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 not to instigate a Community Governance Review three years ago, which would have meant that by the time we had reached the point of a New Council a Town Council would have been ready to be stood up at the same time. This had taken place in Portland and Weymouth where at the point of reorganisation they had created a new Town Council. Charter Trustees should in her view be a temporary measure. She encouraged the new administration to undertake the Community Governance Review as soon as practicable.
Councillor Hill stated that she believed the people of Taunton could invite both the Chair of Somerset West and Taunton and the Mayor of Taunton and were not restricted having seen this happen in other localities and was not personally an issue for her.
(iii) Councillor Hunt asked for clarification that the Mayor of Taunton could attend events outside of the Unparished Area?
Some Charter Trustees felt that the Mayor of Taunton could attend events outside of the Unparished Area if so wished and if this was funded separately. Councillor Herbert raised concerns around the use of Unparished Area funds raised from a specific group of Council Taxpayers being used to allow the Mayor attend events outside the Unparished Area. Councillor Herbert felt a longer conversation was needed on the jurisdiction of the Taunton Mayor and the protocols being established between the Mayor and Chair in which events were attended by whom.
(b) Mr Nigel Power made the following statement:-
My background is accountancy trained rising to CEO of UK and overseas subsidiaries of major international companies. In my dotage, I now lecture ACCA subjects at Richard Huish business school, adult section. I therefore hope I can speak with a reasonable amount of experience with regards to getting value for money and first principles business case justification.
There seems to be confusion and potential obscurity revolving around responsibility, expenditure and funding of the Mayor and associated support costs.
We now have a new structure encompassing West Somerset and Taunton Dean which comprises of parish and unparished areas. The new Mayor and supporting entourage appear to be only representing the unparished areas with the chair of the council performing some sort of role for the parishes. If this is so, then we appear to be adding further dignitary costs over above what we had for a position which will be even more ceremonial than it was.
Regarding funding, there seems some ambiguity around the use of precepts to fund this activity. The inference is, that the unparished areas will now or in the future fund the mayor and associated costs. Please clarify.
On a general point, the creeping use of precepts and similar supplements to fund all sorts of activities such as police and crime commissioner, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, Somerset Council’s Adult and Social Care is becoming very transparent. I think the term is Stealth tax to extract extra funds from already hard up council tax payers. In this case, the cause is a luxury, especially against the backdrop of cuts and shortages in services for core council activities at both local and county level.
A further point to air in this context, is the consideration of a unitary council. Most people would not be able to navigate comprehensively which council does what service. The level of duplication of back office, management structure and councillors are in my opinion wasteful and the savings should be redirected to much more deserving areas. The 5 councils (including county) account for around 250 to 300 councillors. Compare this to my home city of Sheffield with a very similar population of around 500,000 is 94.
This is a new council of a different political persuasion with the opportunity to do a lot of good. It should use this opportunity to demonstrate good progressive leadership and management of resources for the community it represents and at the same time be transparent in all its dealings.
Sheffield is habitually a Labour council and in different ways has been very wasteful. The Liberal Democrats gained power about 20 years ago but lost it after one term as it failed to exceed its predecessor in terms of management of resources and assets. I hope you do not waste your opportunity.
The Mayor thanked Mr Power for his questions and assured him that a written response would be sent to him if he wished to have one.
(c) Mr David Orr asked the following questions:-
I am a resident in the unparished ward of Vivary (formerly Killams and Mountfield). We are one of the anomalous unparished wards in Taunton where, unlike Taunton parishes, we have no statutory consultation rights; no ability to have a Local Plan, nor do we get any share of CIL planning gain; nor do we have any access to our own precept for funding or any of the formal resources available to a Parish Council. I worked part-time as a backup photographer for the local papers for 3 years, so I am aware that many people value a civic dignitary at special occasions and commemorative events. I do then appreciate why the loss of a Mayoral Office from the new Somerset West and Taunton (SWT) Council was a genuine concern.
(i) It is quite clear from the SWT Council website and the Special Instrument legislation that the Mayor is only for the unparished areas of Taunton.
“The Mayor and Deputy will maintain the traditional role previously carried out by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Taunton Deane within the boundary of the unparished area."
How will that work with the Civic Office of the SWT Council and who pays for the Mayor or Deputy Mayor if they attend in parished areas of Taunton? That remains unclear.
It vexes me considerably that in the three years it took to create the controversially merged SWT Council, nothing was done to sort out those unparished ward anomalies. The unparished area fund is only £42,000. To set that in context, the departing Chief Executive received £89,000 for “loss of office” on top of the standard redundancy and retirement benefits.
(ii) Is that £42,000 enough to bear the administrative costs of the Charter Trustees and the Mayoral Office? We simply don’t know as no sensible budgeting has been carried out and brought to this key inaugural meeting. How much funding will be left for the benefit of the communities in the unparished areas? We don’t know. That contravenes the Standing Orders before you today.
(iii) In the Standing Orders, Councillors who are Charter Trustees are required to declare conflicts of interest. Why haven’t these been published?
I think that using the funding raised in unparished areas outside of those areas, is morally wrong and potentially ultra vires, given that the Statutory Instrument lists those specific unparished areas.
I will move to formal complaint if I see the unparished fund being used out of area. It took almost 4 years to make the Somerset Rivers Authority a precepting body. The morality and legality of this body raising the precept for unparished areas remains unaddressed. The Charter Trustees were created under the Leadership of John Williams and the Conservative Executive and the Charter Trustees may have started life as a “Get Out of Jail” card for keeping a Mayoral Office in Taunton.
