Agenda item

The Chairman introduced the report and noted that although recommendation C of the report was not required by MHCLG, she felt that it was right to establish a member working group to work with the Leader, Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer in considering the Structural Change Order, and to include  the Leader of Council, the Deputy Leader, the Leader of the SSDC Conservative Group and the Leader of the SSDC Independent Group.  She said this would ensure the process was open and transparent.  It would not be a decision making body so would not require governance arrangements. 

In response to a question, the Chairman said that she would consult and inform the one member of the Green Party on the Council.

The Director for Place and Recovery advised that the pace of the process and timetable would be led by the MHCLG and it may not fit to bring any decision to District Executive each time, therefore the delegated authority for the Chief Executive was required to negotiate theStructural Change Order on behalf of SSDC.  She outlined the need for the Structural Change Order as it would detail governance and transitional arrangements for the implementation of the new Unitary Authority.  This would also include the number of Councillors to be elected to the new Unitary Authority.  The MHCLG were currently drafting the Structural Change Order and SSDC may only have 3 or 4 weeks to negotiate it with the 5 councils of Somerset.

In response to questions, the Director for Place and Recovery and Chairman advised that:

·         the MHCLG had indicated that they expected the number of Councillors elected in May 2022 to be less than 100.  The election teams across Somerset were now looking at possible ward boundaries and Members would have the opportunity to contribute to this.  Other Unitary Authorities who had been through a boundary review were now being asked to reduce the number of Councillors quite markedly and the MHCLG were asking the Somerset Councils to look at this early to avoid re-visiting the number of Councillors after the elections in May 2022.  There would be an informal briefing prior to the Full Council meeting on 19^th August where further detail would be shared with Members. 

·         A legal challenge to the MHCLG decision for one Unitary Authority for Somerset had not been fully ruled out but the Leaders of each Council had all agreed to co-operate.

·         The leaders of all the Somerset authorities would be meeting very regularly in the future and a regular briefing to Members on progress would be made.

·         The member working group proposed at recommendation C was an informative group only.

During discussion, the following points were made:

·         A late notification of the boundaries to be contested would not assist the political parties to connect with their electorate.

In response to the points raised in the Scrutiny Committee meeting the previous day, the Director for Place and Recovery advised:

·         The term ‘twin hatters’ referred to Members who were elected to more than one authority. The number of votes which those Members would have would be part of the discussions and was not currently determined.

·         The 5 Chief Executive Officers had met twice the previous week, (once with the MHCLG) and the 5 Council Leaders had also met once and all had agreed to collaborate on the setting up of the new Unitary Authority.  This was the start of the process and the 5 councils would work together to deliver the best outcome for the people of Somerset.

·         Scrutiny would be an important part of the process but it was too soon to say how it would operate.  A report on the Scrutiny arrangements would be presented to Members in the Autumn.

·         The terms of reference and reporting lines of the member working group would be finalised when more information was available.

·         Deputies would be available if the Leader or CEO’s were unable to attend decision making meetings.

·         SSDC would have equal influence on the Structural Change Order as the other Somerset Councils. But this process was led by MHCLG.

The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee noted that not all of the Members had been able to read the report prior to the meeting due to IT issues.  He also suggested that the 4 District Councils arrange a joint scrutiny of the Unitary process

At the conclusion of the debate, the recommendations were proposed and seconded and unanimously agreed by Members.

(voting: unanimous in favour)