Comment reply.

Comment reply

Written for the Blog by a Preston resident.

Reply to comments

Written for the Blog by a Preston resident.

Steve D.

If what I’m saying isn’t true Steve, I also hope someone will challenge it, the problem with that is…it is true. It’s not really a question of being fooled after all most people are out at work or bringing up families and generally leading busy life styles that usually requires their full attention and commitment.  Younger people are out with their friends or communicating with social media sites and are just as busy but in a different way.

The core councillors that I refer to have taken complete advantage of the busy lives of residents and used it to their own advantage. The few people who have attempted to communicate with the council are generally ignored but if they dare to pass that post they are intimidated and bullied, in the expectation that they won’t trouble the council again.

I can give you an example, on 10^th October 2012 I wrote to the council and requested information relating to the accounts of the Preston Playing Fields Charity (these are legally public documents), it is now 4 months later and there has been no sign of any acknowledgement or response. The council clearly wish to have no interference from a resident but when this kind of behaviour becomes the norm it does make you wonder what they are trying to hide! It’s abundantly clear that the council have no time for residents and wish to keep them in the dark as far and as long as possible…why? Again I will ask, what is the council trying to hide.

Under normal circumstances any mail received by the council during the month is read or given to the council or at least a synopsis of content is given for the benefit of any public attending the meeting. No such requests are ever mentioned during council meetings, the only people who are able to prevent that are the council leadership, Chairman and Vice. What do they have to hide?

The hands of new councillors are not by any means clean because they know of the difficulties with the ‘core councillors’ yet still take instruction from them and continue to follow their policy towards residents. It unfortunately suggests they do not have any idea of what to do and following the old crew at least lets them off the hook of having to come up with something. Would those councillors please resign and let us elect people who are able to act and come up with some ideas.

I reproduce the txt of the request below.

Dear Council

Re. Preston Playing Fields Charity

I would be grateful if you would forward to me information enabling me to access the above Charities accounts and, who should I contact with regard to obtaining copies of those accounts.

Regards

*** *****

Councillors are sole trustees on this charity as with the New Community Hall Charity, there is absolutely no flow of information from these councillor controlled bodies to residents, yet we paid to set them up councillors didn’t have to bear the cost. My request was made to the council, every councillor is a trustee on that charity yet they will not respond, not just to me...to anyone!

In the past I have written to the council for Charity information (remember all councillors are Trustees of the Charity) only to be told that they are unable to give any information because I have written to a councillor and must write to a trustee instead, but of course trustees are also councillors, I find the whole situation infantile and totally pointless, clearly frustrating and annoying, contrary to some councillors beliefs,it really isn't MI5!!

It has to be said that this is the charity a council member is currently using to promote a child play park near to her home, her occupation, a child minder! her address, close to the proposed play park? self interest? that just happens to be the history of Preston Parish Council, and it appears new councillors waste no time in learning those ropes so they can jump on the bandwagon! come up with anything for residents....they haven't a clue, total blanks!  If any family members have a business the council can be a source of income yet we are not allowed access to information, who prevents that access, councillors!

I am not at this point suggesting there is any thing untoward about such a cosy relationship that councillors appear to want to keep secret, I will return to this in the near future.

I do hope this goes some way to answering your comment Steve, thanks for reading.

Jennifer W. & Sheila M

You would both be very welcome, you are right in that we do need to join together to get rid of these councillors, to let these people continue to abuse residents as they have for so many years would be criminal but to get rid of them we need to act as a group.

I can assure you that if you chose to stand in any election we are very happy to work with you over a long period of time and cover the ins and outs of being a councillor, how the council works etc. It might be interesting to you to read our postings ‘Role of a council’ and ‘Role of a councillor’ from early January postings if you haven’t already done that. Before you stand you will be running at full speed and ready to play a full and active part in council without having to reply on the advice of current councillors.