Now that we have a Lib Dem administration, I would say to you to break out of the mind-set of the past and vote for your own budgets at Full Council. If you want a fully funded civic and mayoral office then vote for one. If you want to support twinning arrangements for all of Taunton then vote for that.
The Mayor thanked Mr Orr for his questions and assured him that a written response would be sent to him.
Councillor Prior-Sankey commented that there would be times where the Mayor of Taunton would need to travel outside of the Unparished Area of Taunton to represent the Town. She suggested the Charter Trustees sought advice to ensure the arrangements were appropriate, but she believed that a key part of the Mayoral role was in that representational aspect.
Mr Hunt was sent the following written response from the Governance and Democratic Specialist after the meeting:
(i) The Chairman of SWT Council takes precedence across the District whilst The Mayor is the first citizen of Taunton. The exception to this is where an event involves a member of the Royal Family, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant or High Sheriff within Taunton Town (the unparished area), then the Mayor would take precedence. The Charter Trustees (and by extension the Mayor) are drawn from the 16 elected Members who are representing the Unparished Wards, and the funding for the Mayoralty will be precepted from within that boundary. However, The Charter Trustees are the body in which historic rights and privileges for the town of Taunton have vested in upon the abolition of the Borough Status of Taunton Deane. There is no part transfer of historic rights and privileges. Whilst having no executive powers the Charter Trustee body is responsible for ensuring the continuance of the historical, ceremonial and social links of the Town. The Mayor historically as part of their duties may have gone to other Mayor Making ceremonies and other events outside of the Unparished Area and or the Town, as the Mayor is first citizen of Taunton and has that representational aspect to their role. It is for the Charter Trustees to decide whether they wish to support this and other activity historically done by the Mayor of Taunton Deane and to set a precept in future years from their residents to pay for it. The vast majority of the activity will be in the unparished area. I would suggest it is for the Charter Trustees to decide how they spend the funding provided to them as to how to best to continue support these historical civic links and how that is utilised to support the Mayoralty for 19/20, and the protocol to be discussed at our next meeting should help delineate how this will work in practical terms.
(ii) As soon as a Town or Parish Council (were it to be created following a Community Governance Review) was created the Charter Trustees body would be dissolved – “Charter trustees are dissolved by virtue of regulation 15(2)(a) of the Local Government (Parishes and Parish Councils) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/625) where the charter trustee area becomes wholly comprised in a parish or two or more parishes. Regulation 15 also provides that, in those circumstances, any mayor or deputy mayor shall cease to 4 hold office as such and all property, rights and liabilities of whatever description of the charter trustees shall become the property, rights and liabilities of the parish council.
Mr Power was sent the following written response from the Governance and Democratic Specialist after the meeting:
(i) I can confirm that the Charter Trustees body will have the power to raise a precept next year to carry out their functions including funding the costs of a Mayoralty. Section 39(2)(d) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 provides that chartertrustees are local precepting authorities for the purposes of that Act.
Mr Orr was sent the following written response to his three questions from the Governance and Democratic Specialist after the meeting:
(i) Yes the Charter Trustees (and by extension the Mayor) are drawn from the 16 elected Members who are representing the Unparished Wards, and the funding for the Mayoralty will be precepted from within that boundary. However, The Charter Trustees are the body in which historic rights and privileges for the town of Taunton have vested in upon the abolition of the Borough Status of Taunton Deane. There is no part transfer of historic rights and privileges. Whilst having no executive powers the Charter Trustee body is responsible for ensuring the continuance of the historical, ceremonial and social links of the Town. The Mayor historically as part of their duties may have gone to other Mayor Making ceremonies and other events outside of the Unparished Area and or the Town, as the Mayor is first citizen of Taunton and has that representational aspect to their role. It is for the Charter Trustees to decide whether they wish to support this and other activity historically done by the Mayor of Taunton Deane and to set a precept in future years from their residents to pay for it. The vast majority of the activity will be in the unparished area. I would suggest it is for the Charter Trustees to decide how they spend the funding provided to them as to how to best to continue support these historical civic links and how that is utilised to support the Mayoralty for 19/20, and the protocol to be discussed at our next meeting should help delineate how this will work in practical terms.
(ii) The Charter Trustees have formally requested from SWT Council the transfer of all funding derived from the Unparished Area to the Charter Trustees, funds that were previously administered by the Unparished Area Committee. This amount (48,978.69) will need to be prudently managed and their budget for the rest of the year will be discussed at the next meeting on 7th August. Somerset West and Taunton Council is expected to provide accommodation and staffing support for the Charter Trustees for the first year which should reduce the liabilities for this year, and could if it wished provide other support by agreement. It is intended that the support provided by the Councils various support staff including the Governance and Finance team shall be recorded to enable a true reflected picture to be reported back to the Charter Trustee’s in advance of them raising their own precept for 2020/21.The role of charter trustees is to protect the civic tradition, mayoralty and regalia for the ancient area they represent and any precept raised would reflect this and not be used to fund other expenditure.
(iii) Declarations of Interest is an item of order of business on each Charter Trustee meeting as per the Standing Orders. This was missing from the published Agenda of the first meeting but The Mayor at the meeting at apologies asked those Councillors who had any declarations of interest to make them then.