Central Area Committee – 10th January 2017
Central Area Secretary: Paula Harding
St Catherines Farm
Old Sherborne Road
Cerne Abbas
Dorset
DT2 7SJ
Tel: 07765 241914
E-mail:
Dorset AssociationofParishandTown Councils
(Affiliated to the National Association of Local Councils)
WEBSITE:
Minutes of the Central Area Committee Meeting held on Tuesday
10th January 2017 at Borough Gardens House, Dorchester.
Present: Cllr JuryBroadmayne PC
Cllr DiamondBroadmayne PC
Cllr BarryCerne Abbas PC
Cllr HarrisCrossways PC
Cllr ClementsMaiden Newton PC
Cllr FalkinghamMaiden Newton PC
Cllr GoffMaiden Newton PC
Mrs EastmentMelcombe Horsey PC (Clerk)
Cllr LockPiddle Valley PC
Cllr WildPortland Town Council
Cllr BakerToller Porcorum PC
Cllr HallWinterborne St Martin PC
Also Present: Cllr ThackerChairman - Central Area Committee DAPTC
Paula HardingSecretary – Central Area Committee DAPTC
Hilary TrevorahDAPTC Chief Executive
Stephen HillDirector – Dorset Councils Partnership
Pauline MalinsHead of Communication and Engagement Dorset CCG
01/17 Apologies
Apologies for their inability to attend the meeting were received from:
Cllr Potter Dorchester Town Council
Cllr Mailer Piddle Valley Parish Council
Cllr Ranger Puddletown PC
Trevor Savage (Clerk) Sherborne Town Council
Cllr Birley Sherborne Town Council
Cllr Wiltshire Winterborne St Martin PC
02/17 Minutes of the Meeting held on 11th October 2016
The minutes of the meeting held on 11th October were agreed as a true and accurate record of the last meeting and signed by the Chairman.
03/17 Matters arising from the minutes of the meeting held on 11th October 2016.
No matters or updates were raised by members or Committee staff from the last meeting that are not already included on the Agenda.
04/17 Speakers:Pauline Malins, Head of Community Engagement, Dorset CCG.
Ms Malins addressed the meeting and explained that she was there to highlight the ongoing Clinical Service Review Consultation. She requested that all Councillors encourage their Council, Community groups and residents to submit their views on the proposals laid out relating to the way in which the Health services in Dorset should be run in the future.
As at the 9th January 1,151 responses had been received to the Consultation in a variety of ways, verbal, written and electronic.
Forms have been sent out to a variety of locations including GP surgeries, other local health provision centres, libraries, local shops, local council offices etc. An ‘easy to read’ version of the Consultation has also been produced to assist those with learning difficulties or the elderly to take part without feeling overwhelmed with the volume of information that is contained in the mainstream version.
Responses are welcome from all, but there is no requirement for everyone to complete every question on the Consultation document. The CCG is happy for people to respond only to the bit that concerns them or for service which they currently or have recently accessed. All responses will be collated whether they cover the whole Consultation document or just one part of it.
All forms of communication with the consultation team are accepted so letters, e-mails, phone calls, questionnaire completion etc are all equally valid responses.
There are 14 ‘drop in’ sessions planned for this Consultation of which a few have already been held. These drop in session move away from the public meeting style and are a great way for people to come an ask their specific question in person on a one-to-one basis rather than to an audience and 600 people have attended these events so far.In addition to this 14 focus groups have been formed and will take part in sessions run by ORS (the external consultation team).
All of the details of the Consultation as well as the advertising and animated ‘infomercials’ are on the website. There have been 16,500 hits so far. There is also a list of frequently asked questions on the website.
Members suggested that poor public transport links may prove a problem with some of the new proposals e.g.: it is easier to get to Poole Hospital by train than to Bournemouth Hospital. Also the bus services to the proposed ‘hub’ treatment centres may not always be on a regular bus route. There were concerns that if there are no bus services to the treatment centres then GP’s will have to do more home visits to meet with patients.
Members also suggested that liaison with the Ambulance Service would be important as transfer times would vary from rural locations during busier tourist season.
If any members require further questionnaires for their Town or Parish then contact should be made with the DAPTC Office and they will arrange for some to be delivered.
