Dept of Transport consultation on car parking

The consultation invites views on current local authority parking strategies and specifically on options the Government is considering to change the balance of how parking is enforced with the aim of ensuring that parking strategies complement and enhance the attractiveness of our high streets and town centres.

The Secretary of State for Transport is announcing that parking penalty charge levels will be frozen for the remainder of this Parliament. In addition under new requirements laid out in the Transparency Code of Practice all local authorities will be required to make clear all revenues from parking in annual reports and where that revenue goes. 


There are ten questions that the consultation is seeking responses to:

1. Do you consider local authority parking enforcement is being applied fairly and reasonably in your area?
2. The Government intends to abolish the use of CCTV cameras for parking enforcement. Do you have any views or comments on this proposal?
3. Do you think the traffic adjudicators should have wider powers to allow appeals?
4. Do you agree that guidance should be updated to make clear in what circumstances adjudicators may award costs? If so, what should those circumstances be?
5. Do you think motorists who lose an appeal at a parking tribunal should be offered a 25% discount for prompt payment?
6. Do you think local residents and firms should be able to require councils to review yellow lines, parking provision, charges etc in their area? If so, what should the reviews cover and what should be the threshold for triggering a review?
7. Do you think that authorities should be required by regulation to allow a grace period at the end of paid for parking?
8. Do you think that a grace period should be offered more widely – for example a grace period for overstaying in free parking bays, at the start of pay and display parking and paid for parking bays, and in areas where there are parking restrictions (such as loading restrictions, or single yellow lines)?
9. If allowed, how long do you think the grace period should be?
10. Do you think the Government should be considering any further measures to tackle genuinely anti-social parking or driving? If so, what?
    The consultation can be found here.  The consultation closes on 14th February 2014

Draft regulations to simplify the listed buildings consent process have been published for consultation.

Draft regulations to simplify the listed buildings consent process have been published for consultation.
Based on an 
article from Planning Resource by Michael Donnelly


The consultation seeks views on the draft secondary legislation that has been prepared to accompany the heritage elements of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.

The Act contains a number of provisions that directly affect the historic environment with the majority relating to listed buildings. Some of these require the preparation of secondary legislation before they are commenced on 6 April 2014.

The consultation document contains three draft regulations which relate to Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreements, Local Listed Building Consent Orders and Certificates of Lawfulness of Proposed Works.

It also considers the "principles and approach in taking forward a programme of National Listed Building Consent Orders". Draft regulations on these will be published at a later date.

Under the government's plans, Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreements would be established between councils and owners of large heritage estates to help manage changes over the long term without needing lots of repeat applications.

The consultation says these "have the potential, particularly when used as the basis for a management agreement, to act as a focus for owners, local planning authorities and other partners in reaching a consensus view on the medium-long term management and maintenance of the listed building(s) covered, to increase certainty over the aspirations and requirements of all parties, and to save time and resource for the partners".

Local Listed Building Consent Orders would be created by local planning authorities to grant general listed building consent for certain works of alteration or extension (but not demolition) of certain listed buildings in their area.

Certificates of Lawfulness of Proposed Works would allow owners and developers to obtain formal confirmation that works of alteration or extension (but not demolition) of a listed building which they wish to undertake do not require listed building consent because they do not affect the special architectural or historic interest of the building.

National Listed Building Consent Orders would be similar to Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreements but would allow the secretary of state to grant a general listed building consent for works for the alteration and extension (but not demolition) of listed buildings.

The document says initial ideas on what could be included in a prospective order "should be discussed between key interested parties including the owner or manager of the group of nationally distributed listed buildings to be covered by the proposals, English Heritage, and relevant local planning authorities". 

The consultation says each draft order would be "debated and voted on in Parliament".

The document says a pilot National Listed Building Consent Order is being developed with the Canal and River Trust which would be used to test the methodology for developing future orders

Amongst other questions the document asks whether the duration of a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement should be left to the discretion of individual local planning authorities and whether councils should only consult English Heritage on draft Local Listed Building Consent Orders where they cover Grade I and II* listed buildings.

