Issue - meetings

Report of the Leader

The Leader introduced her report, saying that the local government review means that Cheltenham will become part of a unitary council in one way or other, and with only five parish councils at present representing local communities, this could leave a big part of the town without local representation.  It is important, therefore, to start thinking about this now, and a cross-party Cabinet Member Working Group, led by Claire Hughes, Director of Governance, Housing and Communities, has met to get the process underway and establish the terms of reference.

She asked Council to approve the terms of reference as set out in the report appendices, which approve consultation with the wider public and the existing parishes.  The information gathered from the first round will inform further consultation on what people would like to happen – a town council, more or fewer parish councils, boundary changes - the important thing being to get this in place before we go through local government reorganisation, in order to protect our communities and ensure that all residents have a voice.

Questions

A Member thanked the Leader and working group for a sensible and well-put-together group of reasons.  In response to Members’ questions, the Leader and Director of Governance, Housing and Communities, confirmed that:

-       Members are voting today solely on the terms of reference and start of the consultation and review period, not the timetable or reorganisation order;

-       regarding the indicative timetable set out in the report, which might been seen to imply that the reorganisation order could be made by February 2026 –a Member felt this was good if a minimal set of adjustments was required, but incredibly ambitious and potentially problematic if bigger implications around the existence of parish councils arise from the consultation -  it is important to say that we are not looking to abolish any parish councils.  They may choose not to exist, or may want to create new parish councils and extend or reduce their boundaries, which is relatively simple from a governance point of view.  It would make sense, therefore, to do this as soon as possible in the new year, in advance of the financial precepts they will want to raise;

-       the bigger question is around the rest of the town, whether a town council or more parish councils are wanted.  The timeline is set so that we will be able to anticipate the direction of travel by February 2026 and it will be in our gift then to pause if the government’s plan to make a decision by February 2027 goes awry;

-       at the end of the day, the main issue is that we could end up with no local representation if we don’t do something different as a town, and we need to act now to make sure that all residents and local communities have a voice and that their voice is heard;

-       consultation in non-parished areas will be through friends groups, residents associations, wide coverage on social media, drop-in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12