THIS REPORT RELATES STIRLING COUNCIL TO ITEM ON THE AGENDA

STIRLING COUNCIL CORPORATE

22 JUNE 2006 NOT EXEMPT

CONSULTATION: COMMUNITY COUNCIL BOUNDARIES’ COTERMINOSITY WITH

MULTI-MEMBER WARDS AND RELATED ISSUES

1 PURPOSE

1.1 To advise Council of a pre-consultation process with Stirling’s Community Councils; and

1.2 To seek approval to enter into a formal (statutory) eight-week consultation period to enable the current Community Council Scheme of Establishment to be amended to ensure that all Community Council boundaries will be coterminous with the boundaries of the new multi-member wards.

2 SUMMARY

2.1 Following confirmation of the new Stirling Council multi-member ward boundaries by the Boundary Commission and Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, a mapping exercise was undertaken by the Community Governance and Research teams to show which community councils would have to alter their boundaries to make them coterminous with the new wards.

2.2 As a result of views expressed at the Community Conference held on October 2005, a pre-consultation has been held with community councils to ask if they considered it would be appropriate to amend their boundaries to make them coterminous with multi-member wards. Community councils were also asked their views on whether some community councils would benefit from being warded and whether area community planning boundaries should also be altered. Questions on the ongoing willingness to investigate corporate body status and whether to introduce a new Code of Conduct for Community Councillors were also asked. This pre-consultation process is a forerunner to a more formalised statutory process, which will now have to be undertaken to amend the Community Council Scheme of Establishment (Appendix 1).

2.3 As the pre-consultation process runs until 21 June 2006 only limited responses have been received at the time of this report’s circulation. A more detailed update will be provided at the Council meeting. However, as there has been a prior community willingness to address the issue of coterminous boundaries Council is requested to agree that a formal consultation process should now take place. This is not only required statutorily but will allow wider community views to be gained on the proposals. This is particularly important with regard to the possibility of creating an entirely new Community Council for Hillpark and Milton, and in respect of proposals to amend area community planning boundaries. A future report to Council in September 2006 will advise on the results of the formal consultation and seek approval of any amended scheme. 3 RECOMMENDATION(S) Council is asked:

3.1 to note the feedback from the pre-consultation held with Community Councils between 5 May and 21 June 2006;

3.2 to agree that a formal consultation process should be held between 10 July and 4 September 2006 to seek amendment of the existing Community Council Scheme of Establishment;

3.3 to note that the alteration of the Scheme (Appendix 1) will not only seek to bring community council boundaries into line with those of the new multi- member wards (Appendix 2) but will seek to introduce a new Code of Conduct for Community Councillors (attached to Appendix 1);

3.4 to note that the consultation will ask respondents to consider whether alteration of community council boundaries should also lead to alteration of the existing area community planning boundaries;

3.5 to agree that finalisation of the consultation materials should be undertaken by the Director of Corporate Services to allow the consultation period to begin on 10 July 2006; and

3.6 to consider a further report on the results of the consultation process in September 2006.

4 CONSIDERATIONS

4.1 In October 2005, a Community Conference was held with community councillors and other community representatives involved in the Area community planning process. In December 2005, Council was advised that the consensus of the Conference was that a consultation on whether community council and area community planning boundaries should be coterminous with the new multi-member ward boundaries should be undertaken by the Council early in 2006. The concern being that if Community Councils were split between multi-member wards they would have to build relationships and work with an overly large number of elected members. For example, as Craigs currently stands it will have to work with twelve elected members and vice versa.

4.2 As a result, a pre-consultation process has been held with community councils, which ran from 5 May to 21 June 2006. This followed confirmation by the Boundary Commission on 9 March 2006 of the new multi-member ward boundaries it would recommend for Ministerial approval, which Tom McCabe, Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform has confirmed he intends to accept.

