Andover Town Council has set up several working groups for issues in the town, as well as approving the terms of reference for others.

A vote took place at the Assets and Communities Meeting on Tuesday, January 12, to establish a number of working groups including library support, tourism and town twinning.

However, concerns were raised that reporting methods and deadlines had not been set for each group; an issue which caused many working groups to be closed during previous administrations.

As part of the agenda for the Assets and Communities Meeting, councillors were first asked to vote on approving the terms of reference for a number of already established groups. These included those for the cenotaph, public toilets and Christmas lights.

The terms of reference set out the authority and makeup of each group, as well as the tasks they are to carry out.

Councillor Robin Hughes raised concerns that the terms of reference were “deficient”, as they had no specific method of reporting back to the committee, and no start and finish date.

He said: “They should be finite working groups, have a particular task, a start and end time. In the past we’ve had a plethora of working groups, and older members will know very few of them met sometimes, they didn’t do anything and we ended up having to delete a load of them.”

These concerns were shared by Cllr Luigi Gregori.

A motion was put forward to approve these terms of reference, as well as to ask each working group to identify its reporting method and deadlines.

A vote on the issue passed, with Cllr Lauren Banville against and Cllrs Hughes and Gregori abstaining.

The committee then voted on establishing more working groups, looking at, among other topics, blue skies thinking for the town, support for libraries and support for youth.

Cllr Banville raised concerns over the latter, making note of potential safeguarding concerns that could be brought forward.

Cllr David Coole said that the working group would not set up any youth groups itself, and that there was “no reason” why councillors could not receive safeguarding training.

A vote was then held, which passed, with Cllrs Hughes, Banville, Gregori and Barbara Long abstaining.