Agenda item

Members were reminded that the Council had received of a petition from electors within Windlesham village asking the Council to conduct a Community Governance Review (CGR) to “create separate and devolved Parish Council for Windlesham Village and residents only.”  The Council at its meeting on 24 July 2020 had agreed that a CGR of the Windlesham area within the parish of Windlesham be conducted.

The Council received a report which analysed the feedback from the initial consultations and provided further guidance on the statutory community governance review process in order to assist the Council in determining a way forward in relation to the future arrangements for Windlesham Parish Council (WPC).

Four possible options had been put forward for public consultation:

·         Option 1: To create a new parish in Windlesham and create a new Parish Council covering the area as per the petitioners’ request.

·         Option 2: To re-instate an equal number of councillors representing each village within Windlesham Parish Council. This option reflected a request received from WPC in January 2019.

·         Option 3: To create a new parish ward for North Windlesham and amend the councillor representation in the parish wards to best reflect electoral equality in the parish.

·         Option 4: To make no change to the current arrangements.

The consultation had run for an eleven week period between 5 August and 28 October 2019.  Letters had been sent to all households in the WPC area and to elected representatives, WPC, Surrey County Council and the Windlesham Society. In addition, information about the consultation had published on the Council’s website and publicised through the Council’s social media channels and the Council’s residents Heathscene magazine.

At the close of the consultation period, 668 individual responses had been received, which equated to 4.9% of electorate in the whole of the WPC area.  Of these, a total of 507 responses were received from Windlesham residents which equated to 14.7% of the electors registered in Windlesham. The Council received a breakdown of responses by area.

Members were advised that 74.7% of respondents had chosen Option 1, 7.0% Option 2, 3.9%, Option 3 and 14.4% for Option 4.  The comments made in relation to each of these options had been examined and set out in detail together with examples of community governance reviews undertaken by other local authorities.

It was noted that although the Windlesham Community Governance Review had generated considerable interest within Windlesham, 95% of electors in the current WPC area (and 85.31% of electors in Windlesham village) had not responded to the consultation.  Government guidance was clear that community governance arrangements should reflect and be sufficiently representative, of people living across the whole community and not just a discrete cross section of it.

As a result the Returning Officer, after careful consideration, had come to the conclusion that at this juncture a 5% overall response rate, and a less than 15% response rate from residents of Windlesham village, did not represent significant support for the creation of a standalone parish council, either within the Windlesham village area or within the broader community.  He had therefore recommended not to proceed to a further stage of the Community Governance Review process.

It was moved by Councillor Fitzgerald and seconded by Councillor Morgan Rise that the recommendation as set out at (iii) on the agenda paper be amended to read

“To proceed with Option 3 - to create a new parish ward for North Windlesham and amend the councillor representation in the parish wards to best reflect electoral equality in the parish.”

However following debate Councillor Tim Fitzgerald, with the consent of his seconder agreed to withdrew his motion.

It was proposed by Councillor Victoria Wheeler and seconded by Councillor Rodney Bates that

“The Council continues to the next stage of the Review, that a working party that included representatives from the various residents associations, the petitioners, officers and all impacted Borough Councillors and representatives from WPC be formed to agree the terms of reference and the options to consider.”

The motion was put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED that

(i)        the Council continues to the next stage of the Community Governance Review;

(ii)      a Working Group be formed to agree the terms of reference and the options to consider in the next stage of the review; and

(iii)     the Working Group includes representatives from the various residents associations, the petitioners, officers, all impacted Borough Councillors and representatives from Windlesham Parish Council.

Note 1: In accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct, the following declarations were made:

(i)    Councillors Peter Barnett, Sharon Galliford, Rebecca Jennings-Evans and Valerie White declared non-pecuniary interests as they were members of Windlesham Parish Council;

(ii)  Councillor Emma-Jane McGrath and Councillor Pat Tedder declared non-pecuniary interests as they were members of the Windlesham Society and also declared they had met with residents.

Note 2: It was noted for the record that Councillor Alan McClafferty and Councillor Victoria Wheeler declared they had met with residents.