Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillors Gavin Grant, Ian McLennan and Jonathon Seed.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2019 were received 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.

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 16 July 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 18 July 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.

There were no statements or questions submitted.

Full Council on 9 July 2019 delegated approval of a response to the further limited consultation of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England to the Electoral Review Committee.

The Committee will consider how to respond to the Consultation.

On 2 July 2019 the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) had announced a further limited consultation on revised draft recommendations focused upon area of the south, south west and south east of the council area. As the deadline for submissions was 29 July 2019 Full Council at its meeting on 9 Jul 2019 delegated authority to approve a response to the consultation to the Electoral Review Committee.

Following a meeting with local members the Committee held an informal workshop on 15 July 2019 to discuss the proposed new pattern of divisions.

Arising from that workshop the Committee received a draft submission, recommending that the Council respond to the latest consultation with a restatement of its previous submission. This was because it was considered that in seeking to address concerns expressed by members of the public during the previous consultation, the proposals of the LGBCE had led to significantly greater harm to community identity and cohesion and other statutory criteria across a wide area.

The Committee discussed the proposal, noting in particular that it had considered dozens of potential patterns of divisions in this area of the council, but that alternative solutions, such as the LGBCE’s latest proposal, all required the splitting of parish communities and widespread impacts across other divisions requiring combinations of parishes with no community connections, such as the inclusion of the Deverill Valley within the Nadder Valley division. The propsoals of the LGBCE also had inferior electoral equality, with an overly large division in an area that would see future growth, necessitating further reviews far sooner than would otherwise be the case.

The Committee discussed specifics to be included within the submission to the LGBCE, and at the conclusion of discussion it was,

Resolved:

To approve the draft submission as detailed in Appendix A, subject to any necessary consequential changes to the documentation by the Director of Legal, Electoral and Registration Services after consultation with the Chairman of the Electoral Review Committee.

At the request of the Committee it was noted that the decision above was unanimous.

The date of the next meeting has been scheduled for 26 September 2019.

The date of the next scheduled meeting was confirmed as 26 September 2019.

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

There were no urgent items.