Agenda item

To update the Council on the outcome of the consultation undertaken as part of the Community Governance Review for Little Ponton and Stroxton, and consider the recommendations of the Community Governance Review Working Group.

Note:  Councillor Pam Bosworth left the Council Chamber for the entirety of this item.

Members received an update on the outcome of the consultation undertaken as part of the Community Governance Review for Little Ponton and Stroxton.

Section 93 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 required Councils to ensure that community governance within the area under review would be reflective of the identities and interests of the community in the area and be effective and convenient.

On 29 February 2024 Full Council resolved to undertake a Community Governance Review (CGR), further to the motion considered at that meeting that had been submitted by Councillor Ben Green. The CGR Working Group met twice. The Council was required by the Act to consult with residents and third parties. This consultation closed on 19 April 2024. The aim of the first consultation stage was to gauge public opinion on the status of the community governance arrangements for the parish of Little Ponton and Stroxton and whether there were more appropriate arrangements that could be put in place. Options included the merger of Little Ponton and Stroxton with Great Ponton, the formal grouping of the two Parish Councils or changing the status of Little Ponton Parish Council to a Parish Meeting.

260 residential properties received a letter, and a total of 334 individuals could take part in the survey. In carrying out the CGR, the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 required the District Council to have regard to the identities and interest of the community. This meant that community governance arrangements should reflect and be sufficiently representative of people living across the whole community. In addition, the Council was required to have regard to the results of the consultation.

Before making any recommendations or publishing draft proposals, the Council was required to take account of the views of local people and stakeholders and ensure that the proposals reflected the identities and interests of the community in the area and were effective and convenient.

The survey indicated support for maintaining the existing arrangements – 65.9% of respondents wished for this. The Working Group suggested that the Parish Council had not held meetings since the commencement of the CGR; similarly the Parish Council had not submitted accounts for a number of years. Community governance arrangements for the area were different to the way in which the Parish Council operated. The Working Group concluded that the issues did not relate to community governance arrangements but were more operational to the Parish Council.

The Working Group asked the Monitoring Officer to write to the Parish Clerk to highlight the following:

-       The Community Governance Working Group was concerned that there was no evidence of Little Ponton and Stroxton Parish Council having held a public meeting since the commencement of the Community Governance Review

-       The Community Governance Working Group was concerned that the Parish Council had not submitted its accounts for a number of years, despite continuing to receive a precept year on year

-       Any Parish Councillor who had not attended a meeting within a six-month period would be disqualified in accordance with Section 85(1) of the Local Government Act 1972, with the District Council able to use its emergency powers to appoint local District or County Councillors as temporary Parish Councillors to ensure that the Parish Council could be quorate and conduct essential business

A response had been received highlighting that the new temporary Parish Clerk had agreed to bring the Parish Council’s accounts up to date. The clerk had now filed accounts between 2019-2023 and was working on those accounts for 2023-2024.

The following points were highlighted during debate:

• Residents had chosen the status quo, as there was not a decisive majority in favour of changing governance arrangements in the area. There were new Parish Councillors who would advertise meetings and congregate regularly. There had not been a Parish Council meeting held since February 2024.
• The Parish could not return to the days of no meetings and zero transparency.
• Parish Councils were an entity in their own right; whilst the Monitoring Officer at SKDC had powers to act on complaints against individual Parish Councillors regarding allegations of a breach of the Councillor Code of Conduct, SKDC could not have a monitoring role over parish business. The first point of contact for ensuring parish and town councils used their precept correctly would be the Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils (LALC) or the National Association of Local Councils (NALC).

Having previously been moved and seconded, following a vote it was AGREED:

DECISION

That Full Council does not propose any changes to the community governance structure for the parish of Little Ponton and Stroxton, ending the Community Governance Review process.