Heritage minister Ed Vaizey said: "These provisions will provide real benefits for owners and local authorities by cutting costs and reducing bureaucracy. But they will also ensure existing levels of heritage protection are maintained whilst allowing local authorities to deliver a more effective and efficient service."

The consultation will run for 6 weeks and closes on 27 January 2014.

PAS Neighbourhood planning: a simple guide for councillors

Neighbourhood planning: a simple guide for councillors (mainly aimed at ward councillors)

Update December 2013 

The Localism Act sets out how communities will be able to get more involved in planning for their areas – specifically around creating plans and policies to guide new development and in some cases granting planning permission for certain types of development. 

Neighbourhood planning is about letting the people who know about and care for an area plan for it. It is led by the residential and business community, not the council, and is about building neighbourhoods – not stopping growth. 

Neighbourhood planning is optional but if adopted by the Council, neighbourhood plans and orders will have weight becoming part of the plan making framework for your area. 

Neighbourhood planning is also not entirely new – it can build on existing community planning work. If you felt a bit removed from planning as a ward councillor then neighbourhood planning is an opportunity for you to get more involved – even if you've previously been put off planning by perceived complexity, controversy or jargon. - 

Download the guide and see more on the Planning Advisory Service website

EU consultation on VAT - NALC briefing F01-13

The European Commission launched a consultation how VAT rules may be reviewed. The consultation can be viewed here. 

The consultation is open until 14th February 2014. Many of the major organisations such as ACRE and NALC are aware of the consultation and will be putting forward their views. However, your council may want to be aware as it may affect the recoverability of VAT on non business activities and if so minded respond to the consultation.

NALC's briefing is in the Members Area of the NALC website under Financial Briefings in the Legal section

Swallowfield Parish Council advertising for a new clerk

SWALLOWFIELD PARISH COUNCIL

ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE POSITION OF PARISH CLERK (part time)

Overall Responsibilities:
The Clerk to the Council will be the Proper Officer of the Council and as such is under a statutory duty to carry out all the functions, and in particular to serve or issue all the notifications required by law of a local authority's Proper Officer.  The Clerk is expected to advise the Council on, and assist in the formation of, overall policies to be followed in respect of the Council's activities and in particular to produce all the information required for making effective decisions and to implement constructively all decisions.   The person appointed will be accountable to the Council for the effective management of all its resources and will report to them as and when required.  The Clerk will work with the Responsible Financial Officer towards the careful administration of the Council’s finances.

We are looking for a self-motivated and friendly person, preferably living within the Parish or with strong links to the community,
to replace our Parish Clerk who is retiring

Applicants should have strong organisational skills, the ability to manage an office and small team, be IT literate and have good people skills
Training for other necessary skills will be provided

Hours:  28 per week, based at the Parish Office, Swallowfield - some evening work will be expected (attendance at meetings)

Pay range – £20,000 to £30,000 (pro rata)
Dependent on experience

Applicants should send a CV and covering letter in the first instance to the address below.  For further details please visit the website or contact the Clerk.

Closing date:  3lst January 2014

Swallowfield Parish Council, Parish Office, Swallowfield Street,
Swallowfield, Berks  RG7 1WX
Tel:  0118 988 5929 or email clerk@swallowfieldpc.gov.uk
Website:  www.swallowfieldpc.gov.uk

Council Tax Benefit Support Grant NALC meet Minister Brandon Lewis MP

COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT SUPPORT GRANT

NALC Chairman Cllr Ken Browse, Chief Executive, Head of Policy and Cllr Dave Roberts from Stratton St Margarets Parish Council, Swindon one of the councils most affected by the Council Tax Reduction Scheme changes, met Brandon Lewis MP on 26th November to address the issue of Council Tax Benefit Support Grant. 

They also had a meeting immediately afterwards with the Shadow Local Government Minister, Andy Sawford MP, who is very supportive.

