SCOTTISH BORDERS COUNCIL ITEM 10

6 MARCH 2007

REPORT BY CHIEF EXECUTIVE

MEMBER AND COMMUNITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATION ON AREA COMMITTEES

1 PURPOSE

1.1 The purpose of this report is to request Council to approve a proposal for the membership of the five Area Committees, to be implemented following the Council elections due to be held in May 2007.

2 BACKGROUND

2.1 The changes made by the Boundaries Commission for in 2006 which are to be implemented this year will result in the creation of multi-member wards. The current 34 wards of Council will be replaced by 11 wards, 10 wards of three Councillors and one ward of four Councillors.

2.2 The reduction in the number of wards enables a reconfiguration of Area Committees to a simpler structure, one that will avoid any Councillor serving on more than one Area Committee. A map showing the new Area Committee boundaries is shown in Appendix A.

2.3 The effect on Community Council representation is minimal; only one Community Council (Clovenfords & ) will in future fall into a different Area Committee area.

2.4 It is important that a decision is taken on this matter now to allow those Council services which are area based to review their own arrangements and adjust them as may be necessary. It would also assist in the ‘preparation for office’ training being provided to potential Local Government election candidates.

3 PROPOSAL

3.1 It is proposed that the Council’s Scheme of Administration is amended to enable Councillors to be appointed to Area Committees as shown in Table 1 below. The number of Members in each ward and Area Committee is shown in brackets. The overall effect will be that: x the Area Committee will include six Elected Members rather than as present, seven; x the Eildon Area Committee will have ten Elected Members in future rather than 12; x the Teviot & Area will reduce to six instead of eight; x the Area Committee will have six Councillors rather than five; and x the Cheviot Area Committee will remain unchanged, with six Elected Members. Table 1 New Ward Area Committee (3) Berwickshire (6) - was 7 (3) Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot (6) - was 6 Kelso and District (3) Galashiels and District (4) Eildon (10) - was 12 Leaderdale & Melrose (3) (3) Hawick and Denholm (3) Teviot & Liddesdale (6) - was 8 Hawick and Hermitage (3) (3) Tweeddale (6) - was 5 (3)

3.2 No change is proposed to Community Council representation on Area Committees. The position will remain as shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2 Community Council Area Committee Duns Berwickshire (4) Eyemouth 2 other Berwickshire Community Councils Jedburgh Cheviot (4) Kelso 2 Other Cheviot Community Councils Galashiels and Langlee Eildon (5) Selkirk & District Melrose & District 2 other Eildon Community Councils Hawick Teviot & Liddesdale (4) Burnfoot Newcastleton 1 other Teviot & Liddesdale Community Council Peebles & District Tweeddale (4) Innerleithen, Traquair & Glen West Linton 1 other Tweeddale Community Council

3.3 Community Councils in the Tweeddale Area may wish to reconsider the Landward Community Council representation on the Tweeddale Area to recognise that Clovenfords and District Community Council will be within the new boundary of the Tweeddale Area Committee.

4 MEMBERS AND COMMUNITY COUNCILS

4.1 Scottish Borders Councillors are ex-officio Members of those Community Councils that fall within their ward areas and are therefore entitled to attend the regular meetings of those Community Councils.

4.2 The future position whereby either three or four Elected Members will represent each ward and therefore all Community Councils within the ward area is, because Elected Members are not appointed to Community Councils but normally invited, considered a matter for the Community Councils and Elected Members to agree.

4.3 Community Council areas were taken into consideration by the Boundaries Commission when drawing up the new ward areas and, with very few exceptions, all Community Councils fit entirely within one of the 11 wards. The main exceptions are: Hawick Community Council, which covers parts of two wards and the Royal Burgh of Peebles and District Community Council which also covers part of two wards. A list showing Community Councils and the wards they fit into is attached as Appendix B.

5 CONSULTATION

5.1 The Heads of Corporate Finance, Corporate Administration, Financial Administration and Legal Services have been consulted and their comments have been incorporated into the report.

5.2 All Service Directors have also been consulted to enable them to consider the implications for their local services.

6 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

6.1 The travel costs associated with Area Committees should be marginally lower due to no Elected Member being a member of more than one Area Committee. There should also be a small reduction in the number of copies of reports circulated.

7 RISK COMMENTARY

7.1 There is a risk that if preparation is not made at an early stage the position as to which Members of Scottish Borders should serve on which Area Committee will be unclear.

7.2 There are no environmental risks arising as a result of this report.

8 EQUALITIES

8.1 It is anticipated there will be no adverse impact due to race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation or religion/belief arising from the proposals contained in this report.

9 SUMMARY

9.1 The changes in Council ward boundaries necessitate changes to representation on Area Committees. The future structure should be simpler and costs should be marginally less.

10 RECOMMENDATION

(a) It is recommended that the Council’s Scheme of Administration be amended to incorporate the changes to the Area Committees as shown in Table 1 above.

Approved by Name Designation David Hume Chief Executive

This report has been signed by the Chief Executive and the signed copy is retained by the Council

Author(s) Name Designation Brian Emmerson Team Leader, Better Government and Democracy, Business Improvement Unit

Background Papers: New boundary maps. Scheme of Administration Previous Minute Reference: -

Note – You can get this document on tape, in Braille, large print and various computer formats by contacting the address below. Brian Emmerson can also give information on other language translations as well as providing additional copies.