If we support any councillor there will be a very obvious campaign to get them all elected throughout Preston and in the Press and against those councillors who to-date have proved themselves to be so ineffective. We will not be planning to lose!!!

Anonymous.

Hi anonymous, I believe I have answered you comment in recent posts in fact the post of yesterday ‘Council Achievements 1997 – 2011’ mentions what we consider to be a waste.

I hope that post answers your comment but if not do please get back to us and we shall endeavour to answer it fully.

Thanks for reading and for your comment.

Council size, why 9 councillor's

Comment reply

Hi Pete

Prior to 2011 as mentioned in previous posts, Preston Parish Council (PPC) or residents had not enjoyed the benefits of an actual public poll (election) to elect any councillor for at least 14 years, which takes us back to the mid 1990’s. If public elections are held every 4 years how have they managed that?

There are 13 councillors on PPC and to make any meeting legal they need a third of councillors to attend (5), once they have that number (a Quorum) they are legally in a position of being able to conduct council business and make decisions on our (residents) behalf.

Since the mid 1990’s there has been a core of councillors (6) who have manipulated the council for their own purposes, I’m not suggesting what those purposes are at this point. We had 6 councillors who were able to ‘choose’ who they co-opted onto the council with them, giving us (the public) no say in the matter at all. We had 6 councillors who considered it their own personal business who is co-opted (elected by them) onto the council and all decisions effecting residents of Preston have been made by the same 6 people, for at least 14 years which led to gross mismanagement, we as residents had never had any influence or voice on who joins our council to represent us, or any voice in council for that matter!

Those 6 councillors will take great care vetting who is acceptable to them as they have for so many years and ensure they co-opt people who are not a challenge or threat to them or their private agenda. Once those vacancies are filled it’s back to business as usual, no residents of Preston have had any say in who represents them or in the running of our parish since the mid 1990’s

Remember they already have the power to legally make decisions on our (residents) behalf because they always ensure there are at least 5 to make up the quorum and, in order to maintain and secure that position they must prevent a public poll which would take the choice out of their hands, they might end up with someone who is prepared to challenge them. As was proven in May 2011, although there has never been any challenge to them.

So how do they get around public polls (elections) every 4 years? They simply have a number of councillors maybe 4 or 5 stand down (resign) prior to the public poll, this could take place over a period of 6 months because in the 6 months leading up to a public poll the council does not have to fill those vacancies, normal rules are suspended for that period.

We now have 13 vacancies for Parish Councillors and only 6 or 7 candidates (the original 6/7 councillors) standing for ‘re-election’. There is clearly no point in going to the expense of a public poll when there isn’t enough candidates to fill all the vacancies. Result? Those 6/7 councillors are deemed to have been ‘re-elected’ unopposed and are duly installed as ‘new’ councillor’s', without any public involvement, this action always denied residents their say because none of them were physically voted onto the council by residents, they got there by default.

Because there are 6 or 7 of them they have ensured they are able to form a quorum and therefore have the power to legally operate as a council (minimum number of 5 councillors), they are now in a position to co-opt (decide who they want to join them without further interference from or any regard for the publics opinions (Preston residents).

We are now basically back to where we started, those ‘core’ councillors will now chose who fills those remaining vacant seats and they will be careful to chose people who have no interest in opposing their agenda, they have now maintained their tight grip on Preston.

How would they know a dozen people wouldn’t stand for election, easy, they have spent 14 years making absolutely sure there is no interest from residents by their actions listed elsewhere in this Blog. How secretive were they? The fact that a number of the Chairman’s neighbours were not aware he was even on the council might give an indication to that.

There have been a few people who joined the council over the years who have had good intentions but one or two people will never adversely affect the 6 core councillors who orchestrate council activity. At some point when it becomes very clear that they are not able to influence anything or get better arrangements in place on whatever subject, new councillors simply resign and the core councillors are again able to pick someone of their choosing by co-option.