They set out to the Minister our serious and continuing concerns about this issue:

• the impact on town and parish councils in the current year: even though many billing authorities had passed on the grant, where they had not it had caused major problems for our councils
• the widespread uncertainty about the forthcoming year, with many billing authorities threatening to withhold all or part of the grant; and our councils as a result being unsure of what precept to set
• the potential impact on communities, with our councils either reducing services or increasing precept and council tax levels (which councils in some areas have already done)

They pressed the Minister to issue statutory guidance, or take other measures, to ensure that billing authorities pass on the grant. They pointed out that if our councils were forced to increase precept, they might then be at risk of capping/referenda on council tax.
 
It was stressed that all this uncertainty, and possible cutbacks in spending, ran counter to the Government's expectations of the new and developing localism role for our councils.

In response, the Minister stressed that he continued to be very supportive in ensuring the grant was passed on to our councils. He undertook to approach directly any billing authority where the grant might be withheld.

He explained that he had reiterated on Monday, at the House of Commons despatch box, that all billing authorities should pass on the grant.

He further explained that he would be addressing this issue in the Autumn Statement on the financial settlement for local government (the grant paid by Government to all principal authorities). This was welcomed, but NALC questioned whether it would be a requirement on billing authorities, or just an expectation. He indicated that he would consider this and let us know the outcome 'before Christmas'.

He assured NALC that there would be 'no nasty surprises' on capping and referenda, although he was watching developments in our very largest councils where their precept exceeded that of the district council. We reiterated that these precept figures were misleading, because they did not explain that district councils were heavily subsidised by Government grant.

The rest of the email from NALC Chairman can be read here, all member councils should have received the email directly from NALC.

ONS consultation on the form of the next Census - important

For over 200 years every household has been required to respond to the census. The census provides a huge amount of extremely accurate and useful information which is fundamental to decision making on billions of pounds of public and private development and investment. As well as for family history enthusiasts

The Office for National Statistics has to carry out a review after each census. The 2011 census cost £482m ONS predicts that the next full census could cost £625m. ONS is consulting on two possible approaches to the next census in 2021:

• primarily online every 10 years as existing
• using existing government and private data and compulsory annual surveys.

This is your opportunity to respond to these options. The census provides extremely important fine grain information for town and parish councils.There is a danger that the cheaper option (annual surveys) would not go down to the same geographical detail as a full census which would make it difficult for well evidenced decision making at our level of local government.

The full consultation document is on the ONS website

Responses to ONS by 13th December

Sec. 137 limit for 2014 - 2015

SECTION 137 EXPENDITURE: LIMIT FOR 2014/2015

The Department for Communities and Local Government has confirmed that the appropriate sum for parish councils for the purposes of section 137(4)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 (“1972 Act”) for 2014-2015 is £7.20.

This is the amount that results from increasing the amount for 2013-2014 (£6.98) by the percentage increase in the Retail Prices Index between September 2012 and September 2013 (of 3.2%), in accordance with Schedule 12B to the 1972 Act.

Clerk wanted for Leckhampstead Parish Council

Leckhampstead is a small parish in the Berkshire Downlands of approximately 230 electors. 
Parish clerk required from March 2014. Three hours per week.  Pay dependent on experience. 

The role would include:

• Responsible Financial Officer
• Minute taking at 5 council meetings per year
• Administration of the parish including common land.

Knowledge of email, wordprocessing and spreadsheets essential.

For further details or send CV to Lesley Pace  email:  leckhampsteadpc@hotmail.co.uk  phone: 01488 638330

Community Right to build

Community groups are invited to apply for a share in the £17.5m fund which is being made available to provide seed corn funding to help groups to formally establish, build up their development proposals and submit a Community Right to Build Order.

The funding is available until the end of March 2015 or until it has run out.

Any community group or parish council can seek access to the funding if they have constituted a formal organisation that meets certain basic standards.

