By request of Councillor Weston a discussion item on the developing Local Community Networks (LCN’s).
Relevant officers from Somerset County Council and the Local
Government Reform workstream on this matter have been invited to
support the discussion (awaiting confirmation).
Minutes:
The Clerk introduced the item which had been placed on the Agenda per a request made by Cllr Weston prior to Christmas. Two Officers from the Local Community Network (LCN) workstream from both Somerset County Council and Mendip District Council, Alyn Jones and Sara Skirton respectively had agreed to attend and present some slides and take any questions Councillors had on the developing project.
The Mayor invited the officers present to make their presentation. LCN’s would help to set priorities for the new Council and influence how services are delivered in their areas. It is currently envisaged that 15-20 would be created as part of the proposal, but a lot of work was still needed to define the geographies, recognising functional community boundaries. There would be no splitting of towns or parishes. Each LCN would be given a small budget to get projects over the ground and a significant influence over the overall Unitary Budget. They would also be given formal Committee status, with an elected Unitary Councillor for that area sitting on it, meeting 6-8 times a year. A lot of work would take place outside of the Committees. They were an opportunity to give local people a voice in decision making. Decisions would need to align with the Policy framework of the Unitary Council. There had been four LCN pilots set up. The LCN’s will be supported by a ‘data-pack’ similar to the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. The LCN boundaries will be brought forward for consultation during the summer. There was also ongoing work on a Charter with Town and Parish Councils in consultation with the Somerset Association of Local Councils and the Society of Local Council Clerks.
During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:-
· The information presented was interesting but was considered generic at this stage. A question was raised as to how aware officers working on the LCN project were as to the potential creation of a Town Council for Taunton and the creation of an LCN alongside which could be particularly complicated?
· It was recognised as an area of focus and would work closely with colleagues in Somerset West and Taunton leading on that project.
· It was commented that as Councillors for Taunton it was felt that there was no voice for them in this process and the Charter Trustees should be included as consultees as much as Town Councillors elsewhere in Somerset.
· Part of the attendance this evening was to raise the concept with the Trustees and no decisions had been taken, which would be for the administration of the new Council. Feedback from this meeting would be helpful in shaping the project. Conversations would continue throughout this process.
· Further clarification was sought on the structure of the LCN’s, e.g. how would a person be appointed to an LCN, their status and how would this be decided? A Committee of the Council would suggest a more formal structure.
· This was still to be decided in appointments. In terms of engagement with different bodies there needed to be careful thought as to how the LCN’s would best function to support these. The Pilots would help inform this and the evaluation that was ongoing.
· The possible devolution of Planning matters to a local level was queried.
· This was not in scope of the current work due to the way the Business Case was written but was open to the new Unitary administration if possible. This was something for the service alignment workstream.
· In other areas such as Wiltshire, LCN’s had been able to augment the Unitary Council offer to provide something more bespoke.
· The concern over the lack of ability to hold hybrid meetings legally was considered a concern in allowing everyone who wished to participate easily and accessibly.
· LCN meetings would be considered touchpoints and the substantive work would be undertaken between.
· Discussion was held on the interplay between the Community Governance Review for Taunton and the LCN’s for the Taunton area, particularly in relation to boundaries.
· Each voluntary organisation would need to decide whether to commit resources to the LCN and its decision-making process.
· The One Teams in Somerset West and Taunton and Sedgmoor were considered more appropriate to deal with confidential and difficult local issues and it was hoped these would remain.
· Individual circumstances would not be discussed at LCN’s.
· Discussion was held on the alignment of the Policy Framework and the interplay between LCN’s and the Unitary Council.
The Mayor thanked the attendees for their time and looked forward to further information in the due course of time.