Community Governance Review Phase 2

You can view the consultation and submit your own response here:

Chalford Parish Council welcomes the opportunity to respond to the draft recommendations published by Stroud District Council as part of the Community Governance Review.

The Parish Council is pleased that the Working Group has considered the representations made during the first consultation stage and that the draft recommendations broadly reflect the changes originally proposed by the Parish Council.

Our response to each of the draft recommendations, as set out on page 15 of the consultation document, is provided below, together with further comments regarding the suggestion from one person to establish a separate parish council for Bussage.

“The existing Parish Hill Ward and Valley Ward be merged into a single Parish Ward known as ‘Chalford Ward’, as shown on Map 2.”

Chalford Parish Council supports Recommendation (a).

The Parish Council originally proposed merging Chalford Hill and Chalford Valley Wards because of the considerable similarities between the two areas in terms of their history, community identity, demographics, housing patterns and local infrastructure.

The communities have longstanding connections and share many of the same interests, facilities and local issues. The existing division into two electoral wards does not necessarily reflect how these communities interact or how the Parish Council delivers its services.

Combining the wards would simplify the current arrangements and contribute to a fairer and more balanced system of representation.

The Parish Council therefore supports the proposed merger and the designation of the combined area as Chalford Ward.

“The allocation of Parish Councillors for the proposed Chalford Ward, named in recommendation a) above, is reduced from EIGHT to SIX.”

Chalford Parish Council supports Recommendation (b).

As outlined in our original submission, the Parish Council has experienced ongoing challenges in maintaining its full complement of fifteen Councillors. Despite efforts to encourage residents to stand for election or become involved in the Council, vacancies have persisted, and there have been no contested parish elections for many years.

The Parish Council believes that reducing the number of Councillors representing the combined Chalford Ward from eight to six is a proportionate and practical measure which reflects both the electorate and the experience of operating the Council in recent years.

Together with the retention of seven Councillors for Bussage Ward, this would reduce the overall number of Parish Councillors from fifteen to thirteen.

We believe this would provide a more realistic and sustainable level of representation, while helping to address the existing imbalance in elector to Councillor ratios between wards, without diminishing the Council's ability to represent residents or deliver services effectively.

“There is no change to the existing Bussage Ward Councillor allocations or boundaries.”

Chalford Parish Council supports Recommendation (c).

The Parish Council agrees that Bussage Ward should retain its existing boundaries and allocation of seven Councillors.

This would ensure that Bussage continues to have a distinct electoral identity and appropriate representation within the wider parish, while maintaining the benefits of a single Parish Council serving both Chalford and Bussage wards.

The Parish Council believes that the proposed arrangements, comprising six Councillors for Chalford Ward and seven for Bussage Ward, provide a fair and practical balance of representation across the parish.

Reducing the number of seats may also encourage contested elections, which would be democratically desirable.

Under the proposed arrangements, there would be approximately 343 electors per Councillor in Chalford Ward and 420 electors per Councillor in Bussage Ward.

“The Working Group invites further representations during the second consultation stage regarding whether there is support to amend the name of the Parish to ‘Chalford and Bussage Parish Council’.”

Recommendation (d) – Proposed Renaming of Chalford Parish Council.

We oppose Recommendation (d), which proposes changing the name from Chalford Parish Council to Chalford and Bussage Parish Council.

The Council considers the proposed name change to be unnecessary and impractical. Chalford has retained its established name since 1894, and the Council believes it is important to preserve this longstanding identity. Furthermore, a name change would result in unnecessary costs and administrative work, including the replacement of existing signage, documentation and other Council materials.

The parish encompasses several villages and communities, none of which are individually reflected in the Council's official name. The Council considers that singling out Bussage would be inconsistent with this longstanding approach and would not appropriately reflect the wider parish as a whole.

For these reasons, Chalford Parish Council does not support the proposed name change and recommends that the existing name, Chalford Parish Council, be retained.

In addition to responding to recommendations (a) to (d), the Parish Council wishes to comment on the suggestion raised by one person during the first consultation stage to create a separate parish council for Bussage.

The Parish Council welcomes the Working Group's conclusion that there is no evidence to justify such a change and strongly supports retaining the existing unified parish.

Chalford Parish was established in 1894 and has historically encompassed the villages of Chalford, Chalford Hill, Brownshill, Bussage and France Lynch. It is important not to equate Bussage solely with the Manor Farm estate, as it also includes long-established communities such as Old Bussage and Brownshill. Whilst the villages have their own histories and identities, their many similarities and shared interests should be given greater consideration. The development of Manor Farm also enabled people who had grown up locally to remain within the parish, maintaining family ties and community connections.

Communities across the parish face common issues relating to planning, highways, the local environment, public spaces, recreational facilities and community amenities, including matters concerning Conservation Areas, Key Wildlife Sites and Landscape Areas.

The Parish Centre, provided through a Section 106 planning obligation associated with Robert Hitchins Ltd's Manor Farm development, serves the whole parish. Similarly, the Neighbourhood Centre in Bussage, including Tesco Express, Boots Chemist, a Chinese takeaway and Frithwood Surgery, is used by residents across the parish.

The existing Parish Council benefits from established staffing, a parish office, grounds maintenance resources and financial and administrative systems. The size and structure of the parish provides the critical mass needed to sustain these services efficiently.

Creating a separate parish council for Bussage would raise significant practical and financial questions concerning the division of assets, facilities, equipment, liabilities and responsibilities. Duplicated administration, governance arrangements and potentially additional staffing could increase costs, reduce economies of scale and place pressure on council tax precepts. It could also compound existing difficulties in recruiting sufficient Councillors.

The Parish Council therefore strongly supports retaining the existing parish boundary and does not consider that a separate Bussage Parish Council would offer sufficient benefits to justify the potential disruption, complexity and additional costs.

Chalford Parish Council welcomes the Working Group's draft recommendations and confirms its responses as follows:

• Recommendation (a): Supported – Merge Chalford Hill and Chalford Valley Wards into a single Chalford Ward.

• Recommendation (b): Supported – Reduce the Councillor allocation for the combined Chalford Ward from eight to six, resulting in an overall reduction from fifteen to thirteen parish Councillors.

• Recommendation (c): Supported – Retain the existing Bussage Ward boundaries and allocation of seven Councillors.

• Recommendation (d): Opposed – We wish to retain the existing name Chalford Parish Council.

Chalford Parish Council believes that the proposed changes set out in recommendations (a) to (c) recognise existing community cohesion and identity and will provide fairer and more sustainable electoral representation, while preserving the benefits of shared resources, operational efficiency and coordinated service delivery.

We therefore ask Stroud District Council to adopt recommendations (a) to (c) as its final recommendations, retaining the existing parish boundary and proceeding with the proposed changes to Councillor numbers and ward arrangements. However, we oppose recommendation (d) and request that the existing name of Chalford Parish Council be retained.