More information on the HCA website

NALC Larger Councils Conference 27th November - last chance to book

 Last chance to book..... 
 

With less than two weeks until NALC's Growing Local Conference, it’s time to book the last few delegate places.

Nick Boles MP, minister, department of Communities and Local Government is our headline speaker. He has very strong views on the role of local (parish and town) councils especially around planning and the local economy. Here is your chance to directly influence Government's thinking and policy direction.

Other keynote speakers include:

• Cllr Sir Merrick Cockell, chair of the Local Government Association 
• John Findlay, chief executive of NALC 
• Howard Midworth, chief executive of the Society of Local Council Clerks 
• Michael Burton, editorial director of The MJ

There is a choice of a number of interesting workshop themes including:

• Neighbourhood Planning
• Community Infrastructure Levy
• Localisation of Council Tax Support
• Data transparency

See the events section of the BALC website for more information.

BOOK NOW

DCLG #neighbourhoodplanning

If you are interested in Neighbourhood Development Plans sign up to receive the Department of Communities and Local Government Notes on #neighbourhoodplanning

Edition seven is out now, it contains articles on the latest plan to go to referendum - Tattenhall, Cheshire. The independent Inspector, Nigel McGuirk of the Tattenhall Plan has been appointed to do a number of upcoming plans in this area - Ascot and the Sunnings, Woodcote. Other articles are on the support available to communities interested in doing a plan, a Champions event and contacts at DCLG for help, advice and information.

If you are interested in reading a case study on Thame Town Councils experience of successfully producing a Neighbourhood Development Plan go to the PAS website

Best places to raise a family - Crowthorne and Wokingham

Crowthorne, Berkshire. Photograph by Sleepmyf.

Congratulations to Crowthorne and Wokingham for being in the top ten places in the country to raise a family according to a survey done by Family Investments.

The survey covers education, safety, local amenities, property and green spaces.

Wokingham Baptist Church. Photograph by Dahliarose.

Electronic Banking nearly there but not quite

LRO laid before parliament - Electronic Banking nearly there but not quite

Graham Fletcher, local government accountancy adviser, DCLG has confirmed that the Cheques Legislative Reform Order (The Legislative Reform (Payments by Parish Councils, Community Councils and Charter Trustees) Order 2013) has been laid in Parliament.

This doesn't mean that local councils can start legally using electronic payments yet – though this is a major step forward. There are more parliamentary hoops to go through yet.

See the LRO and DCLG press release.

We will keep you updated over the coming weeks. NALC and the Joint Practitioners Advisory Group (JPAG) have produced revised Financial Regulations and guidance on Safeguarding Public Money which will be issued when the LRO has passed through all its legislative procedures.

Interested in studying to improve your qualifications?

Now is the time to apply for Community Governance modules starting on February 1st 2014

If you are a clerk, an aspiring clerk, a councillor, or a local council adviser, then Community Governance could be for you, whether you are someone with CiLCA or someone who prefers a more advanced way of studying.

Take a look at the SLCC web pages - they explain exactly how Community Governance works (and contain an application form).

Sustainable Communities Act your chance to submit proposals

Parish councils are being encouraged to make direct proposals to DCLG under the Sustainable Communities Act, 2007. The legal order  formally commenced on Monday 14th October 2013.

NALC is promoting parish use of the Act. All parishes in England need to have sight of the link on the NALC SCA web page before making proposals under the Act (at
http://www.nalc.gov.uk/About_NALC/SustainableCommunitiesAct2007.aspx).

Parishes should read all of the documents and text on the web-page before submitting proposals to DCLG. Proposals should either benefit the residents of the submitting parish council, or if appropriate can benefit the residents of all parished areas nationally.

The method of submission couldn’t be simpler. Parishes are advised (by NALC) to formally agree their proposals (through council resolution) after compulsorily consulting with and involving their communities on the ideas in the draft proposal. Proposals should be submitted by a proposing parish – by completing the Barrier Busting Form on the DCLG Barrier Busting web-site http://barrierbusting.communities.gov.uk/.

