Issue - meetings

Appointment of a Temporary Parish Council Member to Upper Rissington Parish Council

Purpose

To agree the appointment of a temporary member of Upper Rissington Parish Council, enabling the Parish Council to become quorate and to update the appointment arrangements, allowing delegation of this function to the Director of Governance and Development (Monitoring Officer).

Recommendations

That Full Council resolves to:

1. Agree to make an order under Section 91 of the Local Government Act 1972 (‘the Act’) appointing Councillor Andrew Maclean as a temporary member of Upper Rissington Parish Council enabling Upper Rissington Parish Council to become quorate;

2. Note that the appointment shall be effective until Upper Rissington Parish Council is quorate (i.e. it has four members of the Council in place, excepting the temporary appointee);

3. Approve the draft procedure at Annex A, delegating authority to the Monitoring Officer to make orders and make temporary appointments to Town/Parish Councils as required, under the powers in Section 91of the Act.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to appoint Independent Persons for standards matters, commence a subsequent recruitment campaign, and approve allowances payable.

The Leader, Councillor Joe Harris proposed the recommendations within the report and outlined the following points:

· Parish Councils must be quorate to operate and make decisions which meant a minimum of 3 Members or 1/3 of its membership.

· Section 91 of the Local Government Act dealt with situations where a Town/Parish Council becomes inquorate, making provisions for the District Council to co-opt a member of its own on to the Town or Parish Council.

· Upper Rissington Parish Council was now inquorate after the resignation of several members of its own Council.

· Councillor Andrew Maclean would therefore be co-opted on to the Council in order for the Council to co-opt new members.

· The clerk of Upper Rissington Parish Council had advised that there was interest in the community and that it should be able to become quorate shortly.

· Council had approved a procedure in 2021 to allow appointments to be delegated to the Chief Executive in order for Council to co-opt.

Councillor Tom Stowe seconded the proposal and made the following points:

· Councillor Maclean was thanked for stepping up to the role.

· There was a question about problems in recruitment of Town and Parish Councils and whether this was a wider trend. The Director of Governance and Development replied anecdotally that there did seem to be a wider national trend in recruiting this voluntary role. It was also a prominent issue locally given that Cotswold had a large number of Town and Parish Councils in the District.

Councillor Maclean noted there was a large number of younger people in the village due to the siting of an ex-RAF base.

Issue - meetings

Appointment of a Temporary Parish Council Member to Upper Rissington Parish Council

Meeting: 31/07/2024 - Council (Item 23)

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