Contact your Parish Council
Democracy and General Purposes Committee |
22June 2022 |
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Community Governance Review Timetable |
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Final Decision-Maker |
Democracy and General Purposes Committee |
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Lead Head of Service |
Angela Woodhouse, Head of Policy, Communications and Governance |
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Lead Officer and Report Author |
Ryan O’Connell, Democratic and Electoral Services Manager |
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Classification |
Public
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Wards affected |
All |
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Executive Summary |
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This report provides an update to the Committee on the Council’s Community Governance Review and sets out the broad timetable for it.
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Purpose of Report
Noting
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This report makes the following recommendations to this Committee: |
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1. That the Community Governance Review timetable (2.9) be noted.
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Timetable |
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Meeting |
Date |
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Democracy and General Purposes Committee |
22 June 2022 |
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Community Governance Review Timetable |
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1. CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS
Issue |
Implications |
Sign-off |
Impact on Corporate Priorities |
The Community Governance Review will not have a direct impact on Corporate Priorities or Cross Cutting Objectives but impacts on all of them indirectly as it relates to the democratic and governance structure of the borough.
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Democratic and Electoral Services Manager |
Cross Cutting Objectives |
See above |
Democratic and Electoral Services Manager
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Risk Management |
See risks below
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Democratic and Electoral Services Manager
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Financial |
The cost of running the review will be conducted as an opportunity cost from existing budgets.
There may be longer term impacts and funding considerations that arise from the review if, for example, funding was required to start up new parish councils and offer financial support, but any of those factors will be considered in future reports and as part of the review.
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Democratic and Electoral Services Manager
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Staffing |
We will deliver the recommendations with our current staffing. It should be noted that there are numerous change activities underway (Local Government Boundary Review, Parliamentary Boundary Review, Whole Council Elections, new governance model) in Democratic and Electoral Services and whilst this review will be run as an opportunity cost, if additional risks (such as a General Election, or other unscheduled project) materialises then this will need to be considered in the team’s resourcing.
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Democratic and Electoral Services Manager
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Legal |
The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 provides for a Principal Council to undertake community governance reviews and take decisions on parish areas. |
Interim Deputy Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer. |
Privacy and Data Protection |
None |
Policy and Information Team |
Equalities |
Equalities will be considered as part of the review process. |
Equalities & Communities Officer |
Public Health
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None |
Democratic and Electoral Services Manager
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Crime and Disorder |
None |
Democratic and Electoral Services Manager
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Procurement |
None |
Democratic and Electoral Services Manager
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Biodiversity and Climate Change |
Biodiversity and Climate Change will be factored into individual decisions that come forward on the project as appropriate. |
Biodiversity and Climate Change Manager |
2. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
2.1 The Local Government Boundary Commission for England is underway with its boundary review. The second stage consultation with their draft proposals is expected at the beginning of July with the Commission considering them in mid-June.
2.2 Following that Boundary Review it will be necessary to conduct a Community Governance Review. Whilst the LGBCE’s review focuses on the Borough Council’s wards, a Community Governance Review is conducted entirely by Maidstone Borough Council as the Principal Authority and focuses on Parish Councils in the Borough. The review can create, dissolve, combine and change parishes.
2.3 Community Governance Reviews can focus on a specific part of a Borough or the whole Borough and they can be conducted for specific purposes (i.e. issues have arisen in a particular parish) or more widely. There is a general expectation that a community governance review will be conducted regularly (once every 10 to 15 years) for the whole Borough to ensure that Parish boundaries continue to reflect the communities of the Borough and are effective. In this case Maidstone has not conducted a borough wide review for longer than that period so are due to conduct one. This was under discussion by the Democracy and General Purposes Committee prior to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England agreeing to conduct their boundary review. However, the significant impact of the Local Government Boundary Review substantially increases the need for a review.
2.4 There will be a significant amount of work to conducting a successful review. The requirements are fairly broad and can be summarised as the Council needs to consult those impacted by it (i.e. parishes and other bodies) and the Council needs to ensure that community governance within the area under review will be:
· Reflective of the identities and interests of the community in that area; and
· Effective and convenient
Further information can be found in the Government guidance on conducting a review; a link to which is provided under background papers below.
2.5 The timetable set out for the Committee to note is not a precise timetable. The aim at this stage is to programme the work in amongst a number of other activities, to give the community a heads up as to the timings, and to advise Members what to expect.
2.6 There are several key factors in arriving at this timetable:
· The maximum length a review can run from publication of its Terms of Reference is 12 months.
· In order to feed into the Electoral Register for May 2024 elections the new boundaries will need to be in place and new polling districts in place in the register by November 2023
· The timetable proposed schedules activities outside of election periods, and allows some contingency before November 2023.
2.7 Two consultation periods have been allowed for in the timetable. The first consultation will be very broad and open in nature, looking to understand the needs of the community, whether any changes (such as additional parishes) are desired, and gather current issues with parish boundaries.
2.8 The second consultation will be on more specific proposals for parishes and communities to comment on. As well as the consultation periods, discussions and activities with Members and parishes will be held to gather specific information.
2.9
DATE |
ACTIVITY |
TIMING |
DECISION POINTS |
June 22 |
Timetable |
Pre-review |
D&GP |
July 22 |
Consult KALC/Councillors on ToR |
Pre-review |
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August 22 |
Consult KALC/Councillors on ToR |
Pre-review |
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September 22 |
Agree ToR |
0 |
D&GP, Council |
October 22 |
Publish ToR |
1 |
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November 22 |
Consultation 1 |
2 |
D&GP |
December 22 |
Consultation 1 |
3 |
Council |
January 23 |
Consultation 1 |
4 |
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February 23 |
Proposals |
5 |
D&GP, Council |
March 23 |
Proposals |
6 |
D&GP |
April 23 |
Consultation 2 |
7 |
Council |
May 23 |
Consultation 2 |
8 |
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June 23 |
Consultation 2 |
9 |
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July 23 |
Proposals Amended |
10 |
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August 23 |
Proposals Amended |
11 |
D&GP (tbc) |
September 23 |
End |
12 |
Council (tbc) |
October 23 |
Contingency |
- |
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November 23 |
Contingency |
- |
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Note
· Election time April 2023 and May 2023 time during the second consultation;
· Electoral Register deadline for new polling districts – November 2023
3. AVAILABLE OPTIONS
3.1 The Committee can note the report or consider suggested amendments to the timetable.
4. PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1 That the report be noted.
5. RISK
5.1 The
direct risks arising from this report are minimal. The review itself will carry
risks around not achieving its objectives and impacts on communities. These
will be considered in full when the review progresses.
6. CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK
6.1 The officer attended a meeting of KALC on 13 June 2022. Consultation with relevant stakeholders is a key part of the community governance review process and has been included in the timetable at paragraph 2.6.
7. NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION
7.1 Officers will work up more detailed review plans, including the Terms of Reference for the Committee, and others, to consider. Once those are agreed and published the review begins and has 12 months to run.
8. REPORT APPENDICES
None
9. BACKGROUND PAPERS
Community Governance Review Guidance - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/8312/1527635.pdf