More details about what DCLG will be looking for are also available at the Barrier Busting link.
 
A submitting parish council should

1.    Consult its community as to which ideas residents would like to have considered for a direct proposal

2.    Formally agree with its community the wording of a formal proposal

3.    The council needs to formally resolve to pass the proposal and send it to DCLG at the Barrier Busting web-site 

4.    DCLG responds saying either ‘yes’ the proposal is passed (in which case the council uses the Barrier Busting Tracker to track progress with implementing the proposal) or ‘no’. If DCLG say ‘no’ the council can leave it at that and not re-submit a proposal, or can re-word a proposal and submit it to chris.borg@nalc.gov.uk to ensure that the NALC SCA Board makes a decision as to whether to re-submit it (or not), to DCLG. If the Board says ‘no’, it must give reasons to the council. In most cases the Board will probably re-submit a (possibly amended) proposal to DCLG on the council’s behalf and the same process outlined above is followed.

Councils are encouraged to start the process of submitting direct proposals to DCLG as soon as possible.

#OurDay 17th October

Each year on 17th October local government draws attention to itself and to the hundreds of interesting stories and unsung heroes in councils across the country. This co-incides with Local Democracy Week. 

Go to #OurDay on Twitter and read some of the stories. This years event reached 3 million people. Next year why not get your town or parish council to plan an event for Local Democracy Week? Take your mace into your local school, invite everyone to your council meeting, write a day in the life of a councillor for your parish magazine.

See the infographic on the LGA website

National statistics about parish precepts

The Department of Communities and Local Government has collected and published, for the first time, data about parishes and the amount of council tax collected on their behalf by their billing authorities for the financial year 2013-2014.

The information is collected from the 326 billing authorities; and the local data section of the Council Tax Requirement forms submitted by 241 parished billing authorities.

The key points are:

•  in England there are over 10,000 local parishes, 16 charter trustees and 2 Temples of London
• of these, 8,805 parishes, charter trustees and Temples (local precepting authorities) instructed their billing authority to collect Council Tax on their behalf in 2013 to 2014, with a collective tax base of 7.3 million band D equivalent properties
• 241 of the 326 billing authorities have parishes; the number of parishes that require the collection of Council Tax within a local authority ranges from 1 to 238
• the total Council Tax collected on behalf of parishes and charter trustees, and apportioned to Temples in 2013 to 2014 is £367 million, representing only 1.6% of the total Council Tax requirement for England of £23.4 billion

The data can be seen here.

What will the next census include? ONS consultation

Census consultation: future provision of population statistics

A three month public consultation by Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the Census and future provision of population statistics in England and Wales is underway.
After each census, ONS reviews the future needs for information about the population and housing in England and Wales, and how these needs might be met.

The 2011 Census successfully provided population statistics that will be used for the next decade by planners, policy makers and researchers across the public and private sectors. Our population is changing rapidly, and the need to understand these changes will continue.  The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Beyond 2011 programme is currently reviewing these needs, and how they might best be met in future.

Improvements in technology and in government data sources offer opportunities to either modernise the existing census process, or to develop an alternative census method that reuses existing data already held within government.

Our research has resulted in two approaches for taking the census in future.

•     A census once a decade, like that conducted in 2011, but primarily online.
•     A census using existing government data and compulsory annual surveys.

Both approaches would provide annual statistics about the size of the population, nationally and for local authorities.  A census using existing data and surveys would provide more statistics about the characteristics of the population every year. An online census would provide more detailed statistics once a decade.

The consultation runs from 23 September to 13 December. ONS will publish their findings in 2014.

Read the consultation document via the ONS website and take part in the consultation.

Find out about our consultation events in London and Manchester in November

Real poppies for 2014

The 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War is next year.

During World War One the total number of military and civilian casualties was over 37 million. To commemorate this huge sacrifice the Real Poppy Campaign would like to see the UK covered in real poppies.

