Issue - meetings

The Chair of the Community Governance Review working group, Councillor Joe Thomas presented the report. He said that the group had spent 12 months carefully considering and extensively consulting to arrive at the report’s final 12 recommendations, which would serve communities better.

Councillor Thomas said that in relation to Aston Parish Council, the recommendation to defer a decision until 2026 would enable the number of registered electors in Hazel Park to increase.

Councillor Thomas said that the recommendation to extend Bishop’s Stortford Town Council to run parallel with Thorley Street made most sense to give new communities effective representation.

Councillor Thomas said that with regards to Sawbridgeworth, opposition was that warding would destroy the fabric of the community, but other town councils worked well and benefitted from warding.

He said that the recommendation was therefore to ward into 4, along the polling district boundaries.

Councillor Thomas said that the same principles applied to the recommendation for Buntingford, dividing into 2 wards along the B1038.

Councillor Thomas said that throughout the process the group had been guided by the statutory requirements, and he acknowledged the passion and engagement of contributors throughout the process.

Councillor Thomas proposed that the recommendations in the report be supported. Councillor Nicholls seconded the proposal and reserved her right to speak.

Councillor Williamson said that the Conservative Group had two amendments that they wished to put forward, which related to the recommendations for Sawbridgeworth and Buntingford. He said that the amendments had been circulated to Members before the meeting, giving them the opportunity to read them.

Councillor Parsad-Wyatt proposed the following amendment:

Amend point iii of Recommendation (a) of the report as follows:

•             Replace point iii) (“That Sawbridgeworth Town Council be warded […] West ward = 4.”)

•             With: iii) That Sawbridgeworth Town Council remains unchanged.

So that the amended recommendation (a) reads as follows:

Recommendation (a):

That the proposals set out below be adopted by the Council as Final Recommendations for the

purposes of the Community Governance Review: […]

iii. That Sawbridgeworth Town Council remains unchanged.

Councillor Parsad-Wyatt spoke to the amendment, he extended his thanks to the working group and said that the although the majority of the proposals were proportionate, he could not vote in favour of all of the recommendations in their current form. 

Councillor Parsad-Wyatt said that the views of Sawbridgeworth residents and councillors could not be ignored, and to do so would be in contravention of the purpose of the review. He said that the amendment to keep Sawbridgeworth unchanged was not about party politics, with objections to warding by the town council cross-party. He said that this rare unity should be taken seriously, and that if the council was a listening council, they should listen when communities responded strongly.

Councillor Parsad-Wyatt said that the main issue with the proposal was electoral representation and equality. He said that warding based on the current polling districts would see 1 councillor with 174 electors, and 5 other councillors, with a ratio of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 133