Agenda item

E.12/17

Members were presented with a comprehensive report that set out recommendations from the SH/WD Joint Steering Group (JSG) to agree in principle to establish a single second tier Council for South Hams and West Devon from 1 April 2019.

The Leader introduced the report and advised that the presented recommendation should be amended to state that the Executive recommended to Council.   He referred to recent press coverage of this matter, and in response to claims that South Hams would be ‘bailing out’ West Devon he advised that both South Hams and West Devon had benefitted financially from working together over the last ten years.  Neither authority could afford to go their own way.  A number of Members had concerns over the timetable, but advice from central government was that to be confident of there being adequate parliamentary time to approve a single council, the proposal must be with the Secretary of State by November 2017.  The recommendation today was to go to public consultation. 

During discussion a number of Members stated that they felt the right thing to do would be to go to public consultation on this issue.  A number of Members were concerned that South Hams council tax payers would have to pay higher council tax.  Members discussed the matter of council tax in more detail and there were alternative interpretations of how the percentage increase in council tax was calculated.  The s151 Officer clarified this point.

One Member raised questions regarding the process of consultation, particularly how it would be carried out with vulnerable adults.  In response, the Leader confirmed that Members could have a role to play in reaching all sectors of the community.  He added that he had asked officers to look at whether relief could be applied to less well-off households in terms of the projected council tax increases. 

Another Member felt that the report could have given more detail in terms of a strategic overview, for instance the costs of moving to a central location and releasing the existing buildings.  In response, a Member of the JSG stated that this had been considered, but at this early stage the available information clouded the issue and did not provide any clarity.

The Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Panel raised his concerns with the wording of the presented first recommendation, and a number of Members agreed that, as written, it implied a fait accompli.  It was PROPOSED, SECONDED and on being put to the vote declared CARRIED, to amend the recommendation to ‘agree to consider’, rather than ‘agree in principle’.

It was then:

RESOLVED

That Council be RECOMMENDED to: