Agenda and minutes

To record apologies for absence and the attendance of substitute members. 

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Margaret Davies.

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Community Governance and Electoral Issues Committee minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2016 – attached. 

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2016 as a correct record and agree that the Chairman signs them as such.

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. 

None.

To receive notification of any matters which the chairman determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chairman.

None.

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak on items on the agenda. 

No members of the public had registered to speak.

To consider a report on the review of the size of Cholsey Parish Council – report attached.

The committee considered the report of the head of legal and democratic services on whether to agree to undertake a second stage consultation proposing no change to the current number of parish councillors for Cholsey Parish Council.

The committee had agreed at its meeting on 20 October 2016 to undertake a community governance review of Cholsey Parish Council.  This was in response to a request from the parish council to reduce the number of parish councillors from 13 to 12.  This was due to a reduction in the electorate number as a result of Winterbrook transferring from Cholsey to Wallingford.  Only one response was received from Cholsey Parish Council in response to the initial consultation.  In light of housing growth in the village and slight population growth, the parish council no longer supported a reduction in the number of parish councillors.

The committee considered and supported the report’s recommendation that a second stage consultation be carried out on retaining the number of parish councillors for Cholsey Parish Council at 13.

RESOLVED: to

1.    agree to undertake a second stage consultation proposing no change to the current number of parish councillors for Cholsey Parish Council;

2.    to authorise the head of legal and democratic services to undertake the consultation.

Kidmore End Parish Council has submitted a request to reduce its number of parish councillors from 12 to 10. The request is attached at appendix one to this report. The committee is invited to consider the request.

Recommendations:

1.     To decide whether to undertake a community governance review of Kidmore End Parish Council.

2.     If the committee agrees to undertake a review, to authorise the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to draft and publish the terms of reference for the review.

The committee considered a request from Kidmore End Parish Council to reduce its parish councillors from 12 to 10.

Kidmore End Parish Council had written to the council outlining the rarity of the maximum of 12 councillors being in place at any one time.  The average number of councillors each month since May 2011 is 10.4.  Based on this, the parish council had put forward a request to reduce the maximum number of parish councillors to 10.

The officer confirmed that the population of Kidmore End was small and that there were frequently vacancies for parish councillors.

The committee considered the report and recommended that a community governance review (CGR) of Kidmore End Parish Council be undertaken.

RESOLVED: to

1.    undertake a community governance review of Kidmore End Parish Council;

2.    authorise the head of legal and democratic services to draft and publish the terms of reference for the review.