An introduction to Marple Area Committee
Area and Ward Committees
In order to ensure that they stay in touch with local issues Stockport Council has 7 Area Committees made up of Ward Councillors for those areas. Area Committees can be authorised by the Cabinet to make decisions on and deliver a number of locally based services, and they also decide some categories of planning applications and generally monitor the effectiveness of council services in their areas. They also contribute a "local dimension" to the development of the Council's policies.
Marple Area Committee
The district of Marple includes Marple, Marple Bridge, Ludworth, Mellor, Compstall, High Lane, Hawk Green and Strines. It is divided into two Wards: Marple North (blue) and Marple South and High Lane (red). Both Wards are represented by a single Area Committee comprised of six local councillors, three elected in each Ward. The map below shows the boundaries of the two Marple Wards:
How to see what's happening or to get involved
Area Committee Meetings are a great opportunity for local people to enage with the councillors they elected to represent them. Marple Area Committee Meetings are held generally once a month and usually at Marple Senior Citizens' Hall in the centre of the town. The meetings start at 6pm and before it begins residents can chat informally to councillors from approximately 5.30pm.
If you are interested in what's going on at these meetings but unable to attend, it is possible to watch them via a live Webcast and recordings are also available for viewing for 6 months after the meeting is first streamed. Click here to see Stockport Council's Webcast System covering all public meetings.
So what does Marple Area Committee cover?
For much more detailed information about Marple Area Committee, including meeting dates, agendas and minutes of past meetings, Stockport's Democratic Services team has set up a quick link to the correct page on the Council web site. Using this link you can find current information about all the topics summarised below and more specific items and reports covered by the individal meetings.
www.stockport.gov.uk/mac
Public Questions
Members of the public have the opportunity to ask questions about any matters within the Area Committee’s powers (except on legal or confidential matters). You can submit a question and view the Code of Practice via the above link. You can also view an archive of previous Q&A's.
Ward Funding
The Council delegates funds to each ward to allow Community Groups and other non-commercial organisations to apply for contributions toward funding for projects within the community.
The fund is administered by the Democratic Services Manager in consultation with the Ward Councillors. Application form and guidance is available via the above link.
Planning Matters
Area Committee have powers to deal with certain types of planning applications, and Councillors have the power to call up applications that are ordinarily dealt with by planning officers, to be considered and determined by the Area Committee.
Members of the public also have the opportunity to address the Committee during consideration of a planning application for a total of 3 minutes. One person will be permitted to address the Area Committee for 3 minutes in objection to the application and one person for 3 minutes in support of the application. If you wish to speak on a planning application it is advisable that you arrive 5 minutes prior to the commencement of the meeting in order to inform the Democratic Services Officer.
Open Forum
In addition, the Area Committee operates Open Forum arrangements which allow groups to make presentations to the Committee on issues that affect the local community.
How to be more in touch with what's happening
The Committee Manager for Marple Area Committee is Democratic Services Officer Charles Yankiah. His contact details are available via the special link to the Marple AC page on the Council's site.
If you would like to be included on an email alert distribution list for updates on the Area Committee and on issues affecting Marple and surrounding villages then you can email the Committee Manager and he will add you to the list.
When are the Area Committee Meetings?
The AC Meetings are included in The Marple Website Community Calendar.
