Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Marcus Prouse 01823 219570 Email: m.prouse@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk
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Election of Mayor of Taunton
The Clerk to the Charter Trustees to invite nominations from the Charter Trustees for the office of Mayor of Taunton. Once appointed, the Mayor will sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
Minutes: RESOLVED that Councillor Francesca Smith be elected Mayor of Taunton for the ensuing municipal year.
Councillor Smith signed and made the declaration of acceptance of office, and thanked Councillors for their support. |
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Election of Deputy Mayor of Taunton
The Mayor of Taunton to invite nominations from the Charter Trustees for the office of Deputy Mayor. Once appointed, the Deputy Mayor will sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
Minutes: RESOLVED that Councillor Sue Lees be elected Deputy Mayor of Taunton for the ensuing Municipal Year.
Councillor S Lees signed and made the declaration of acceptance of office, and thanked Councillors for their support. |
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Appointment of Civic Marshal
The Mayor of Taunton to invite nominations from the Charter Trustees for the role of Civic Marshal.
Having been elected to office, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor will retire to be robed. Once they return to the John Meikle Room, the Mayor will briefly address the Charter Trustees before returning to the agenda for the meeting.
Minutes: RESOLVED that Councillor Marcia Hill be appointed Civic Marshal for the Taunton Charter Trustees. |
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Apologies & Declarations of Interest
To receive any apologies for absence.
Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Simon Coles.
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:-
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Notes of Meeting of the Taunton Unparished Area Committee
To consider the notes of the final meeting of the Taunton Unparished Area Committee held on 30 January 2019.
Minutes: (Notes of the meeting of the Taunton Unparished Area Committee held on 30th January 2019 were circulated with the Agenda).
RESOLVED that the notes of the final meeting of the Taunton Unparished Area Committee held on 30th January 2019 were noted. |
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Petitions
To receive any petitions from residents of Taunton containing over 200 signatures in accordance with Standing Order 30.
Minutes: No petitions from residents of Taunton were received. |
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Public Questions
To receive any questions or statements from residents of Taunton in accordance with Standing Order 30.
Minutes: (a) Councillor John Hunt asked the following questions:-
After the meeting of the Unparished Area Committee meeting held in January, he had spoken to several different Councillors from all parties and had been left in no doubt that this group was to be set up to allow Taunton to continue its tradition of having a Mayor, and was only a temporary measure. The purpose of Charter Trustees was to maintain the continuity of a Town Charter, after the District with a status of Borough had been abolished, and until such time as a Parish or Town Council has been established. He understood that the City of Bath had continued with this model but that their system was different in that their Mayor covered the whole of the City, which is not the case in Taunton. He was in favour of Taunton having a Mayor but that the Mayor should represent the whole of Taunton.
(i) The minutes of the Unparished Area Committee on 30th January clarified that any invitations to events outside of the Unparished Area would need to first go to the Civic Head of the District Council (Chair of Somerset West and Taunton). Did this mean that the rest of the County Town was not represented by the Mayor of Taunton?
Councillor Hunt stated that he represented 11,500 registered electors, however 6,800 of those would it seem not have access to Taunton’s Mayor, and this was just of those eligible to vote. The sixteen Councillors who served as Charter Trustees from nine wards had been selected by default to represent the County Town and choose a Mayor from amongst your number. The Mayor would only thus be available to an electorate of around 33,000 people or 56% of those eligible to vote in Taunton town, and thus 44% would not have the benefit of the Mayor.
(ii) Please could I have your assurance that this Charter Trustee group will only be in place until such time as a proper Taunton Town Council has been established or the Unparished Area is parished and a Mayor could be created that could cover the whole of Taunton, if this was considered necessary by the people we serve.
The Mayor thanked Councillor Hunt for his questions and assured him that a written response would be sent to him.
Councillor Prior-Sankey responded and commented that the Governance review had been promised and would imaginably take place in the next couple of years and involving public consultation. This had been the only device that was available at the time to maintain the Mayoralty status. The Mayoralty was considered very important to the people of Taunton. As part of the Community Governance Review there would be parishes that may wish to join a potential Town Council and there may be areas currently unparished that wish to form their own distinct parish council.
Councillor Lisgo commended Councillor Prior-Sankey’s comments. The former Taunton Deane Borough Council actively missed the opportunity to deal with this and chose ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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Deputations
To receive any deputations from residents of Taunton in accordance with Standing Order 30.
Minutes: No Deputations from residents of Taunton were received. |
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Communications
The Mayor to report any communications which have been recently received.
Minutes: The Chair invited Councillor Catherine Herbert to make her statement.
