Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor Bill Chapple be appointed Vice Chairman of the Standards and General Purposes Committee for the ensuing year.

Apologies were received from Councillor Mary Baldwin. Two new Members were welcomed to the Committee; Councillors David Moore and Stuart Wilson. Councillors Peter Brazier and Melanie Smith were thanked for their previous contributions to the Committee.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 April and 15 May 2024.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meetings of 4 April and 15 May 2024 be agreed as a correct record.

Members to declare any interests.

Cllr D Goss declared an interest as an employee of the Conservative Party which also included voluntary offices in the Buckinghamshire area. In relation to item 6 he also mentioned that he was a Winslow Town Councillor. Cllr Tony Green declared a personal interest in item 5 as he was a Member of the unparished area of High Wycombe.

The following Members declared a personal interest in Item 6:-

· Cllr Chhokar as a Member of Gerrards Cross Town Council.

· Cllr Oliver as a Member of Hazlemere Parish Council

· Cllr Mordue as a Member of Buckingham Town Council

To consider the report.

Contact Officer: Glenn Watson

In January 2024, this Committee approved the recommended Terms of Reference and formally commenced the review. A consultation and communications plan was agreed and the consultation took place earlier this year. The Group was then asked to recommend to this Committee which of the two options in the Terms of Reference should be followed having regard to the consultation feedback and the criteria for conducting community governance reviews.

The Draft Recommendation from the Working Group was to adopt Option A in the Terms of Reference; that was, that the Council should look to build on and improve the current community governance arrangements with the intention of increasing community engagement and raising the profile of High Wycombe issues and outcomes. Consequently, the Group had recommended that the Council should not establish a formal parish for the whole of the unparished High Wycombe area and so not establish a town council. The recommendation was based on a review of the consultation feedback and a consideration of the statutory criteria for such reviews.

The Principal Governance Officer provided the rationale for the Group’s recommendation which was set out in full in the report to Committee and in the Draft Recommendations annexed to it. The Working Group had noted that there was a very low response rate to the consultation despite a very comprehensive communications and consultation exercise which included an information booklet, consultation response form and pre-paid envelope delivered to all households and the option to take part in the consultation online. Only 4.6% (2,532) of the town’s 55,125 eligible electors had responded. This indicated to the Group that the debate about local governance structures did not engage the overwhelming majority of the residents in the High Wycombe community.

The Working Group had particularly noted that the response rate did not even meet the threshold in the legislation that would have been necessary to trigger a community governance petition. This review was not petition-led. However, if it had been, any such petition would have needed the signature of at least 7.5% of electors to give it legitimacy. This provided a useful benchmark. The response to the consultation had been considerably lower than that, those supporting change even less. The Group concluded that there was not enough support from the whole electorate for structural change.

The Group therefore took the view that there was no clear mandate for parishing the town of High Wycombe and for establishing a town council, which would result in a significant structural change and an additional financial charge on the residents of the High Wycombe. The Group’s view had been that while the consultation did not provide a mandate for new structures of governance, a consistent and unifying theme across the responses was an appetite for enhanced local engagement resulting in tangible improvements to the local area, particularly the need for public realm improvements. Option A was therefore put forward as a recommendation.

During the Committee’s discussion, a Member commented that 95.4% did not respond to the consultation at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider the report.

Contact Officer: Mat Bloxham

Following the Standards and General Purposes Committee’ agreement on 4 April 2024 that five parish community governance reviews should proceed to review, submissions were invited on each of the proposals between 7 May 2024 and 16 June 2024. The Working Group had been asked to consider the analysis of consultation responses for each proposal and agreed some draft recommendations.

The five proposals were:-

1. Buckingham Town Council (merge wards)

2. electors from Lake End Road (affecting Burnham & Dorney Parishes – to align with the M4)

3. Hazlemere Parish Council (increase councillors from 12 to 16)

4. Longwick cum Ilmer Parish Council (increase councillors from 7 to 9)

5. Newton Longville Parish Council (increase councillors from 8 to 10)

In each case, the Committee noted the origin, context and consultation responses as set out in the report and Final Recommendations. It was noted in all cases that the proposed change had originated with or was supported by the relevant parish/town council and that there would be no additional costs to the public of implementing the proposals.  The Committee also noted the appended draft Reorganisation Order. 

