Meeting documents

To receive a presentation on the emerging approach for devolution of services and or assets.

The Head of Law and Governance Services and Monitoring Officer from Mendip District Council, David Clark gave a PowerPoint presentation updating the Committee on the project carrying out work on the devolution of assets.

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

·         Councillors highlighted that it had been a frustrating process but they thanked the officers for all their work on the trial area.

·         Councillors queried why officers had changed the process to be followed.

The Head of Law and Governance Services advised that the change was based on the work carried out in the trial area.

·         Councillors agreed that a phased approach was the sensible way forward.

·         Councillors queried how LCNs would fit in the process as they had been mentioned.

The Head of Law and Governance Services advised that nothing would be devolved to LCNs and that they would be used to promote the process within the local areas.

·         Concern was raised that if too many assets were devolved to the parish councils, it could lead to a council tax rise, as the parish councils could increase their precepts to cover the cost of the services.

The Head of Law and Governance Services acknowledged the concern, however, in other areas it had shown that when a parish council had taken on the responsibility it had improved the quality of the service for little increase in the cost of council tax.

·         Councillors queried if the devolution process was open to organisations/groups other than parish councils.

The Head of Law and Governance Services advised that they had not asked any other groups if they were interested in the devolution process yet.

·         Councillors queried certain services and whether the parish councils would take on the whole service or could it lead to a fragmented service with different levels of responsibility.

The Head of Law and Governance Services advised that there were a lot of options for devolution within the business case, which were all available for the parish councils to choose from.

·         Concern was raised on the loss of cost neutrality within the council tax precepts.

The Head of Law and Governance Services advised that they had looked into cost neutrality very closely and wanted to ensure that they had been open and transparent about the work.

·         Concern was raised on the expectation on the parish councils to take on too much responsibility.

·         Concern was raised that the parish councils were setting their budgets for the 2023/34 tax year now, so they needed to know more details as soon as they were available.

The Head of Law and Governance Services agreed that the timeline was important which was why they had suggested a phased approach for after vesting day.

·         Councillors agreed that officers needed to be careful with the language used within the process and that it was not simply a ‘cost shunting’ exercise.

·         Councillors advised that the report was due to go to the Implementation Board.

The LGR Joint Scrutiny Committee noted the presentation.