Harborough Council Size Submission

Approved by Full Council on 25th July 2016

Section 1

1.0 Introduction

1.1 spans an area of 59,178 hectares (228 square miles) situated in rural south . The district shares boundaries with Melton Borough, County, Corby Borough, Kettering Borough, , Rugby Borough, District, and Borough, City, and Charnwood Borough.

1.2 The sub-regional centre is ; key centres are recognised as and ; rural centres are Kibworth, , Great Glen, , and .

1.3 Harborough District comprises 91 parishes, of which 45 have parish councils and 42 are parish meetings (3 joint parish meetings represent 7 separate parishes). The town of Market Harborough is unparished.

1.4 There are a number of main ‘A’ roads that link the main urban settlements within and outside the District. The A4303/A4304 serves between Harborough and Lutterworth, and the A426 links Lutterworth to Rugby. The A6 links Market Harborough directly to Leicester and the A14 links to Kettering and the South. The main urban areas of the District are close to the intersection of the M1, M6 and A14.

1.5 The midland mainline runs through the district with just over an hour’s journey from Market Harborough. Harborough’s rural nature, and its proximity to London by rail, make it an increasingly attractive place for commuters to live.

1.6 The 2011 Census recorded the population of the Harborough District as 85,382. The Office for National Statistics estimates that the population of Harborough District will increase to 100,800 by 2033.

2015 2020 2025 2030 2031 2032 2033 87,400 91,300 95,300 98,900 99,600 100,200 100,800

1.7 The registered electorate was 68,492 in July 2016 and this is expected to grow to in excess of 80,000 by 2020/21 (a growth in excess of 16%). Approximately 3000 electors were removed from the register of electors in December 2015 as not confirmed through Individual Electoral Registration although many of these have re- registered in the run up to the EU Referendum. Empty properties have been taken into account in forecasting future electoral growth, along with the Council’s 5 year housing land supply statistics (at parish level).

1.8 The last electoral review of the district was completed in 2002 (final recommendation published June 2002). The review set council size at 37 (no change) and reduced the

number of wards from 26 to 25. The electorate at the start of the review (2001) was 60,504 which was envisaged in the final report to rise to 63,468 by 2006.

Section 2

2.0 The Decision-Making Process

2.1 The Local Government Act 2000 fundamentally altered the political management of local authorities by separating executive from non-executive functions. Previously HDC had been managed, like all local authorities in , by a range of Committees each with its own remit and responsibility for overseeing a function of the Council.

2.2 The LGA 2000 was significant as, whilst Full Council now sets the broad policy and budgetary framework, much of the executive decision-making was placed within the Executive. There was no requirement that the Executive had to have political proportionality and thus could be completely made up of the majority political group. There is no intention to change from the Executive system of governance.

2.3 The Electoral Review Committee is clear that the role of a Councillor for the majority has significantly changed in the last 10 years with the Councillor typically spending less time in the Council at various meetings, but proportionately more time performing a community leadership role within their localities.

Full Council

2.4 The Council currently has 37 Councillors, elected every four years at a single set of elections, with the last being in May 2015. All Councillors are Members of Full Council. Full Council is responsible for appointing the Leader and the Committees of the Council and for setting its Budget and Policy Framework on the recommendation of the Executive. The Full Council meets on average 10 times per year. Occasionally the Council has found there is a need for additional ad hoc meetings to conduct the business.

Executive

2.5 District Council operates a Strong Leader model with an Executive appointed by the Leader. The Executive is responsible for most day-to-day decisions with a Scheme of Delegation to support Officers with delivery. The Executive comprises the Leader, who is elected by the Council, and 6 other Councillors whom the Leader appoints. Individual Members of the Executive (also known as Portfolio holders) are allocated responsibility for the Council’s Priorities. There are currently 7 Members of the Executive. The Executive meets to perform its collective executive function on a monthly basis. The Council is not aware of any major change in legislation that would give the Executive greater or fewer responsibilities at Executive level and would therefore justify the need for a review in the size of the Executive. Given the experience of running an Executive of 7 Members it is felt that this number, the division of portfolio holder responsibilities and frequency of meetings enables effective and convenient leadership of the authority. The use of Portfolios enables Executive Members to establish a close working relationship with Officers

