Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Clare Cape, Jonathon Seed and Stuart Wheeler.

Councillor Cape was substituted by Councillor Ruth Hopkinson.

Councillor Seed was substituted by Councillor Jacqui Lay.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2018 were presented for consideration, and it was,

Resolved:

To approve and sign as a true and correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2018.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations.

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

There were no announcements.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this

agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item.

Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further

clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution.

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such

questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on 31 January 2018 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on 2 February 2018. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

At its meeting on 25 January 2018 the Committee resolved to recommend to Full Council that a council size of 99 be submitted to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.

A draft submission for the Committee’s consideration is being prepared, and will be circulated ahead of the meeting.

At its meeting on 25 January 2018 the Committee, on the basis of the evidence, resolved that a council size of 99 should be recommended to Full Council as the submission number to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. A draft submission was prepared by officers in accordance with reasoning provided by the Committee at its previous meetings.

The Committee discussed the draft submission in detail, commenting on additional clarifications, enhancements or additional reasoning or wording that should be included. Issues raised included the geographic nature of the council area with towns mostly around the edge, and the impact on the nature of local communities, the direction of change for empowerment of area boards and communities and the role of councillors as community leaders in liaison with town and parish councils and other groups.

Other matters discussed included examples of where community consultation had resulted in significant alterations to council policy or spending, how many councillors were required to perform all necessary roles for governance purposes, and the role of scrutiny.

At the conclusion of discussion, and on the moving of Councillro Richard Clewer, seconded by Councillor Ashley O’Neill, it was,

Resolved:

To approve the draft submission on council size for consideration by Full Council on 20 February 2018, subject to any minor drafting and consequential changes to be delegated to the Director of Legal and Democratic Services in consultation with the Chairman, taking into account the comments made by the Committee at this meeting.

7 February – Committee Meeting – Finalise Submission to Council

20 February (or extraordinary) – Council Meeting – Approve Submission to

Commission

The Project Board will be scheduled to meet to periodically to ensure the

requirements of the Committee are delivered by the project team.

The Council will be informed of the Commission’s decision on council size in April 2018.

The work programme was noted.

Any other items of business, which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.