In 2011 we had 6 new councillors elected by the public, if you analyse what influence that has had on the council or how it has improved life for the residents of Preston, I’m sure you’ll find there is no difference at all, so why did we bother? Same old story, I don't know!

That’s the problem with having 13 councillor’s? it’s much easier for that core to bunker down and control council activity, strengthening their position by co-option.

What difference would having 9 councillors make, well there’s more than one school of thought on the subject, some would argue it weakens resident’s position while others would argue it strengthens resident’s position.

My personal view is that a reduced number (not necessarily 9) of councillors would strengthen the position of residents because whilst it makes the current core group of councillors (6) much more difficult to maintain their position it also makes it easier for residents to elect independently minded people onto the council in relatively small numbers who are able to make a difference. The key, from recent experience, is that we need those independently minded people because they will put their views and opinions forward on behalf of resident’s, in council and, be willing to stand by them without being persuaded,  intimidated or bullied into joining the core group.

The result should be a more open and transparent council with a flow of information that encourages other residents to become involved.

Yes we did manage to elect 6 new councillors in May 2011 and that should have made a difference but those inexperienced councillors simply chose to ask the core group what they should do and how they should do it. The core group must have thought the sun was shining on them to have such willing novices, they have guided them ever since and consequently been able to continue their policies at arms length and with very little interruption.

New councillor’s in my humble opinion should have thought ‘gee, we don’t really know what we’re supposed to be doing, lets allocate a little time to get to know these new roles we are supposed to play and take it from there’.

No matter what you’re view point is, Preston continues to be run by half a council so having 13 councillors is of no benefit to residents at all.

Hope this helps and thanks for reading and commenting.

Illegal Councillor

ILLEGAL COUNCILLOR

Written for the Blog by a Preston Resident.

ILLEGAL COUNCILLOR

We've just had a comment from a person who lives in Preston saying he/she has heard the council have an illegal councillor sitting with them, I said I would post this reply as a Blog.

We believe they have, the councillor was co-opted during the October 2012 meeting, the council didn't give the required legal minimum of 3 clear days notice, they only gave 2 days notice.

We know this because we are aware that the council posts the notice for the coming council meeting, normally on a Saturday morning between about 0830am to 10am, because of the legal definition of the 'clear 3 days notice' the day the notice is posted (Saturday), Sunday and the day of the meeting (Wednesday) cannot be counted when calculating 3 clear days, that only leaves Monday and Tuesday, 2 clear days notice. Can we prove it, yes I think we can with photographic evidence, we have been watching them post their notices for a while. We weren't prepared to rely on their honesty, it's a shameful situation I agree.

If a council meeting with less than the required minimum notice is illegal you can't conduct any council business and therefore a person co-opted at such a meeting is not actually legally appointed and is therefore not a councillor.

If there is anyone out there who is qualified to confirm or contradict this please contact us, we will be pleased to hear from you.

Although we have informed the council of this they simply steam ahead without any comment, possibly they know we are unlikely to take legal action because of the cost so they are safe, thats our democracy I guess.

Hope that answers you Preston resident and thank you for viewing.

Preston Parish Council Meeting 09/01/13

PRESTON PARISH COUNCIL MEETING. 09/01/13

Written for the blog by a Preston resident

As normal we attended the monthly meeting of Preston Parish Council yesterday evening, the experience was a little surreal, almost none of the usual antics of spouse participation, clerk over involvement or sloppy procedure, really quite refreshing!

It was generally a well run meeting with only two minor incidents of note. The first is that there was a general discussion of a non agenda item, I believe to do with parking within the village. There is nothing amiss or out of order with that but the Chairman (there is no personal criticism here) then called for clarification (not a vote) and it was apparently ‘agreed’ the council had no difficulties with the suggested outcome, is that finalising it?, should it have been put on a future agenda? I’m not sure, I’m not a Parish Clerk.

