14.1 Further to the decision of the County Council in July to replace County Local Committees with more informal County Local Forums, the Committee considered a report by the Director of Law and Assurance and the Director Communities on the proposed pilot arrangements, including a summary of consultation feedback received from county councillors and district, town and parish councils (copy appended to the signed minutes).
14.2 Members were generally supportive of the plans including the proposal to extend the period of the pilot to July 2022 to enable a full year’s trial. It was also felt that holding the virtual session in the winter period made sense. There was agreement to separating out the annual member information and training locality sessions from the three public County Local Forums.
14.3 It was suggested that for the larger rural areas with a number of centres of population in might be better to choose a central location within the district to reduce overall travel for residents and members rather than moving around the district.
14.4 There was some concern that the proposals were too prescriptive in terms of the format of the sessions. For some of the larger districts some members felt a workshop format might work better to enable more locally-focused discussions. The Chairman reassured members that there is flexibility for the chairman of each session to consider with the other members how best to conduct the event, particularly during the pilot year. The benefit of submitting questions in advance was that, for more complex questions, a full response could be given allowing supplementary questions to be raised at the session.
14.5 The proposal for appointing a different chairman for each session was questioned in terms of planning. In order to explore all options during the pilot year it was agreed that two of the Forums (Chichester and Mid Sussex) would hold initial planning meetings involving all the Forum members. For the other five, planning would involve the chairman appointed for the session in advance. In response to a query as to member consultation on decisions between sessions if chairmanship rotates, the Director of Law and Assurance confirmed that there were no decisions for the Forums to take.
14.6 Resolved –
(1) The arrangements for the one-year trial of County Local Forums as set out in paragraphs 2.01 to 2.10 of the report be approved, subject to the Chichester and Mid Sussex County Local Forums holding planning meetings as set out in minute 14.5 above;
(2) That separate annual Locality Sessions should be held, as set out at paragraphs 2.11 to 2.12 of the report;
(3) That the pilot period should extend to the end of July 2022, to enable a full year’s trial; and
(4) That the arrangements be reviewed by September 2022, to determine a new working model for 2022/23 and confirm the necessary resource requirements.
4.1 The Committee considered a report by the Director of Law and Assurance on a proposal that County Local Committees (CLCs) should be replaced by a more informal local community engagement forum for county councillors for recommendation to the County Council (copy appended to the signed minutes).
4.2 The Head of Democratic Services introduced the item and informed members that additional feedback had been received since the publication of the papers. Four members representing divisions in Mid Sussex had requested that the ability to hold sessions for parts of the district footprint to gain maximum community engagement should be retained. Responses had also been received from a further four parishes. Two parishes supported the proposals, one acknowledged the need for change and the fourth, a town council, voiced concerns about the move to a larger area and expressed a preference for in-person rather than virtual meetings.
4.3 The Head of Democratic Services said that the feedback received would be taken into account in the proposals for the new County Local Forums being drawn up for the pilot year. These would trial different mechanisms for different purposes, including workshops, with the aim of engaging as wide an audience as possible whilst ensuring a consistent approach across the county. The proposals would be brought to the Committee at its next meeting in September for consideration, including the purpose and objectives of the new forums so they could be assessed at the end of the pilot year.
4.4 In terms of future decisions on Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs), the Head of Democratic Services reassured members that, whilst decisions on TROs would revert to the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, there would continue to be engagement with communities and local members. A separate proposal from the Cabinet Member would be shared with all members in due course.
4.5 In general, members welcomed the move away from CLCs which it was felt had had their time, particularly following the removal of the Community Initiative Fund which used to be allocated by CLCs. Some members were however still concerned about the change to decision-making on TROs and requested that the scoring system in determining TROs should be made available so that local members could give feedback to the Cabinet Member before decisions were made. The fact that decisions by the Cabinet Member would be subject to call-in in the usual way was welcomed and members were reassured that the change would not undermine the process of consultation with local members and communities.
4.6 The proposed flexible approach to the new forums was welcomed as an opportunity for real engagement with local communities. It was felt that the inclusion of workshops in the pilot year would enable members, officers and the public to fully engage with an issue. Whilst the ‘Talk with Us’ sessions were valuable it was acknowledged that questions were often quite long, limiting the number of contributions.
4.7 In terms of format, whilst single sessions based on a borough or district footprint would work for more urban areas members felt there should be flexibility in larger districts with disparate population centres with the ability to choose the most suitable area, based on the topic under discussion. Some members felt that in-person sessions were preferable to virtual meetings when possible, particularly for more controversial subjects, as at virtual meetings it could be more difficult to gauge the reaction of attendees. It was however accepted that virtual meetings might work better in some instances, might reach a more diverse audience and had been shown over the last year to enable greater member attendance, particularly for those with work or family commitments.
4.8 With reference to paragraph 2.2 of the report, whilst it was accepted that there would be no need for a formal agenda or minutes under the new arrangements, members were keen to ensure transparency and a record of consensus. The Head of Democratic Services reassured the Committee that actions and outcomes would be recorded for each session but commented that there would also be an enhanced local member role.
4.9 The Director of Communities gave feedback on the first four locality sessions. She commented that combining local place-based induction for members following the election with a ‘Talk with Us’ session had not been ideal. She supported the need to allow for a mix of both local and more strategic sessions and the need to choose an appropriate format depending on the nature of the topics to be considered.
4.10 Resolved – That the County Council be recommended:
(1) To remove County Local Committees from the Constitution and change decision-making arrangements for Traffic Regulation Orders and outside bodies with these returning to the Cabinet or Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport in consultation with local members;
(2) To establish district/borough-based County Local Forums for councillors to engage with residents using the locality sessions being held in June and July 2021 as a model, to include ‘Talk With Us’ question and answer sessions with the public;
(3) To review the arrangements by the end of March 2022, to determine future arrangements and resource requirements; and
(4) That a report on the pilot arrangements be brought to the meeting of the Committee on 6 September 2021.