RESIDENTS are to get a say in the creation of a town council.

A report to be presented to a meeting of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council this week will set out the initial proposals for the creation of a new authority for Weymouth.

It comes as the borough prepares to become a part of a wider, unitary authority covering much of Dorset.

Matters which will be discussed on the consultation include electoral arrangements, number of councillors and warding patterns.
The full council meeting on Thursday at 7pm will consider the final terms of reference and, if they are agreed, the consultation will go ahead.

The report states that a consultation was initially expected to launch on June 5, but due to the General Election, this has been pushed back.

It states: “Management committee gave careful consideration to the proposals for new governance arrangements for the Weymouth area proposed by the Steering Group for Democratic Improvement and concluded that residents would be best served by a single Parish Council for the whole of the Weymouth area.”

The consultation period will run for 10 weeks, and the responses will be considered by full council before revisions to the terms are set out in a draft document, before final recommendations are published.

The borough council has allocated £200,000 for the work involved in creating a new parish council.

The report states: “As well as the community governance review to consider the creation of a new parish council, a member/officer working group will work in tandem to look at the preliminary work needed to create the new parish council. This would include transfer of assets to both any new parish council and also to Portland Town Council.”

The proposals for a Dorset unitary have gone forward to be considered by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, though this process has been delayed by the General Election.

Creating a unitary authority is expected to save local councils substantial amounts of money and, it is hoped, will protect public services.

A town council for Weymouth could take on responsibility for local services such as parking and tourism.

Leader of the borough council Jeff Cant has previously said a town council will enable a ‘greater mix of political views’ as well as helping to maintain Weymouth’s identity under a unitary authority.