Other Committees

2.6 In respect of other Committees, the following Committees are scheduled to meet on a regular basis:-

 Planning  Governance and Audit  Ethical Governance  Licensing and Regulatory

Committees meeting on an intermittent basis:-

 Constitutional Review Committee (4x each year)  Employment Committee (ad hoc)  Licensing hearings / Appeals ( ad hoc )

Details of current Committee arrangements are set out in Appendix D.

Quasi-Judicial Processes

2.7 The Planning Committee currently meets 12 times a year to determine planning applications and consider other planning issues. The Planning Committee has 12 Members with places allocated according to proportionality rules and there is a Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Planning Committee meetings currently last around three hours.

Licensing and Regulatory Committees

2.8 12 Members sit on the Licensing and Regulatory Committees. The places are allocated according to proportionality rules. A Licensing Panel of 3 Members sits to hear appeals, cases of non-compliance etc. Membership of this is drawn from membership of the Licensing Committee depending on availability. The Panel does not need to be proportionate. The main Committee meets on an ad hoc basis and the Panel as and when it is required to hear appeals etc. A meeting of the Committee lasts on average 1 - 2 hours, and a meeting of the Panel lasts between 1 – 3 hours. All Members of the Committee are given basic training by the Council on the legal and technical processes to be applied. Additional external training is also offered if applicable/available.

Section 3

3.0 The Scrutiny Process

3.1 The Local Government Act 2000 required each local authority such as Harborough District Council to set up a scrutiny process, which means Scrutiny Committees can be viewed in the same way as Planning and Licensing Committees in that they are a statutory function of the Council. However, what sets Scrutiny apart from quasi- judicial Committees is that it has continued to evolve in its core functions since the Local Government Act 2000 with various other pieces of legislation such as:

 Police and Justice Act 2006 – requires all Councils to have a Scrutiny Committee that has the power to consider crime and disorder issues.

 Local Government and Public Involvement Act 2007 – Allowing Councillors to raise issues of local concern as a Call for Action and requiring certain partners to provide information to Overview and Scrutiny and have regard to its recommendations.

3.2 A review of the Scrutiny function took place in 2015/2016 and with effect from Annual Council 2016 the Scrutiny function at Harborough comprises:

(i) the Scrutiny Commission composed of ten members, (a reduction of 20 members) (ii) two Scrutiny Panels, named “Performance Scrutiny Panel” and “Communities Scrutiny Panel” and each composed of seven members, ( a reduction of 3 members per panel) (iii) Scrutiny Task Groups ( essentially task and finish one –off reviews the size of the panel is determined by its remit but is generally 7)

These further reductions build on reductions made in 2012 which reduced Scrutiny Committees from 3 to 2. Greater flexibility of operation and more use of small task and finish groups has meant the reduction in Committees has not increased Member workloads.

There is very limited use of “Call-In” powers.

Section 4

4.0 Representational Role

4.1 Information has been sought from Members on their current duties. The response to a questionnaire is summarised in Appendix A.

4.2 There are currently 27 places available on Outside Bodies. Details of current Outside Bodies are included in Appendix B. In addition, a significant proportion of nominees (20 out of 27) are Cabinet Members. Time commitment to Outside Bodies varies greatly. Reducing the overall number of Councillors should not significantly overburden the remaining Members in this respect.

4.3 There are 91 Parishes in the District of Harborough represented by a mixture of Parish Councils and Parish Meetings. There are 45 Parish Councils and 42 parish meetings (7 separate parish meetings are represented by 3 joint parish meetings). The current distribution of Parish Councils and meetings is shown in Appendix C. The involvement of District Members with Parish Representatives varies. Some District Members are actually Parish Councillors and some attend Parish Council meetings and Parish Meetings.

