The Head of Regulatory, Partnerships and Transformation submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to seek the views of the Town and Community Council Forum regarding the proposed revisions to the Town and Community Council Charter. Following endorsement of this by the Forum, the revised Charter would be submitted to all Town and Community Councils in the County Borough of Bridgend for approval.

The report gave some background information, following which the report confirmed that at December’s meeting of the Town and Community Council Forum, it was agreed that a Town and Community Council Charter Working Group be established, to review the current Charter. The working group consisted of 6 Elected Members from Bridgend County Borough Council and 6 Elected Member representatives from the Town/Community Councils.

The Head of Regulatory, Partnerships and Transformation confirmed that the Working Group had met on a couple of occasions to undertake the review, which included the circulation of the existing Charter to all Town and Community Councils to identify any suggested ways to improve the Charter

He went on to advise, that a series of proposals were discussed, and the amendments contained in paragraph 4.3 of the report were agreed for inclusion in the revised draft Charter.

The Head of Regulatory, Partnerships and Transformation, confirmed that the Charter (attached at Appendix 1 to the report) had been revised to reflect the promise of all partners, to embrace the challenges ahead in order to achieve the required outcomes and demonstrate citizen-focused delivery of services. The Charter would also strengthen single contact points between the Authority and Town/Community Councils, as well as improving engagement between Town and Community Councils themselves.

As soon as all Town and Community Councils had agreed the revised Charter, a formal signing of this would be held before June 2016, following the election appointment of the Mayor’s/Chairpersons for the 2016 -17 Civic Year.

The Charter would also be used as a toolkit within which to form the Committee’s Forward Work Programme (FWP), through the FWP Action Plan.

It was also intended he added to utilise technology more proactively in order to improve engagement with Town/Community Councils.

The Head of Regulatory, Partnerships and Transformation concluded his submission, by advising that any comments in relation to the revised Charter could be forwarded either to himself or the Head of Democratic Services.

The Chairperson extended his thanks to Officers and any Members who had assisted them in driving this forward. He considered that the revised Charter would be more of a working document, and would provide increased focus on delivering key aims and objectives that would also result in more meaningful items being placed on future Committee meeting agendas.

He also felt that there would be a larger role than currently existed following local government reformation, for key stakeholders such as Town/Community Councils, including in the support of the County Borough Council.

A Member felt that Town/Community Councils, particularly the more larger ones, could increase their precept in order to support the local authority with certain projects, albeit the smaller ones, including providing financial support for these wherever possible.

The Head of Regulatory, Partnerships and Transformation agreed that this would be a useful course of action that could be pursued. He added that pressures were still increasingly growing in respect of the Council’s financial status under it’s MTFS, and this also applied to its partners and stakeholders. However, some of these bodies were able to receive grant funding that was not available to the Authority, and this could be used to fund certain projects.

A Member was concerned, in that attendance at meetings of the Town and Community Council Forum from Town and Community Councils had dwindled over the past few years, and that better attendance at meetings would make for more meaningful debate, which should then in turn, provide for better outcomes from meetings.

The Head of Regulatory, Partnerships and Transformation, confirmed that the Town/Community Council Charter Working Group, had discussed ways of improving engagement between the two tiers of Authority, and it had been suggested that Officers visit Town and Community Councils to increase and improve engagement with them on the Charter, as opposed to representatives from these coming to a quarterly meeting of the Forum.

A Member noted from the draft Charter on page 33 of the report, that there was a Section entitled Engagement and Consultation. She felt that it would be advantageous if Town/Community Councils could be consulted upon certain key proposals of the Authority before they went to Committee for decision, particularly on matters of importance either to a particular area, or the County Borough as a whole. This applied to planning applications considered by the Development Control Committee and she felt that there was no reason why this could not be extended to other decision making bodies of the Council. She also felt that it may be useful to consider the introduction of Area Forums to assist in generating methods of engagement, and perhaps assist the local authority by taking on projects recommended by neighbouring Town/Community Councils who agree to work together to provide these.

The Head of Regulatory, Partnerships and Transformation advised that Town/Community Councils working together on projects so as to successfully achieve these and/or progress them would be something that could be looked into as part of the Action Plan moving forward, as this Plan was only a framework at present.

RESOLVED:              That the Town and Community Forum endorsed the revised Charter and recommended it to all Town/Community Councils in the Bridgend County Borough for adoption.