The second item of note was that there wasn’t the usual talking about private matters between councillors during the meeting, at least not to the normal extent. However there was an occasion when the previous Chair had his contribution disrupted by idle chatter within council, to the extent that he got a little frustrated and declared “am I talking to myself’ and had to hold his contribution until order was restored.

There was even a suspension of animosity between certain councillors, who were calling each other by their Christian names, I was amazed!

At the start of the meeting there were four members of the public present with two advisors. Two members of the public attended to solicit clarification from the council in regard to a prospective Planning Application, on receiving a response from the council they promptly left the meeting.

That just left a ward councillor and 4 other people.

There was nothing awe inspiring, no great leaps forward and nothing controversial. It was an uneventful, run of the mill council meeting with nothing outstanding to comment on, just the usual items that are always there.

Why such a transformation, have the factions now fused, have they been ‘advised’, something has had an effect but Its only one meeting lets not rush into making comments at this stage.

There is one other thing, Notices are now being posted in time, at least for this short period since being made aware of it so hopefully that will now become standard practice.

In my humble opinion, all things considered it was a good meeting.

Letter to Ward Councillors

LETTER TO WARD COUNCILLORS.

 

Written for the blog by a Preston resident

I have recently sent a letter to two of our Ward Councillors (30/12/12) so that I can be sure they are aware of the current situation with Preston Parish Council.

I reproduce the text here, as I am sure there is bound to be some people who comment on its content inaccurately. I have redacted the document to remove personal identity, this may change in the future depending on Legal advice, which is currently being sought.

When referring to the incident, which I shall cover in much greater detail in the near future, I am I believe, understandably angry that no less than four Preston Parish Councillors are prepared to lie ‘in concert’ in order to simply avoid a colleague from having to give a minor apology to a resident.

In my correspondence to Ward Councillors I refer to a letter sent to Preston Parish Council on 25^th September following the Standards Committee hearing into my complaint, because it has been referred to I also include that letter in this posting. The letter incidentally has never been acknowledged or replied to as far as I can recall, not unusual at all.

My letters to Ward Councillors have both been answered.

Ward Councillors                                                                                                                

South West Holderness                                                                                                                          

East Riding of Yorkshire Council                                                  

30/12/12

Dear Councillor

Re: Preston Parish Council.

I do not profess to be an authority on Local Government Administration. Though I have had some dealings with Preston Parish Council over the last three years, my relationship with the council has always been acrimonious, that experience has shaped my impression and opinion of how our Local Government operates. Needles to say, in line with the vast majority of the public, my opinions of local government and democracy are not very high.

I am sure Preston Parish Council will tell you that I am a rude trouble maker who habitually writes letters of complaint, that smokescreen seems to serve them well and appears to prevent outside people from looking further into the dispute between us.

My current anger centers around an investigation by the Standards Committee into a complaint I made against Cllr. ****of Preston Parish Council, that was concluded on 25^th September 2012. During that investigation four Preston Councillors, ****. ******, ******and ******knowingly submitted false witness statements intended to mislead the Standards Committee, their statements were accepted without much scrutiny despite rather lengthy protestations from myself. If longstanding Parish Councillors have no respect for an official investigation by the Standards Committee they cannot have any respect for other democratic processes or laws governing our local democracy and if East Riding Council so readily accept such dishonesty from Parish Councillors, the Standards Committee is defunct and it shapes the publics perception of local politics as corrupt.

The statements given by the above councillors are all so precisely similar in content and yet so far removed from reality, the chances of them being truthful is miniscule. Statistically, the only possible way for those statements to all have the same components and elements yet diverge so far from reality, by people who were the instigators of the incident and involved directly, can only be achieved by careful consideration and collusion by the above councillors. All the published statements are so far from the truth of the event that not one accurate element is contained within any of them.

I am aware that a number of councillors who were concerned at this level of dishonesty within Preston Parish Council wrote to the Monitoring Officer who remains adamant the he will not look into the allegations further. The councillors who wrote to Mr. ******* include, Cllr. *****, *******and *******.

