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Minutes of the Extra-ordinary Meeting held in the Council Chamber

Town Hall, Bideford on Tuesday 22nd July 2008 – 6:30 pm

PRESENT:

North Ward:
Councillor M L Bushell
Councillor P S Christie
Councillor D C Fulford
Councillor T J Johns

South Ward:
Councillor C Bone
Councillor A T Inch
Councillor S G Inch
Councillor D M Ratcliff

South (Outer) Ward:
Councillor A T Powell

East Ward:
Councillor Mrs C B Church (Town Mayor)
Councillor S E L Clarke OBE
Councillor Mrs P Davies
Councillor B Lacey
Councillor R W Vanstone

IN ATTENDANCE

Mr G B McLauchlan (Town Clerk)
Mrs H Blackburn (Deputy Town Clerk)

060 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Councillors Mrs M R Bushell (North Ward – Work Commitments) and P J Pester (South Ward – Personal).

061 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA

Councillors Christie, Mrs Church, Clarke, Fulford, Lacey, A T Inch and S G Inch all declared a personal interest in agenda item 5. (Members, Torridge District Council).

062 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION

No members of the public were present.

063 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 10 July 2008 were approved and signed as a correct record.

(Vote – For: 14, Against: 0)

064 DRAFT PROPOSAL FOR UNITARY LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN DEVON

Members discussed the Boundary Committee for England’s Draft proposal for Unitary Local Government in Devon. During the discussion the following issues/suggestions were raised:

• It seems that there are no set guidelines for the Council to follow.

• A borough type system would provide for local knowledge

• A county-wide survey should be done through the Devon Association of Parish Councils.

• Parishioners should be consulted via the Council’s web site. There could be a link to the Boundary Review Document and to the Devon County Council web site with a general précis from the Council. The Council could request parishioners’ views on which services/assets they would like to see in the Council’s possession, although they can also respond directly to the Boundary Committee.

• The three tier government which was created in 1974 has worked well and maybe we should be focusing on why it has worked well.

• People are concerned about what will be sold off and what the costs to the parishioner will be.

• Many people do not have internet access and an additional alternative consultation format should be considered.

• To whom will the Community Boards be accountable and responsible?
• The Council could invite Devon Country Council to come and make a presentation before any final decisions are made.

• Concern was raised regarding discussions taking place if people do not have all the information available.

• Who are the people who are making the boundary decisions and what is their background?

• Concern was raised about the size of the proposed unitary authority as it would be the largest in the Country. The changes will have to be achieved within the existing budgets even though some redundancy payments will be necessary. Under the proposed system, Bideford will be grouped together with richer areas, severely reducing its ability to attract funding. Under the new proposal Bideford is joined together with Northam, and this probably is not acceptable to either town.

• Who will make planning decisions for Bideford. Will it be people who do not have local knowledge?

• Will there be a loss of public services? The Council should insist that Council tax is benchmarked at the lowest level.

• The Council needs to ensure that it could operate if no assets were forthcoming and that it could have the proper structure in place to maintain any assets that were returned.

• There is no proven track record of a Unitary Authority with a population of around 750,000.

• Torridge has the lowest per capita income in the whole of country. The area has declined gradually under Devon County Council control and the proposed option would allow this to continue.

• The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England advises that rural areas require a fundamentally different strategy to metropolitan areas. This means that two different policies would be required as it would not be workable to have a rural economy grouped together with a metropolitan economy.

• The area has failed to receive EU grants due to richer areas in the County raising the general level of wealth.

• The lowest levels of Council tax will have to rise to a median. It cannot be set to current lowest levels as this will ultimately reduce the Unitary Authority’s revenue.

• Approximately 70% of the seats will be in South and East Devon. South Devon councillors will always vote to their benefit. Therefore, North Devon will not have a voice.

• A meeting involving Barnstaple and the Members of Parliament was suggested.

Councillor Christie proposed that the Council does not support the proposal for a Unitary Authority.

Following further discussion Councillor Inch moved the following amendment to the proposal:

“That this Council reject the two proposal options put forward by the Boundary Committee for the following reasons:

• There is no proven track record of a Unitary Authority with a population of 750,000.

• Torridge has the lowest per capita income in the whole country. The area has declined gradually under Devon County Council control and the proposed option would allow this to continue.

• The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England advises that rural areas require a fundamentally different strategy to metropolitan areas. This means that two different policies would be required as it would not be workable to have a rural economy grouped together with a metropolitan economy.

• The area has failed to receive EU grants due to richer areas in the County raising the general level of wealth.

• The lowest levels of Council tax will have to rise to a median. It cannot be set to current lowest levels as this will ultimately reduce the Unitary Authority’s revenue.

• Approximately 70% of the seats will be in South and East Devon. South Devon councillors will always vote to their benefit. Therefore, North Devon will not have a voice.

A letter detailing this recommendation should be sent to; the Secretary of State for, Communities and Local Government, the Boundary Committee, Torridge District Council, Members of Parliament for Torridge & West Devon and North Devon.”

RESOLVED: That the amended proposal be supported.

(Vote – For: 10, Against: 2, Abstentions: 2)

Proposed by Councillor Inch, seconded and

RESOLVED: That the resolutions be put on the Council’s web site with a link to the Boundary Committee consultation document together with a comments page on the Council’s web site to allow parishioners to forward their comments.

(Vote – For: 14, Against: 0)

(Councillor Clarke left the meeting).

Proposed by Councillor Inch, seconded and

RESOLVED: That the Council’s response be sent to all town councils within the Torridge and North Devon area and Okehampton and the Devon Association of Parish Councils

(Vote – For: 13, Against: 0)

065 COMMUNICATION BROUGHT FORWARD ON THE DIRECTION OF THE MAYOR

The Mayor/Town Clerk advised that:

• The Council needs to consider which assets it would require to function following the changeover and should consider making representation to those authority’s who own the assets. A discussion followed on obtaining a list of assets and how they would be funded and managed. The following were named as potential assets; the Town Hall, Library, Bridge Buildings, Victoria Park, trusteeship of the football ground, harbour, Pollyfield and Chudleigh Fort.
• It was agreed to place an item on the agenda for the next meeting to discuss the assets that the Council would like returned, with consideration being given to a working party being set up to investigate the feasibility of the Council to run these. The subject of the harbour will also be placed on the agenda as a separate issue.
• The Mayor advised that the Council needs to appoint a solicitor to oversee the documents pertaining to the planning application for the development of land at Pollyfield. This Town Clerk advised that the cost of this could be incorporated into the costs already agreed as part of the planning process.

066 ALLOTMENTS COMMITEE

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2008 were approved and the decisions duly ratified.

(Vote – For: 13, Against: 0)

067 MARKET MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

The Chairman of the Committee advised that Councillor Bone had been present at the meeting but his name had been omitted from the Minutes. The Minutes were amended to show the amendment. The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2008 were then approved and the decisions duly ratified.

(Vote – For: 13, Against: 0)

The business of the meeting having been concluded the Mayor thanked the members for their attendance at the meeting which concluded at 8.30 pm.

Signature of Town Mayor: ………………………………… Date: ………………...............