4.4 The Council has a number of channels of communication with Parishes. It has an annual parish liaison meeting with parishes. Parishes also receive weekly lists of planning applications received and planning decisions made in the previous week. The Council has appointed a parish liaison officer to assist with support to parishes. Although District Councillors may be copied into these communications they are not expected to deliver information, seek feedback or report back to the District Council. There is no requirement for District Members to attend parish council meetings or parish meetings, but clearly a good relationship between District Members and parish representatives is a positive thing. Most Parish Councils meet 6 times a year. Parish Meetings tend to be convened as and when required, but should meet on at least two occasions during a year (the annual meeting and at least one other occasion). The current workload is variable depending on how many Parish Councils are covered by a District Ward. The Member Survey indicated that 68% of councillors in parished wards attended parish meetings on average more than once per month, with 23%

attending on average one parish meeting per month and 2 respondents indicating that they seldom attended parish meetings.

4.5 The effect of a reduction in District Council Members on parish interaction may depend on the warding arrangements. In the rural areas the number of parishes in a District Member’s Ward may increase. How it specifically affects a Member will depend on his/her approach to parish liaison and how the spread of Parish Councils actually falls once warding arrangements are finalised.

4.6 Member interaction with the public is clearly an important part of the role. The Survey indicated that 56% of councillors are contacted less than 5 times a week by constituents with only 20% being contacted more than 10 times per week. The level of contact with the public will vary from area to area and may depend on local issues. For example, because planning can be a controversial subject and most development takes place in the towns there may be greater contact by the public with Members in those areas. However, from time to time a single issue (wind farms, unauthorised traveller sites) might cause significant activity for a finite period. For these reasons the time estimates provided by Members need to be treated with some caution.

4.7 The Council operates a 3 stage complaints process with an initial ‘informal’ stage dealt with by the service teams of 5 working days for resolution, and 2 formal stages (each with a target of 20 working days for resolution), investigated at formal stage 1 by the Service Manager and at stage 2 by an independent Corporate Director supported by the Information and Complaints Officer. Apart from signposting and progress chasing elected members do not form part of the council’s adopted complaints process.

4.8 Surgeries are not a recurring feature in Harborough with 56% of respondents indicating that surgeries were seldom held and a further 32% stating that they never held surgeries. Most communication from the public will be ad hoc via ‘phone call or e-mail. E-mails in particular can be easily forwarded to Officers if required. However from time to time there is a requirement for Councillors to be present for site visits and an expectation from members of the public that they will be available for this Clearly, a reduction in the overall number of Councillors would increase the potential for time spent dealing with members of the public because the electorate per Member would increase.

4.9 It is envisaged that new signposting and communication channels available to the public (particularly though the internet) will continue to reduce the need for residents to contact their ward councillor directly, as they will be able to ‘self-serve’ through the Council’s online services. There has been major investment in broadband by utility companies and Harborough District Council and in development of online information and transactional services and the burden on District Members as a conduit for communication with the Council had reduced in recent years. Apart from the of Market Harborough the district’s major and minor settlements are represented by 91 parish councils and parish meetings with 292 parish and town councillors representing the 45 parish councils, giving residents another more local contact with which to raise issues and concerns. The district is also represented by 3 Members of Parliament and 7 county councillors. The advocacy role of a District Member remains just as significant, but reductions in other commitments (attendance at meetings) should free up more time for this.

Section 5

5.0 Conclusion

5.1 The District Council considers that a reduction in Councillors to 34 can be accommodated without adversely affecting the delivery of effective and convenient Local Government. In particular it does not think that the remaining Members will be over-burdened and it believes that a warding structure could be achieved which meets the needs of democracy and efficiency in the district.

5.2 The District Council considers that in the interests of accountability single member wards are preferable but accepts that the population and geographical make-up of the district may dictate that multi member wards are appropriate in some instances.

