Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Marcus Prouse Email: m.prouse@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk and Clare Rendell Email: c.rendell@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk 

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Items
No. Item

31.

Apologies

32.

Declarations of Interest

    To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

     

    (The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Members present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor or Clerk of a County, Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-

     

    Name

    Minute No.

    Description of Interest

    Reason

    Action Taken

    Cllr L Baker

    All Items

    Cheddon Fitzpaine & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr M Blaker

    All Items

    Wiveliscombe

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr P Bolton

    All Items

    Minehead

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr C Booth

    All Items

    Wellington and Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr N Cavill

    All Items

    West Monkton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Coles

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr C Ellis

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr A Govier

    All Items

    SCC & Wellington

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr Mrs Hill

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr J Hunt

    All Items

    SCC & Bishop’s Hull

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr R Lees

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Lees

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Lisgo

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr J Lloyd

    All Items

    Wellington & Sampford Arundel

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Nicholls

    All Items

    Comeytrowe

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr C Palmer

    All Items

    Minehead

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Perry

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr M Peters

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr H Prior-Sankey

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr M Rigby

    All Items

    SCC & Bishops Lydeard

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr F Smith

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr F Smith-Roberts

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr V Stock-Williams

    All Items

    Wellington

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr R Tully

    All Items

    West Monkton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr T Venner

    All Items

    Minehead

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr A Wedderkopp

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Wedderkopp

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr B Weston

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Whetlor

    All Items

    Watchet

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr G Wren

    All Items

    Clerk to Milverton PC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

     

    The following Councillors further declared a personal interest as they were a member of the Facebook Group Unitary Somerset – Your Views:-

    L Baker, M Blaker, C Booth, K Durdan, C Ellis, E Firmin, R Habgood, A Hadley, J Hassall, J Hunt, L Lisgo, F Smith, F Smith-Roberts, A Sully, L Whetlor and G Wren.

33.

Public Participation - To receive only in relation to the business for which the Extraordinary Meeting has been called any questions, statements or petitions from the public in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 14,15 and 16

    The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

     

    For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

     

    Temporary measures during the Coronavirus Pandemic

    Due to the Government guidance on measures to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), we will holding meetings in a virtual manner which will be live webcast on our website. Members of the public will still be able to register to speak and ask questions, which will then be read out by the Governance and Democracy Case Manager during Public Question Time and will either be answered by the Chair of the Committee, or the relevant Portfolio Holder, or be followed up with a written response.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Mr Chris Mann spoke on agenda number 7, Stronger Somerset Business Case:-

    He was pleased that the four Somerset district councils were not opposed to a unitary authority because council tax was so expensive in comparison with income tax.

    Firstly, because two tier caused misallocation of income and priorities between district and county that would not happen under a single unitary council.  Whilst Somerset County Council had struggled with funding essential social and child care, Somerset West and Taunton seemed to have plenty of money for diverse projects.

    Secondly, because the cumulative savings were huge.  If councillors had voted for a unitary authority in 2007, they could have saved their citizens £200m in total annual savings plus £89m by not approving the defensive Southwest One, the unnecessary Ignite transformation and recent property renovation and speculation.

    Devolving some services to parish and town councils if they wanted it would bring new clarity, focus, democracy and authority to the area where people actually live, especially to 30,000 Taunton citizens who didn’t have a town council.

    The four district councils proposed Stronger Somerset with two unitary councils.  Each would then need staff to run all the important care and highway services now provided by our single county council.  Stronger Somerset proposed a new additional Joint Enabling Service and an Integrated Delivery Service to combine two unitaries in a connected Somerset.

    A single unitary Somerset council with 560,000 citizens would be better than two unitaries in matching the health system area critical to support an ageing population and thereby avoided the need for time-consuming negotiations across two authorities.  One authority avoided unbalance and a larger concentration of deprivation in the west, and would also most reduce costs by properly utilising the massive improvements in communications and technology over the last 50 years.  With one management team and 100 councillors, a single unitary had a big advantage over two unitaries of twice the annual transition savings, nearly four times the estimated five year savings and the shortest payback time. 

    Of course, One Somerset also gave the strongest voice for Somerset.

     

    The Leader of the Council thanked Mr Mann for his comments.

34.

To receive any communications or announcements from the Chair of the Council

35.

To receive any communications or announcements from the Leader of the Council

36.

To receive only in relation to the business for which the Extraordinary Meeting has been called any questions from Councillors in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13

37.

Stronger Somerset- Business Case pdf icon PDF 312 KB

    This matter is the responsibility of the Leader of the Council, Councillor Federica Smith-Roberts.

     

    This report presents the Business Case for Full Council’s consideration.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

    ·         The Chair of Scrutiny gave feedback from the discussions had at the Scrutiny Committee.  This included comments that the New Council would need to be reformed for the community, concerns were raised on devolution of responsibilities to the Town and Parish Councils and the impact on their precepts and also concern on staffing levels.  Overall the Scrutiny Committee gave their support for the Stronger Somerset campaign.

    ·         Councillors highlighted that they believed the Stronger Somerset business case was a good representation and they also agreed with the East/West split.  They wanted modern democracy and inclusion for all councillors.

    ·         Councillors hoped that the Stronger Somerset business case was heard by Central Government.

    ·         Councillors wanted to ensure that there was a good level of public involvement in the consultation period.

    ·         Concern was raised on some of the service areas currently covered by Somerset County Council (SCC) and that further detail was required, especially for Education, Young People and Adult Social Services and Health Services.

    ·         Councillors wanted to ensure that the Town/Parish Councils were encouraged to take part in the webinars and the consultation.

    ·         Concern was raised that the timing was not great for the unitary debate, considering there was a global pandemic and that Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT) had only been in operation for a year.

    ·         Councillors went on to thank all the officers of SWT for their hard work over the past 18 months, through the creation of SWT and also through the challenges of the Covid Pandemic.

    ·         Concern was raised on the disruption for the community and that a big part of the problem was the lack of funding provided by Central Government for local services.

    ·         Councillors suggested that one unitary council would be too large for the area and that the local services would be cut.

    ·         Councillors hoped that Central Government would decide on what was best for the community.

    ·         Concern was raised on the amount of councillors and the allocation of those across the New Council area.

    ·         Further concern was raised on how councillors would provide support for the remote areas of the New Council.

    ·         Some Councillors highlighted that the unitary debate had been ongoing for many years and that it was good to have discussions on the different options.

    ·         Councillors highlighted that they did not want to lose focus on the work being carried out on Climate Change.

    ·         The Leader thanked all Councillors for their comments and support for the business case and gave her reassurance on the many points raised during the debate and wanted to ensure that the Town/Parish Councils were involved and that the best outcome was achieved for the community of Somerset.

     

    Resolved that Full Council:-

    a)    Approved the Business Case for the reform of local government including the creation of two unitary Councils within Somerset; 

    b)    Delegated authority to the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive, in consultation with the other Somerset District Leaders and Chief Executives, to make minor amendments  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.