Agenda item

Parish Charter

Minutes:

Councillor Paul Myers Cabinet Member for Policy, Localism and Partnerships and Rosemary Nash, BANES ALCA Group, gave a presentation to the Panel which covered the following:

 

·  Background

·  51 Parish town and village councils

·  Aim

·  The review

·  Shared and common issues

·  Draft revised Charter

·  Our Core Commitments

·  Joint Principles for the devolution of services to parish and town councils

·  Making it Happen

·  Parish Charter Toolkit

·  Next Steps

 

Panel members made the following points and asked the following questions:

 

Councillor May congratulated the Council and ALCA for the work on this document which is a positive step forward for both. He asked how the Charter would work if some Parish Council’s do not sign up to it. Councillor Myers explained that the Charter is a facility and basis for partnership which people can sign up to if they wish. Rosemary Nash added that there is bound to be some things that some parishes may not wish to sign up to but there is likely to be general sign up.

 

Councillor May asked if this system could be used instead of the many forums. Councillor Myers explained that there is a difference in the work done by Parish Councils and Forums.

 

Councillor Butters stated that Parish clusters could be revisited as some forums are not working as well as the clusters.

 

Councillor Samuel stated that he would welcome the principles in the Charter applied in his ward (Walcot) as he would like to know about things in the pipeline in his ward and be more informed. Councillor Myers referred to the Bath City Forum and added that the spirit of the Charter could be taken on. Councillor Bull suggested that a Charter for ward Councillors may be a separate piece of work.

 

Andy Thomas, Strategic Manager Communities, Strategy and Performance explained that the working group pulled together many existing commitments and working area service standards. He also stated that there are some differences between Parish Councils and Ward Councillors but the partnership approach of the Parish Charter has resonated. Regarding the comment about clustering of Parishes, he explained that these could be supported to achieve economies of scale and joint working whilst maintaining localness. He concluded that he would investigate whether some service standards in the Parish Charter can be used more widely.

 

Councillor Goodman (Bath City Forum Chair) explained that he is trying to expand the Forum. He explained that it is intended to make the forum Bath centric

 

Councillor Myers explained that because of the two systems (parish and non parish areas) it is hard to know what it is like to be in the other situation – he stated that Bath Councillors may have more access to officers but no access to resources as they do not raise a precept.

 

Councillor Butters stated that he has had some problems with a highways scheme where the Parish Council were not informed. The Divisional Director explained that he has talked to highways officers about what does and doesn’t work, budgets are under pressure and it is important that money is spent wisely.

 

It was agreed that the Panel supports the document.

 

Supporting documents: