The deadline for public questions (which must be related to an item on the agenda) is midday on Wednesday 24 February 2021. A supplement listing valid questions received will be added to the agenda after the deadline.

 

(The Council will set aside a period of 30 minutes to deal with public questions, which may be extended at the discretion of the Mayor in exceptional circumstances. The Member who provides the initial response will do so in writing. The written response will be published as a supplement to the agenda by 5pm one working day before the meeting. The questioner shall be allowed up to one minute to put a supplementary question at the meeting. The supplementary question must arise directly out of the reply provided and shall not have the effect of introducing any new subject matter. A Member responding to a supplementary question will have two minutes to respond).

a)    Alison Carpenter of Eton and Castle ward asked the following question of Councillor Hilton, Lead Member for Finance and Ascot:

 

I am concerned that the tone of the funding section of the leaflet is unreasonably focussing on potential costs to residents rather than the potential benefits.  Can it be amended to show competencies will be tailored towards the available budget e.g., there is no precedent, as highlighted in section 6.36 for WTC to take on responsibility for street lighting?

 

Written response from Councillor Cannon (Vice Chairman on behalf of the Community Governance Review Working Group) as per Part 2 C9.2 of the council constitution:Both the draft recommendations document and the consultation leaflet for the second stage consultation on the potential for a Windsor Town Council have been drafted by the cross-party Member Working Group following detailed consideration of the responses to the first round of consultation and research undertaken into establishing a town council.  

 

Whilst it is recognised that many respondents to the first round of consultation were supportive of the concept of a Windsor Town Council, some respondents raised concerns and questions about the potential costs of an additional layer of local government. The Working Group felt it was important to include in the draft recommendations a detailed explanation of how a town council is funded, the administrative costs of running a town council and the potential impact on the precept for services provided by a town council. Aside of the precept other opportunities for revenue raising are not guaranteed and therefore cannot be relied upon to meet the funding needs of the town council. Table 5 in the draft recommendations document lists the precept for a number of other town councils in Berkshire providing a realistic comparison of potential costs.

 

The aim of the leaflet is to raise awareness of the consultation and encourage people to respond, having considered all the information in the draft recommendations document which will be published on the website if approved by full Council. The leaflet includes a section on potential costs but also includes a section on the benefits of a town council therefore presents a balanced approach to the issue.

 

By way of a supplementary question, Ms Carpenter Alison Carpenter asked what did the panel envisage in terms of other services that the principal council might look at transferring in the first year?  What safeguarding was there to protect a Town Council from the borough offloading competencies and costs?

 

Councillor Cannon responded that the Working Group would be working with officers to understand what were the appropriate services to transfer to equate to the Special Area Expense that paid for the precept. The only service definitely being transferred was allotments as that was a statutory requirement. After the second consultation period, these would come back to the full Council to decide if they were appropriate.

 

b)   John Webb of Clewer and Dedworth East ward asked the following question of Councillor Hilton, Lead Member for Finance and Ascot:

 

Why is panel proposing to set YR1 precept at £34.31 when staff/overhead costs plus the cost of allotments (the only service that can be mandated for WTC initially) adds up to far less than £470k raised by precept?  

 

Surely precept MUST only be set based on known costs and any additional competencies can ONLY be negotiated by elected town councillors/RBWM?

 

Written response from Councillor Cannon (Vice Chairman on behalf of the Community Governance Review Working Group) as per Part 2 C9.2 of the council constitution: If a Windsor Town Council were to be established, elections would take place in May 2023. However the precept would need to be set as part of the overall council tax in February 2023. As no town councillors will have been elected at this point, it would be up to RBWM as the principal council, to set the precept for the first year of the town council’s existence. The principal council is able to determine the services that will be provided by the town council in the first year and therefore determine the required precept. The assets and services transferred would include allotments as this is a statutory requirement, and other services to be determined. As detailed in the draft recommendations, further significant work would be required by the council to determine which other assets and services would be appropriate for transfer in the first year and these would not necessarily be those currently covered by the Special Area Expenses Account.

 

Once a Town Council had been established, RBWM would work with the elected town councillors to discuss the potential for any future service or asset transfer.

 

By way of a supplementary question, Mr Webb asked, having been forced to accept the competencies in year one, what provision was there in year two if the Town Council democratically decided to discontinue some of those services, would they revert back to the borough?  Would it not make more sense if elected town councillors started with a bare bones set of competencies and then decided which competencies they would take on in year two?

 

Councillor Cannon responded that it was not for the embryonic Windsor Town Council to decide what to take on or not take on. The proposal would be what the council proposed would be the services taken on. Anyone standing for election to the Town Council would therefore be standing for election in this knowledge. Any discussions that would take place after would be between the Windsor Town Council and the borough about additional services or those they wished to surrender.

 

c)    Claire Milne of Old Windsor ward asked the following question of Councillor Hilton, Lead Member for Finance and Ascot:

 

Why is the wording formulated in a negative way to talk about increases rather than possibility of decreases of precept? There is no balance to this approach, as there are opportunities for other revenue raising which are not mentioned.

 

Written response from Councillor Cannon (Vice Chairman on behalf of the Community Governance Review Working Group) as per Part 2 C9.2 of the council constitution: Both the draft recommendations document and the consultation leaflet for the second stage consultation on the potential for a Windsor Town Council have been drafted by the cross-party Member Working Group following detailed consideration of the responses to the first round of consultation and research undertaken into establishing a town council.  

 

Whilst it is recognised that many respondents to the first round of consultation were supportive of the concept of a Windsor Town Council, some respondents raised concerns and questions about the potential costs of an additional layer of local government. The Working Group felt it was important to include in the draft recommendations a detailed explanation of how a town council is funded, the administrative costs of running a town council and the potential impact on the precept for services provided by a town council. Aside of the precept other opportunities for revenue raising are not guaranteed and therefore cannot be relied upon to meet the funding needs of the town council. Table 5 in the draft recommendations document lists the precept for a number of other town councils in Berkshire providing a realistic comparison of potential costs.