Appendices

Appendix A – Member Questionnaire Analysis

Appendix B – List of Outside Bodies on which the Council is represented

Appendix C – List of Parish Councils and Parish Meetings

Appendix D – Decision Making Structure Submission Appendix A

Electoral Review – Member Questionnaire Analysis

Number of Questionnaires Returned: 25 (67.5% return)

Q1 How often do you attend parish meetings (parish councils and parish meetings) within your ward?

1 per week 1 per fortnight 1 per month >1 per month Seldom Never 2 4 5 9 2 3

Q2 The District Council currently has 37 Elected Members. Do you feel this number is?

Too Many About Right Too Few No View 11 7 4 3

Q3 The average ratio of Elected Members to electors is 1:1742. Do you think this is?

Too High About Right Could be Increased No View 5 7 12 1

Q4 The District currently has a mixture of 1, 2 and 3 member wards. Do you think that the District should consist of?

Single Mixture No View 8 12 5

Q5 What do you consider to be a fair ratio of electors to every Elected Member?

<1600 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100 2200 >2200 No View 0 5 2 4 2 3 1 3 2 3

Submission Appendix A

Q6 With regard to your constituency work, how many times do constituents contact you (in person, by post, fax, e-mail or telephone) each week?

0 to 5 6 to 10 10 to 20 20 plus 14 6 4 1

Q7 How often do you hold surgeries within your ward?

1 per week 1 per 2 weeks 1 per month >1 per month Seldom Never 1 0 2 0 14 8

Q8 Approximately how much time do you spend on ‘ward’ business on average each week (dealings with constituents, local groups etc.)

<7 hours 7 to 14 hours 15 to 21 hours >21 hours 13 9 3 0

Q9 Approximately how much time do you spend on ‘Council’ business on average each week (attending HDC meetings, panels, reading committee reports etc.)

<7 hours Approximately 7 hours 7 to 14 hours 15 to 21 hours >21 hours 2 9 8 4 2

Q10 Do you feel that the amount of ‘Council’ business you undertake is?

Very Reasonable Reasonable No View Unreasonable Very Unreasonable Not Answered 2 17 4 0 1 1

Submission Appendix B Representatives on Outside Bodies 2016

Body Contact Details Term of Nominations Number of Other Information Frequency Office made will Appointments next expire Required East Councils Phoenix House May 2017 1.Leader Lead member Rd Feb & July 2. Deputy Leader Alternate member to Leics. LE13 0UL. attend meetings in the 01664 502620 absence of the full [email protected] member.

Foxton Locks Partnership Countryside Manager 4 years May 2019 1.Cllr Pain Ward Member and 1 Corp. Resources Dept. 2. Other NOT ACTIVE AT Leics County Council PRESENT (02.07.15) County Hall Glenfield (Canal & River Trust) Leicester. LE3 8RB [email protected]

Harborough District Tom Day 1 year May 2017 1. Cllr King Relevant Portfolio Sports and Activity [email protected] Holder QUARTERLY Alliance

Harborough Disability Nick Williams 1 year May 2017 1. Cllr Hallam Equality Portfolio Access Group 71 Gt. Bowden Rd Holder Market Harborough Leics. LE16 9DF [email protected]

Harborough Innovation Rachel Panther 1 year May 2017 1. Cllr Pain Relevant Portfolio Centre Steering Board Area Director Holder QUARTERLY Oxford Innovation [email protected]

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Submission Appendix B Harborough Highways Sue Dann 1 year May 2017 Cllrs: Named Subs required Forum Leics. County Council 1. Bilbie for each member 2. Hammond 1. Wood QUARTERLY 0116 305 7122 3. Hall 2. Robinson 4. Holyoak 3. Rook 5. Nunn 4. Tomlin 6. Rickman 5. Bowles 7. Burrell 6. TBC 7. Simpson

Market Harborough Ann Marie Hawkins 1 year May 2017 1. Cllr Page Relevant Portfolio 2 a year Museum Steering Group [email protected] Holder 01858 821179 Police and Crime Panel Sam Weston 1. Cllr. Page Leader or relevant Leics. County Council portfolio holder BI-MONTHLY 0116 305 6226 [email protected]

