Agenda and minutes

Venue: Meeting Room 1, 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Milton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 4SB

Contact: Harry Gable, Trainee Democratic and Electoral Services Officer  email:  harry.gable@southandvale.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

27.

Apologies for absence

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

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Steve Connel.  No substitute was appointed.

28.

Declarations of interest

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

Minutes:

None.

29.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 100 KB

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Community Governance and Electoral Issues Committee minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2017 – attached. 

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2017 as a correct record and agree that the Chairman signs them as such.

30.

Urgent business and chairman's announcements

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.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

 

The Chairman gave an announcement regarding a briefing on the management of elections which will come before this committee at the meeting on 30 October 2017.  Officers will carry out a review in to lessons learnt from recent elections and any risks that can be identified and mitigated for forthcoming elections.

 

The officer confirmed that fees and charges relating to elections, such as fees for town and parish elections that are invoiced to the relevant town or parish council, is the responsibility of Council and not this committee.  However, it might be possible for the committee to provide a view on a future review of the scale of fees and charges to Council.

31.

Public participation

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

Minutes:

No members of the public had registered to speak.

32.

Community Governance Review - review of the size of Cholsey Parish Council pdf icon PDF 113 KB

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

 

Minutes:

The committee considered the report of the head of legal and democratic services on whether to agree to retain the number of parish councillors at 13 for Cholsey Parish Council.

 

The committee agreed at its meeting on 6 March 2017 to authorise the head of legal and democratic services to undertake a second stage consultation proposing no change to the current number of parish councillors for Cholsey Parish Council at 13.  The parish council had previously requested a reduction from 13 to 12 parish councillors leading to a community governance review and initial consultation but no longer supported this change. 

 

No responses to the second stage consultation were received.

 

The committee considered and supported the officer’s recommendation to retain the number of parish councillors for Cholsey Parish Council at 13.

 

RESOLVED: to agree to retain the number of parish councillors at 13 for Cholsey Parish Council.

33.

Community Governance Review - review of the size of Kidmore End Parish Council pdf icon PDF 114 KB

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

 

Minutes:

The committee considered the report of the head of legal and democratic services on whether to agree to undertake a second stage consultation proposing a reduction in the number of parish councillors for Kidmore End Parish Council from 12 to 10.

 

The committee had agreed at its meeting on 6 March 2017 to undertake a community governance review of Kidmore End Parish Council.  The parish council had requested a reduction from 12 to 10 due to the reduced electorate size and the infrequency of a full surplus of parish councillors.  One response, which was circulated at the meeting, was received at the initial consultation stage.  This was from Kidmore End Parish Council confirming their commitment to wanting a reduction in the number of parish councillors.

 

The committee considered and supported the officer’s recommendation that a second stage consultation be carried out proposing a reduction in the number of parish councillors for Kidmore End Parish Council from 12 to 10.

 

RESOLVED: to

 

1.    agree to undertake a second stage consultation proposing a reduction in the number of parish councillors for Kidmore End Parish Council from 12 to 10.

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

 

 

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South Oxfordshire District Council
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