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor Bill Chapple, seconded by Councillor Steven Lambert and:

RESOLVED that

1) the consultation responses for the following community governance

review proposals be noted:

1. Buckingham Town Council

2. electors from Lake End Road (affecting Burnham & Dorney Parishes)

3. Hazlemere Parish Council

4. Longwick cum Ilmer Parish Council

5. Newton Longville Parish Council

2) the Final Recommendations for the proposals received for the areas listed

above be agreed and that the final recommendations, as set out in the report, be published to formally end the community governance reviews.

3) the Reorganisation Order (Appendix 5) to implement the final

recommendations arising from the conclusion of the community governance reviews be agreed.

Members and officers were thanked for their work in these reviews.

To consider the report.

Contact Officer: Mat Bloxham

Gerrards Cross Town Council had submitted a proposed change to the Town Council’s warding arrangement. The proposal sought to merge the current Gerrards Cross Town Council ward East with the South ward.

From May 2025 none of the proposed new Buckinghamshire Council ward boundaries would run through the Gerrards Cross Town Council area as it was currently structured. However, the new Gerrards Cross Town Council’s proposal would be compatible with the new unitary ward arrangements. One of the rationales of the proposal was that the East ward only existed due to legacy principal council warding arrangements which would no longer be in place from May 2025, if current arrangements remained. The Working Group’s Draft Recommendation to the Committee was to proceed with the review.

The Electoral Services Manager reported that the Committee had delegated authority to agree this change.

The Draft Recommendations were proposed by Councillor B Chapple, seconded by Councillor R Carington and:-

RESOLVED that

1.  the proposal received from Gerrards Cross Town Council be noted and that the proposal proceed to a review.

2. the draft stakeholder engagement (Appendix 3), timetable (Appendix 4) and Terms of Reference - draft recommendations (Appendix 5) be agreed.

To consider the report.

Contact Officer: Glenn Watson

This report gave an overview of the Member Code of Conduct complaints that were opened and closed during Quarter 1 (April to June) this year. Of the ten complaints considered in Quarter 1, no breach of the Code was found. The report also updated the Committee on currently open complaints. 15 individuals had made complaints even though several people had made the same complaint. 10 related to town and parish councils and 5 to Buckinghamshire Council. 2 of the Town and Parish Council complaints remained open. So far there had been no breaches found in any of them.

There still was an overarching theme of perceived disrespect. Technical allegations such as declarations of interest and information handling were fewer this year so far. Disrespect was a hard issue to resolve. There had been refresher code of conduct sessions at parish and unitary level. However, none of the complaints about disrespect had been upheld on the evidence; which suggested perceptions of disrespect were more common than instances which actually engaged the code. There had been a number of complaints that had gone beyond the timeline this quarter. This was because additional work was needed to align the view of the respective parties. Sometimes clarification was required on whether it was a governance issue for the parish or town council rather than a code of conduct matter.

RESOLVED that the Member Code of Conduct Complaints opened and closed in Quarter 1 (April to June 2024, Annexes 1 and 2) and those currently open be noted.

Verbal update from Glenn Watson.

The Constitution Task and Finish Group was a joint sub-committee of the Standards and General Purposes and the Audit & Governance Committees. The Group had been asked to review the Constitution to reflect the move to 97 instead of 147 councillors at the Council elections in May 2025.  The Group had met recently on 20 August 2024 and reviewed potential arrangements affecting the Standards and Audit Committees and Select Committees. Further work included the remaining Committees and Full Council. The Task and Finish Group were meeting monthly to undertake this review. In addition, the Group had been asked to oversee a review of members’ allowances to reflect any recommended new constitutional arrangements. The next meeting was on 23 September 2024 which would look at Area Planning Committees and, at a future meeting, procedural rules. The review was likely to be concluded by January 2025.

Members asked that the following points be considered:-

·         Speaking time by objectors at Area Planning Committees

·         Call in arrangements by Parish Councils and the unparished area.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

17 October 2024 at 2pm

17 October 2024 at 2pm