Seeds are available to buy via the Real Poppy Campaign

Please consider carefully where the seeds are scattered seeking landowners permission where necessary and being aware of crops and anilmals.

Community Right to bid - Free webinar

Locality - An Introduction to the Right to Bid
1pm-2pm, Weds 30 October 2013

Find out what the Community Right to Bid can do for you. Join our free webinar with Locality’s Development Manager Stephen Rolph.

With around 500 assets of community value listed, and over 97% of nominations being listed by the local authority, there are lots of opportunities for communities to use the Right to Bid.

It will ‘pause’ the sale of buildings or land you care about such as your local pub, shop, library or football ground giving your community time to develop a bid to buy it.

Find out more about the process, opportunities and challenges, examples of groups doing this well, and how to access free support as well as grants and access to capital funding.



Click here to register on the Introduction to the Right to Bid webinar.

Standing for election - a consultation, your chance to respond

The Electoral Commission has launched a consultation on standing for election in the UK.

 This is an opportunity for the sector to comment on how the rules around standing for election can be better standardized wherever possible and the impact this could have on simplifying the system.  The consultation covers a broad range of issues, including:

•    The appropriateness of current qualifications and disqualifications criteria (pp13-15)
•    The number of subscribers necessary for each tier or category of election, including parish and town councils (pp20-21)
•    Candidate descriptions, including the current exemption for parish and town council elections which allows all candidates to provide a short description, even if they do not stand for a political party (p29)
•    Using photographs on ballot papers (p45) and
•    The objections procedure in relation to nominations (p46)


The full consultation documents can be downloaded from the Electoral Commission website


NALC would welcome your responses by 28th November 2013. Please send them to Victoria.pymm@nalc.gov.uk 

This consultation ends on 18 December 2013 and the National Association will formally respond on behalf of member councils.

New parish councils programme

DCLG New Councils programme

NALC welcomed the ministerial announcement on 9th September 2013 of the new DCLG ‘New Councils’ Programme, with funding of just under £1 million over 18 months and starting in October this year, with the possibility of increased funding and/or extension of the Programme if it is a success.

This programme derived from the Prime Minister’s launch in 2011 of the Open Public Services White Paper, which emphasised the developing role of our sector and the need to create new local councils, especially in urban areas.

The Programme will provide:

• A national programme of support to encourage communities to set up new councils
• Grants of up to £10,000 for every community campaign set up
• Grants of up to £25,000 for every new council set up within the duration of the programme 

The ministerial statement also included the Government’s response to the consultation on how to make it easier to set up a town or parish council. While Government was not willing to introduce a right of appeal, ministers would be introducing new measures to:

• Reduce to 7.5% the number of electors required for a petition to establish a new local council
• Impose a time limit of 12 months for a Community Governance Review by a principal authority from receipt of a petition to completion
• Make it easier for neighbourhood forums to become local councils, by removing the requirement for them to raise a petition if they have completed a neighbourhood plan.

More information on the .gov website  

Changes to the village green designation regime have come into force

Village green regime change

In April, the Government took the first step in reducing village green abuse, by closing a loophole that made it possible to submit a village green application on land which had already been earmarked for development.

These reforms form part of the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013, following the 2010 Penfold Review.

Changes to the village green designation regime have come into force in October, which ministers hope will reduce the likelihood of people abusing the system by making spurious applications to block development.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) acknowledged that village green status protects land that is regularly used for recreation but said that “loopholes in the system have increasingly been abused by people looking to stop local development”.

“As well as having a negative effect on the rural economy and reducing the value of land – often by over 90 per cent – this reduces the availability of rural homes, facilities and hospitals across the country,” it said.

“While legitimate applications will remain well-protected, changes to the system will also save local authorities £1.3 million a year, as applications often lead to expensive and time-consuming public enquiries and court cases.”

From now on, applications relating to land which is regularly used for local recreation will have to be made within a year of the land’s use, rather than two. Similarly, landowners will be encouraged to allow local communities to make use of their land, as they will be able to protect it being registered as a village green through new landowner statements.