Contact us at [email protected]. Tel: 01835 824000 Ext 5301 Appendix B SCOTTISH BORDERS COUNCIL

COMMUNITY COUNCILS

COUNCIL WARD POST AREA COMMITTEE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MAY 2007 POST MAY 2007 1. ABBEY ST. BATHANS, BONKYL & Mid-Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire PRESTON

2. AYTON East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

3. BURNMOUTH East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

4. CHIRNSIDE East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

5. COCKBURNSPATH East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

6. COLDINGHAM East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

7. COLDSTREAM & DISTRICT Mid-Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

8. CRANSHAWS, ELLEMFORD & Mid-Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire LONGFORMACUS

9. DUNS Mid-Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

10. EDROM, ALLANTON & WHITSOME East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

11. EYEMOUTH TOWN COUNCIL East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

12. FOULDEN, MORDINGTON & LAMBERTON East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

13. GAVINTON, FOGO & POLWARTH Mid-Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

14. GORDON & WESTRUTHER Mid-Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

15. GRANTSHOUSE East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

16. GREENLAW & HUME Mid-Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

17. LEITHOLM, ECCLES & BIRGHAM Mid-Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

18. HUTTON & PAXTON East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

19. RESTON & AUCHENCROW East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

20. ST. ABBS East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

21. SWINTON & LADYKIRK Mid-Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire

22. BOWDEN (Village Committee) Selkirkshire (3) Eildon

23. CLOVENFORDS AND DISTRICT Tweeddale East (3) Tweeddale

24. EARLSTON Leaderdale & Melrose Eildon

25. ETTRICK & YARROW Selkirkshire (3) Eildon

26. GALASHIELS & LANGLEE Galashiels and District (4) Eildon

27. HERIOT Galashiels and District (4) Eildon COUNCIL WARD POST AREA COMMITTEE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MAY 2007 POST MAY 2007 28. LAUDERDALE Leaderdale & Melrose Eildon

29. LILLIESLEAF, ASHKIRK & MIDLEM Selkirkshire (3) Eildon

30. MAXTON & MERTOUN Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot

31. MELROSE & DISTRICT Leaderdale & Melrose (3) Eildon

32. NEWTOWN ST. BOSWELLS Selkirkshire (3) Eildon

33. NEWSTEAD (Village Committee) Leaderdale & Melrose (3) Eildon

34. OXTON & CHANNELKIRK Leaderdale & Melrose (3) Eildon

35. ST. BOSWELLS PARISH Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot

36. ROYAL BURGH OF SELKIRK & DISTRICT Selkirkshire (3) Eildon

37. THE PARISH OF STOW Galashiels and District (4) Eildon

38. TWEEDBANK Leaderdale & Melrose (3) Eildon

39. ANCRUM Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot

40. BURNFOOT Hawick and Denholm (3) Teviot and Liddesdale 41. CRAILING, ECKFORD & NISBET Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot

42. DENHOLM & DISTRICT Hawick and Denholm (3) Teviot and Liddesdale 43. EDNAM, STICHILL & BERRYMOSS Kelso and District (3) Cheviot

44. FLOORS, MAKERSTOUN, NENTHORN & Kelso and District (3) Cheviot SMAILHOLM

45. HAWICK Hawick and Denholm (3) Teviot and Hawick and Hermitage (3) Liddesdale

46. HEITON & ROXBURGH Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot

47. HOBKIRK Hawick and Denholm (3) Teviot and Liddesdale

48. JEDBURGH Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot

49. JED VALLEY Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot

50. KALEWATER Kelso and District (3) Cheviot

51. KELSO Kelso and District (3) Cheviot

52. LANTON Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot

53. NEWCASTLETON AND DISTRICT Hawick and Hermitage (3) Teviot and Liddesdale

54. OXNAM WATER Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot

55. SOUTHDEAN Hawick and Denholm (3) Teviot and Liddesdale COUNCIL WARD POST AREA COMMITTEE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MAY 2007 POST MAY 2007 56. SPROUSTON Kelso and District (3) Cheviot

57. UPPER TEVIOTDALE & BORTHWICK Hawick and Hermitage (3) Teviot and WATER Liddesdale 58. YETHOLM Kelso and District (3) Cheviot

59. CARLOPS Tweeddale West (3) Tweeddale

60. EDDLESTON AND DISTRICT Tweeddale West (3) Tweeddale

61. INNERLEITHEN, TRAQUAIR & GLEN Tweeddale East (3) Tweeddale

62. LAMANCHA, NEWLANDS & KIRKURD Tweeddale West (3) Tweeddale

63. MANOR, STOBO & LYNE Tweeddale West (3) Tweeddale

64. ROYAL BURGH OF PEEBLES & DISTRICT Tweeddale West (3) Tweeddale Tweeddale East (3) 65. SKIRLING Tweeddale West (3) Tweeddale

66. UPPER TWEED Tweeddale West (3) Tweeddale

67. WALKERBURN AND DISTRICT Tweeddale East (3) Tweeddale

68. WEST LINTON Tweeddale West (3) Tweeddale