Agenda item

The Chairman reported receipt of the following motion moved by Cllr Caswill and seconded by Cllr Carbin:

 

‘The Wiltshire Area Boards initiative has great potential but six months on there are lessons to be learned and improvements to be made to local delegation. Members should have the chance to debate and recommend improvements, and not be limited to responding to a questionnaire. In that spirit, we propose that Council:   

 

1)   agrees that the Area Board initiative should be continued. 

 

2)   recognises that several aspects of Area Board work have already proved successful, for example the regular attendance and positive attitudes of the Council’s partners.  Board meetings have sometimes been successful in attracting high levels of public participation.

 

3)   recognises however that there is some way to go to achieve the stated goal “to provide a focus for community leadership, local influence and delegated decision making” (p. 27 of the Area Board handbook). The public will rightly be looking for evidence of actions flowing from Board decisions.  Without this there is a serious risk that Boards will lose public interest and support.

 

4)   expresses a number of specific concerns, based on experience to date:

 

a)     that Board agendas are too tightly managed, which has led to  

      elected members have too little influence over agendas, and

      Boards sometimes failing to address major local issues.

 

b)    that issues have ended up on long lists at Board meetings, often without discussion, and then on a web site which too often simply disposes of issues once officers have had a look at them, without resolution and without the involvement of ward councillors. 

 

c)    that there is still a lack of clarity about the budgets which are allocated to Boards, and the extent to which they are earmarked for community grants, and for allocations to Area Partnerships.

 

d)      that the budgets are in any case too small to allow Boards to

       address community needs.

 

e)    that there is a similar lack of clarity about the role of Area Boards in the Council’s various consultation processes. 

 

f)      that the chairing of Area Boards by Cabinet members and Portfolio holders may inhibit open discussion, and may constitute a conflict of interest.

 

5)      Notes the ambitions in the Area Board handbook that.......

       “(Area Boards) must be provided with the power to influence local services and respond effectively to local views”  (Area Board handbook, p.31), and 

“Area Boards will help councillors develop a meaningful community leadership role” (Area Board handbook, p.29)

      .........and recommends to the Cabinet that: 

 

i.                    Board budgets are at least doubled in the forthcoming budget process, not by increasing the overall budget but by releasing funds from central departments.

 

       ii.            the necessary constitutional and other amendments are made to specify delegations to Boards for decisions on the delivery of local services.

      iii.            financial guidelines are produced to make clear that each Board has control over its own budget. 

 

     iv.            guidelines are produced to make clear that Boards have control over their own agendas and all elected members can help set those agendas.

 

      v.          ward councillor budgets are introduced on an experimental   basis, subject to annual reports to the Boards, and accompanied by clear rules  An initial annual allocation of £5000 per councillor is proposed, to be found from within current central allocations.

 

     vi.            Cabinet members and portfolio holders should not chair Area Boards.

 

    vii.            the handling of the ‘issues’ process and the involvement of Area Boards in council consultations be referred to Overview and Scrutiny, for their recommendations for improvement’.

 

CllrCaswill explained his motion.

 

The Chairman moved that the motion be debated and this was duly seconded by Cllr de Rhe Philipe and it was

 

Resolved:

 

That the motion be debated.

 

The Chairman explained that he would call Cllr Thomson as the Cabinet member for Community Services  to respond to the motion then invite Group Leaders before opening the debate to other Councillors.

 

Cllr Thomson responded to the motion and in so doing proposed an amendment, details of which were tabled and this was duly seconded by Cllr Williams.

 

A discussion then ensued on the amendment.

 

On being put to the vote, the amendment was CARRIED.

 

On being put to the vote, the amendment now the substantive motion was CARRIED and it was

 

Resolved:

 

That the following motion be adopted:

 

That this Council thanks Councillors Caswill and Carbin for their detailed motion and supporting statements and :-.

1. Agrees that the Area Board initiative should be continued.

 

2. Recognises that many aspects of Area Board work have already proved successful, for example the regular attendance and positive attitudes of the Council’s partners and in attracting high levels of public participation.

 

3. Recognises that Area Boards already have significant delegated powers as set out on page 31 of the Area Board Handbook and welcomes the Leader’s review that will bring forward recommendations to further develop the potential of the Area Boards.
   
   
4. That in relation to the concerns expressed by the motion, this Council

 

(a)   notes that control of agendas rests locally with the Area Board Coordination Group (as set out on page 42 of the Area Board Handbook) but recognises that a balance needs to be achieved between issues generated corporately and those raised locally.

 

(b)  agrees that the Community Issues System is an important way for the public to initiate, influence and monitor the progress of local issues and encourages all councillors to play a full part in the resolution of issues referred to the Board in this way.

 

(c)   acknowledges that the Area Board handbook on pages 35 and 37 sets out the budgets delegated to the Area Boards in 2010/11 and the arrangements for funding the Community Area Partnerships and notes the recent resolution of the Cabinet (meeting held on 11 February 2010 – Minute 20(a)(d)) and the published intended decision of the Cabinet Member (Delegated decision number (ACCL -001-10) aimed at clarifying the Area Boards Grants process and increasing the local flexibility and discretion of the Boards.

 

(d)  notes that in addition to awarding grants,  Area Boards were established to influence and shape the mainstream service expenditure of the Council and its partners

 

(e)   welcomes the commitments to engage Area Boards in important consultations as set out on page 32 of the Area Boards handbook and requests all officers to ensure that more notice is given of consultations involving the Area Boards so that agenda of area boards can be better managed and local people better engaged.

 

(f)      agrees that the election of chairmen and vice chairmen should be a matter for the individual area boards to decide.

 

5. That in relation to the detailed proposals put forward within section 5 of the motion, agrees that these be referred to be considered as part of the Leader’s review of area boards with the following comments of the Council

 

(a)   in relation to budgets additional funding will be available in 2010/11 and as mentioned in 4(c) there will be increased flexibility for area boards in the management of their budgets.

 

(b)  there is a balance to be achieved between locally determined issues and corporate/centrally generated issues.

 

(c)   that whilst the contribution of Overview and Scrutiny in developing the area board processes is welcomed, the outcome of the Leader’s review of area boards that is currently ongoing, should be awaited.