Parish of Little Altcar Annual Meeting Minutes – 13 May 2024

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting

13 May 2024

Present: Councillors: Leo Kolassa, Colin Appleton, Derek Baxter, Sandra Baxter, Mike Wield and Paul Wiencke.

In Attendance: Mrs C Jenkins (Clerk)

1.0 Welcome by Chairman of Little Altcar Parish Council

Ward Cllr Kolassa welcomed everyone to the meeting.

 2.0 Apologies for Absence

There were apologies received from Cllr Riley.

3.0 To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 15 May 2023

The minutes of the Annual Parish meeting held on 15 May 2023 were received and noted.

4.0 Public Participation

The meeting was adjourned for this item.

There were no members of public wanting to address the Council.

The meeting was reconvened.

5.0 To receive an update on the Grouping Order for the purpose of forming a grouped parish council with Formby Parish Council to be known as Formby and Little Altcar Parish Council

The business case proposal for the Grouping Order had been sent to Sefton Council’s Chief Legal and Democratic officer. He had responded to say that any consideration by Sefton Council for a grouping order would not be undertaken until the completion of the Boundary Commission Review. As part of the Boundary Commission Review the Parish Council were invited to make a submission, which they did. Subsequently the Boundary Commission have published their draft recommendations and have advised that any merger of the parishes is a matter for Sefton Council.

Members discussed asking for a community governance review and noted that a petition can be made which will trigger a review. For a petition to be valid it must meet certain conditions. The first of these conditions is that a petition must be signed by the requisite number of local electors. It is recommended that petitioners aim to collect the requisite number of signatures based on the most recently published electoral register. It should be against this register that the petition thresholds (set out below) will be assessed. The three thresholds are:

  1. a) for an area with less than 500 local electors, the petition must be signed by at least 50% of them
  2. b) for an area with between 500 and 2,500 local electors, the petition must be signed by at least 250 of them
  3. c) for an area with more than 2,500 local electors, the petition must be signed by at least 10% of them

Members noted that Little Altcar would fall under category b, requiring 250 signatures of electors as per the electoral register.

It was agreed to write to the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer, Sefton Council to further understand their position and to discuss with Formby Parish Council how to publicise this and set up a petition.

6.0 Close of Meeting

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.