Those dishonest councillors are now emboldened to progress their bullying and intimidation of members of the public. I always occupy the same seat during council meetings near to the front table because I have a hearing problem and that seating position gives me the best chance of hearing what transpires. As far as I am aware I have only informed East Riding Council of my level of hearing loss and offered to forward relevant Audiograms, if as stated East Riding Council are to take no further action there is no necessity to forward that personal medical information to an outside third party. I did specifically request that East Riding should not give my personal medical information to any third party.

Unfortunately it would appear that East Riding have given that personal information to Preston Parish Council because Cllr. ****and ******* now take up their seating positions as they were on 11^th May 2011, alongside where I normally sit, giving very audible comments such as ‘you’ll have to speak up, I’m as deaf as a post’. I know from their looks that those comments are entirely for my benefit and amount to intimidation of a member of the public. It also serves the purpose of letting other councillors know that it would be unwise to act against them or pursue alternative views to theirs because they are now untouchable and enjoy the backing of East Riding Council.

Following the Standards Committee decision on 25^th September 2012, I wrote to the Parish Council and began the letter by saying ‘I would imagine that at this point councillors are congratulating themselves and patting each other on the back on achieving the outcome they have. It is however, a worthwhile exercise to examine how that was achieved and the methods used’, we now have Cllr. ******* pointedly patting ***self on the back clearly to let me know that they are untouchable and neither I nor anyone else can do anything about it, again its intimidation, and they now enjoy the approval and support of East Riding Council and that gives then a certain level of impunity.

Preston Parish Council pay scant regard to the laws that govern our Local Authorities, as if they are somehow exempt from such ties and inconveniences, an example is,

Preston Parish Council often give just 2 clear days notice of council meetings when the legal requirement is a minimum of 3 clear days notice, without that notice the Parish Council has no legal authority to convene a council meeting or to conduct any business on behalf of the council or parish. During a Council Meeting (October 2012) where the council had failed to give a minimum notice of 3 clear days the council co-opted a new member with no legal authority to do so.

Consequently we now effectively have a member of the public sitting in council, taking part in council discussions and voting on items of agenda that affects the Parish and its residents, which could make all subsequent council meetings challengeable! How can members of the public be expected to have confidence in local government if this is the standard of behaviour? Procedural control during council meetings is almost non-existent with the Parish Clerk often running meetings and advising councillors how best to vote, it is almost becoming a matter of course that Councillors spouses contribute to council discussions and that must affect the outcomes! It would appear the whole Parish Council process is becoming laughable.

Preston Parish Council have in recent years wasted many, many thousands of pounds of tax payers money, that wastage is well documented and easily verified and the council seems to consider that to be of no importance but I’m sure residents of Preston will not agree with them when they have the relevant information.

Preston Parish Council is in my view poorly managed, lacking in transparency, failing to engage with residents, manage public funds in a cavalier manner and disregard legal requirements when it suites them. These are all symptoms of a failing council with little to show in the way of leadership and the situation will only worsen with the passing of time. The Parish Council have now resorted to barring me from being able to contact them by email, I can only contact them by letter apparently, my reading is that this comes under the heading of discrimination against an individual member of the public by a Local Authority, all because they find it difficult to answer questions that are put to them.

On the good side, for the first time since the mid 1990’s Preston has had the benefit of residents being involved in a village project, namely the management of our Community Hall and their achievements have been exemplary with an outstanding improvement and refurbishment of the Hall, which is a credit to all who have been involved. This result surely demonstrates that residents are the power behind such projects not councils or councillors who merely act as ‘facilitators’ by handing the project to residents, councils cannot achieve such results on their own.

Finally, I have taken this step of writing to you so that at some point in the future I can say with confidence ‘I did inform Ward Councillors’ when asked, as I do not intend to let matters rest here.