The Chairman thanked Ms Malins for updating the group on the responses so far and for clarifying some of the points raised by members.
.
05/17REPORTS
i)Dorset Councils Partnership update
Mr Stephen Hill, Director at the Dorset Councils Partnership presented his report. (Attached to these minutes as Appendix A).
The main points were as follows:
Local Government Re-organisation
Three pieces of work have been undertaken as part of the consideration for Local Government Re-organisation:
1)The Case for Change (produced by Price Waterhouse Cooper)
2)The Financial Evaluation (produced by the Local Councils Partnership)
3)The Public Consultation results (undertaken and produced by ORS)
Each of the Councils within the Dorset Councils Partnership will debate and decide which of the options, within the Case for Change, is their preferred option by the 31st January 2017.
If there is a good level of consistency then this will provide a strong argument to put forward a case to Central Government. It was noted that vote for an option does not have to be unanimous to be put forward. If a case is put forward and agreed an Implementation Executive will be created in Autumn 2017 with new authorities established by May 2019.
Service Departments
The Land Charges service is still not performing as well as would be expected and further changes are to be made to try and make improvements to search times.
The Waste Partnership (DWP) service is now improving and they have overcome the large array of difficulties to provide a good and steady service. Dorset now has one of the highest recycling rates at 61%. Costs are under control and there is a projected underspend for 2016/17.
Members asked if the fly tipping rate had increased since the introduction of charges at the household recycling centre. Mr Hill stated that he was unaware that there was an increase, however this might be due to the number of incidents that go un-reported or are on private land and therefore not reported to the council as the landowner is responsible for clearance. It was suggested that there should be some way in which landowners can report fly-tipping on their land even if there are still responsible for clearing it themselves, so that accurate statistics can be achieved.
ii)DAPTC Chief Executive Report
Mrs Hilary Trevorah presented her report. (Attached to these minutes as Appendix B)
The main points are as follows:
Council tax referendum principles
The main change since the last meeting is that the Council tax referendum principles have not been extended to local (parish and town) councils in 2017/18.
This is a reprieve this year however the secretary of state for communities and local government stated that he ‘expects all town can parish councils to clearly demonstrate restraint when setting increases that are not a direct result of taking on additional responsibilities’.
Neighbourhood Planning
The Neighbourhood Planning bill has passed through the House of Commons in December 2016 and is now on its second reading in the House of Lords. Many of the peers have picked up on the issue which NALC raised requested, that ‘Neighbourhood Plans are given more weight and where a planning application conflicts with a neighbourhood plan that has been brought into force, planning permission should not normally be granted’.
New DAPTC Chairman
John Parker has been elected as the new Chairman of DAPTC with Cllr Haydn White moving to Vice Chairman.
Training
A full training programme for the year is now on the website and the DAPTC Conference at Kingston Maurward has been confirmed for the 23rd March.
iii) Community Safety Update
Cllr Thacker reported that Domestic Violence and Alcohol related incidents are on the increase in Dorset.
There are currently Community Safety consultations on Dogs, Seagulls,Nuisance behaviour, Public Space Protection orders and Aggressive Begging.
The Police and Crime Commissioner is carrying out ‘Drop-In’ sessions to allow the public to let him know what he should be focusing on for the next few years of his term in office.
There was a query from about what has happened to the Homewatch scheme? The secretary agreed to try and establish whether this has ceased or is now called something else.
Action: Secretary
iv) Housing and Homeless Forum
Cllr Falkingham reported that the West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland Joint Housing Forum has now been rebranded as the Housing and Homeless Forum.
Cllr Falkingham presented her report which was also sent out to all members with the Agenda for their attention.
It was noted that the next meeting would be held on the 10th February 2017.
v) Dorset Broadcasting Action Group (DorBAG)
Cllr Falkingham reported that there had been no further meeting since she last reported.
06/17 - Members items
No member items were raised.
There being no other business the meeting closed at 9.15pm with notice that the next meeting would be the held on Tuesday 11thApril 2017venue to be confirmed.
Signed______Date______
Cllr Alan Thacker
Chairman
Chairman: John Parker President: David Jenkins DL Chief Executive: Hilary Trevorah
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