Agenda item

To consider the report of the Returning Officer (attached).

The Council considered a report on a Community Governance Review (CGR) for Windlesham parish. The CGR had been triggered by the receipt of a petition from electors within Windlesham village asking the Council to conduct a CGR to “create separate and devolved Parish Council for Windlesham Village and residents only.” The Council was required to conduct a CGR in response to a valid community governance petition.

Members were reminded that, in February 2019, the Council had considered a request from Windlesham Parish Council to conduct a CGR with a view to reinstating an equal number of councillors representing each village within the parish (minute 65/C refers); this request had been deferred pending further legal advice. As this item was still outstanding, the Returning Officer had considered it appropriate to include it alongside the action requested by the petitioners as part of this CGR.

The draft Terms of Reference for the CGR proposed 4 options, namely:

1.         Option 1 - To create a new parish in Windlesham and create a new Parish Council covering the area.

2.         Option 2 - To re-instate an equal number of councillors representing each village within the Parish.

3.         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.

4.         Option 4 - To make no change to the current arrangements.

Option 3 had been included as a slight variation to the Parish Council’s request, which would better meet the requirements of electoral equality.

It was moved by Councillor Victoria Wheeler and seconded by Councillor Pat Tedder that:

(i)    a community governance review of the Windlesham area within the parish of Windlesham be conducted in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 3 of Part 4 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007;

(ii)    the draft Terms of Reference, as set out in the agenda report, be amended to remove Options 2 and 3;

(iii)    the final wording of the Terms of Reference of the Community Governance Review be delegated to the Returning Officer in consultation with Ward Councillors; and

(iv)   the Returning Officer be authorised to conduct the Community Governance Review on the Council’s behalf and to take all necessary action to comply with the Council’s statutory obligations in that regard.

The proposal to remove Options 2 and 3 from this review had been moved as it was felt by some Members that the Parish Council’s request should be treated as a separate matter. Furthermore, it was suggested that the action requested in those options was unlikely to be accepted by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, as they did not best reflect electoral equality across the parish.

Members were informed that legal advice obtained by the Council had confirmed that the options included in the review were not limited to the request contained within the petition. Furthermore, the advice had stated that the proposal to include Windlesham Parish Council’s request in this review was sound.

It was moved by Councillor Rebecca Jennings-Evans and seconded by Councillor Valerie White that the motion be amended to include Options 2 and 3, as set out in the draft Terms of Reference included in the agenda report, and that the decision at minute 65/C be discontinued as a consequence of it being subsumed by this CGR. 

The amendment was put to the vote and carried. As a consequence, it became the substantive motion, which was then put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED that

(i)       a community governance review of the Windlesham area within the parish of Windlesham be conducted in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 3 of Part 4 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007;

(ii)      the Terms of Reference of the Community Governance Review including the proposed timetable, as set out in Annex C to this report, be approved and published;

(iii)     the Returning Officer be authorised to conduct the Community Governance Review on the Council’s behalf and to take all necessary action to comply with the Council’s statutory obligations in that regard; and

(iv)     as a consequence of the item being subsumed by this review, the decision deferred by the Council at its meeting on 27 February 2019 be discontinued.

Note 1: In accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct, Councillors Peter Barnett, Sharon Galliford, Rebecca Jennings-Evans, Sam Kay, and Valerie White declared that they were members of Windlesham Parish Council.

Note 2: it was noted for the record that the following declarations were made:

(i)            Councillor Emma-Jane McGrath declared that the petition had been available in her shop;

(ii)          Councillor Pat Tedder declared that she had collected signatures for the petition;

(iii)         Councillor Victoria Wheeler declared that she met with members of the Windlesham Society and had discussed the matter with residents whilst canvassing for the May 2019 elections; and

(iv)         Councillor Valerie White declared that she had met the petitioners before the publication of the draft Terms of Reference in the agenda.