Minutes:
The Council had before it a Notice of Motion set out in the agenda papers standing in the names of Mr P Middlebrough, Ms K J May, Mrs L C Hodgson, Mr R W Banks, Mr A A J Adams, Mr B Clayton, Dr K A Pollock, Mr A T Amos, Mr A I Hardman, and Dr C Hotham.
The motion was moved by Mr P Middlebrough and seconded by Dr A J Hopkins who both spoke in favour of it, and Council agreed to deal with it on the day.
In the ensuing debate, the following points were made:
· This Council had always relied on volunteers to create the social, environmental and caring fabric of the county. The Council should renew its commitment to these volunteers following the recent town and parish council elections. Parish and town councillors were at the heart of local communities and worked in partnership with district and the County Council. This Council should continue to make use of their knowledge and skills to help develop local communities and services for the benefit of residents
· Parish councils received plenty of criticism and very little thanks for their work. They had an important role in challenging planning permissions, developing neighbourhood plans, administering the Lengthsman Scheme as well as many other aspects of local work. They were a valuable source of knowledge, expertise and local information
· The Chairman might wish to consider in future sending a letter of thanks for the contribution of all parish councillors who were retiring after 25 years of service
· Parish councils played a pivotal role in the democratic make-up of the county
· Some parish councils had expressed frustration with district councils and the County Council particularly concerning planning applications for housing developments
· The work of the local Highways Liaison Officer in the Malvern Hills district in liaising with parish councils was commended
· Parish councils helped engender an ethos of voluntary work which transferred to other aspects of life across the whole of society
· More volunteers should be encouraged to stand for election to avoid uncontested elections and reduce the number of vacancies across the county. A note of caution was added that some parish councils found the elections process to be prohibitively expensive to administer
A closure motion was moved and seconded that the question be now put. A Point of Order was then raised arguing that it was not possible to move a closure motion after previously speaking on that motion. The Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised under the constitution that was not the rule and it was possible for a member to move a closure motion at the end of a speech of another. This requirement had been met. No discussion of the closure motion was permitted. Here, the Chairman must firstly decide whether the subject matter of the notice of motion had received sufficient consideration in order for the closure motion to take effect. If the Chairman felt that that was the case then the closure motion would be put to the vote by Council without debate.
Following the advice of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, the Chairman felt that as a number of speakers had indicated their desire to speak and given the importance of the subject matter, the debate should continue and the closure motion was therefore not put.
On continuation of the debate, the following points were made:
· The level of detail that parish councils became immersed in at local level was of great benefit to this Council
· Parish and town councils had an important role in making local government accessible to the public especially where local residents were unsure where to get help
· volunteers who undertook voluntary work in non-parished areas should also be recognised for their contribution.
RESOLVED: “Following their successful election or appointment in May, Worcestershire County Council will continue to celebrate and cooperate with new and returning parish and town councillors to deliver public services for the benefit of all our residents."