Yours sincerely

*** *****

Preston Parish Council                                                                                                ***********

1 Grassam Close                                                                                                            ***********

Preston                                                                                                                        Preston

HU12 8XF                                                                                                            HU12 ***

                                                                                                                        25/09/12

Dear Councillor

Re. ************************.

I would imagine that at this point councillors are congratulating themselves and patting each other on the back on achieving the outcome they have. It is however, a worthwhile exercise to examine how that was achieved and the methods used.

All councillors were at the inaugural council meeting on May 11^th 2011 and are fully aware of what transpired during that meeting and the incident to which my complaint related. I would also suggest that before councillors congratulate themselves too much, you should examine your consciences and, ask if you have done anything honourable or right in relation to this matter, I would strongly suggest you have not.

At the time of the incident as you are all aware, I was responding to the Chairman’s comment on the Audit Report recently carried out on the council, at no time did I make any comment towards Cllr. **** before his outburst, my only comments toward Cllr. **** were in my defence during his outburst.

Three councillors, ***********, *******and *******did respond with honest recollections and were impartial in their statements, I would not ask for more, thank you for your honesty.

Quotes from 3 witness statements submitted to and reproduced to me by the Standards Committee from Cllrs. *******, *******and *******, whose statements were unsurprisingly all in line with each other and clearly demonstrate how the outcome was achieved, some of those comments were as follows;

 

It is not Cllr. ***** nature to be forceful or aggressive’ (Cllr. *******)

 

‘ Mr ***** made derogatory and aggressive comments to Cllr. **** who was sat with his back to Mr *****. 

 

‘Cllr. **** did not turn to face Mr **** but spoke to him quietly over his shoulder’,

 

Councillor ******* went so far as to deny having to calm Cllr. **** down and stated that ‘I did not get the impression that Councillor **** was aggressive in any way’ This statement is disgraceful because Cllr. *******, as you all know, did calm Cllr. **** down and whilst gently turning him back towards the table said ‘its not worth it *****

Every last one of those statements is a travesty of the truth, the authors are fully aware of that fact as is the whole council, there is more from these councillor’s but I shall restrict myself to the above four quotes, they are sufficient to shame the council.

I am particularly appalled at Cllr. ******* who was sat next to Councillor **** so she knows exactly what happened and how the incident played out. She appears to be the ‘chief witness’ to the incident and for her to display this level of dishonesty is truly reprehensible and difficult to comprehend, especially to the Standards Committee investigating officer, councillors clearly have no respect for any of our democratic institutions?

Suffice it to say, witnesses stated that I was the aggressive instigator who is frequently abusive and disruptive during council meetings, you should all hang your heads in shame, councillors are supposed to be trustworthy, honest and upstanding citizens of a community. That is clearly not the case with Preston Parish Councillor’s but we have known that for a number of years and it was naive of me to expect an honest response from Councillors.

Cllr. ***** statement of course denied ever saying anything untoward and in fact he denied ever turning round to face me, he dealt with my alleged abusive and aggressive comments towards him quite calmly, softly and over his shoulder. Anyone who was there will recognise this to be pure fantasy, Councillor **** is clearly incapable of taking responsibility for his actions.

Cllr. *** did however state that he was responding to my letter to the council of January 2011 when I accused the council of Lying to the public gallery (on a particular issue). He had ample opportunity to challenge me in the intervening four months prior to his outburst, not only during council meetings but also on the streets of Preston, during that period of time he and I had been stood alongside each other in Johnsons Hardware Store but there was no challenge from Cllr. ****, so why choose that particular meeting four months after the event?

I would suggest these councillors statements have confirmed my judgement of January 2011 to be absolutely accurate and correct, these councillors are dishonest and have unequivocally proven the point with their dishonest responses to the Standards Committee. They have clearly shown themselves not to be trustworthy or honest members of our community and they clearly cannot be trusted to represent residents of Preston. The Council Chairman and Vice Chairman’s views which supported my complaint was of no consequence in the face of such orchestrated dishonesty.

