Scrutiny Review Program: 2003-2004
Past Reviews:
Strengthening Local Democracy
- “Can I influence the Council’s decisions that affect me?”
- “Is it important to vote at local elections?”
- “How accessible do you think the councillors are in general?”
These are just a few of the questions the review asked to ascertain the degree to which Canterbury’s residents feel involved in the decisions the Council takes. This information was used to come up with new ways of getting residents involved in the decision making process.
Parish Contributions
The Canterbury district has 26 parish councils operating within its territory, which accounts for 30% of the population. There are 3 unparished areas: Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay.
The parish councils in the district are independent bodies elected every four years. They provide a range of services to their communities, some of which are paid for by a surcharge on the Council Tax. The rest of their income comes from Canterbury City Council reimbursing the parishes for services provided by them which would otherwise be provided by the council. The services covered by this scheme are:
- Recreation grounds
- Street lighting
- Burial grounds
- Village halls
- Litter
- Footpaths; and
- Bus shelters
This review arose due to concerns over whether the scheme was proceeding in a fair manner, especially since financing of the scheme has been reduced in the medium term financial strategy adopted in 2000.
Christmas Lights
Canterbury City Council provides Christmas lights for Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay each and every year. There was a concern that the quality of the lights provided was not satisfactory and the review questioned if they should be improved. Councillors serving the Herne Bay area were particularly concerned with the state of repair and design of the lights in that area, and there seemed to be a general feeling that the issue of Christmas lighting was not taken seriously enough by the council.
The 5 Area Members Panels (staffed by members from their areas) were consulted as to their experiences, as where eight other local authorities, and a visit to the Faversham and Maidstone Christmas lights.
Exit Strategies
It is recognised that external funding arrangements make an important contribution to service delivery, and that the council has delivered many positive outcomes for local people using such funds. However, there was a lack of an appraisal function to assess the budgetary and other implications of entering into such arrangements. Indeed there were concerns over a lack of strategic guidance on what should be considered when entering into partnerships.
Consequently the review sought to investigate past projects to identify any on-going liabilities that the council could incur from it’s partnerships, projects or programmes; and finally to make sure that there were checks and balances to ensure that future liabilities were minimised.