Rural Affairs Minister Richard Benyon said: “Towns across the country have been held back from getting the developments they want through misuse of the village green system.”

More details on the .gov.uk website

You've got the power: a quick and simple guide to community rights

DCLG are keen for everyone to know about the community rights brought in through the Localism Act 2011. See the simple guide here
 
People around the country value and love the places they live in.  They want great local public services, to protect the things that make their neighbourhood special and to help their community grow and develop in the right way.  To help build the communities they aspire to, government has given legal powers and new opportunities to preserve what they like and change what they don't like about the city, town or village they live in.  Whether they want to stop the local shop closing, get more homes built, or improve local public services, this quick and simple guide will point you in the right direction.  It also gives just a few examples of the thousands of people, in hundreds of communities, who are already using their rights to make changes for the better where they live.

With over a thousand uses in their first year, it's clear that people value their new powers and are using the support available until March 2015. Your organisation and members can make use of and benefit from these new powers too - don't miss out, please share this message as widely as you can.

Possibly the end of cheque payments for parish councils........

Parish payments reform

Progress continues to be made in the NALC campaign for long awaited reform to the way in which parish councils can make payments. 

The Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis MP made a written ministerial statement on 10 September committing Government to laying a Legislative Reform Order to repeal s150(5) and the two signature rule when both Houses are sitting after recess. The statement is on the Parliamentary website at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130910/wmstext/130910m0001.htm

The Joint Practitioners Advisory group are currently working on the new Safeguarding Public Money section of the Local Councils Practitioners' Guide which will support the LRO.

(Taken from CEO report to NALC National Council 1st October 2013)

Town and parish councils can submit Sustainable Communities Act/ barrier busting proposals from 14th October

Barrier busting – Dept of Communities and Local Government is here to help

From 14 October 2013 town and parish councils can use this site to submit proposals under the Sustainable Communities Act.

Many people have great ideas about how they could make their neighbourhood a better place to live.

• Are you are a local resident who wants to share your knowledge and experience to help improve the well-being of local people?
• Are you a local authority and would like to propose a project under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 to introduce positive change to the local environment?
• Are you a community group or social enterprise and would like to see your ideas become a reality and shape the way services are delivered for the local community?

If you want your voice heard on how these and other local services can be delivered in a fresh and innovative way the Government want to hear from you.  

 They recognise that local communities can inspire and innovate to successfully achieve improvements across a range of areas – including developing small-scale green energy projects; influencing and democratising decision-making on local services and creating educational and training opportunities.

However, there are times when bureaucratic barriers can get in the way of local communities achieving their goals and ambitions. At times unnecessary red tape, outdated rules and regulations can stop local people putting good ideas into action. Not only can this be frustrating – it can mean that local people miss out on taking advantage of opportunities to improve their neighbourhoods.

You can submit your barrier busting case or Sustainable Communities Act case through the barrier busting website and, if it is accepted, track the progress in removing the barrier using the barrier tracker facility.

Please make sure you have a look at the link on the NALC SCA web-page when making proposals under the Act 
 http://www.nalc.gov.uk/About_NALC/SustainableCommunitiesAct2007.aspx 
Parishes should read all of the documents and text uploaded to this web-page before submitting direct proposals to DCLG.

The method of proposal submission couldn’t then be simpler – parishes are advised (by NALC) to formally agree their proposals (through council resolution) after compulsorily consulting with and involving their communities first - on draft proposal ideas. 

Proposals should be formally be submitted by a proposing parish – by completing the Barrier Busting Form on the DCLG Barrier Busting web-site http://barrierbusting.communities.gov.uk/

If the Secretary of State rejects a local council proposal made to him under the Act, he will tell the proposing council. However, if the proposing local council wishes either the original proposal or an amended version of it to be re-submitted to the Secretary of State for consideration, it must re-submit the (new) proposal to NALC direct (to chris.borg@nalc.gov.uk ). NALC will then ensure that its Advisory Board considers the re-submission request at its next quarterly meeting.

