Parish Council - Engagement and Delivering Value

The Parish Council is always aware of it's responsibility to the community to provide value for money.  After all, the money which the council spends is public money....  your money, largely raised through the Parish Precept.
Like all councils we operate under a system of strict financial controls with our accounts subject to a two stage audit, audit once by an auditor selected by the council (internal audit) and then by a nationally approved specialist firm  of auditors.  We also operate under financial regulations and statutory controls which determine procedures and approvals required for expenditure.

In the interests of transparency, we also make available a regularly updated record of council expenditures accessible online for the community, in addition to the monthly summaries published with the minutes.  (View payments log)

However, financial controls determine HOW money is spent, not upon WHAT is is spent and how this provides value for money to local residents.

DELIVERING VALUE

Your parish council believe that in order to deliver the best value, we should always seek to be "in touch" with the views, concerns  and thoughts of our residents.  The popular local government term for this is Engagement and the council has an adopted policy outlining the various mechanisms we use to try to ensure we do this effectively (BATPC-CommunityEngagementPolicy.pdf).


The policy highlights the ways that we publicise matters and issues which we feel are important to people and also the ways in which we try to "Listen" to your views and ideas from simple Community Views boxes, through always making meetings available to the public, right through to opinion surveys such as the:-

  • CIL survey to canvass opinions over preferred CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) projects
  • 20s plenty speed limit survey
  • Legacy funding project option


For very impactful matters such as the SWDPR  -Throckmorton New Town proposals, the council often facilitate public meetings bringing all sides together to establish and understand the balance of opinions of the community, so that we can accurately represent your views.


In recent years the council has increased its on-line presence with both a dynamic Website and by maintaining a regular presence on Social Media (Facebook).  This recognises the popularity of electronic communication in the community, though we take care not to overlook those members of the community not on line by maintaining noticeboards, and views boxes.


To examine our record in Publicity and Consulting the community take a look at our  Publicity Activity Log and Consultation Log


A further important matter in the council's remit is that of PLANNING.  In this area we ensure that all planning applications in our Parishes are considered by the council.  We also seek to publicise those which are felt to have significant impact on neighbours or the wider community. (See Planning section). 
As well as highlighting current applications the section contains many links to helpful information and advice on commenting on applications. 

We also maintain a log of applications in the parish, together with the action taken by the council (eg objections - representation at Planning Committee).

PROPERTIES

Your parish council is unusual in having secured "The Dolphin" public house and "Bishampton Store and Post Office on the communities behalf, in order to protect them from sale for development.  Some years ago the then parish council were successful in securing Public Works Loan Board loans for their purchase, and we continue to manage the tenancies with the objective of covering the loans and related costs to minimise the cost to the community.  In the early 2030s when the loans are discharged this should put the council into the almost unique position of potentially becoming financially independent.

GRANTS

Not only is the council focused on managing outgoings responsibly, we also maintain a careful watch on sources of additional funding in the form of available grants and schemes.  Some of these arise from government and public initiatives, others from opportunities in the private sector.  Where we can identify relevant opportunities the council will either seek to secure funding for projects, or make such opportunities known to the public or other organisations serving the community (eg Village Hall Trust, clubs and community groups).

Some of these result in community consultations (eg CIL, Legacy Fund) others are less formal communications with other bodies, but all are intended to maximise opportunities to benefit the villages.  

TRAINING

Finally we believe that a key component in delivering value is having a trained and well informed team on the council.  We encourage both general and specialist area training for councillors and our clerk (already CILCA qualified).  Here you can access our Training Policy and  Training Log.

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