Agenda item

To consider a report of the Head of Licensing and Registration in respect of initial proposals for the joint polling district review and community governance review of parish and town councils and to agree the initial proposals to be published on 3 October 2017 for the second consultation period of the review.

Further to minute 29 of the meeting held on 10th May 2017 the Head of Elections, Licensing and Registration submitted a report asking General Purposes Committee to consider the Initial Proposals for the Joint Polling District and Community Governance Review. The report was also seeking agreement for the Initial Proposals to be published on 3rd October 2017 for the second consultation period of the review.

The report set out: -

• Background information;
• Details of the review process;
• Details of the Review of Polling Districts and Places;
• Details of the Community Governance Review of all Parish and Town Councils;
• Results of the preliminary stage; and
• Returning Officer’s comments.

ln presenting the report the Head of Elections, Licensing and Registration informed the Committee of the following and responded to Members comments and queries: -

• That in addition to the representation received from Swillington Parish Council during the initial consultation period, the Parish Council had submitted additional comments after the closing date for receipt of representations.  Members noted that these could either be considered at this meeting or considered as part of the next consultation period;
• That the Clerk to the Barwick-in-Elmet and Scholes Parish Council had made a late request asking for a referendum to take place in respect of the proposals for that Parish Council.  Members noted that there was no provision for conducting a referendum as part of the community governance review process and Members had rejected previous requests of this nature in previous reviews due to the costs associated with a referendum;
• That on the morning of the meeting he had received a telephone call from the Clerk to the Ledston Parish Council assuring him that improved administrative processes would be put in place at the Parish Council in future; and
• That following the second consultation period there would be a further report back to the General Purposes Committee to recommend the Final Proposals on 11th December 2017.

At the conclusion of the discussion on the item it was

RESOLVED: -

a) To note that the summary of representations set out in Appendix B that had cross-party support (by parties who expressed a view) and in each case was confirmed as an Initial Proposal whilst having regard to the resolutions at b (i), (ii) and (iii);

b)   (i)To agree that the additional representation made by Swillington Parish Council after the closing date for receipt of representations be included and considered as part of the second consultation period;

  (ii)That the request from the Barwick-in-Elmet and Scholes Parish Council for a referendum to take place in respect of the proposals for that Parish Council be not supported due to the costs associated with a referendum and that the normal consultation process be used as the mechanism for electors to make any representations; and

  (iii) That in respect of the Ledston Parish Council proposals officers arrange a meeting with representatives of the Parish Council and Ward Members to look at this matter further.  However, the recommendation to abolish Ledston parish Council will remain as an Initial Proposal for electors to make any representations.

c) To confirm that the summary of representations set out in Appendix C were rejected and would not form part of the Initial Proposals for the reasons given in the appendix; and

d) To note that the Initial Proposals agreed today would be published for further consultation from 3 October 2017 to 14 November 2017 and will return to General Purposes Committee on 11 December 2017 to agree on the authority's Final Proposals.