Issue - meetings

RECOMMENDED:     That Council delegates to the Returning Officer the power to issue Orders under Section 91 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972 appointing Borough Councillors temporarily to Parish Councils, when required, after consultation with the proposed Borough Councillor(s) and their Group Leader (where relevant).

Reason for Decision

To streamline the process for making Orders under section 91(1), so as to protect public funds held by Parish Councils and to ensure ongoing governance of Parish Councils for the benefit of the residents of the Borough, in circumstances where a Parish Council within the Borough becomes inquorate

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The Assistant Monitoring Officer presented a report which explained that the Borough had over 100 Parish Councils in its area (Town Councils are treated as Parishes for the purpose of the report). The vast majority of those Councils collected precepts as part of Council Tax. In the event of those Parish Councils becoming inquorate, for example due to mass resignations or because an insufficient number of candidates submitted nomination papers to stand for election, this will render the Parish Council unable to take any decisions, including around the public funds that it holds.

The Local Government Act 1972 contained a provision designed to address this issue, providing that district Councils (i.e. the Borough Council) may appoint its own Councillors temporarily to make the Parish council quorate until there were a sufficient number of Parish Councillors, which will enable business to continue in the interim.

It was noted that the Corporate Performance Panel had supported the recommendations.

Under standing order 34 Councillor Dickinson commented that having attended Hunstanton Town Council’s meeting they had problems attracting councillors so they were looking into reducing the number of councillors, and suggested that others struggling to co-opt should consider the same option.

The Assistant Monitoring Officer confirmed that community governance reviews were the way to kick start the reduction in numbers.

Councillor Parish informed Members that he proposed to hold a meeting with parishes to discuss issues they may be facing.

Under standing order 34 Councillor Moriarty expressed concern that sometimes people were not keen to put themselves forward could be the conduct of some members of the community towards them. 

RECOMMENDED:      That Council delegates to the Returning Officer the power to issue Orders under Section 91 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972 appointing Borough Councillors temporarily to Parish Councils, when required, after consultation with the proposed Borough Councillor(s) and their Group Leader (where relevant).

Reason for Decision

To streamline the process for making Orders under section 91(1), so as to protect public funds held by Parish Councils and to ensure ongoing governance of Parish Councils for the benefit of the residents of the Borough, in circumstances where a Parish Council within the Borough becomes inquorate