Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillors Ian Blair-Pilling, Ian McLennan and Graham Wright.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2018.

The mintues of the meeting held on 7 February 2018 were presented and after consideration it was,

Resolved:

To approve and sign the minutes as a true and correct record.

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 10 April 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 12 April 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.

There were no questions or statements submitted.

Following the meeting of Council on 20 February 2018 the submission on council size was forwarded to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE). The council should be informed of the ‘minded to’ decision of the Commission around 24 April 2018. A consultation on electoral boundaries will then be held from 1 May – 9 July 2018. The Council will need to prepare a submission proposing the drawing of electoral divisions, using the ‘minded to’ decision of the LGBCE.

A draft briefing note and workplan will be circulated for the Committee to consider, setting out the intended process for the next stage of the electoral review.

Updates were provided to the Committee from the Project Team on the progress of the Electoral Review.

Following Council on 20 February 2018 where a draft submission on council-size had been approved, further minor and additional drafting changes had been agreed under delegation to the Director for Legal and Democratic Services in consultation with the Chairman, following a further workshop of the Committee.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (‘The Commission’) were sent the final submission, and would be making a determination by the end of April 2018. They would then announce their ‘minded to’ decision and a consultation on a pattern of divisions from 1 May – 9 July 2018.

The Committee considered a draft briefing note setting out an intended council consultation process to help inform the preparation of a council submission. This note would emphasise that any interested parties should submit any representations directly to the Commission, but that the Committee invited any comments to also be sent to the council, to aid in its preparations, as well as the process of creating a submission.

The council approach would be to engage through the community area boards, with any information received considered through a series of workshops. Council would then approve a submission in early July 2018. Submissions would need to focus on providing electoral equality, community identity and cohesion, and effective and convenient local government. In particular, divisions would need to be as close as possible to an average electorate identified once the council was informed of the ‘minded to’ decision of the Commission.

The Committee sought additional details on the electorate projection figures that would be used in preparing a submission, with the numbers to be available down to polling district level. The Committee also discussed how the relevant information would be made available to the area boards and the public, and the nature and extent of the Commission’s formal consultation. It was noted that in that consultation the council was simply a stakeholder.

The Committee also discussed the most effective method of additional engagement with parishes.

Resolved:

To note the approach to be taken with area board and parish council consultation ahead of the next phase of the Electoral Review.

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

There were no urgent items.