Agenda item

To consider the recommendation to pilot a new Open Forum

The Chair stated that the proposals were for four meetings (two forums a year). The Board had not yet been consulted fully on the details of, but the Statutory Advisory Committee felt that the aim of the proposed changes was not clear.

The Chair put forward the idea of holding a meeting of either the Consultative Committee, Statutory Advisory Committee or a stakeholders meeting without councillors. The Committee noted views stated at the meeting on the issue, including that councillors were elected by the wider community and were a more accurate representation of the local community and therefore excluding councillors from such meetings would be a mistake. The meeting also noted a suggestion that a forum in the eyes of the public that was not representative of the community could be considered concerning. The process and setting up of a forum should be led by the community itself. 

The meeting also heard that:

·           Noticeboards around the borough that was originally controlled by the Council were now largely under the control of residents’ associations.

·           Charity governance was generally undergoing a lot of scrutiny and it was important that progress was shown on charity governance which was under constant review.

·           The diversity of the intended audience included cultural background as well as diversity in age and gender. 

The Chair stated that an action plan was required before the end of the discussion.

The meeting also heard that:

·           The Councillor members of the Committee were generally more diverse in cultural background as well as diversity in age and gender. 

·           The Consultative Committee was designed so that National and regional organisations such as TfL could attend. There was now a separate dialogue with TfL and there were other groups which were engaged with directly.

·           One suggestion was to wait until the council elections had passed before holding a forum and then convene another Consultative Committee to review how the forum had progressed.

·           Another suggestion was to have forums interspersed with the Consultative Committee to allow for a consistent feedback loop. This could start sometime soon after the elections. The Statutory Advisory Committee would not be affected but the process of the Committee could be examined further for areas of improvement, particularly in relation to the representation of the Committee.

·           It was difficult to fully understand the processes relating to Alexandra Palace easily and the roles of the Committees needed further clarification.

·           The act of parliament mentioned the residents’ associations that were members of the Statutory Advisory Committee. It would perhaps be a good idea to examine the objectives and purpose of the Committee and understand how well the Committee was delivering against those objectives.

The meeting proposed that a recommendation be made to the Alexandra Park and Palace Board that each year two Consultative Committees are held and two open forums. If the recommendation was agreed then, the Statutory Advisory Committee recommend to the Alexandra Park and Palace Board that the comments made by the Statutory Advisory Committee be considered and used to review the membership and the membership of the Board.

RESOLVED:

1)    That a recommendation be made to the Alexandra Park and Palace Board that each year of the pilot a total of four meetings are held, two of which consist of the Consultative Committee and two of which consist of the open forums.

2)    If the above recommendation was agreed, then the Statutory Advisory Committee recommend to the Alexandra Park and Palace Board that the comments made by the Statutory Advisory Committee be considered and used to review the membership and the membership of the Board.