DEBATE

"That Bath needs a Parish Council"

chaired by David Gledhill, Editor, The Bath Chronicle, on 31 October 2001.

The debate was opened FOR the motion by

Councillor Peter Metcalfe: Chairman of the Charter Trustees, and Bruce Rowland, Vice Chairman, the Small Business Federation,

and AGAINST the motion by

Grant Ferrie, Chairman, Conservative Association, Bath, and Greville Young, Secretary, Labour Party, Bath.

The proposers felt that since the formation of B&NES, Bath had suffered because individual councillors had to concentrate on the affairs of their wards and the committees on which they sat in B&NES. A petition for a parish council was being organised and this, if successful, would give some leadership and a better focus for putting forward the issues specifically affecting Bath. They urged everybody to sign.

The speakers against argued that a parish council was not really suitable for a city the size of Bath and that its powers were likely to be on a par with those of existing parish councils which were essentially to deal with `parish pump' matters in small communities. Also we don't know what would be involved and what it would cost. Bath already had 50% of the councillors in B&NES which, in a recent survey, came out well in dealing with local issues such as Parks and Rubbish Collection.

The Chairman then opened the meeting to the floor and fifteen of those present contributed to a lively debate.

At the end, the principal speakers gave a short response and the Chairman then called for a vote.

The result was:

FOR the motion 34

AGAINST the motion 31

ABSTENTIONS 5

Peter Edwards