PAPER C

 

                                                                                                              Purpose : For Decision

                        REPORT TO COUNCIL

 

Date :              21 JULY 2004

 

Title :               ESTABLISHMENT OF A PARISH COUNCIL FOR FISHBOURNE

                       

REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

 

IMPLEMENTATION DATE : IMMEDIATE

 

 

SUMMARY/PURPOSE

 

1.            On 17th May 2004 the Isle Of Wight Council received a petition calling for the creation of a “Fishbourne Parish Council” with the boundaries as set out in the map included with Appendix A. The Council, within three months, has to pass the petition onto the Secretary Of State as received, along with the Council’s views on the petition and any information the Council has relating to local opinion on the proposal. The Council may also make recommendations on various “electoral matters”, and on the proposed boundary of the Parish Council.

 

CONFIDENTIAL/EXEMPT ITEMS

 

2.      None. Since the Petition was received we have undertaken a period of consultation including the use of an Official Notice, letters to the neighbouring Parish Council, and a Public Meeting.

 

BACKGROUND

 

3.      The petition was received on 17th May 2004, and the petition, along with associated maps, comments and recommendations must be passed to the Secretary Of State by 16th August 2004. Appendix A contains a summary of the feedback that has been received during the consultation process.

 

STRATEGIC CONTEXT

 

  1. The Isle Of Wight Council has an existing policy of supporting the creation of Parish Councils, where there is a demand from the electorate. The extension or creation of Parish Councils will fit comfortably with one of the aspirations of the Isle of Wight Community Strategy 2002-2012, viz: “To help local communities become more involved in making local decisions.”

 

CONSULTATION

 

5.      Due to tight timescales imposed by the Local Government and Rating Act 1997, a period of public consultation was commenced upon receipt of the petition. The details of this consultation are attached in Appendix A.

 

FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPLICATIONS

 

6.      Some expenditure has already been incurred with the consultation process, all of which has been met from within existing budgets.

 

7.      The costs of running the Parish Council will be met from any precept levied. The costs of running elections can be controlled by ensuring that boundaries are, where appropriate, coterminous with Electoral Divisions to avoid small and fragmented Polling Districts. Little additional expenditure would be anticipated, as changes to Polling Districts can be effected easily via our existing computer systems.

 

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

 

8.      The petition has been submitted under the Local Government and Rating Act 1997 and as detailed above the Isle of Wight Council has to, within three months, pass the petition and plan, as they are received, to the Secretary of State with any comments that the Council may make.

 

9.      It will be for the Secretary of State (in this case the Deputy Prime Minister) to determine if a Parish Council is created as a consequence of the petition. The Council can only express views on the proposal.

 

OPTIONS

 

10. The Isle of Wight Council can make recommendations to the Secretary Of State on a number of options:

 

  1. The Council may conclude that it does not wish to make any recommendations or comments on the petition;

 

  1. The Council may conclude that it supports the creation of the Parish Council;

 

13. The Council may make recommendations on the number of Councillors who should serve on the Parish Council, and whether or not the Parish Council should be divided into wards.

 

EVALUATION/RISK MANAGEMENT

 

14. The map submitted with the Petition seeks to emparish part of one Isle of Wight Council Electoral Division, that of Binstead, and does not include any area of land that is currently parished.

 

15. The Isle of Wight Council is also being asked to make recommendations on the number of Councilors who should serve on the Parish Council, along with the possible warding of the Council.

 

16. Number of members:  At the Public Meeting, those present were unanimously in favour of having six members serving on the Parish Council. The population of the proposed Parish Council area will be roughly 640, and this puts it on a par with both Calbourne and Shorwell who have six members each.

 

17. Warding: Wards are used to ensure that separate communities within the Parish Council area are adequately represented.  There is only one main body of population within the proposed Parish Council area, that being the area of Fishbourne itself. The rest of the population is distributed over the remainder of the area, with no other population concentrations.

 

18. It was the unanimous view of the Public Meeting that the area should not be divided into Wards, and that the population do indeed see themselves as one cohesive whole. It is therefore recommended that the area is not divided into Parish Council Wards.

 

19. These options accord with the Councils policy of creating Parish Councils “where there is a demand.”

 

20. Risks are minimal with this process. Officers must ensure that any recommendation for emparishment is put forward to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in accordance with the provisions contained within the Local Government and Rating Act 1997.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

 

21. Given the feedback obtained from the Public Meeting, it is recommended that:

 

a.      That the Isle of Wight Council support the petition for the establishment of the “Fishbourne” Parish Council.

