Longstanton Village

 What is the role of parish councillors and of the clerk?  

  Members of the Parish Council are unpaid local people, elected by the local people. Elections are every four years: the next election in Longstanton is in the spring of 2008.

Local volunteers, however, may be co-opted when there are not enough candidates for seats at an election or when the electorate does not call for an election after a seat has fallen vacant.  There are 11 seats on Longstanton Parish Council.

  The Parish Council forms a corporate body with a legal existence separate from that of its members. It is accountable to the electorate and it can be taken to court: as a body, it is responsible for its actions. 

  Residents pay the ‘precept’ that is decided by the Parish Council every year to meet its budgeted expenditure and to carry out the needs of the parish.  The precept is the Parish Council’s share of the council tax collected by South Cambridgeshire District Council. A large proportion of the Parish Council’s budget is spent on administration (paying the Parish Clerk’s salary, audit fees, subscriptions, insurances, rents, etc.). The Parish Council must publish the parish budget showing how and where the precept will be spent:  the decisions to approve the expenditure, before the next financial year, are made at a council’s public meeting and these resolutions are minuted.  

  The Parish Clerk is the Council’s Proper Officer: this means that the clerk is not similar to a secretary simply taking the minutes at meetings, dealing with correspondence and archiving documents. The clerk is a qualified officer providing both professional advice concerning the laws of governance and administrative support to the Council. Answerable only to the Parish Council as a whole, the clerk takes action to implement council decisions and acts as its finance administrator.

  Delegating the power to make decisions to a committee of the council, or to the Parish Clerk whose professional independence allows her to act on behalf of the council, must be formally agreed by the full council.  Council is given legal powers, under a number of Acts of parliament to carry out its functions (see main listing below). Duties are actions that the council must take by law: the Parish Council has fewer duties than County and District councils but it has a greater freedom to choose what local actions to take on behalf of the village residents.

  The Parish Council’s central role is to act in the interest of the whole community.  Taking corporate actions to improve its quality of life and its environment, councillors try to provide this service responsibly and openly: they are bound by a strict code of conduct.

  Consulting and listening to the residents to understand their needs, their wishes and their concerns is an essential aspect of parish councillors’ work:  in particular, Longstanton Parish Plan is providing the Parish Council and the Principal Authorities of the area with a strong mandate for identified actions that may be considered and revised up to 2015; community leadership is at the heart of modern local government and Principal Authorities are taking on new responsibilities for working in partnership with other organisations, including the voluntary and community sector, to improve services and the quality of life of citizens. 

What is the Parish Council responsible for?

This list is not exhaustive:

Functions	Powers and Duties	Statutory provisions
Allotments	Powers to provide allotments    Duty to consider providing allotment gardens if demand unsatisfied	Smallholdings & Allotments Act 1908, s.23
Burial Grounds, cemeteries and crematoria	Power to acquire, provide and maintain   Power to agree to maintain monuments and memorials           Powers to contribute towards expenses of cemeteries	Open Spaces Act 1906, ss 9 and 10   Parish Councils and Burial Authorities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1970, s. 1      Local Government  Act 1972, s. 214
Bus shelters	Power to provide and maintain shelters	Local Government   (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953, s. 4    Parish Councils Act 1957, s. 1
Bye Laws	Power to provide bye laws:   Pleasure Ground        Cycle parks       Open spaces and burial grounds	Public health Act 1875, s.164     Road Traffic Regulation Act 1936, s. 15   Open Spaces Act 1906, s. 15
Charities	Duties regarding parochial  charities	Charities Act 1993, s. 79
Christmas lights	Power to provide to attract visitors	Local Government Act 1972, s. 144
Conference facilities	Power to provide and encourage the use of facilities	Local Government Act 1972, s. 144
Community centres	Power to provide and equip community buildings   Power to provide buildings for use of clubs having athletic, social or educational objectives	Local Government Act 1972, s. 133     Local Government  (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, s. 19
Crime prevention	Power to spend money on various crime prevention measures	Local Government and Rating Act 1997, s. 31
Drainage	Power to deal with ponds and ditches	Public health Act 1936, s. 260
Entertainment and the arts	Provision of entertainment and support of the arts including festivals and celebrations	Local Government Act 1972, s. 139
Gifts	Power to accept	Local Government Act 1972, s. 139
Highways	Power to repair and maintain public footpaths and bridle-ways   Power to light roads and public places    Power to provide parking places for vehicles, bicycles and motor-cycles   Power to enter into agreement as to dedication and widening    Power to provide roadside seats and shelters     Power to complain to district councils  regarding protection of rights of way and roadside wastes    Power to provide traffic signs and other notices      Power to plant trees etc. and to maintain roadside verges	Highways Act 1980, ss 43, 50     Parish Councils Act 1957, s. 3    Road Traffic regulation Act 1984, s. 57      Highways Act 1980, s. 30     Parish Councils Act 1957, s. 1   Highways Act 1980, s. 130 (6)                                               Road Traffic regulation Act 1984, s. 72    Highways Act 1980, s. 96
Investments	Power to participate in schemes of collective investment	Trustee 1962, s. 11
Land	Power to acquire by agreement, to appropriate, to dispose of land     Power to accept gifts of land	Local Government Act 1972, ss 124, 126, 127   Local Government Act 1972, s. 139
Litter	Provision of receptacles	Litter Act 1972, ss. 5, 6
Lotteries	Power to promote	Lotteries and Amusement Act 1976, s. 7
Newsletters	Power to provide information relating to matters affecting local government	Local Government Act 1972, s. 142
Nuisances	Power to deal with offensive ditches	Public health Act 1936, s. 260   Public health Act 1875, s. 164
Open spaces	Power to acquire and maintain	Open Spaces Act 1906, s. 164
Parish property and documents	Power to direct as to their custody	Local Government Act 1972, s. 226
Public buildings and Village hall	Power to provide building for offices and for public meetings and assemblies	Local Government Act 1972, s. 133
Parks, pleasure grounds	Power to acquire land or to provide recreation  grounds, public walks, pleasure grounds and open spaces and to manage and control them	Public health Act 1875, s. 164 (Local Government Act 1972 Sched. 14, para. 27)    Public health Acts Amendment Act 1890, s. 44   Open Spaces Act 1906, ss. 9 and 10
Recreation	Power to provide a wide range of recreational facilities	Local Government  Act 1976, s. 19
Town and Country Planning	Right to be notified of planning applications	Town and Country Planning Act 1990, Sched. 1,para. 8
Transport	Powers to spend money on community transport schemes	Local Government and Rating Act 1997, s. 26 - 29
Village signs	Power to use decorative signs to inform visitors	Local Government  Act 1972, s. 144
War memorials	Power to maintain, repair, protect and adapt war memorials	War Memorials (Local Authorities’ Powers) Act 1923, s. 1; as extended by  Local Government  Act 1948, s. 133

 Council's list of responsibilities: main information source  extracted with kind permission of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Association of Local Councils (CALC) from ‘The Good Councillor ‘s Guide’  for The national Training Strategy for Town and Parish Councils, published by the Countryside Agency  © 2003  www.nalc.gov.uk