Agenda and minutes

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests in any item on the agenda.

No interests were declared.

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos.11 and 35 a period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the meeting on any matter relevant to the work of the meeting. Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers. Members of the public are not required to give notice to use this facility. However, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours’ notice is encouraged.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide three clear working days’ notice, in writing, in order for an informed answer to be given.

Mr Steve Dempsey of the Styal Village Association expressed his strong support for a parish council for Styal. In this respect, he felt that the use of the term ‘town council’ for all options for community governance in the unparished areas of Wilmslow, Handforth and Styal was inappropriate and potentially misleading and that the appropriate term for use in relation to Styal was ‘parish’, which reflected the wording used in the Styal petition.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd March 2010.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd March 2010 be approved as a correct record.

To consider a Briefing Paper providing an update on the Wilmslow Community Governance Review.

Members considered a briefing paper on a number of issues relating to the Community Governance Review.

(1)   Terminology to be used in Documentation and Publicity about the Review

The Sub-Committee at the last meeting had decided that to avoid confusion to the public it would prefer to refer to the term “town council” in all documentation published about the review. The intention was to try to avoid reference to several different terms, such as “parish council”, “community council” and “town council”. 

Members were invited to reconsider their decision on the matter in light of the actual wording of the three petitions received. All three petitions had referred generically to the constitution of a new ‘parish’. Each petition then went on to propose a different title for the body concerned, namely ‘community council’ for Handforth, ‘town council’ for Wilmslow and Handforth, and ‘parish council’ for Styal.

The legislation relating to Community Governance reviews (Section 87 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007) specified that the principal council must make recommendations as to what new parish, or parishes (if any) should be constituted; must make recommendations as to the name of the new parish; must make recommendations as to whether or not the new parish should have a parish council; and whether or not the new parish should have one of the alternative styles.

Under section 245 of the Local Government Act 1972, a parish could be given the status of a town. “Town” status continued to be available to a parish. In addition, the 2007 Act offered a further choice of styles: community, neighbourhood and village. Where a community governance review related to a new parish, it was for the principal council in the first instance to make recommendations as to the name of the parish, taking account of the views and preferences of people living in the area.

Given this background, Members acknowledged that the use of the term ‘town council’ only at this early stage could be confusing to those people who had signed the Handforth and Styal petitions, which did not refer to a town council.                    

RESOLVED

That the term ‘parish Council’ be adopted as the sole generic term to be used in all documentation associated with the Community Governance Review. An explanation of the term be included in all publicity and consultation documentation, together with a description of all the possible styles of term which could emerge from the review.

(2)   Public Meetings

Members noted that it had not been possible to confirm Honford Hall as the venue for the public meeting on 28^th April. Arrangements had now been made for the meeting to be held at Handforth Youth and Community Centre, Old Road, Wilmslow. The public notice had been amended accordingly and would appear in the press during week commencing 12^th April to provide two weeks' notice of the public meetings.     

It was proposed that each of the public meetings begin with a preamble, outlining the nature of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

To agree the date of the next meeting.

To be agreed.