Community Governance Review - consultation on terms of reference

Audience: Stakeholders for the Community Governance Review, parish and town councils

This consultation is now closed. It was open from 23 November 2016 to 20 January 2017.

To respond to requests it has already received from the community and to inform an upcoming review of its own electoral arrangements, Forest Heath District Council is undertaking a Community Governance Review (CGR) looking at the electoral and administrative arrangements of towns and parishes across its area. The review will take place between now and summer 2017.

As a first stage of the review, we should be most grateful for your views on what, if anything, we need to address in the CGR, so that these issues can be considered for inclusion in its formal terms of reference.

A CGR can consider and recommend changes to the boundaries of parishes as well as to their councils/parish meetings, names, electoral wards and number of councillors. It can also be used to create, amalgamate or remove parishes. In suggesting any issues for examination, you should highlight to us difficulties or anomalies in community governance or cohesion which you believe are caused by the existing parish or town arrangements, or will occur after any forthcoming developments (where applicable). In the past, as well as considering parish boundary changes, CGRs have looked at issues ranging from the creation of new parishes or parish wards, mergers of parish councils, changing parish councils to parish meetings or reducing or increasing the number of councillors.

For clarification, this CGR does not relate to district council, county council or parliamentary electoral arrangements. If changes to parish or town council arrangements arise from this review, then, if applicable, they will feed into subsequent governance reviews for these other tiers of administration. For instance, a review of Forest Heath’s own electoral arrangements will be taking place in 2017.

Please note that the consultation only to the terms of reference for the CGR, and you do not need to provide detailed evidence or electoral schemes at this stage; only an indication of the issues you want the review to consider and a brief explanation of why. If you are happy with the existing arrangements, then you can also write to tell us this too, if you wish. The council will contact you if it feels it needs any more information on your initial submission.

What is most important at this first stage of the process is that we are aware of all of the issues that you would like to be considered, since it will not be possible to widen the terms of reference once the CGR has started. This is also likely to be the only chance to make any changes before the 2019 parish elections.

When terms of reference are adopted for this CGR in early 2017, Forest Heath will also publish some draft recommendations to test through formal consultation. The council will not make its final decision until the summer of 2017 and it can change the draft recommendations in the light of evidence received during that final stage of consultation.

This first round of consultation on terms of reference is intended to be ‘light touch’ and this letter is therefore being targeted in the first instance at local elected representatives and other organisations which are directly involved in community governance.  However, if you wish to publicise it more widely in your communities, then we are very happy for you to do so. We will also be issuing a press release to publicise the consultation and putting the letter on our website. For this reason, we have allowed a period of around eight weeks and set a deadline for responses of Friday, 20 January, 2017.

Information on the review throughout the process will be posted on our Community Governance Review pages

To comment on the terms of reference, please email: CGR@westsuffolk.gov.uk or write to

Forest Heath District Council
Council Offices
College Heath Road
Mildenhall
Suffolk IP28 7EY

St Edmundsbury Borough Council
West Suffolk House
Western Way
bury St Edmunds
Suffolk IP33 3YU

Frequently asked questions

Community Governance Reviews (CGR)

(Please note: all references to parish councils below apply equally to town councils)

  1. What can be looked at in a CGR?

All electoral issues affecting parishes such as : parish boundaries, creation or abolition of parishes, changing from a parish meeting to a council, and vice-versa, name of a parish, number of councillors, creating parish wards.

  1. Can we look at parish governance outside of Forest Heath?

No. A CGR can only look at parish matters within the boundary of Forest Heath District. However, the process can identify issues affecting the FHDC and/or Suffolk boundary, and these can be raised with the Local Government Boundary Commission for England who may choose to look at them in a future Principal Area Boundary Review.

  1. Who decides what is looked at in a CGR?

The district council, although local communities can require a CGR is carried out via a petition from local electors.

  1. How does the district council decide what to include?

The district council may be aware of issues that already require examination, typically associated with planned or recent development, or minor electoral anomalies revealed through the conduct of elections (for example properties split by boundaries) and it may make its own decision to include those issues in a CGR. In addition, the council will consult on terms of reference for the CGR, which will allow parishes and electors themselves to identify the issues they want examined in their own communities.

  1. What if parishes or electors don’t want a CGR?

Ultimately this is a decision for the district council. However, the district council will only want to carry out CGR where it has good reason to believe one is needed or desired and, for this reason, it is quite possible that some parishes in Forest Heath will not be involved in any particular CGR. Also, carrying out a CGR does not imply change must take place, only that the current electoral arrangements are properly examined to see if there is evidence for making a change. In some instances (most typically boundary issues) a review may be requested by only one of the affected parishes, or by the electors themselves. A parish cannot veto such a review taking place. Generally, in such instances, the district council would use a CGR to test the issue through consultation with both parishes and the affected electors.

  1. How can electors influence the outcome of a CGR?

Anyone can submit evidence to the district council during the CGR, and this is encouraged. Existing electors who are directly affected by any proposed boundary changes are also likely to be directly consulted by the district council. Parishes will also be encouraged to publicise the review in 2017 within their communities.

  1. How do parishes influence the outcome of a CGR?

Through the various stages of consultation, and by engaging their own electorates in their final submissions. A CGR should be evidence led, and parishes will want to demonstrate to Forest Heath how what they are arguing (change or no change) meets the criteria in the national guidance (broadly speaking, reflecting community identity and life and providing effective and convenient local government) and the wishes of their community.

  1. What if two parishes disagree on the way forward?

Both parishes will be treated on an equal basis in the review, and the district council will make an independent decision about whether any change is justified, based on the quality of evidence received during the review (see answers above). In the case of a proposed boundary change where existing electors are directly affected, the district council will also normally seek their view as well, and this could have a significant bearing on the council’s final decisions.

  1. What status does a CGR recommendation have?

Ahead of the formal consultation stage in 2017, the district council must publish a definite recommendation relating to any matter included in the terms of reference for the CGR. This can only be either a recommendation for change or for no change to the current arrangements. Where it is clear from the consultation on the terms of reference that there is no consensus on a particular issue, it is understood by the district council that this recommendation is likely to divide opinion. However, the recommendation is being used to test public views and gather evidence for the review. The recommendation does not indicate the final decision of the council on the CGR; the council can change the recommendation in the light of the evidence received through the consultation.

More information on CGRs can be found at: Local Government Boundary Commission - Guidance on CGR reviews (Link removed as document no longer exists)