Meeting documents

To consider a report of the Head of Financial Services.

(a)       That the proposals set out in paragraphs 12 to 28 regarding the services and associated assets to be transferred to the new Weymouth Town Council be agreed in principal to enable further detailed plans to be developed.

(b)       That the legal basis for the transfer of assets to the Town Council is approved to be freehold unencumbered wherever possible.

The Head of Financial Services set out the current positions in respect of the main functions and associated assets that was proposed to be transferred to the Town Council from 1 April 2019.   The committee noted that where possible the legal basis for the transfer of assets to the Town Council should be approved to be freehold unencumbered.  

Members were reminded that a Task and Finish Group was set up to consider the transfer of assets and as part of developing the proposals the group established a number of principles that would be applied in order to develop options that could be agreed with the Shadow Dorset Council.  In addition to these principles, the Shadow Dorset Executive Committee also agreed a number of principles and both of these had been set out within the report to members.

As Brief holder, Cllr J Cant advised that the council had worked hard to ensure the assets were in the best possible condition prior to transfer, however there were members that expressed concern that the town council was taking on a lot of liabilities and that the unitary council was gaining the majority of the assets.

Cllr J Cant continued by responding to comments made during public participation and stated that it was really important that the Museum collection was maintained and protected for the future.  The council needed to make a major effort to look after it. Members acknowledged that this was a large collection which needed to be properly collated.  There were on going issues with the development of the Brewery Quay sited, which was currently inappropriate to house the collection. Members acknowledged that there were mixed views regarding whether the collection should be transferred to the Town Council or the Unitary Council, however overall the committee agreed that it should be transferred to the unitary, who would be more financially able to support its long term future.

In respect of the transfer of cemeteries to the town council and the Crematorium to the unitary council some members expressed concern regarding the teams future and that it would be split up by this proposal. 

There was a preference by some members of the committee to see the two services remain together and be sourced to the town council by some form of a service level agreement.  However the Chair advised that it was extremely unlikely that the new unitary authority would concede that this asset be transferred to the town council. 

Some members expressed further concerns about the transfer of all the Borough Car Parks to the new unitary council. The town council would have no control over the car parks and there was concern about how future events and functions would operate without that control and access to these car parks. 

The committee also expressed that it was important that the complimentary parking tickets given to volunteers continued, as these individuals supported the town’s events, which wouldn’t take place without them. It was hoped that a process was put into place to support the continuation of the service. . Members also expressed concern that although the town council’s events would be bringing business into the town with these occasions , it would be unitary council that would take the financial gain.  However the Chair reminded the committee that the new unitary council would be providing a number of costly services across Dorset including provision of these services to Weymouth. It was essential that the unitary council maximised its income to support these important services.

In response to a question about the Melcombe Regis Board, the Head of Paid Service confirmed that the Board had a valuable role to play and work on the governance arrangements was taking place to ensure that the functions of the Board continued into the future.

There were a number of points made by councillors regarding clarification, which would be addressed for the final report to Management Committee in January. The Corporate Affairs and Continuous Improvement Brief holder advised that the report and the comments from this committee would be considered by the Shadow Dorset Executive Committee to confirm their support for the general direction of these proposals. The final report would be considered by Management Committee in January 2019 followed by Shadow Dorset Executive Committee and the WPBC Full Council in the New Year.

It was proposed by Cllr R Nowak and seconded by Cllr J Cant that

Decision

(a)       That the proposals set out in paragraphs 12 to 28 regarding the services and associated assets to be transferred to the new Weymouth Town Council be agreed in principal to enable further detailed plans to be developed.

(b)       That the legal basis for the transfer of assets to the Town Council is approved to be freehold unencumbered wherever possible.