Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Marcus Prouse Email: m.prouse@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk
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Apologies
To receive any apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor Derek Perry. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting of the Taunton Charter Trustees
To approve the minutes of the previous meetings of the Trustees held on 2nd July 2020 and 27th August 2020. Additional documents: Minutes: (Minutes of the meeting of the Taunton Charter Trustees held on 2nd July and 27th August 2020 circulated with the agenda)
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Taunton Charter Trustees held on 2nd July and 27th August 2020 be confirmed as a correct record. |
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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:-
All Charter Trustees declared a personal interest in respect of Item 10 – Report of the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel – Review of the allowances for the Mayor of Taunton and Deputy Mayor, as potentially any Charter Trustee could take up that posting in the forthcoming municipal year and be in receipt of an allowance. |
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Public Participation
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: The Charter Trustees were advised that no members of the public had requested to speak or ask questions. |
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Petitions
To receive any petitions from residents of Taunton containing over 200 signatures in accordance with Standing Order 30. Additional documents: Minutes: The Clerk advised that no petitions to the Charter Trustees had been received. |
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Motions to the Charter Trustees
To consider motions in the order in which notice has been received. Additional documents: Minutes: The Clerk advised that no motions to the Charter Trustees had been received. |
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Communications
To receive such communications as the Mayor may desire to lay before the Charter Trustees. Additional documents: Minutes: The Mayor advised that she intended to allocate £1000 from the Alderman Spear’s contribution to the Mayoral Christmas Fund charitable trust to the work being undertaken by Somerset West and Taunton’s One Teams to purchase vouchers for families over the Christmas period. Further allocations were also being progressed.
The Mayor advised that she had turned on the Town’s Christmas Lights at a virtual event. The Mayor advised that she had recorded a poem for The Castle School students, who unable to put on their usual Christmas event but were hoping to stage a virtual version.
Councillor Lisgo raised her concern about the progression of the future governance arrangements for the Unparished Area of Taunton. The recent debates around Stronger Somerset had highlighted this and the previous presentations on this matter. Despite raising this issue on many occasions, she stated that there was a lack of evidence of any progress being made on this matter. She accepted that the last nine months had been difficult due to Covid-19. She had also tried to communicate with the Somerset West and Taunton Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources Cllr Ross Henley but this forum was felt appropriate as the Charter Trustees had an active interest in the future arrangements. She considered it important, especially within the context of Stronger Somerset that Councillors were able to see what the plan was beginning to look like for the future of the Unparished Area. Cllr Lisgo stated she had always been very clear that the creation of Charter Trustees was a temporary stopgap provision, and that something substantive needed to be put in place. Unfortunately the remit of the Charter Trustees was very limited in scope, but she requested an informal meeting in the new year of the Councillors who represent Unparished Area Wards with representatives of Somerset Association of Local Councils invited to better understand the current role and expectations of Charter Trustees, better understand the process ahead of the Community Governance Review and the potential creation of a Town Council.
The Mayor thanked Cllr Lisgo and recognised it was an important issue, and that the difficulty they encountered as a group which were meeting to support the mayoralty and the need to distinguish between Unparished Area Councillors and Charter Trustees. She stated that both unitary proposals supported a town council and very much wanted to progress this. Whilst supportive of an informal meeting to discuss the matter in private, she requested advice from officers as previous informal meetings had attracted criticism from members of the public.
Amy Tregellas (Monitoring Officer and Governance Manager – Somerset West and Taunton Council) responded and asked Councillors to be clear and careful of terminology. There would need to be a Community Governance Review of the Unparished Area, which would include all options on the table rather than the assumption a Town Council would be the end result. This might be one of the outcomes but Councillors were reminded to be careful about the language as a correct and proper ... view the full minutes text for item 32. |
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To answer questions under Standing Order 8
A Charter Trustee may ask the Mayor any question upon an item which is under consideration by the Charter Trustees. Every question shall be put and answered without discussion. The person to whom a question has been put may decline to answer but shall give an explanation for declining to do so. An answer may take the form of :- 1. A direct oral answer; or 2. Where the desired information is contained in a publication of the Charter Trustees, a reference to that publication; or 3. Where reply to the question cannot conveniently be given orally, a written answer circulated to Charter Trustees. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Chris Booth raised the issue of Police feedback, and the lack of ability of the Charter Trustees to feed back into the Police the concerns Councillors have and receive updates. Councillors, could of course, as ward councillor’s feedback to their local Police Community Support Officer. Councillors were cognisant of the fact that the Charter Trustees were limited in their scope of duties, feedback from Councillors on whether they supported this idea was welcomed.
The Mayor felt it would be interesting to receive feedback but the Charter Trustees were limited in scope to the Mayoralty.
The SWT Governance Manager confirmed that the Police should be providing any update to the Scrutiny Committee at SWT.
