In order to make the council more effective East Dorset councillors have agreed to review the number of councillors which are needed.  A cross-party Task and Finish Group, supported by officers, has produced an analysis of the number of councillors that would be appropriate to the running of an effective Council post 2015. The Local Government Boundary Commission has engaged with the review process and, in accordance with their timetable, a report has been approved at this week’s Council meeting that proposes reducing the number of councillors from 36 to 29.

Whilst the decision finally rests with the Commission, the reduction to 29 councillors has taken into account the need to have enough councillors serving on the Council to meet its Committee structures, the community identity for warding (although no decisions are yet required on actual warding numbers) and the ability of the councillors to serve a larger electorate population. Currently a councillor may expect to serve approximately 2000 electors on average. Under the new proposal this would rise to 2585 electors, a figure comparable to the current national average.

The Commission will now consider the Council’s submission and look to hold a further consultation exercise with key stakeholders (eg Parish and Town Councils) with their feedback being made known to the Council later in the year. The Task and Finish Group will then take the next steps following that feedback.

I am delighted that the government is looking to better support Park Home Owners, and I reproduce below for your information, a recent letter to Conservative Councillors from Grant Shapps MP: "19 April 2012
A Better Deal for Park Home Owners

This week, my Department published a consultation paper on reforms to park homes and mobile home / caravan site licensing. As you may be aware from your council casework, there are sometimes incidents of unscrupulous site operators exploiting home owners, who are often elderly and on lower incomes. This has been a long-running issue, and has been subject to a number of reviews in recent years.

These proposed reforms will enhance the powers of local councils and put the park home sector on a sustainable footing for the long term, allowing site operators to run good businesses, offer a decent service to residents and ensure that home owners can live peacefully in their homes knowing that the law protects them from abuse.

This consultation is aimed at tackling a number of complaints made by residents of some mobile home site operators. These can include:

·         blocking an owner’s sale of their home - without justifiable reason;
·         neglecting their sites and failing to make adequate repairs; and
·         charging excessive pitch fees, breaching site rules and stopping owners from improving their homes.

The proposed changes include:

·         changing legislation to improve other residents’ rights to reflect their status as home owners by, for example, allowing them to carry out home improvements without seeking permission;
·         strengthening the rules around the sale of mobile homes so that unscrupulous operators cannot interfere with owners selling to a qualifying buyer who they have chosen;
·         ensuring compliance with site licence conditions by enabling the courts to impose unlimited fines on operators who do not manage their sites properly;
·         allowing local authorities to make a reasonable charge on site operators for their licensing services, which they are currently unable to do; and
·         giving local authorities the power to carry out works on sites in an emergency or where the site operator has been found guilty of a breach of the licence, and charge the cost back to them.

The consultation, which is open until 28 May, is available at www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/mobilehomeowners

Yours truly,


Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP

Minister of State for Housing and Local Government

FiB 2012 has launched, and more details and entry form can be found at http://www.haskins.co.uk/ferndowninbloom2012.html.  Hard copies of the entry form will be found at Haskins, the town council offices and the Library.  Please do take time to enter, and come and talk to us at the Ferndown Carnival on Sat 7th July, the closing date for entries!

I have reported this to County Cllr Burt and to Highways, asking for immediate pothole repair, and scheduling of resurfacing in 2013/14.

In a recent survey of 119 local rural authorities East Dorset were the highest ranked Dorset District for Quality of Life.  Performance was measured on key indicators including the labour market, the housing market, the environment, education and health.  Nice to see use squeezing in one place higher than our neighbours in the New Forest!  See more on this at http://www.rsnonline.org.uk/environment/revealed-quality-of-rural-life-in-britain.