Scottish Borders Council 6 March 2007
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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 Scotland in 2006 which are to be implemented this year will result in the creation of multi-member wards. The current 34 wards of Scottish Borders 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 & District) 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 Berwickshire 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 & Liddesdale Area will reduce to six instead of eight; x the Tweeddale 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 East Berwickshire (3) Berwickshire (6) - was 7 Mid Berwickshire (3) Jedburgh & District (3) Cheviot (6) - was 6 Kelso and District (3) Galashiels and District (4) Eildon (10) - was 12 Leaderdale & Melrose (3) Selkirkshire (3) Hawick and Denholm (3) Teviot & Liddesdale (6) - was 8 Hawick and Hermitage (3) Tweeddale West (3) Tweeddale (6) - was 5 Tweeddale East (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