To receive such communications as the Mayor may desire to lay before the Charter Trustees.
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 process would have to be followed. She had received advice from SHAPE Legal that the proposal by One Somerset of creating a Town Council through Government order is not correct. The change order when Somerset West and Taunton Council was created also set up the Taunton Charter Trustees and any change would have to go through correct and proper consultation with that body before any decision is made, and that contravention of this could be subject to Judicial Review. The Governance Manager assured Councillors that work was ongoing on this matter with an Officer working group in place, and the new arrangements would not come into effect until the next Town and Parish Elections in May 2023 and so the timescale was still feasible to meet. She had also sought information from the National Association of Local Councils and captured helpful case studies, along with research into other Charter Trustee bodies and those that have moved to an alternative governance model. She was hoping to bring a report back as soon as possible to the Charter Trustees as well as progress a cross-party working group to be set up which would draw from the whole Council membership, as ultimately this was a review undertaken by SWT.
· The Mayor welcomed Cllr Loretta Whetlor representing Somerset Association of Local Councils.
· It was commented that some areas may wish to parish themselves, and of the need to have a good and thorough consultation to ensure a true reflection of public sentiment.
· A point was raised on the broader issue of what powers were available to a Parish or Town Council and what assets would potentially be transferable, but that currently a Town Council didn’t exist and the Councillors can’t negotiate without a mandate. It was stated that Councillors would welcome more general information on the process.
· The Governance Manager signposted Councillors to the NALC website which had good documentation on what powers and duties a Town Council could exercise.
· The Mayor thanked Councillors for their comments and welcomed further updates on this matter.