Meeting documents

For apologies please see above.

Mr Noel Brown was agreed as Chairman for the ensuing year.

Mrs Elaine Bamford was agreed as the Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year.

Discussion of items of interest/ concern that members would like to see considered at future meetings.

Members discussed items which they would like to see considered at future meetings.

A separate meeting had been suggested on 13 October 2009 at 7pm, Cholesbury Village to discuss winter gritting, as the relevant officer was not able to attend tonight’s meeting.  Eric Meek (Group Manager Area Maintenance) said that the gritting route for the current year would be exactly the same as the previous year, but that if there were any proposals for further gritting these would be taken by Tim Fowler on 13 October. It was noted that in the following year the discussions about gritting should take place earlier in the year, e.g. at the April/May 2010 LAF meeting.

Members also requested that potholes, general drainage and community gangs be discussed on 13 October. Members agreed that the meeting should go ahead on 13 October with the requested items. Eric Meek would send a gritting list to all Parish Clerks at the earliest opportunity (well ahead of the meeting on 13 October).

Members may wish to defer in depth discussions of the proposed constitution and terms of reference until the next meeting. However should they wish to discuss this item Locality Services team officers will be in attendance.

Members discussed the proposed constitution and terms of reference.

A Member asked what legal basis the Forum would have. Rebecca Carley, Locality Services Manager, told Members the following:

·         Local Area Forums were convened by Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) and all District Councillors and Parish Councils in the local area were invited.

·         Decision-making mechanisms at Local Area Forums had been left open-ended. Most Local Area Forums operated on a consensual basis with local arrangements for voting.

·         BCC had already agreed the allocation of some devolved budgets. The arrangements regarding budgets were the same as those in the Local Committee (now dissolved). The money remained with BCC until it was actually spent. Although officially the final decision on the budgets lay with the Head of Service (for legal reasons), BCC was keen to follow the guidance of the Local Area Forum on how the budget should be spent.

Members then made the following points:

·         There was immense goodwill at BCC regarding the Local Area Forums, and following their guidance on how budgets should be spent.

·         Amersham Local Area Forum had agreed a voting system of one vote per organisation. Would people coming in and joining the meeting have voting rights? (E.g. special interest groups).

·         A positive way forward should be found, where a consensus approach was most usual. Chiltern Local Committee had only used its voting procedure twice in eight years. However the Local Area Forum did have a wider remit than the old Local Committee.

·         Members should be in attendance as representatives of their authority, rather than delegates, and should have freedom to act.

Alison Derrick, Locality Services Co-ordinator, said that it was up to Members whether they invited other people to join the Forum and whether or not to give them voting rights. It was noted that the current model Constitution would not include ChAP as a core member, but that representatives could be invited to sit on the Forum as an outside body.

A Member from Chesham Town Council said that they had previously been told that they would have five votes at the Local Area Forum, and that each Parish Council would have one vote. However the Parish Councils were not aware of this suggestion, and expressed concern that a communication had been made with the Town Council about this. The Chairman apologised for this, and it was agreed that communication with members outside the meetings should be on the same basis for all organisations (i.e. with Town and Parish Councils equally).  It was suggested that if the Forum proceeded with the proposal of five votes for Chesham Town Council, that there could be the incorporation of a veto. There was a strong feeling by the Parish Councils that each Town and Parish Council should have the same number of votes.

The following was also agreed:

·         Members to give any suggestions for voting structure to Alison Derrick, with the aim being a positive structure where a consensus approach is most usual.

·         Proposals for voting structure to be put  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

to note the report of Alison Derrick, Locality Services Co-ordinator

Members received the Report of Alison Derrick, Locality Services Co-ordinator.

Members:

·         Noted the arrangements for devolved budgets 2009/10 as described in the report.

·         Noted the need to establish a Local Area Plan in due course to support the prioritisation of expenditure.

Members were asked to send any ideas for PAYP funding and local priorities funding to Alison Derrick as soon as possible – the PAYP deadline being 30 September 2009 and the deadline for Local Priorities projects being 1 January 2010. Proposals for the use of funding would be discussed at the next meeting.  Unspent funding could not be rolled over to the following year.

Rebecca Carley said that in the following year there would be a much longer lead-in time for bids for funding to be made.

Alison Derrick would develop a profile for the Chesham Local Area over the next few months. This would be based on information already held by the County Council and partner organisations and would include information about the work already carried out by Chesham Town Council and by ChAP.

A Member suggested a scheme for the PAYP funding which would allow young people to use the ‘Go Ape’ facility in Wendover Woods.

to note the report of Jim Stevens, Head of Transport

Members received the Report of Jim Stevens, Head of Transport for Buckinghamshire, and noted the following:

§         The process for submitting projects for possible funding in 2010/11 through the highways/transport delegated budget.

§         That the delegated budget for highways/transport projects in Chesham area for 2010/11 will be £35,292.25.

§         That Participatory Budgeting will be included as part of the process.

§         That Members are invited to submit bids for schemes to Chris Schwier, Transport Localities Team Leader, Amersham Area Office by the 30 November 2009.

§         That all bids received will be evaluated and costed by Transport for Buckinghamshire and a full report presented to the Chesham LAF in January/February 2010 to enable the LAF to decide which schemes should be implemented in 2010/11.

to note the report of Jim Stevens, Head of Transport

This items would be discussed at the special meeting on 13 October 2009.

Next LAF - Wednesday 2 December at 7:30pm at Bellingdon and Asheridge Village Hall