To continue review and provide feedback on draft terms of reference for the Community Governance Review of Torbay (updated terms of reference attached).

Further to the meeting of the Working Party held on 7 December 2018, Members continued their review of the draft Terms of Reference for the Community Governance Review of Torbay. The following comments were made:

(i)         to add ‘holding of a poll’ to the timetable in paragraph 3.1;

At this junction a motion was proposed and seconded:

that the deleted words in paragraph 5.2 ‘Council believes that’ and ‘and that they can enable the continued resourcing and provision of services that residents value at the local level.’ be reinstated.

The motion was declared lost.

(Note: the Elected Mayor wanted his objection against this decision to be recorded.)

A further motion was proposed and seconded:

that the deleted words in paragraph 5.4 ‘The Council considers that’ and ‘The feeling of local community and the wishes of local inhabitants are therefore important considerations in the review.’ be reinstated.

The motion was declared lost.

(Note: the Elected Mayor wanted his objection against this decision to be recorded.)

(ii)        terms of reference to be renumbered from paragraph 5.5 onwards; and

(iii)       subject to the changes in (i) and (ii) above, the draft Terms of Reference for the Community Governance Review, as set out in the submitted report, were recommended for formal publication by the Director of Corporate Services.

To review and provide feedback on draft terms of reference for the Community Governance Review of Torbay.

Members considered the draft terms of reference for the Community Governance Review of Torbay.  Members provided the following feedback:

i)          paragraph 1.2, ‘(i.e. Torquay and Paignton)’ be removed;

ii)         paragraph 1.6, be rephrased to:

            ‘The Council is undertaking the review at this time because it considers that the establishment of town councils may allow for the provision of local services for local people that Torbay Council may be unable to sustain due to resource pressures, promote community engagement and effective local government.’;

iii)        that following paragraph 1.6 a separate paragraph be added advising that parish precepts are uncapped;

iv)        remove the title ‘The aims of the review’;

v)         that paragraph 1.10 be prefixed with ‘In addition to the reasons for the Community Governance Review set out in paragraph 1.6 above and…’; and

vi)        that the following note be added to the indicative timetable for the Community Governance Review of Torbay, ‘Note this timetable does not include a poll, should a poll need to be enacted, this timetable may change.’

At this juncture the meeting was adjourned until 3 p.m. on Monday 17 December 2018 and the remaining items will be deferred to this meeting.

To review and provide feedback on draft terms of reference for the Community Governance Review of Torbay.

At the request of the Chairman, consideration of this item was deferred to enable the Working Party to receive the further information as outlined in Minute 4 above.