Agenda and minutes

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To approve the proposed warding patterns as part of Stage 2 of the Boundary Review.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 3) which proposed new warding patterns based on the Council’s agreed position to see a Council size of 42 + or – 1 number of Members with effect from the 2019/20 District Council Elections.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Graham Jones and seconded by Councillor Lee Dillon:

That the Council:

1.    “approves the proposed warding patterns and proposed new names, where appropriate, for each ward as part of Stage 2 of the review of the Council’s boundaries.

2.    asks the Local Government Boundary Commission to look at whether the Greenham ward should be two single Member wards based on a view that there would be two distinct communities of the Racecourse development and the proposed new Sandleford development”.

In introducing the item Councillor Jones proposed the following amendment:

AMENDMENT: Proposed by Councillor Graham Jones and seconded by Councillor Lee Dillon:

That the:

“recommendations set out in paragraphs 2.1 and 2.2 be adopted subject to the following amendment:

Delegation be given to the Head of Strategic Support, in consultation with the Acting Leader of the Council, to agree the final ward names”.

Councillor Graham Jones noted that more Member engagement was needed in the process and some input in regard to new names for the wards would be welcomed. He asked that Members notify the Head of Strategic Support about any suggested changes by the 03 April 2017 at the latest. The Acting Leader would discuss any changes with the Leader of the Opposition and any subsequent changes would then be incorporated into the Council’s submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission (LGBC).

Councillor Jones noted that the Council had already been through the first stage of the process and had agreed that the size of the Council should be reduced to 42 + or – 1. This amounted to a 20% reduction in the number of elected councillors post the 2019/20 election and would send a strong message to residents about making the Council more efficient.

The next stage was to submit the warding patterns to the LGBC. In developing the Council’s submission a number of principles had been adopted and a formulaic approach had been used to forecast future numbers of electors. The wards were based on parish boundaries, numbers of electors, electoral parity and existing identifiable boundaries such as railways and roads. The numbers were based on current population figures, potential development sites etc as well as the Office of National Statistics prediction that the population of West Berkshire would increase by 3.2% by 2022. Councillor Jones accepted that there might be some anomalies in the forecasting but that the process was as scientific as it could be.

Councillor Jones commented that if Members had a different view to that being proposed they, like the parish and town councils and residents, could of course make their own submissions to the LGBC. He cautioned however that in making any changes Members needed to be mindful of the ripple effect that a change in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 89.