Community Governance Review - stage 2 - Hockliffe

Responses from consultation

Parish council: no proposal received

5 responses

Comments:

“Hockliffe has always struggled to achieve its seven parish councillor positions; there are currently only four and they are always asking people to apply for co-option but rarely with any success. Councillors rarely have time outside of meetings to get things done, and issues tend to remain on the agenda for months on end. A larger, merged area may achieve a higher number of quality applicants. I think there is a good case for Hockliffe, Battlesden, Heath and Reach and Tilsworth parish councils to be merged. They each have overlapping issues.”

“Merge Hockliffe, Heath and Reach, Battlesden and Tilsworth.”

Feedback received through the public consultation indicated a preference to retain the current level of representation and to make no other changes. This view has been considered alongside the working group’s rationale to ensure that any final draft recommendation reflects the aims of the terms of reference as well as the views of the community.

Draft recommendations

1. that the parish name of Hockliffe should remain unchanged
2. that the number of parish councillors on Hockliffe Parish Council remain at 7

Reason for recommendations

The current arrangements reflect effective and convenient local government in addition to the current number of councillors being proportionate to the size of the area.