Governance Scrutiny Panel – 20 October 2016

Chairman:  Councillor Robinson
Venue:  Function Room 1, Civic Centre, Ashby Road, Scunthorpe
Time:  6 p.m

AGENDA

1.  Substitutions.

2.  Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and personal or personal and prejudicial interests and declarations of whipping arrangements (if any).

3.  To take the minutes of the meeting of the panel held on 27 September 2016, and the special meetings held on 20 and 27 September 2016 as a correct record and authorise the chairman to sign.

4.  Public speaking requests, if any.

5.  Community Governance Review

5.1  Discussion and questions with the Assistant Director – Legal and Democratic Services on –

  • Terms of Reference
  • Process for conducting a Community Governance Review
  • Consultation
  • Review timetable

5.2  Next stages

6.  Added Item (if any).

7.  Any other items that the Chairman decides are urgent by reason of special circumstances that must be specified.

MINUTES

PRESENT: –  Councillor Robinson in the chair.

Councillors Gosling (Vice-Chair), Ali, J Davison and Wells.

The panel met at the Civic Centre, Scunthorpe.

38      DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AND DECLARATIONS OF WHIPPING ARRANGEMENTS (IF ANY) – The following members declared personal interests –

Member Minute Nature of Interest
Councillor Gosling 41 Member of Gunness Parish Council
Councillor Robinson

 

41 Member of Epworth Town Council

 

No whip was declared.

39      MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the proceedings of this panel held on 27 September 2016, and the special meetings held on 20 and 27 September 2016, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and signed by the chairman.

40      PUBLIC REQUESTS TO SPEAK – There were no requests received.

41      (10)    COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE REVIEW – The Chairman welcomed Will Bell to the meeting, the council’s Assistant Director Legal and Democratic Services.

Council, at its meeting on 29 September 2016, approved a Community Governance Review (CGR) of Town Councils and of a Parish Meeting in North Lincolnshire.  Following a delegation from council, the Governance Scrutiny Panel would carry out the review as a committee of the council and make recommendations back to council for its consideration and decision in accordance with statutory requirements and timescales.

The report explained that Town Councils within North Lincolnshire had over the past year liaised, consulted and expressed preferences with the council regarding their electoral arrangements including parish warding and numbers of councillors.

Consequently, in response, it was appropriate to consider undertaking a CGR of these arrangements and apply a consistent approach by conducting a full review across the similar more densely populated parishes of North Lincolnshire, namely the eight town councils.

In addition, one parish meeting had also consulted and notified the council of their intention to cease operating, and therefore a CGR of that parish meeting needed to be carried out to consider whether it should be abolished, merged or grouped with another parish.

During a CGR the council would need to consult local people and take account of any representations received in connection with the review.  Before making any recommendations or publishing final proposals, the council would take account of the views of local people in the parishes being reviewed and would comply with statutory consultative requirements.

It was proposed that the review would consider –

The electoral arrangements for the parishes of Barton, Bottesford, Brigg, Broughton, Crowle and Ealand, Epworth, Kirton in Lindsey and Winterton including the number of councillors elected to the parishes and parish warding;

What the appropriate community governance arrangements should be for Holme including (but not limited to) whether the parish should be abolished, merged or grouped with another parish, and

Any other relevant issues that were submitted in response to the review consultation process

A CGR must, by statute be completed within 12 months from the day on which it commenced.  The CGR would begin when the council published its agreed terms of reference and conclude when it published the recommendations made in the review.

The Assistant Director guided members through the terms of reference of the review, which were attached as appendix A, which specified the parish areas under review and all matters on which the review was to focus, including consultation.

The Chairman then facilitated a discussion between panel members and Mr Bell.

Resolved – (a) That the terms of reference for the Community Governance Review be published formally, and (b) that Mr Bell be thanked for his attendance, verbal presentation and for answering members’ questions.

42      ADDED ITEM – There was no added item for consideration at the meeting.