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Agenda and minutes

Venue: West Wiltshire Room - County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, BA14 8JN. View directions

Contact: Kieran Elliott  01225 718504, Email: kieran.elliott@wiltshire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Christopher Newbury and Ashley O’Neil.

2.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 18 December 2018.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 December 2018 were presented for consideration, and it was,

 

Resolved:

 

To approve and sign as a true and correct record.

3.

Declarations of Interest

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

Minutes:

There were no declarations.

4.

Chairman's Announcements

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

Minutes:

There were no announcements

5.

Public Participation

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 21 February 2019 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 25 February 2019. 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.

Minutes:

There were no statements or questions submitted.

6.

Electoral Review Update

On 5 February 2019 the Local Government Boundary Commission for England published its draft recommendations for a pattern of electoral divisions for Wiltshire, to applu from the elections in May 2021.

 

The Commission is consultating on its proposalsintil 15 April 2019, and publish its final recommendations on 2 July 2019. Final recommendations cannot be amended, therefore the current  consultation is the final opportunity for interested parties to comment.

 

A special meeting of Full Council has been arranged for 25 March to respond to the consultation. The Committee is requested to consider the draft recommendations and develop a course of action to suggest to Full Councl.

Minutes:

On 5 February 2019 the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (“The Commission”) had published its draft recommendations for a pattern of divisions for the Wiltshire Council area, along with suggested names for those divisions, taking into account the Council’s submissions and all other representations they had received.

 

Following informal discussion with the Committee shortly after the recommendations had been published, and the circulation of a briefing note to all councillors and towns and parish councils, the Chairman had arranged for some workshop sessions for local members in areas of particular concern where the Commission’s recommendations diverged significantly from the Council’s proposals. All Committee members received an open invitiation to attend those sessions.

 

The Chairman reported on the outcomes of the discussions with local members, and the Committee discussed each area of divergence and agreed the approach they felt should be taken in those instances. It was emphasised that simply restating an initial submission in the absence of new or much stronger evidence would not be persuasive to the Commission, and the Committee additionally considered that where it felt changes proposed by the Commission were in keeping with the statutory criteria of the review, in the absence of local community objection it would usually recommend not objecting to the proposals.

 

It was agreed that the Commission’s proposals in Malmesbury, which included the historic centre of the town within the proposed Sherston division, should be objected to with a slight revision to the Council’s initial proposed division of the town included with the Council’s next submission. It was noted that the Commission’s proposals in relation to the Lyneham and Tidworth divisions were similar to options that the Committee had considered before settling on its submission proposals, and it was therefore minded to recommend that Council did not object to the Commission’s proposals. While the proposals for the Calne area had not been previously considered the Committee was informed local members had no objections and it was agreed to raise no objection the proposals. Minor changes to division lines in Trowbridge Drynham to include the business park, between Bradford on Avon North and South and around areas in Chippenham and Marlborough were also recommended to receive no objection.

 

In relation to the Corsham area while there were concerns about the propsoals within the town after careful consideration of relevant factors and arguments, the Committee agreed to recommend no objection be made, noting that that Commission had raised the possibility of imposing a two member division on the area. The Committee continued to strongly feel that no two member divisions should be created. However, the Committee did recommend objections be made to the boundary between Chippenham Lowden and Rowden and Corsham Without, as the proposed line extended far beyond the new development on the edge of the town and unnecessarily and inappropriately divided the parish of Lacock and created an urban rural split that did not reflect a cohesive community approach.

The Commission’s proposals in Warminster had resulted in one very geographically large  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Urgent Items

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

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.