Your Council
The Town Council consists of two parts, its Members and its Staff. The Town Council cannot function without both of those parts, not legally nor in practice.
The Members, more commonly known as Councillors, are elected on a four-year election cycle. There are a maximum of 14 Councillors, serving two Wards, these being Redruth North and Redruth South. The Wards follow the same boundaries as for Cornwall Council. In broad terms the division is along the centre of a line following the road from Scorrier, through Mount Ambrose, and via Fore Street and West End, to Barncoose roundabout.
There are seven Town Councillors for each Ward. Their names and contact details are in the 'Councillor' section of this website, you may note that some Councillors represent the town at more than one level of local government.
All Town Councillors are volunteers and receive no basic allowance (they are entitled to one but have voted twice not to accept it) nor do they receive expenses incurred within the town (some expenses are paid for attending functions on Council business away from the town).
The Staff are council employees and cannot be Councillors of Redruth. There are currently 6 employees, four full-time and two part-time.
The Town Clerk is a full-time post and administers the decisions of the Members. The Town Clerk's duties are wide and varied including: Finance Officer (in effect the Council's accountant), Legal Officer (advises Members and staff as to the extent of their powers and duties), Council Secretary and acts as the Line Manager for the other staff. The Mayor and the Town Clerk work closely together on almost a daily basis.
The Town Council also employs a Town Development Manager. This role has been up-and-running since August 2010 and is a first for Cornwall. The Town Development Manager works with local residents and community groups in order to promote and renew Redruth as a vibrant place to live, work and visit. See more about the Town Development Manager here.
In addition there is an Office Administrator, which is a part-time post. Duties include minute taking at all of the committee and council meetings plus normal office duties.
The Council employs two full-time Groundsmen. Their duties include maintenance of St Rumon's Gardens, and St Day Road Gardens, maintenance of some 30 km of public footpaths, maintenance and grass cutting in numerous areas of open space within the parish, and maintenance of the flowerbeds. The Council also employs a Caretaker/Cleaner.
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Most Council 'business' is conducted in 'Committee'. There are three committees that meet on a regular basis these being: Finance & General Purposes, Amenities and Planning. The Members of these committees must be Councillors; members of the public can attend but not 'sit' on the committee. There are in addition a number of Working Parties, which are less formal and can include members of the public as Members of the group. Each committee elects a Chair and a Vice-Chair and the proceedings are recorded ("Minuted"), these records are legal documents and must be available to members of the public.
The Finance & General Purposes Committee meets every two months (more frequently when required) and deals with matters relating to the Council's finances, matters relating to our employees, and some of the major responsibilities such as Murdoch Day, regeneration, floral displays, and grants and donations.
The Amenities Committee meets every two months (more frequently when required) and deals with matters relating to such items as parks, gardens and play areas (where these are not a Kerrier District Council responsibility), bus shelters, allotments etc. Members of the public can attend these meetings.
The Planning Committee meets twice a month and considers all planning applications for the Redruth Parish area. The Town Council is not the planning authority (that is Cornwall Council) but is a 'statutory consultee'; that is the Town Council has to be consulted on planning issues. The policy of Redruth Town Council on planning is that the Committee considers all plans, those considered to be contentious will be visited by a Member of the Planning Committee to ascertain the views of the local residents and neighbours and a verbal report made at the Planning Committee Meeting. A recommendation will be made and voted upon. This recommendation is submitted to Cornwall Council as the Town Council's consultation response. Members of the public can attend these Committee meetings.
The Council usually meets on the last Monday of each month, the exceptions being August (when there is no council meeting) and December (when the meeting is brought forward to avoid the Christmas holiday period). It is at these meetings that we should expect all Councillors to attend together. The Council considers the reports from the individual committee meetings, receives a Police report and encompasses any matter that affects the whole Council not able to be dealt with at Committee. Perhaps of more importance to the electorate is that we also hold a public participation period where members of the public can raise issues with the Council. The Chair of the Full Council is the Town Mayor; the Vice Chair is the Deputy Town Mayor.
The Council has also initiated monthly surgeries - an opportunity for members of the public to raise issues on a one-to-one basis with a Councillor. These are held on the second Saturday of each month at the Cornwall Council One Stop Shop in Station Road, between 1000hrs - 1200 hrs in May, July, September, and November; and on the second Wednesday of each month between 1900-2100 hrs in June, August, September and November, in the Town Council offices in Penryn Street.
The Council was awarded it's 'Quality Town Council' status in August 2007, and is only one of 500 local council nationally to have achieved this award.