 

The aim of the leaflet is to raise awareness of the consultation and encourage people to respond, having considered all the information in the draft recommendations document which will be published on the website if approved by full Council. The leaflet includes a section on potential costs but also includes a section on the benefits of a town council therefore presents a balanced approach to the issue.

 

By way of a supplementary question, Ms Milne asked, if in the report there was a bare bones recommendation for the town council in the first year with limited competencies, why was it illustrated that the precept would be set at £34.31. She asked why could it not be illustrated as less, for example half that, £17.16, in the first year which would be more than sufficient to cover the running costs for a bare bones Town Council with just allotments and a few other things?

 

Councillor Cannon responded that if a Windsor Town Council was to come into existence they were entitled to the SAE which was £34. If that money transferred to the Town Council, this would leave a hole in the Royal Borough finances so the competencies and liabilities equivalent to that would have to move across at the same time. If they did not, the whole borough would have the liability for the matters which should be transferring to Windsor Town Council. The situation was that any extra layer of government came with a cost. As all parish councils knew there was a cost of administration. The council had to balance its books rather than penalise the whole borough for the benefit of the people in Windsor who would like a Windsor Town Council. Therefore the precept would be a minimum of £34.31 plus any costs of administration including clerk’s wages. This was what the consultation would be about and all views provided would be taken into consideration by the Working Group who would then make a final recommendation to full Council.

 

d)   John Holland of Eton & Castle ward asked the following question of Councillor Hilton, Lead Member for Finance and Ascot:

 

Will the Windsor Town Council steering committee be consulted on the draft 2nd stage public consultation leaflet on the formation of a Windsor Town Council?

 

Written response from Councillor Cannon (Vice Chairman on behalf of the Community Governance Review Working Group) as per Part 2 C9.2 of the council constitution: RBWM, as the principal authority, is responsible for undertaking the Community Governance Review pursuant to the provisions of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, including determining the appropriate methods of consultation. In July 2020 the full Council agreed to set up a cross-party Working Group to steer the process and present draft and final recommendations to the full Council; the draft recommendations are being presented at the meeting on 2 March 2021. The final decision on the form of consultation therefore rests with full Council and there is no requirement to consult on the methodology with any external group or individual. The ‘Windsor Town Council steering group’ is an independent group not connected to RBWM.

 

If full Council approves the draft recommendation on 2 March 2021, the second stage of the consultation will begin immediately and run for a three month period. All interested parties, including the Windsor Town Council steering group, are encouraged to respond to the consultation in that period.

 

Mr Holland confirmed that he did not wish to ask a supplementary question.

 

e)    Richard Endacott of Clewer and Dedworth West ward asked the following question of Councillor Hilton, Lead Member for Finance and Ascot:

 

There is a contradiction between information in section 6.31 of Appendix A and the leaflet which suggests the Town Council would be responsible for delivering of the following services: allotments and other services to be determined. 

 

Can you confirm that services and assets taken on by a Town Council can only be determined once the councillors are elected?

 

Written response from Councillor Cannon (Vice Chairman on behalf of the Community Governance Review Working Group) as per Part 2 C9.2 of the council constitution: If a Windsor Town Council were to be established, elections would take place in May 2023. However the precept would need to be set as part of the overall council tax in February 2023. As no town councillors will have been elected at this point, it would be up to RBWM as the principal council, to set the precept for the first year of the town council’s existence. The principal council is able to determine the services that will be provided by the town council in the first year and therefore determine the required precept. The assets and services transferred would include allotments as this is a statutory requirement, and other services to be determined. As detailed in the draft recommendations, further significant work would be required by the council to determine which other assets and services would be appropriate for transfer in the first year and these would not necessarily be those currently covered by the Special Area Expenses Account.

 

Once a Town Council had been established, RBWM would work with the elected town councillors to discuss the potential for any future service or asset transfer.

 

By way of a supplementary question, Mr Endacott referred to the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act (LGPIH) 2007 Section 9 said that where a community governance review was required to make any of the following recommendations, recommendations under section 87(6) as to whether or not a new parish should have a parish council, if the parish had 1000 or more local government electors the review must recommend that the parish should have a council. Therefore by law this CGR committee must recommend the formation of a town council. With this is mind, did the Chair agree that this section of the consultation should be framed in such a way to ensure all sections of the community were involved and that the newly formed council would start its fledgling life in the most positive manner possible?

 

Councillor Cannon responded that he did not have the detailed document in front of him but if what Mr Endacott had said was correct, the committee would recommend the formation of a town council. However it would be down to the full Council to decide whether or not it accepted such a recommendation. As he had not been sighted on the document Mr Endacott had alluded to he could not go into any more detail. He stated that the group would look into the issue and get back to Mr Endacott.

 

Written response provided after the meeting: Section 87 of the LGPIH Act 2007 states:

 

(1) A community governance review must make recommendations at to what parishes or new parishes (if any) should be constituted in the area under review.

……..

 

(4) The following subsections apply if the review recommends that a new parish should be constituted

……..

 

(6) The review must also make recommendations as to whether or not the new parish should have a parish council.

 

It is accepted that for a parished area with over 1000 electors, a parish (or town) council should be established (rather than, for example, a parish meeting) if a review recommends that a parish be established.

 

If the outcome of the second round of consultation is that an additional layer of government (a parish) is appropriate for the currently unparished areas of Windsor, the draft recommendations proposed by the CGR Working Group and approved for consultation by full Council on 2 March 2021 clearly state that the appropriate body would be a town council.