4.3 Following confirmation of the boundaries a mapping exercise was undertaken by the Community Governance and Research teams to identify which community council boundaries would require to change to fit with the new multi-member ward boundaries. An outline of the required changes is provided at Appendix 2 and a full set of the pre-consultation mapping has been made available in the Members’ Lounge. The major changes proposed are as follows:

File Name: N:\DEMSUPP\NewDecisions\Scouncil\Reports\SC20060622CCConsultation.doc Bannockburn/Borestone/Brommridge – Bannockburn Community Council will be split between the Stirling East, Stirling West and Bannockburn Multi- member Wards. To enable Bannockburn to sit wholly within the Bannockburn Multi-member Ward it is necessary to transfer an area of the current Community Council to Borestone and to either (a) transfer an area with a population of 3,389 people to Broomridge, increasing its population size to approximately 8,000 or (b) transfer the area to a new Hillpark and Milton Community Council with a population size of 3,389.

Bridge of Allan/Causewayhead/Thornhill and Blairdrummond – Bridge of Allan Community Council is split between the Dunblane and Bridge of Allan, and, the Trossachs and Teith Multi-member Wards. Coterminosity can be achieved by a significant geographic transfer from Bridge of Allan to Thornhill and Blairdummond, and through a gain from Causewayhead.

Craigs/Kings Park/Mercat Cross and City Centre/Polmaise – Craigs Community Council is in the most difficult situation being split between the Castle, Polmaise, Stirling East and Stirling West Multi-member Wards. To enable Craigs to sit wholly within the Stirling East ward, it requires to transfer part of its existing area to Kings Park, a further area (including what is traditionally known as “The Craigs”) to Mercat Cross and to gain a significant geographic area (largely retail/industrial) from Polmaise.

Dunblane/Kilmadock – like Bridge of Allan, Dunblane Community Council is also split between the Dunblane and Bridge of Allan, and, the Trossachs and Teith Multi-member Wards. A large geographic transfer from Dunblane Community Council to Kilmadock will enable coterminosity to be achieved.

4.4 In addition to asking community councils if they considered it would be appropriate to amend their boundaries to make them coterminous with multi- member wards, community councils were also asked: • whether some community council boundaries required to be warded; • whether Area community planning boundaries should also be altered; • about the ongoing willingness to investigate corporate body status; and • whether to introduce a new Code of Conduct for Community Councillors.

An update on the responses to these questions will also be provided at the Council meeting.

4.5 Any of the changes outlined above will require the current Community Council Scheme of Establishment to be amended and there is a statutory requirement that such amendment be subject to an eight-week consultation period. A draft amended Scheme is attached as Appendix 1 which incorporates the proposed Code of Conduct. If Council is supportive of the proposals, the intention is to go into formal consultation from 10 July to 4 September 2006. This will allow the finalised Scheme to be brought back to Council for approval in September in advance of the Community Council Elections which are due to take place October-December 2006. A full time-scale is attached as Appendix 3. The draft Scheme will require to be amended to incorporate the full comments from the pre-consultation process and the views of Council. Consequently, Council is requested to remit amendment of the Scheme and associated consultation materials to the Director of Corporate Services to allow the consultation process to begin on 10 July 2006.

File Name: N:\DEMSUPP\NewDecisions\Scouncil\Reports\SC20060622CCConsultation.doc 4.6 The next Community Conference will take place on 24 June 2006, at which time it will be possible to advise communities of Council’s decision regarding the formal consultation, and to discuss the feedback from the pre-consultation process.

5 POLICY IMPLICATIONS

5.1 The development of the area’s Community Councils is imbedded in the Community Governance Strategy, approved by Council in December 2004.

6 CONSULTATIONS

6.1 Pre-consultation with Stirling’s Community Councils – 5 May - 21 June 2006

6.2 Policy Executive – 2 May 2006

6.3 Community Conference – 29 October 2005

7 RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS

7.1 None.

8 BACKGROUND PAPERS

8.1 Community Council Pre-consultation Materials

8.2 Minutes of Policy Executive – 2 May 2006

8.3 Note of Community Conference – 29 October 2005

8.4 Community Governance Strategy as agreed at Council, 16 December 2004

Author(s) Name Designation Tel No/Extension Lyn Kennedy Community Governance Manager 01786 442476

Approved by Name Designation Signature

Bob Jack Director of Corporate Services

Date 13 June 2006 Reference SC20060622CCConsultation

File Name: N:\DEMSUPP\NewDecisions\Scouncil\Reports\SC20060622CCConsultation.doc