 

b.      That boundaries of the Parish Council be as defined by the map presented with the Petition (and as set out in Appendix A).

 

c.      That the Parish Council should consist of six members.

 

d.      That the Parish Council area should not be divided into Wards.

 

 

BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

22. Appendix A – Consultation, Feedback and map of proposed Parish area

 

Contact Point :           Clive Joynes, Electoral Services Officer (01983) 823341

 

 

M J A FISHER

Chief Executive Officer

 

Appendix A

 

Petition for the creation of “Fishbourne” Parish Council

 

1.            Background:

 

1.1    The Isle Of Wight Council received a petition on 17th May 2004 calling for the creation of a “Fishbourne Parish Council”. The Council is obliged to pass the petition onto the Secretary of State as received within a period of thirteen weeks of receipt, along with the Council’s views on the petition and any information the Council has relating to local opinion on the proposal. The Council may also make recommendations to vary the proposed boundary of the Parish Council.

 

2.            Consultation:

 

2.1    An Official Notice was placed in the Isle Of Wight County Press, and copies were subsequently placed strategically around the Fishbourne area. The notice give the locations of where a map of the proposed boundary could be viewed, and requested that any comments on the boundary itself or the subsequent electoral arrangements be submitted to the Council by Monday 5th July 2004.

 

2.2       The one Parish Council which adjoins the proposed Parish Council area was invited to comment, as were members of the Isle of Wight Council whose Electoral Divisions were either covered by, or adjacent to, the proposed area, along with the MP for the Isle Of Wight, Andrew Turner.

 

2.3       A public meeting was held in the Royal Victoria Yacht Club on the evening of Monday 5th July; this meeting had been publicised in the Official Notices, and locally by the petition organisers, along with an article in the Isle of Wight County Press.

 

2.5    This report details the consultation work undertaken with stakeholders regarding the petition for the creation of a “Fishbourne” Parish Council, the feedback received, and makes recommendations to Council in the light of that consultation.

 

3.            The Public Meeting:

 

3.1    The Public Meeting was held at 7:00pm in the Royal Victoria Yacht Club on Monday 5th July 2004. A large-scale map of the area contained within the map submitted with the petition was on display.

 

3.2       It was noted that the proposed area included part of one Isle of Wight Council electoral division, and did not include any land that was already emparished.

 

4.      Feedback from the Public Meeting:

 

4.1       Around 18 people attended the public meeting, all of whom lived within the area in question.

 

4.2       The meeting provided a good deal of positive feedback for the creation of the Parish Council. Of those present, only one person raised any degree of objection to the proposals, mainly focused around the extra precept that would have to be levied, and the need to actually have a Parish Council.

 

4.3       After an initial discussion on the establishment of a Parish Council, a show of hands was taken on the question of whether those present were in favour of the creation of such a body. All of those present voted, with one person voting against the proposals.

 

4.4       Finally the possible electoral arrangements for the Parish Council were discussed. All of those present favoured six councillors, whilst it was unanimously agreed that the area should not be divided into wards.

 

4.5       The overriding impression obtained from the meeting was one of almost universal agreement, with people from all parts of the area agreeing to co-operate to see their plans brought to fruition, and without any possible sub-division into factions through the warding of the area.

 

4.6       A further show of hands was taken at the end of meeting; at this point all of those present were in favour of the formation of the Parish Council.

 

5.     Results of the Consultation Process:

 

5.1       Other than the feedback received during the course of the Public Meeting, very few other comments were received regarding the content of the petition for the creation of the Parish Council.

 

5.2       No correspondence was received from any member of the public, nor from the adjacent Parish Council (Wootton Bridge).

 

5.3       At the Public Meeting it was suggested that Abbot Cuthbert at Quarr Abbey be asked which fields belonged to the Abbey, and whether or not he felt that the whole of the Quarr Abbey estate should be included within the proposed Parish Council area. It was not possible to contact Abbot Cuthbert prior to this report being distributed, but the Abbot has been written to, in order to ask if the Abbey has any specific views on this issue.

 

6.0       Recommendations:

 

6.1       All recommendations associated with the proposed Parish Council are contained within the main body of the report.

 

    

Contact Point: Clive Joynes, Electoral Services Officer. Tel 823341

                          [email protected]