To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor E Gould and Councillor T Hewett.

To confirm the Minutes of the last meeting held on 8 August 2018.

Councillor Smith thanked Members of the Sub-Committee and the Officers involved for the recommendation to Full Council in relation to Great Ellingham. 

The Minutes of the meeting held on 8 August 2018 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The duties to register, disclose and not to participate for the entire consideration of the matter, in respect of any matter in which a Members has a disclosable pecuniary interest are set out in Chapter 7 of the Localism Act 2011.  Members are also required to withdraw from the meeting room as stated in the Standing Orders of this Council.

The Executive Manager for Governance & Deputy Monitoring Officer reminded Members that although they may have a pre-disposition on the proposals, they should only take part in the debate with an open mind and make decisions based on the evidence before them.

It was noted that any decisions made would be recommended to the Full Council meeting in December 2018.

Report of the Executive Member for Governance, Councillor Mark Robinson.

To discuss the responses to the 3rd Stage consultation for the Thetford Community Governance Review and make recommendations to Council.

The Community Governance Review Sub-Committee met on 8 August 2018 to consider responses to the second stage consultation of the Community Governance Review.  The Council published the draft recommendations on the proposed changes for each of the parishes and a third consultation for Thetford took place from 20 August to 28 September 2018.

The proposals for the third stage consultation were as follows:

a)     an additional two Councillors for Thetford for the new parish ward;

b)     a name for the new parish ward; and

c)     any further comments on the proposals for  the parish boundary for Thetford to be extended to include all the land to the south of the A11 and west of the A1075 currently in the parish of Croxton, with the boundary between Croxton and Kilverstone remaining unchanged.

The Democratic Services Manager advised that there had been a whole raft of suggestions for the new ward name including Saxon, Kingsfleet, Blakeney and Iceni with Saxon proving to be the most popular; amounting to 47% of the responses received to the consultation.

86 out of the 99 responses received agreed that that there should be an additional two Councillors for Thetford representing the new parish ward and 67 out of the 99 responses agreed with the proposal to move the parish boundary.

The Chairman then invited comments on the consultation process.

(a)         An additional two Councillors for Thetford for the new Parish Ward

In response to a question, Members were informed that based on current projections there would be sufficient residents in the area to justify two Councillors in the new parish ward. 

(b)        Name for new Parish Ward

Councillor Kybird, Member of the Harling & Heathlands Ward and a Member of Thetford Town Council highlighted the new ward names proposed and submitted by the Town Council.  Saxon was not, in the opinion of the Town Council, historically appropriate.

Councillor Jermy, Member of Thetford Burrell Ward and also a Member of Thetford Town Council agreed with the aforementioned comments in relation to the historical aspect.  He also pointed out that there had already been a ‘Saxon’ Ward up until 2015 and any data relating to this Ward name was still available on various search engines.  He felt that this would confuse the public and therefore would not be appropriate.

Councillor John Newton, Member of Thetford Castle Ward and also a Member of Thetford Town Council, felt that the historical reasons for not calling it ‘Saxon’ was totally irrelevant and the people who voted for this name should not be ignored.

Councillor Hollis, a Member of the Sub-Committee said that she did not have a particular preference to what it should be called but an explanation should be provided to those people who supported the name should the Council vote against it.

Councillor Crawford, also a Member of Thetford Burrell Ward and a Member of Thetford Town Council felt that the Sub-Committee should take note of the results.  He was sure that people would be able to differentiate between  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.