This level of dishonesty and deception from councillors has been a mainstay of my and other residents lack of faith in and opposition to our elected officials for some time and, that is why we would wish to make the council more open and accountable, this result spurs me on with renewed vigour and determination. Councillor’s dishonesty in their recollections demonstrates their utter contempt for our democratic institutions, they consider themselves to be above the law and immune from sanction.

An equal number of councillors chose not to respond to the Standards Committee, in doing so those councillors in my view, approve of and support those dishonest statements, they should be ashamed at their lack of response and should ask themselves if they are in fact suitable to be councillors. It is the lack of response from those councillors and their unwillingness to give an honest account of the incident that allowed 4 dishonest councillors to prevail.

There is something very rotten within Preston Parish Council and it appears that new councillors are either incapable or unwilling to deal with it and therefore have now become part of the problem.

The council through their actions on this matter have nothing to celebrate and certainly have nothing to be proud of, on the contrary, the council, as a corporate body should be ashamed to be associated with and to be supporting such dishonesty in public office.

I do not consider ERYC to have been impartial, fair or equitable in their deliberations or conclusions and have clearly failed to adequately and diligently investigate the incident. Consequently ERYC have not, in my opinion, discharged their obligations under statutory provisions in an appropriate manner, I shall now be seeking redress from the Local Government Ombudsman with regard to ERYC and this matter. Unfortunately I may have to go through ERYC complaints procedure as a first step and that has already been actioned.

Yours sincerely

*** *****

CC. All councillors

 

Role of a Parish Councillor

ROLE OF A PARISH COUNCILLOR

This is meant to give those readers with little or no experience with Parish Councils a basic understanding of what a parish councillor would be expected to do and the basic qualifications for becoming a parish councillor.

Description.

Role: Parish Councillor.               

Responsible to: All people resident in the parish.

Regular liaison with: Other councillors, local authorities and residents.

Period of service : Four years with possible extension if re-elected.

Salary: Voluntary position with some expenses able to be paid in certain circumstances.

Main purpose

Representing the views of all residents within your parish.

Secondary purpose

• As part of a local council you will have responsibility for running local services which may include: open spaces, play areas, village halls, community car schemes and potentially much more.
• Deciding on how much to raise through the council tax in order to deliver your council’s services.
• Influencing and shaping the long term development policy for the parish, and as part of the planning process, comment on planning applications in the parish.
• Improve the quality of life and the environment in their local area.
• Working to identify issues which are important to the lives of the residents you represent.
• Working to bring about improvements through local projects, lobbying other service providers and working in partnership with other parishes and agencies.

History of parish councils

Parish councils have their origins in medieval times, in an era when money was seldom used and when few people lived in the countryside. Communities came together in order to organise land management, agriculture and settle disputes.

The current system of parish councils was formed in 1896. There are currently around 10,000 parish councils in the country.

Any community can ask to have a parish council and, in fact, many new parishes have been formed in recent years -particularly in urban areas.

Local councils have evolved considerably over the last 1000 or so years, but one thing remains the same: they are the tier of local government which is closest to individual communities and therefore have the greatest potential for identifying, understanding and addressing the needs of the communities they serve.

While some larger councils are run along party political lines, there is no expectation that you have to join a political party. The vast majority of parish councils are not split by party politics.

Basic Qualification as a councillor.

Over 21 and on the electoral register : Essential

A resident of the parish for which you are standing(there are certain Exceptions) : Essential

Able to attend regular evening meetings: Essential

Interest in local issues and things that affect people: Essential 

Keen to improve the local environment and quality of life: Desirable

An understanding and willingness to represent the views of the whole community: Essential

An interest in learning and developing your role in the community: Desirable

The Role of the Chairman?

THE ROLE OF THE CHAIRMAN?

