Meeting documents

To consider a report by S Hill, Strategic Director and N Randle, Local Government Resource Centre.

          (a) That Strategy Committee supports the revised packages of asset transfers to Town Councils as set out in the appendix to the report which is permissible within the Shadow Executive principles;

          (b) That authority is delegated to the Strategic Director, in consultation with the S151 Officer, to take all actions considered necessary or expedient to make a final decision to implement the asset transfers;

          (c) That approval is given to draw down up to a further £90k from WDDC Reserve to implement the transfers from £1.3m Services Transferred to Organisations Reserve.

The committee received a report on the programme for the transfer of assets and services to town and parish councils that had been approved by the Strategy Committee on 20^th August 2018.  The Dorset Council Shadow Executive Committee had considered the Strategy Committee decision on 17^th September 2018, however the Shadow Executive Committee did not support the original Strategy Committee decision.  Subsequently the decision was subject to a request for an Officer Call to Account.    

Cllr A Thacker introduced the report which summarised the elements of the programme which were still able to proceed within the limits established by the Shadow Executive principles and to agree the implementation on the residual elements of the programme.   Officers were still waiting for the final valuations on some properties before the work could be completed, however the target was still the 31^st March 2019.  Cllr A Thacker reflected that the process to date had not been easy however he wished to place on record his thanks to the town council clerks for their involvement in the process.

Cllr D Rickard  thanked officers for the work that had been done to date but stated that it was a bitter blow that the programme had been stopped because of the principles that were already in place and he felt that the decision of the Shadow Executive Committee was flawed.  Cllr Rickard felt that a decision by the Strategy Committee was premature as the Officer Call to Account had been delayed until January 2019. Cllr Rickard asked for the opportunity to revisit the issue dependent upon the outcome of the Call to Account in January and asked that at this stage all options should be kept open.

Cllr Christopher addressed the committee and suggested that the time to consider the property portfolio of the new unitary council was after 1^st April 2019 rather than prior to this date. The issue required careful consideration and the new unitary council  needed to have the opportunity to consider how effectively to use those parcels of land; he asked members to be patient and allow time for the issues to be resolved.

Cllr A Alford explained that the Call to Account would not change any of the committee decisions taken to date but conclusions of the Call to Account may mean that the Shadow Executive Committee may want to reflect on its decision. In the meantime it was important that action was taken to complete the revised package of asset transfers.

Cllr S Jones expressed the need to support the recommendations set out in the report,  if the committee approved the report then officers would take the appropriate action to progress the programme with individual town councils as soon as possible.

Cllr M Rennie highlighted her concerns regarding the Dorchester Market Charter which she felt should be transferred to Dorchester Town Council. This issue needed to be addressed and action taken as it was possible that the new Dorset Council would not address these issues.  Cllr Alford acknowledged the concerns and agreed that the governance process for the market needed to be looked at and asked officers to make progress on this matter and engage with the town council. 

Cllr M Hall asked for a response to a question that had been raised by Cllr R Legg on whether the process needed to be done collectively or could be done on an individual basis. In response to the question Cllr A Alford advised that all of the towns wanted to work together which is why officers were working collectively with town councils, the aim now was to make progress as quickly as possible. 

In response to a question Cllr A Alford confirmed that an amendment to the recommendations was not required in relation to the Call to Account, however a further report would come back to the Strategy Committee if required.    

Decision (Unanimous)

          (a) That Strategy Committee supports the revised packages of asset transfers to Town Councils as set out in the appendix to the report which is permissible within the Shadow Executive principles;

          (b) That authority is delegated to the Strategic Director, in consultation with the S151 Officer, to take all actions considered necessary or expedient to make a final decision to implement the asset transfers;

          (c) That approval is given to draw down up to a further £90k from WDDC Reserve to implement the transfers from £1.3m Services Transferred to Organisations Reserve.