Clifford Bacon, Chairman of the Parish Council Working Group

To advise of vacancies and change to the Terms of Reference

10 minutes for presentation and questions

TERMS OF REFERENCE AND MEMBERSHIP OF THE WORKING GROUP  – Clifford Bacon, Chairman of the Parish Council Working Group (PCWG)

Mr Bacon – Chairman of the PCWG presented an overview of changes to the PCWG Terms of Reference and Membership.

Key areas highlighted included:

                          i.          The PCWG met quarterly to discuss the agenda items and actions arising for the next Parish Council Forum.

                         ii.          The Terms of Reference for the PCWG stated that there should be:

·       Up to 4 Parish Councillors (no more than one from any single Council)

·       Up to 4 Parish Meeting Representatives

Current vacancies for the PCWG were:

·       1 Parish Councillor

·       3 Parish Meeting Representatives

Mr Bacon invited nominations for the above vacancies and informed the Forum that he had received a nomination from Mr D Hodson – Greetham Parish Council prior to the meeting for the Parish Council vacancy. As there were no other nominations for the Parish Council vacancy, Mr Bacon proposed Mr Hodson join the PCWG, this was seconded by Mr Simpson – Uppingham Town Council. The Forum voted unanimously that Mr Hodson join the PCWG.

Mr Bacon asked the Forum to inform himself or Marcelle Gamston – Clerk to the meeting of any nominations to the Parish Meeting vacancies.

                        iii.          The Terms of Reference of the PCWG had been amended to reflect that the PCWG no longer considered items for the RCC Standards Committee.

                       iv.          Mr Bacon read an email from Mr Atkinson – Chief Officer at Leicestershire and Rutland Association of Local Councils (LRALC) giving feedback to the proposed changes to the Terms of Reference to the PCWG.  Mr Simpson – Chair of the Rutland Branch of the LRALC indicated that the Parish Council Working Group and Forum were small enough to be effective and additional meetings with the Rutland Branch of the LRALC were not required.

                        v.          Mr Mathias – Leader of RCC and member of the PCWG encouraged members of the Forum to join the PCWG as it was their opportunity to influence the agenda of future Parish Council Forum meetings.

                       vi.          Mr Brown – Barrowden Parish Council raised concerns regarding the communication between the PCWG and Parishes having input into the potential agenda items.  Mr Bacon advised the Forum that the current process for development of the Parish Council Forum agenda was that members of the PCWG bring possible items to the meeting, these were then discussed and the agenda developed.

A general discussion was held with the following outcomes:

·       Potential agenda items to be sent to either the PCWG Clerk or Chairman to be discussed at the next PCWG meeting.

Clerk to PCWG – M Gamston- mgamston@rutland.gov.uk

Chairman – Mr C Bacon – clifford_j_bacon@yahoo.co.uk

·       The items that were agreed should not be specific to one Parish or Town Council; they should be of interest to the whole county.

·       Consideration to be given by the PCWG into the use of a Forward Plan for planning future Parish Council Forum agendas. This could be circulated to all Parish Clerks and representatives after the PCWG meetings.

                      vii.          Concern was raised that some Parish Councils were not receiving minutes and agendas for the Parish Council Forum. The Chairman encouraged communication with Marcelle Gamston or Sue Bingham in relation to these concerns.