Question:
With astonishment I read you have decided against 93% of Bexhill voters in the recent vote, denying the wishes of such a majority. In a less civilised country this would have resulted in rebellion. I will work hard to persuade locals to vote against the Conservative party at the next opportunity and look forward to you leaving office, along with your colleagues. Worst Wishes for Christmas. (21/12/2017)
Answer:
Thank you for your comments.
Firstly, I can advise that this was not a vote – this was a consultation exercise to which the Council received 9,032 valid responses from Bexhill residents. This represents 25.8% of the electors (34,912) of Bexhill and 20.4% of the population (44,200) taken as a whole (as the consultation was open to all and responses from under 18s have been accepted).
Under section 93 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, the Council must comply with a number of duties when undertaking a community governance review, including consulting the local government electors for the area under review – and take all views into account.
The Council had a full and thorough debate on Monday 18 December – the audio recording of the debate is available on the website at the following link under related links at the bottom of the page:
http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/12970/Monday-18-December
The Council’s final recommendation can be found at the following link:
http://www.rother.gov.uk/CommunityGovernanceReview (02/01/2018)
