Meeting documents

To receive an update on the Local Community Networks (LCNs).

The Local Community Network (LCN) Project Lead, Sara Skirton, gave a PowerPoint presentation which provided an update on the LCN and progress to date, which included a breakdown of the consultation questions for the Committee to provide feedback.

The Committee discussed the presentation, and the following was a summary of the areas raised: -

Aims - which were important

·         Councillors agreed that all 4 aims that had been listed were important.

·         Councillors raised concern on the delay in the LCN consultation papers being distributed.  They raised a further concern that due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, some Parish Councils were not due to meet again before the consultation deadline.

·         Councillors proposed that the consultation deadline be extended to November 2022.

The LCN Project Lead advised that they could feed that back to Executive for a decision.

·         Councillors suggested that all the Parish Councils could be written to and advised that if they were not due to meet until after the deadline (because of meeting cancellations), that their feedback would still be accepted.

·         Councillors accepted the concern raised, however, they queried what the impact would be if the deadline was extended.

The LCN Project Lead accepted that there was a challenge for the Parish Councils to submit their responses, however, officers were due to take the report to Executive on 16 November 2022 and there would be a lot of data to analyse, and a risk was identified if they extended the deadline, the analysis could be rushed and officers would rather get the details right when they take the report to Executive.

·         Councillors advised the committee on what the Parishes in their area were doing and he believed they would submit their responses within the deadline.

·         Councillors highlighted that the consultation deadline was not the ‘end date’ it was simply the beginning of the process and there would be many more opportunities for feedback on the LCNs.

·         Councillors queried whether the 171 responses would be broken down into which area the response had come from in the district, as they wanted to ensure that support was being given to those areas that might be struggling to submit their feedback.

The LCN Project Lead advised that they could get the geographical locations for the responses and would check if there were any locations that were missing responses.  She further advised that all councillors should have been sent a ‘frequently asked questions’ pack for assistance in completing the consultation.

·         Councillor Keitch highlighted the Parish Conference that was due to take place on 4 October 2022 in Yeovil and urged representatives from all councils to attend.

·         Councillors queried whether it was just Parish Councils responding or had many members of the public submitted feedback.

The LCN Project Lead advised that public engagement seemed to be fair but that other stakeholders would probably have a bigger interest.

·         Councillors flagged a concern that the Unparished Area of Taunton was often missed out in consultations.

The Governance Specialist advised that the Taunton Charter Trustees acted as consultees for the Unparished Area of Taunton.  The LCN Project Lead advised that they had worked with SPARK to compile a list of community organisations to consult with.

·         Councillors highlighted that they needed to work together to add strength to a community.

Possible Responsibilities of LCNs

·         Councillors suggested community scrutiny of council services was important and should be added.

·         Councillors raised concern that Parish Councils didn’t seem to understand the possible responsibilities and how the LCNs would work.

·         Councillors believed that there should be a standard set of Terms of Reference for each LCN but that their priorities might vary from area to area.

·         Councillors raised concern on the inclusion of Planning to the LCN workloads.

The LCN Project Lead advised that the Planning responsibilities needed further investigation.

·         Councillors raised concern on Planning decisions being made by the LCNs and suggested that the LCNs should be consultees and not decision makers.

·         Councillors raised a concern that the public were not being listened to and that the list was very dry for public involvement.

·         Councillors agreed that Planning should be removed from the list.

·         Councillors highlighted that the list was in ‘council speak’ and wouldn’t translate to most.

·         Councillors highlighted that the list was aspirational and that councillors needed to know how the LCNs would work, including decision making powers, before responsibilities could be allocated.

·         Councillors highlighted the trial LCNs being carried out currently across the county.

·         Councillors raised concern that the LCNs were adding another layer in localism which would block decision making powers.

Boundary

·         Councillors raised concern on some of the areas proposed especially possible exclusions of some small areas that would be just across a border.

·         Councillors advised that he was confused by the whole process of the LCNs.

The LCN Project Lead advised that they needed to ensure that the right partners were included to engage and make decisions and that the pilot schemes were trying to see which approach worked best.

·         Councillors raised concern on the bigger areas being used due to varied interests across the wider areas.

·         Councillors suggested that the boundaries should be based on partner structures, such as, doctors, police etc.

·         Councillors suggested that the smaller the areas, the better the engagement would be.  If the areas were too big, it could be problematic.

·         Councillors queried if a boundary review was carried out, would the boundaries change for the LCNs.

The LCN Project Lead advised that it was unknown as the boundary review was a couple of years away.

·         Councillors did not support Proposal C.

·         Councillors were surprised that the Exmoor Pilot Scheme had not been used in the report.

·         Councillors queried whether all parishes could attend a LCN.

The LCN Project Lead advised that they could all attend.

·         Councillors agreed with all comments made on the use of smaller areas and that would improve community engagement.