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.

The Monitoring Officer to advise of any changes to the membership of Committees since the previous Council meeting.

Councillor Graham Jones proposed that Councillor James Cole replace Councillor Howard Bairstow on the Western Area Planning Committee. Councillor Howard Bairstow would be appointed as a substitute on this Committee. The recommendation was seconded by Councillor Clive Hooker.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.

Purpose: To set out the Council’s response to the Local Government Boundary Commission’s proposed changes to the District’s warding patterns from the 2019/20 District Council Elections.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 4) concerning the Council’s response to the Local Government Boundary Commission’s (LGBC) proposed changes to the District’s warding patterns from the 2019/20 District Council Elections.

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

That the Council:

“approves the proposed changes to the following wards (set out below and in more detail in Appendix B ) as the Council’s formal response to the Local Government Boundary Commission’s review of the Council’s warding patterns.

(i) Bucklebury and Aldermaston (Paragraphs 3.2 to 3.6)

(ii) Hungerford and Kintbury (Paragraph 3.7)

(iii) Basildon and Compton (Paragraph 3.8)

(iv) Wash Common, Newbury Central and Greenham (Paragraphs 3.9 to 3.21)

(v) Thatcham Central and Crookham (Paragraphs 3.22 to 3.25)

(vi) Purley and Tilehurst (Paragraphs 3.26 to 3.29)

(vii) Florence Gardens (Paragraph 3.30)”.

Councillor Graham Jones noted that there was a typographical error on page 19 of the documentation and that the net effect of changes to the proposed new Ridgeway Ward should read minus 4%. The leader noted that this was a cross party submission and he thanked Councillor Lee Dillon for his input on the Steering Group. He also thanked all the other Members of the Steering Group for their contributions. He also thanked Andy Day and his team for all the work they had put into getting the proposals prepared.

Councillor Graham Jones commented that this was a very difficult piece of work to get right and he accepted that there might not be universal support for all of the proposals contained within the Council’s submission. The draft recommendations published by the LGBC on the 29 August 2017 proposed that the number of councillors be reduced from 52 to 43. After considering the LGBC’s recommendations the Steering Group felt that it would be more beneficial to focus on specific proposals and that it was not possible to re-consider all the boundary changes.

The Council would continue to state its preference not to have three member wards, where practicably possible, and that any modifications needed to ensure that councillors were close to the people they were representing and that wards were based on community interest. The building blocks for wards  should therefore continue to be the parishes. It was however accepted that a three member ward should remain in Hungerford and Kintbury as there was local support for the proposal.

The Council was also proposing to retain a three member ward in Burghfield and Mortimer. Councillor Graham Jones accepted that there were divergent views on this proposal.

Councillor Alan Law commented that at the March 2017 meeting he had voted against the Conservative Administration for the first time in his life. He felt that the original proposal for the Basildon and Compton Ward did not meet the objective of strengthening a sense of community. He also felt that the previously proposed ward was too big for one councillor to cover properly.

He had therefore submitted an alternative proposal to the LGBC and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.