what changes, if any, were required. Accordingly, it was felt that recommendation (d) was not relevant at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.