Issue - meetings

Stapleford Community Governance Review Request

Meeting: 05/03/2019 - Civic Affairs Committee (Item 5)

5 Community Governance Review - Stapleford Parish Council pdf icon PDF 92 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

The Civic Affairs Committee

 

AGREED

 

A)           To the request from Stapleford Parish Council to increase the number of parish councillors from 9 to 11.

 

B)           To implement this change on Thursday 2 May 2019 (to be funded by the parish council).

Minutes:

The Development Officer presented this report, which invited the Committee to decide whether to agree to the request of Stapleford Parish Council to increase its size from 9 to 11 parish councillors and if so, when this change should be implemented. It was understood that both local members, Councillors Nick Sample and Peter Fane, had no objections to the change.

 

It was noted that the Committee had deferred making a decision at its last meeting, as it sought clear justification for the change. The Committee had requested that in future, parish councils be invited to send a representative to these meetings. The Chairman invited two Stapleford parish councillors, David Pepperell and Howard Kettell to speak. They made the following points:

·         The boundary between the village of Stapleford with 2,000 residents and Great Shelford with 5,000 residents was unclear, giving the appearance of one settlement.

·         Great Shelford Parish Council had 15 parish councillors.

·         Recent nearby developments affected Stapleford due to resulting demands on both infrastructure and for more housing.

·         There had been an increase in consultations with Stapleford Parish Council, which necessitated sending representatives to meetings outside the parish.

·         There was considerable demand from developers to build on both brownfield sites and the green belt.

·         Stapleford Parish Council were being consulted on the proposed east-west railway.

·         Usually the Parish Council met monthly, but the amount of extra business had resulted in seven extra meetings in the last year.

·         Stapleford Parish Council had sufficient funds in the budget to pay for elections in May 2019, to allow an increase to be implemented this year.

 

The Chairman thanked the two parish councillors for their attendance and the information provided.

 

Members of the Committee made the following points:

·         It was unclear if Stapleford Parish Council would be able to fill 11 vacancies.

·         There were justifiable reasons for the increase, which should be supported.

 

The Electoral Services Manager explained to the Committee that an election could be arranged for Stapleford Parish Council for 2 May 2019, which would allow the increase to be implemented then.

 

The Civic Affairs Committee unanimously

 

AGREED

 

A)           To the request from Stapleford Parish Council to increase the number of parish councillors from 9 to 11.

 

B)           To implement this change on Thursday 2 May 2019 (to be funded by the parish council).


Meeting: 04/09/2018 - Civic Affairs Committee (Item 6)

6 Stapleford Community Governance Review Request pdf icon PDF 233 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Development Officer explained that a request had been received from Stapleford Parish Council to increase the Council size from 9 to 11 parish councillors. It was noted that a reference to 12 councillors in an e-mail from the Parish Council Chairman in Appendix A was a mistake, and the official request from the Parish Council was  for an increase to 11 members.

 

Terms of reference

The Committee supported the terms of reference as laid out in Appendix B. It was agreed that including the terms of reference with the Review request was beneficial and should be repeated when possible in relation to requests concerning parish numbers.

 

Views of local members

It was understood that one of the local members was supportive of the proposed increase, the views of the other local member was unknown. It was agreed that in the future, the Committee should be informed of the views of all the local members.

 

Encouraging residents to stand as parish councillors

Concerns were expressed regarding the difficulties that Stapleford Parish Council could have in recruiting 11 parish councillors. It was suggested that the District Council could do more to promote the work of parish councils to encourage residents to stand as parish councillors. The Head of Sustainable Communities and Wellbeing assured the Committee that recently Stapleford Parish Council had been successful in encouraging residents to stand for co-option.

 

The Committee unanimously

 

AGREED       

 

A)    To the request from Stapleford Parish Council for a Community Governance Review to increase the number of parish councillors from 9 to 11; and

B)    To the draft terms of reference, as laid out in Appendix B;

C)    For staff to agree the timetable in consultation with Stapleford Parish Council.