Agenda item

The recommendations of the Constitution Committee relating to the Crewe Community Governance Review were proposed by Cllr A Martin and seconded by Cllr Marren.

At its meeting on 22 March 2012, the Committee had recommended to Council that:

§         a Crewe Parish Council should be created;

§         there should be 16 members representing 6 wards mirroring the Borough Wards;

§         the electors from the unparished part of Leighton Borough Ward should be asked whether they would prefer to be included in the proposed parish of Crewe or the existing parish of Leighton; and

§         elections should take place as soon as practicably possible.

Council, at its meeting on 19 April 2012, had deferred consideration of the recommendations of the Constitution Committee on the draft recommendation for the Crewe Community Governance Review in order that advice received from Counsel on some aspects of the Review could be taken into consideration. The matter was considered further by the Community Governance Review Sub-Committee on 27 April 2012, in the light of advice received from Counsel.

Having considered the advice of Counsel, the Sub-Committee had confirmed its support for the original recommendations of the Constitution Committee to Council but asked that further consideration be given to budgetary and precepting arrangements and to the transitional arrangements for the period leading up to parish elections.

Since the Sub-Committee’s meeting, further advice had been sought and received from Counsel, which was summarised in the minutes of the Constitution Committee.

RESOLVED

That :-

1.       the reaffirmed recommendations of the Constitution Committee, previously made to Council on 19 April 2012 be approved, namely:

a.   that the interests of effective and convenient local government and community identities in the area would be served by the creation of a new parish with a Parish Council for the unparished area of Crewe and that Parish Council be advised to consider its designation as a Town Council;

2. that the Parish should be divided into 6 wards for the purposes of election to the Parish Council, such wards to be coterminous with the existing Borough wards except that, subject to recommendation c. below, the unparished part of Leighton (Polling District 1FJ4) be incorporated into the St Barnabas parish ward, and that each ward should have the number of Parish Councillors as follows:

c.       that the electors of the unparished part of the Borough ward of Leighton be asked whether they would prefer to be included within the proposed parish of Crewe or within the existing parish of Leighton;

d.      that elections to the Crewe Parish Council should be held as soon as is practicably possible and should thereafter be synchronised with the ordinary date of Parish Council elections; and

e.      that these proposals form the basis of a second stage of public consultation and that the Boundary Commission be informed of the proposals.

2.      the proposed arrangements for the Stage 2 consultation process, as set out in paragraph 4.2 of the report to the Community Governance Review Sub-Committee on 27^th April 2012, be approved, subject to the dates being altered in line with paragraph 4 below;

3.      the proposed consultation with the electors for the unparished part of Leighton be conducted by means of a formal ballot;

4.      the indicative timetable proposed by the Sub-Committee for the latter stages of the Review be approved as follows and the project plan be amended accordingly:

5.      it be noted that Gresty Brook (Polling District 1GM2) in the Crewe South Borough Ward is already located within the parish of Shavington and accordingly does not form part of this Review; and

6.      the Community Governance Review Sub-Committee be asked to consider the detailed arrangements for setting a budget and precepting and the extent and timing of the transfer of assets to the new Parish Council, to enable the relevant provisions to be included in the Order.