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To receive and consider reports, minutes and recommendations of the Standing Committee (if any)
Additional documents: Minutes: The Clerk advised that the most recent meeting of the Standing Committee had taken place at the end of November and the recommendations were awaiting sign-off by the SWT Corporate Resources Portfolio Holder, with these decisions reported formally at the next meeting. |
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The Chair of the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel, John Thomson, will be in attendance.
In 2019 the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel prepared a report to the Shadow Authority on Members Allowances. Included within it was a consideration of the roles of Town Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the Unparished areas of Taunton. At the time the Panel prepared the report, it was considered that there was insufficient information to make firm decisions, and so an interim recommendation regarding allowances was made, with a proviso that after “a year’s experience of the offices of Mayor and Deputy Mayor”, the allowances be reviewed by the Panel. This report is that review.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair of the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel (JIRP), John Thomson, was in attendance and presented the report of the Panel, their findings and recommendations.
In 2019 the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel prepared a report to the Shadow Authority on Members Allowances. Included within it was a consideration of the roles of Town Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the Unparished areas of Taunton. At the time the Panel prepared the report, it was considered that there was insufficient information to make firm decisions, and so an interim recommendation regarding allowances was made, with a proviso that after “a year’s experience of the offices of Mayor and Deputy Mayor”, the allowances be reviewed by the Panel. This report was that review.
During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:- · A comment was made that the potential loss of the mayoralty in 2019 had been an issue that was raised on the doorstep when campaigning so public awareness was high and the people were keen on the Mayoralty being maintained. · The cutting of the Deputy Mayoral allowance was considered unfair in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic’s effect on the number of events that could be attended. · It was suggested that the allowances be reviewed after a ‘normal’ year. · It was commented that the first year of the Mayoralty which was slightly curtailed by the pandemic in March 2020 was still a valid data-set from which to draw conclusions. The Deputy Mayoral allowance being set at half the Mayor’s allowance was commented as generous as the Deputy would not carry out half of the Mayor’s work. · The current Deputy Mayor commented that she had felt awkward taking an allowance in this current year due to the lack of activity, and so a lot had been donated to charity or to her local church. · It was suggested that a lot of postponed events in the next municipal year may mean that the next Deputy Mayor will be a lot busier. · The status of the Borough Mayoralty as opposed to a Town Mayor was different and time was needed to establish what work-load was required, with previous experiences not a true measure.
RESOLVED that the Charter Trustees for Taunton;
1) Noted the work undertaken by the JIRP which has reviewed the work-load of the Mayor and Deputy with information supplied by the Council, and has considered how the allowances compared with other areas with Charter Trustees. 2) Disregarded the recommendation of the JIRP to reduce the Special Responsibility Allowance for the Deputy Mayor of Taunton by half to reflect a reduced workload, with the reasoning being that due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s effects, this had impacted on the statistical information reviewed, with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Taunton unable to fulfil the expected duties of their role and the number of events and activities they could attend. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor’s special responsibility allowances for 2021/2022 would be kept the same as currently. 3) Supported the ... view the full minutes text for item 35. |
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Taunton Charter Trustees Budget 2021/2022
To approve a Budget for the Taunton Charter Trustees for the 2021/22 financial year. Additional documents: Minutes: The Mayor introduced the item which set out the proposed Budget for the forthcoming year and invited the Clerk to take members through a PowerPoint presentation on the two options drawn up for their consideration.
The Clerk gave an update on the budget monitoring position of the current financial year (2020/2021). Guidance stated that Parish/Town Councils should retain 3-12 months of running costs. Local Authorities were required by law to set a balanced budget as prescribed in the Local Government and Finance Act 1992. The Charter Trustees for Taunton must set their revenue budgets on an annual basis and there was no automatic carry-over of unused budgets into the following year.
During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:- · Concern was raised that if the Government were minded to introduce a cap on Parish and Town Councils precepting abilities, that the lower option could hamper future years budgets. The Clerk advised that this was something to take into consideration but was not aware of current plans in this regard. · The option to move the under-spend from this financial year into a reserve could meet the advice to establish a reserve of 3 months without imposing a higher precept on ratepayers. · The risk of proceeding without a more substantial reserve was considered important.
Councillor Hazel Prior-Sankey proposed the main motion which was seconded by Councillor Marcia Hill.
RESOLVED that the Charter Trustees for Taunton;
1. Set a precept for the financial year 2021/2022 at the amount of £52,819, to be collected on their behalf from the Unparished Area of Taunton ratepayers by Somerset West and Taunton Council as the billing authority. This was equivalent to £3.47 expenditure per Band D property. 2. Delegated authority to the Clerk to transfer the unspent balance from the 2020/21 budget into the General Reserves of the Taunton Charter Trustees at the end of 2020/21 to fund unplanned expenses in future years (approximately £12,060) 3. Urged Somerset West and Taunton Council to precept for a Special Expenses Levy on the Unparished Area of Taunton as in previous years to fund such projects that a Town and Parish Council would typically support through the Unparished Area Small Grants Fund.
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