Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brown, Chubb, Evans, Lumley and Pritchett.

Members to declare any interest as appropriate in respect of items to be considered at this meeting.

A personal interest in respect of Councillor J Orson was noted as being on record for any matters related to Leicestershire County Council.

To consider and agree the Council’s response to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s consultation.

The Monitoring Officer introduced the report on the response to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) Consultation.

Councillor Glancy moved the recommendations of the report and in doing so explained that the Council had supported LGBCE with facilitating their stakeholder engagement meeting on 21 August. In addition, there had been a Members’ briefing on 2 September, which followed the extensive amount of work the Constitution Review Working Group and Officers have done on creating the proposal. Councillor Glancy thanked the Monitoring Officer and the Senior Democratic Services and Scrutiny Officer.

Councillor Browne seconded the motion and in doing so congratulated Councillor Glancy on leading the process. He stated that the solution was the best one with the options the Council had faced.

During the debate, Councillor Hewson commented that Harston is part of the Knipton and Belvoir Parish, however it would be split between the Bottesford and Croxton Kerrial wards under the proposal. In response, it was explained to Members that, under these circumstances, the LGBCE would create a separate parish ward but that Harston would remain as part the same parish.

RESOLVED

Council

(1)  Noted the process which applies to reviews of ward boundaries for local authorities and the criteria on which they are based;

(2)  Considered the draft response to the current Public Consultation being undertaken by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE);

(3)  Delegated authority to the Chief Executive to finalise and submit the Council’s response to the Commission in consultation with the Chair of the Constitution Review Working Group; and,

(4)  Delegated authority to the Chief Executive to correct any minor errors in the electorate figures prior to submission.

(Unanimous)