Agenda item

Tom Clark, Head of Regulatory Services, introduced the report which informed the Committee that the Council had been petitioned to conduct Community Governance Reviews relating to the Governance and Electoral arrangements for the following: Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common and Worth Parish Councils. The Council has consulted statutory consultees on the draft Terms of Reference for these Reviews and largely their contributions have been incorporated. There is broad agreement among the parties that the Reviews commence 14 February 2022 as the Local Government Boundary Commission’s Final Recommendations relating to the Electoral Review of Mid Sussex District Council will be published 1 February 2022.

The Vice-Chairman endorsed the comments of the Head of Regulatory Services and observed that  the consultation issues must be put to the public in a balanced way.

A Member noted the additional text highlighted in red in the report for Worth Parish Council offered two potential outcomes. He said he was aware of two other options; not doing anything or Crawley Down being extracted from Worth Parish Council to form its own Council. He asked whether the two options are unduly restrictive so should the Council not wait until February for the Boundary Commission changes so all of the different potential options can be discussed rather than limiting them in the ToR with two particular options which might not be the only options.

Terry Stanley, Business Unit Leader for Democratic Services, confirmed that the Council will be developing full guidance for respondents which will be put before the next meeting of this Committee. He also confirmed that there are indeed four outcomes that can be specified in the guidance for respondents however the addition of the text in the draft ToR was requested by Worth Parish Council as part of the ToR consultation. He noted that if that text were removed it would serve only to expunge the Parish Council’s main contribution.

The Member understood the importance of listening to what the Parish Council has asked for, but his belief was that there is not a consensus with the different parties involved in the process. He felt the two options as they stood limited the scope of the ToR and might prejudice some people’s views.

The Business Unit Leader for Democratic Services offered to list all four options in order to retain the Parish Council’s contribution and the Member agreed it would be helpful to do so.

The Chairman noted that no Member wished to speak so moved to the recommendation to agree the draft Terms of Reference for the Community Governance Review of Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common which was agreed unanimously. She then moved to the recommendation to agree the draft Terms of Reference for the Community Governance Review of Worth Parish Council, including the amendment for two additional options of not doing anything or Crawley Down being extracted from Worth Parish Council to form its own Council, which was approved unanimously.

RESOLVED

The Committee:

      i.         Subject to the amendments, agreed each of the draft terms of reference.

     ii.         Noted that a further report will be provided to the next committee meeting if further consultation with statutory consultees requires additional amendments be made ahead of the Review start dates.

    iii.         Noted that further reports will be provided as the Council’s draft and final recommendations will be available at later stages of the Reviews.