(Ann Marie Hawkins) Leicestershire Safer Danny Myers 1 year 2017 1. Cllr. Page Relevant Portfolio Communities Strategy Leics. Together Holder Board Leics. County Council QUARTERLY LE3 8RA 0116 305 5501 [email protected]

Harborough District Ann Marie Hawkins 1 year 2017 1. Cllr. Page Relevant Portfolio Community Safety [email protected] Holder QUARTERLY Partnership 01858 821179

Harborough Health and Ann Marie Hawkins 1 year May 2017 1. Cllr. Page Relevant Portfolio Wellbeing Partnership [email protected] Holder QUARTERLY 01858 821179

Leicestershire Sally O’Hanlon 1 year May 2017 1. Cllr Hallam Relevant portfolio Partnership for Revenues Partnership Manager Holder and 1 other and Benefits PO Box 10004 2. Cllr King QUARTERLY Leics. LE10 9EJ. 01509 454499

Beverley Jolly – 01858 821159 2 | P a g e

Submission Appendix B

LANRAC Terry Holt (Secretary) LANRAC 1 year May 2017 1. Cllr Brodrick Leicestershire and Rail Action Roger Bacon (Secretary) Been Dormant Committee Railfuture The Stables Adhoc Road Bunny Next Meeting Notts. NG11 6QT 0115 921 7814 June Or July [email protected]

SPARSE Nicola Busuttil (Administrator) 1. Cllr Rickman / Leader or Portfolio 01822 813693 Leader Holder [email protected]

Sustainable Harborough Gavin Fletcher (Project Manager) 1. Cllr Bilbie RCC (Leicestershire & Rutland), Leefe House, 27 Abbey Street, Market Harborough, LE16 9AA 01858 466207 [email protected]

Member Advisory Group David Atkinson 1 year May 2017 1. Cllr Brodrick / Leader or Planning on Planning [email protected] Leader Portfolio Holder BI-MONTHLY 01858 821121

COUNCIL CHAMPIONS Term of Office Nominations made Number of Appointments will next expire in Required Armed Forces Champion 4 years May 2019 1. Cllr. Everett

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Submission Appendix C

Parish Council Councillors 5 Arnesby 5 Broughton Astley 16 (4 wards of 4) Billesdon 6 with Bittesby 6 5 5 5 5 Claybrooke Parva 5 6 5 Fleckney 13 Foxton 5 6 Great Easton 6 Great Glen 11 7 6 Husbands Bosworth 6 7 5 5 Kibworth Beauchamp 12 Kibworth Harcourt 6 6 5 Lubenham 6 Lutterworth 16 (4 wards of 4) Medbourne 5 5 North Kilworth 5 8 5 5 5 Stoughton 5 Swinford 5 and 10 Tilton and Halstead 6 5 5 5 Ullesthorpe 6 5 Submission Appendix C

Parish Meeting Frisby Hungarton Keyham Kings Norton Knaptoft Little Stretton Laughton Noseley Rolleston Stockerston Welham Wistow and West Langton

Unparished Area

Market Harborough

Submission Appendix C

Totals

Number of Parishes 91 Number of Parish Councils 45 Number of Parish Meetings 42 (3 joint parish meetings represent 7 separate parishes)

Submission Appendix D

HARBOROUGH DISTRICT COUNCIL

Decision-making Structure

COUNCIL

EXECUTIVE LICENSING ETHICAL GOVERNANCE REGULATORY GOVERNANCE AND SCRUTINY PLANNING CONSTITUTIONAL EMPLOYMENT AUDIT COMMITTEE COMMITTEE COMMITTEE COMMITTEE COMMITTEE COMMISSION COMMITTEE REVIEW COMMITTEE

LICENSING PANELS SCRUTINY PANEL SCRUTINY PANEL

COMMUNITIES PERFORMANCE

EXECUTIVE EXECUTIVE SCRUTINY SCRUTINY ADVISORY PANEL(S) ADVISORY PANEL(S) TASK GROUP (S) TASK GROUP(S)