Agenda item

The Civic Affairs Committee AGREED that: -

a)    A Community Governance Review should be undertaken to consider the future governance arrangements for the new community at Trumpington Meadows, but that it should not commence until the application for reserved matters has been registered, subject to on-going review by the Civic Affairs Committee.

b)    Officers should commence informal discussions with all interested parties immediately, with a view to taking ‘soundings’ on process, boundary treatment and governance structure.

The Civic Affairs Committee considered a report which set out Haslingfield Parish Council’s request for a Community Governance Review to be undertaken in respect of Trumpington Meadows, pursuant to the provisions of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

David Lord, Senior Lawyer, presented the report and informed Members that he had undertaken informal discussion with representatives of the Parish Council on the content of his report prior to the meeting.  Copies of the original letter from the Parish Council dated 13 February 2013 were circulated at the meeting, together with the Parish Council’s comments on the report.  Further to these informal discussions, David Lord removed reference to the occupation level of properties from the first recommendation in the report and replaced this with reference to the application for reserved matters, so that the recommendation read: -

“That the committee agrees that a Community Governance Review should be undertaken to consider the future governance arrangements for the new community at Trumpington Meadows, but that it should not commence until the application for reserved matters has been approved, subject to on-going review by the Civic Affairs Committee”.

(Councillor Ray Manning attended the meeting at this stage of proceedings).

David Lord set out some of the legal issues associated with Community Governance Reviews and Parish Councils, highlighting that a Parish Council could only be established with a minimum of 150 electors within its area.  The only other governance models that could be put in place were a Parish Meeting or a Shadow Parish Council, but it was agreed that none of these would be appropriate for Trumpington Meadows.  The second recommendation in the report, if supported, would enable officers to commence informal discussions with all interest parties and undertake a lot of the background work that would normally take place as part of a Community Governance Review.  This would help to ensure that the formal Community Governance Review, whenever it commenced, could be undertaken in a shorter timescale than usual.

Parish Councillor Bob Branch, Chairman of Haslingfield Parish Council, and John Wheelhouse, former Chairman of Haslingfield Parish Council, addressed the meeting and emphasised that parishioners were very keen to see this issue progress.  They were therefore keen for the second recommendation to reflect that officers should undertake informal discussions with all interested parties immediately.  It was also noted that the Parish Council had to set aside £3,000, which equated to 5% of its precept, for Trumpington Meadows and this amount would increase until a governance arrangement for Trumpington Meadows was resolved. 

Discussion ensued on the first recommendation, as amended, and it was suggested that the Community Governance Review should commence when the application for reserved matters was registered, rather than approved, and that this should be subject to on-going review by the Civic Affairs Committee. 

Following the proposal and seconding of a motion that was supported unanimously, the Civic Affairs Committee AGREED that: -

a)    A Community Governance Review should be undertaken to consider the future governance arrangements for the new community at Trumpington Meadows, but that it should not commence until the application for reserved matters has been registered, subject to on-going review by the Civic Affairs Committee.

b)    Officers should commence informal discussions with all interested parties immediately, with a view to taking ‘soundings’ on process, boundary treatment and governance structure.