Councillor Herbert had a great deal of concern around the costs of providing the Mayoralty and didn’t feel that the Trustees had grasped the implications of this. The recommendations made by the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel (JIRP) in their own report to the Shadow Council in March 2019 admitted that they did not have much information around the scope of what a Mayor of Taunton would be. They also admitted that they had not been able to find out very many examples of what similar sized Town’s Mayors were being paid as an allowance. She happened to know that Wellington’s Mayor, whilst a different role, received an allowance of £500. The scope of the work that the Mayor did needed to be reviewed critically going forward as there were some events on balance the Mayor should not go to. Some of the events such as the Christmas Day visits which incurred a high cost were not appreciated and just because the Mayor had historically gone to an event did not mean they needed to in future.
The recommendation that went before Shadow Council in March 2019 from the JIRP was, in her opinion, asking for the Charter Trustees to consider their recommendation and not setting that amount that needed to be paid. Councillor Herbert felt that with a limited budget this year of just the totality of the Unparished Area Special Expenses Precept and we would be paying an allowance based on guesswork based on an ill-informed group of people who had not done the required research. Unless that Allowance paid for the entirety of the Mayor’s Travel Allowance. Councillor Herbert also had concerns around Parishing and her area was leaning towards becoming a Parish rather than part of a Town Council. On Twinning, Councillor Herbert felt that these Associations held no value for Taunton in 2019 and communications ability had changed somewhat since the post-war period and felt that the use of taxpayer’s money could be better utilised. Councillor Herbert also raised concerns around the Councillors who are SWT Council’s representatives on the Twinning Organisations. She felt that the Associations were not well supported and that the money could make a greater difference in the Unparished Area.
The Mayor thanked Councillor Herbert for raising the many issues she had and that these would need Officer Support and clarification to come back and answer these points at a future meeting.
Councillor Weston agreed that there was more to be clarified. She suggested a discussion was to be had with the Twinning Associations to clarify the benefit to Taunton they brought and review how they operated.
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Charter Trustees - Standing Orders
To agree the draft Standing Orders set out in the attached document.
Minutes: The Charter Trustees considered the draft document circulated of the Standing Orders for the Charter Trustees of Taunton.
During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:-
· Councillors raised concerns around the gendered language in the document and the need to be consistent. · Officers responded that this would be reviewed and corrected. · Concerns were also raised around the use of language that was not in Plain English, to enhance public understanding.
RESOLVED that the Standing Orders for the Charter Trustees of Taunton were agreed. |
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Functions and Responsibilities of the Charter Trustees
To agree the draft ‘Functions and Responsibilities’ set out in the attached document. Minutes: Charter Trustees considered the draft ‘Functions and Responsibilities’ as set out in the circulated document.
During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:-
· It was suggested that at Point 9 the reference to Civic Church Services was deleted as there were a number of different faiths and none being practiced in the community. · Questions were raised over whether the Civic Regalia was now in the ownership of the Charter Trustees, what items were in our possession and the cost of upkeep of these? · An inventory of the items was kept and they were regularly valued and insured, which is something that the Charter Trustees would be responsible for. · Point 3 stated that the Regalia would be loaned by Somerset West and Taunton to the Charter Trustees and not transferred, was this correct? · The question of Ownership would need to be clarified. · Concerns were raised around Point 15 and the cost of Officer Time to service the Charter Trustees absorbing a large proportion of the proposed budget for the following year. · Concerns were raised that not enough work had been done on the budget estimation and until that work is done this group would not be able to fully function. · The baseline costs of supporting the Mayor and Charter Trustees would need to be established in the forthcoming year to enable the Charter Trustees to then set a reasonable precept that could cover the functions and responsibilities for 2020/2021. · If the Request for Funding was agreed by SWT Council then one of the earliest pieces of work for the Charter Trustees would have to complete was a budget for 2019/20.
RESOLVED that the Functions and Responsibilities of the Charter Trustees of Taunton be agreed, with the caveat that it is brought back to the Charter Trustees next meeting with further clarification on the points raised. |
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Appointment of a Standing Committee
To consider the appointment of a Standing Committee of seven Charter Trustees. The proposed ‘Powers and Duties’ of the Standing Committee are set out in the attached document. Minutes: Charter Trustees considered the circulated draft report on the proposed ‘Powers and Duties’ of the Standing Committee. The Specialist in Governance and Democracy outlined that the seven seats on such a Committee allocated politically proportionally as per the Standing Orders would be 6 Liberal Democrats and 1 Labour seat, though it was within the gift of the political groups as to whether they took up their full entitlement. The names of those to be appointed did not have to be decided upon at this meeting but could be passed on to the Governance team in due course.
RESOLVED that the appointment of a Standing Committee for the Charter Trustees of Taunton were agreed.
RESOLVED that the Powers and Duties of the Standing Committee of the Taunton Charter Trustees were agreed.
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Motions to the Charter Trustees
To consider motions in the order in which notice has been received.
