Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Martin Carnell, Malcolm Cavill, Henry Hobhouse, Mike Lock, Pauline Lock, Graham Oakes, Crispin Raikes, Alan Smith and William Wallace.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

Members are reminded that they need to declare the fact that they are also a member of a County, Town or Parish Council as a Personal Interest.  Where you are also a member of Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council within South Somerset you must declare a prejudicial interest in any business on the agenda where there is a financial benefit or gain or advantage to Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council which would be at the cost or to the financial disadvantage of South Somerset District Council. 

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

The Council were addressed by a representative of the Somerset Independents Pressure Group.  He reminded Council that at their last meeting he had asked them to support a referendum of the people of Somerset on how they were governed.  He asked that an additional recommendation be added to the Stronger Somerset Business Case report to include a referendum of the people and a modern committee system which allowed all councillors to take part in decision making.  He noted that some Councillors had voiced their support for a referendum but no action had been taken.  He felt the report was incorrect to say that a referendum could not take place because of the Coronavirus restrictions as a poll had been conducted when the last unitary bid had taken place in 2007 when 82% of over 200,000 voters rejected that proposal.  He said that Civica were able to conduct the referendum on behalf of the District Councils for approximately the same cost as in 2007. 

The Leader of Council responded that the Covid-19 Regulations were clear that no polls or elections were permitted until May 2021 which was beyond the date of the decision on the unitary councils.  There was a consultation period taking place and the Government would conduct their own 8 week consultation on the unitary proposals.

The Council were addressed by the Branch Secretary for Unison.  She said that a joint steering group had issued a statement as the recognised union that represented staff across all five authorities covered by the unitary proposals.  UNISON branches were working collaboratively across the county and were are highly engaged with the proposals that had been put forward by both the District Councils and the County Council. They had commissioned an independent report from the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) to critically analyse the two competing business cases.  UNISON would be appraising each on the basis of, quality of services; protection of decent employment and skills; effective local democratic oversight and accountability; and whether they deliver an integrated vision for future public sector provision of services. UNISON had approached management to request ongoing meaningful engagement throughout the process and to establish terms and reference for how they could work together.

The Chairman advised that Councillor Mike Best was assisting him in the role of Vice Chairman for the evening.

The Chairman asked Members to bear in mind the staff across all the authorities in Somerset in their discussions on the Stronger Somerset Business Case.  Staff had faced the challenges of the Transformation Programme, dealing with Covid-19 and were now facing the reorganisation of Local Government in Somerset.  He also asked that they remember the people of Somerset who they had been elected to serve and who would be most impacted by the changes.

(Voting: 38 in favour, 13 against, 0 abstentions)

The Leader of Council introduced the report and said she was proud to support the Stronger Somerset Business Case as it was a once in a generation opportunity to improve local government in Somerset.  She said that she did not support one Unitary council for Somerset as it would be one of the largest in the country.  She noted that Sedgemoor DC had approved the Stronger Somerset Business Case the previous evening and Mendip and Somerset West and Taunton Councils were both meeting that evening.  She outlined the history of the work of the 5 Somerset Councils to work more closely to deliver local government services to the communities in a better way. 

She said there Government’s white paper, expected to be published in the Autumn was expected to favour Unitary councils.  Two Unitary councils would allow them to stay closer to their communities whereas in the SCC proposed one unitary council there would be far fewer Councillors which would create a democratic deficit.  Engagement with Town & Parish Councils was already underway.  If the District Councils were invited by the Secretary of State to submit a business case for unitary status then they needed to be able to respond in a timely manner.  She commended the Business Case to Members and invited questions.

Councillor John Clark said he strongly supported the business case and read out a statement explaining his reasons as scale, democracy and reform.  He said there were currently 269 County and District Councillors representing a population of 569,000 which was 2,115 residents per Councillor.  The single unitary option proposed 100 Councillors which would mean nearly 6,000 residents per Councillor which was a 63% reduction in local representation.  The two unitary proposal would mean a reduction of 26% which was acceptable.  He said the District Councils were more involved with local towns, villages and residents and he felt that a single unitary authority, which would be the second largest in the country, would not embrace the current local involvement. 

In response to questions from Members, the Leader of Council responded:

·         She frequently attended Town & Parish Council meetings at their invitation.

·         The Business Case was only outline at this stage and was written as a submission to the Government.  The detail and implementation plan would be worked out by the shadow authority when it was set up.

·         The Minister had indicated that a letter of invitation would be received by the Councils and he expected to receive their Business Case by the end of September 2020, although that may change as the Minister had now changed.  An 8 week consultation period was expected on the two Business Cases with a decision expected by the Government in January 2021 and a shadow authority set up by April 2021.  Elections to the new Council was expected in May 2022.

·         An elected Mayor would be part of a Combined Authority which would be a tier above a Unitary Authority and although it was not yet known what would be in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 168.

There were no Motions submitted by Members.

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 10.

Members are asked to note that the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council will take place on Thursday, 15^th October 2020 as a virtual meeting using Zoom meeting software commencing at 6.00 p.m.

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council would take place on Thursday, 15^th October 2020 as a virtual meeting using Zoom meeting software commencing at 6.00 p.m.