Terms of Reference - Community Governance Review - Weymouth and surrounding areas and Vale of Allen

Community Governance Review

Parishes within the following Parish Council areas: Vale of Allen Parish Council, Winterborne Farringdon Parish Council, Chickerell Town Council and Weymouth Town Council

Local Government and Public Involvement in Heath Act 2007

Terms of Reference

Published on 27 October 2022
 

1.   Introduction
 

What is a community governance review?
 

A Community Governance Review is a review of the whole or part of the Council's area to consider one or more of the following:

• creating, merging, altering or abolishing parishes;
• the naming of parishes and the style of new parishes;
• the electoral arrangements for parishes (the ordinary year of election, council size (the number of councillors to be elected to council), and parish warding); and,
• grouping parishes under a common parish council or de-grouping parishes;
• other types of local arrangements, including parish meetings

A Community Governance Review is required to take into account:

• the impact of community governance arrangements on community cohesion; and
• the size, population and boundaries of a local community or parish

The Council is required to ensure that community governance within the area under review will:

• be reflective of the identities and interests of the community in that area; and
• be effective and convenient

If the Council is satisfied that the recommendation of a Community Governance Review would ensure that community governance within the area under review will reflect the identities and interests of the community in that area, and is effective and convenient, the Council makes a Community Governance Order.

Why is the Council carrying out this Community Governance Review?

The Council is required to keep its area under review every 10-15 years.  Following the creation of Dorset Council, and a number of requests from Parishes for a Review, it was deemed appropriate to undertake a Review of the whole principal council area, rather than dealing with review requests piecemeal.  During the public consultation period from 28 February 2022 to 23 May 2022 in respect of draft recommendations published by the Council, a number of alternative proposals were put forward that Dorset Council wants to study further, and also to carry out public consultation in respect of the alternatives put forward.  However, due to the statutory timetable, it was not possibly to carry out a full and detailed public consultation prior to the end date of the Review in July 2022.

Dorset Council agreed to remove a limited number of parishes from the Review commenced in July 2021 and to undertake a further Review to ensure that residents of the areas affected and other interested parties had an opportunity to review and comment on the proposals. 

Scope of the Review

The Review will consider the following parishes:

All parishes forming the Vale of Allen Grouped parish council, namely the parishes of Crichel, Gussage All Saints, Gussage St Michael, Hinton and Witchampton.

Chickerell

Weymouth

All parishes forming the Winterborne Farringdon Grouped parish council, namely the parishes of Bincombe, Whitcombe, Winterborne Came, Winterborne Herringston and Winterborne Monkton.

2.    Consultation
 

How the Council proposes to conduct consultations during the Review?

Before making any recommendations or publishing final proposals, the Council must consult local government electors for the area under review and any other person or body (including a local authority) which appears to the Council to have an interest in the review. The Council will therefore:

• publish a Notice and these Terms of Reference on the Council’s website via www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/community-governance-review and arrange for copies to be available for public inspection at County Hall, Dorchester, Dorset  DT1 1XJ during normal office hours
• send a copy of the Notice and these Terms of Reference to all parish clerks of the areas affected, and to the Dorset Association of Town and Parish Councils
• seek to arrange for the notice to be published on parish council websites and notice boards; and
• send a copy of the Notice and these Terms of Reference to all local Members of Parliament

Before making any recommendations, the Council will take account of any representations received.  The Council will publish its recommendations as soon as practicable and take such steps as it considers sufficient to ensure that persons who may be interested in the Community Governance Review are informed of the recommendations and the reasons behind them.

3.    Timetable for the Community Governance Review 

The Council has to complete a Community Governance Review within twelve months from the day on which the Council publishes the Terms of Reference.  A Community Governance Review is concluded on the day on which the Council publishes the recommendations made by the Community Governance Review.