Minutes: No motions to the Charter Trustees of Taunton had been received. |
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Request for Funding
To enable the Mayoralty to function and an Unparished Area Grant scheme to continue to be operated, the Somerset West and Taunton Council be formally requested to transfer all funding derived from the Unparished Area to the Charter Trustees. In future years, the Charter Trustees will be in a position to raise its own precept.
Minutes: Charter Trustees considered this item which was necessary to enable the Mayoralty to function and an Unparished Area Grant Scheme to continue to be operated. Somerset West and Taunton Council would need to receive a formal request to transfer all funding derived from the Unparished Area to the Charter Trustees. In future years the Charter Trustees would be in a position to raise its own precept.
During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:-
· Questions were raised as to whether this included unspent funds previously held in the Unparished Area Special Expenses Precept. · Officers clarified that the amount was currently standing at £131,036.17, with £83,071.48 of that already committed but not spent. · Did this include the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Monies? · No, and the Charter Trustees could request this funding amount (currently standing at £97,746.35) was transferred over also subject to appropriate governance arrangements having been devised, much as Parish and Town Councils control their CIL receipt allocation. · Does the Unparished Area Special Expenses Precept accrue interest? · A written answer would be provided but historically this was not done it was expected that this would be very small as the tax is collected in instalments throughout the year. · There was also an Unparished Area Capital Budget that had been given to the Unparished Area Committee of £20,000 of which £10,995.86 with a specific requirement when given by the former Taunton Deane Borough Council to be spent on Open Spaces/ Playground Area Equipment. · It was requested that a breakdown of the Accounts be brought back to the next meeting of the Taunton Charter Trustees. · It was raised that the use of the CIL monies was discussed at the January meeting and the emphasis on joint use with Somerset County Council to improve cycling infrastructure was supported. It was suggested that at the next meeting Officers of Strategy were requested to report back on this.
RESOLVED that the Charter Trustees of Taunton formally request from Somerset West and Taunton Council the transfer of all funding derived from the Unparished Area to the Charter Trustees. |
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Taunton's Twin Towns
To consider a proposal to continue providing a degree of financial support for the groups supporting Taunton’s Twinning arrangements.
Minutes: Charter Trustees considered the circulated proposal to continue provision of a degree of financial support for the group’s supporting Taunton’s Twinning arrangements.
During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:-
· Councillor Lisgo held some sympathy with Councillor Herbert’s previous remarks. She believed that the proposals for Twinning needed to be radically modernised, with the full benefits of it not fully realised by a broader group of people. Until the budget for the Charter Trustees was known this could not be supported. · Councillor Prior-Sankey clarified that the Lisieux Twinning Group received a £1000, of which the dinner must be paid for out of and was not separate and this could be consistent for both. · The Lisieux residents involved were considered to still be very keen on the Twinning link. A discussion was needed to get both groups to come to the next meeting of the Charter Trustees and discuss this further. · If the support was withdrawn then the Twinning Links could cease. · The planning for next year’s visit was already underway and the funding for this needed to be clarified. · Comment was raised that the Charter Trustees should be fostering our relationships with other European countries and this needed to be looked at in the round for its demonstrable benefit to the Community if there was one potentially, such as involving more young people. · The suggestion to merge the two separate Twinning Groups had previously been made. · Twinning was a wider subject and perhaps the review needed to incorporate Somerset West and Taunton Council as an area needed to look at the Twinning links across the piece. · Councillor Smith-Roberts had recently been involved with Friends of Konigslutter (FOK) and felt the experience had been a positive one. She commented that it may be more appropriate for SWT to look at other ways of operating and fostering those relationships which could be beneficial. · It was requested by Councillor R Lees that the funding arrangements for other towns and localities in SWT that had twinning arrangements were researched and reported back to the next meeting of the Taunton Charter Trustees. · A suggestion was made that the Parish Councils in the wider Taunton Area were approached requesting that they also helped to make a contribution to the Twinning proposals. · Comment was made that the request for funding should be dealt with by the District Council and not through the use of the Unparished Area Precept.
RESOLVED that the proposal to continue providing a degree of financial support for the groups supporting Taunton’s Twinning arrangements be deferred to the next meeting of the Charter Trustee’s to enable more information to be provided. |
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Date of Future Meetings
To agree the dates of future meetings of the Charter Trustees.
Minutes: The Specialist in Governance and Democracy notified Members that dates had been identified of possible future meetings in the forthcoming Municipal Year, including an Informal meeting to deal with the nominations for the Mayor.
RESOLVED that the Taunton Charter Trustees were to meet quarterly, with dates to be circulated.
RESOLVED that the Taunton Charter Trustees establish a timetable of Standing Committee meetings that could take place at the earliest possible opportunity to establish a clear expectation for the future Community Governance Review of the Taunton area.
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