Issue - meetings

The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager stated that paragraph 2.3 of the report was to be amended to read:

“The next County Council election year is 2021.”

The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager explained that the report proposed a scoping report be considered by the Democracy and General Purposes Committee in September 2019.  Several factors had contributed to the need for a review, such as population changes and development in the Borough, while a motion to investigate Whole Council Elections had been approved at Council on 27 February 2019.

The Committee suggested that the review include an assessment of the number of Councillors required in each ward, to ensure that Councillors had balanced workloads, and that a “Councillor per population” ratio would help to inform calculations.  Furthermore, it was stated that the public consultation results on four yearly elections, from December 2010, were to be considered during the review.

RESOLVED: That:

1.  A Democratic Representation Review be agreed and timetabled into the Democracy and General Purposes work programme.

2.  The review be carried out by the full committee, with the possibility of smaller 4-5 member, working groups reserved for specific issues in the future.

3.  That the Democracy and General Purposes Committee agree to proceed the work on Whole Council Elections.

4.  A consultation be carried out with Members to identify any further issues with electoral boundaries, or other similar matters, with the results used to inform a scoping report, for the next meeting of Democracy and General Purposes Committee.

Voting: Unanimous