Key roles and the make-up of committees will be decided at the first meeting of the new Weymouth Town Council.

The May 14 meeting at 7pm in the Commercial Road chamber will be open to the public.

It will be the first chance to take a look at the £3million annual budget after months of criticism in Weymouth that the Dorset Council has taken control of almost everything which earns money and left the town council with services which are costly to run.

Meeting dates for the year ahead will also be set along with the details of allowances councillors might be able to claim – £1,000 each for the year.

Most of the meeting will be dealing with what might be described as administrative matters but with the council politically closely balanced there may be debate over the make-up of committees with proposals which currently suggest the Liberal Democrats will be the biggest group on some, but will have no overall control.

Five committees are being suggested for the new authority – Human Resources with 8 members, Planning and Licensing (12) , Services, Finance & Governance (12), and Appeals (6) who must not be members of the HR committee. The Town Clerk recommends that that each committee be filled according to how many councillors each party or group has. This, if the town clerk’s suggestions are followed, would result in the Lib Dems having six of the 12 seats on Finance and Governance with 3 to Labour, and one each for the Conservatives, Greens and Independents, a situation of no overall control. For both the Services committee and Planning & Licensing the suggestion is Lib Deb 5, Labour 3, Conservatives 2, and one each for Greens and Independents, allowing the minority groups, if they chose to work together to out vote the Liberal Democrats. HR would have 3 Lib Dem and 3 Labour, 1 Conservative and 1 Independent while the Appeals committee may end up with 2 Lib Dem and 2 Labour, 1 Conservative and 1 Independent. Members allowances, something which many town and parish councils elsewhere do not pay, is being suggested at £1,000 a year per councillor with an additional £3,700 for the Mayor’s budget. The meeting will hear that the mayor, on average, attends five events each week.

As well as electing a chairman and deputy the meeting will also be asked to formally approve Jane Biscombe as Town Clerk and Matt Ryan as Deputy Town Clerk.

Even the name of the council is up for debate: it’s current official title is Weymouth Parish Council but the clerk is suggesting that it adopt the Weymouth Town Council title which, she says, gives no additional benefits other than being able to use the title of Town Mayor, a role which is likely to be taken by whoever is elected chairman on Tuesday evening.

  • You can learn more about the council’s staggering range of responsibilities and further details on how it will spent its £3million annual budget on Monday