 A Chairman:

•    Is a member of the Council and is elected annually

•    Has the authority at meetings and must be obeyed

•    Is the interface between the public and the Council

•    The one to welcome speakers and make them ‘feel at home’

•    Is to make sure the decision is clear for the clerk to act upon

 Note: The Chairman on his own has no power to make decisions without the Resolution of the        Council.

Presiding at the first Annual Meeting of the Parish Council:

The retiring chairman, or in his or her absence, the vice chair must preside at the meeting for the first item on the agenda (after apologies and checking previous minutes) ‘To Elect Chairman’.  If it is a meeting after an election then the retiring chair or vice chair presides, even if they are no longer councillors.  If both are absent then the meeting may appoint another councillor to preside.  It is illegal for a clerk to take the chair at a meeting.

Election of a Chair:

If the presiding chair is no longer to be a member of the council then he only has a casting vote.  If he is still going to be a member then he has a vote and a casting vote (he can vote for himself if he wants).  The chairman of the council should give a report to the APM on the activity of the council (in this meeting, if he is not an elector in the parish, he only has a casting vote).

Once voted in, the new chair signs his declaration of acceptance of office and presides over the meeting immediately.

What does a good chairman do?

Plan the meeting with the clerk and ensure that everything on the agenda is legal.

Brief themselves and prepare fully – study all relevant information and anticipate the needs and interests of the members.  The Chairman can then answer questions or deal with requests for information.

Be punctual – the Chairman should set a good example by arriving early to check the arrangements and welcome members, the public and any visiting speakers.

Conduct the meeting 

Check there is a quorum (minimum number of members needed to make the meeting legal)

Call the meeting to order and declare it open

Welcome members, the public and visiting speakers to the meeting

Introduce the standard items on the agenda – apologies; declarations of interest; confirmation of minutes of previous meeting.

Introduce the agenda items and ensure that all members know what they have to achieve and how they might do it encourage participation.

• Stimulate an exchange of ideas and experience.
• Ensure that all have a chance to express their views freely.
• Keep the members aware of objectives.
• Maintain focus.
• Guide and progress discussion towards achieving the objectives.
• Manage conflict.
• Be fair and balanced.
• Preserve order.
• Enforce rules of procedure.
• Rule on disputed matters.
• The Chairman has the power to Barr any person from the meeting for being disruptive or abusive after reasonable warning, including councillors.

The Chairman as an individual

As an individual, the chairman has few powers that can be exercised outside of a properly called meeting.  The one that springs to mind is that the chairman can call an extraordinary meeting (although two councillors can force an extraordinary meeting if the chairman refuses to do so).

In meetings, the chairman has a good deal of discretion about how to run the meeting, although this should be exercised in such a way as to promote fair debate with adequate opportunity for views to be put.  There is no sure fire way to get rid of the chairman until the next annual meeting, when there must be an election for chairman again.

Agenda items should not be refused provided they are within the remit of the council.  For example, a local Parish Council cannot debate the war in Afghanistan because it is outside the scope of the council's responsibilities.

But agenda items on local matters must be included, and the clerk has only a limited power to correct grammar, or seek clarification.  The chairman's role in the agenda is to collaborate with the clerk with the aim of achieving an effective meeting.

A resignation of the Chairman must be given in written notice to the council, not the clerk.

The Chairman will often be the public face of the council and will represent the council at official events. He may be asked to speak on behalf of the council in such circumstances he must only express the agreed views of the council and not his own personal views. The Chairman cannot legally make a decision on behalf of the council.

The Chairman is responsible for ensuring that effective and lawful decisions are taken at meetings of the council and, guides activities by managing the meetings of the council. The Chairman is responsible for involving all councillors in discussion and ensuring that councillors keep to the point. The chairman summarises the debate and facilitates the making of clear resolutions and is responsible for keeping discussions moving so that the meeting is not too long. The Chairman has a casting vote, his first vote is a personal vote as a member of the council. If there is a tied vote, the Chairman can have a second vote, a casting vote.