South East Water Community Chest

If you know of any community projects, charities or not-for-profit organisations in the water supply area of South East Water that would benefit from financial support please let them know that the Community Chest fund is open for applications until 31st October.

Last year the £30,000 Fund was split between 27 organisations helping a range of projects from £250 to fund new tents for the Eastbourne 1st Seaside Scouts to £2,500 to the Bourne Conservation Group in Farnham to clear rubbish from the river.
 
Find out more about the South East Water Community Chest Fund

Elections 2014

Elections 2014

We have received confirmation that elections which would have taken place on 1 May 2014 will now take place on the day of the European election, which is Thursday 22 May.

Please note that if your council was due to have elections in 2014:

• The date of the elections means that the annual meeting of your council must take place between Tuesday 27 May and Tuesday 10 June 2014 inclusive
• The Order changing the date of the elections also provides that the annual parish meeting in a parish which has a council with ordinary elections in 2014  must take place between 27 May and 31 July 2014 inclusive 

Please also be aware that should a vacancy on your council occur after 22 November 2013 (i.e. in the six months leading to election day in 2014) there is no opportunity for the electorate to request that it is filled by way of an election; but your council may (but is not obligated to) fill such a vacancy by co-option. As always, in the event of a vacancy, please let your District Council Monitoring/Democratic Services Officer know so that they can supply the necessary notice for display in your parish. In these circumstances, should a resignation seem likely, you may wish to seek to get the councillor to “hang on” until 23 November or later – but that of course is a matter for you and the councillor concerned.

Review of Quality Parish Status

Quality Council Status Review - revised scheme to be discussed at SLCC Conference 18th October 2013

Following extensive consultation the QPS National Stakeholder group has issued proposals for a three tier scheme concentrating on:


• good governance
• community leadership and engagement
• improvement and development

The scheme has not be finalised yet and may be subject to minor alterations following further consultations. 

There will be a further announcement in October with the details of the final scheme.

Vexatious request for information, new guidance from Information Commissioner

New guidance was issued by the Information Commissioner in May 2013. 

Under Section 14(1) Freedom of Information Act 2000, public authorities do not have to comply with vexatious requests. Don't forget it is the request which is vexatious, not the individual making it!

In cases where the issue is not clear-cut, the key question to ask is whether the request is likely to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption, irritation or distress.

Vexatious = “manifestly unjustified, inappropriate or improper use of a formal procedure”


Indicators of vexatiousness are:

• abusive or aggressive language
• burden on the authority
• personal grudges
• unreasonable persistence
• intransigence
• unfounded accusations
• frequent or overlapping requests
• deliberate intention to cause annoyancescatter gun approach
• on obvious intent to obtain information
• futile requests

See the complete guidance on the ICO website

Evidence for Neighbourhood Plans

The Rural Services Network is trialling a new service focusing on providing evidence for neighbourhood and community plans.

It is evident that in the current climate authorities have limited resources to fully support all communities wanting to develop plans in their local area.

The network intends that the new service will assist members in achieving this objective.

The service puts together a selection of key datasets from Census 2011 information and the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, that would naturally lend themselves to communities preparing their own neighbourhood plan.

The analysis of these datasets provides contextual evidence through key comparisons.
It is intended that the service will allow a baseline of existing facts and figures to be easily accessed for any community within a member district.

More information on the RSN network website

Updated Sec 20 Cilca

The new CiLCA portfolio guide 2013, which contains the updated section 20, is now available for download from the NALC website 

CiLCA submissions which answer the new section 20 will be accepted from 1st October 2013 and submissions which answer the old section 20 will be accepted until 1st November 2013.

The CiLCA training guide is currently being updated to provide training and verification guide for the revised section 20.

Mapping for your council - Ordanance Survey PSMA

Ordnance Survey provides mapping data to town, parish and community councils through the Public Sector Mapping Agreement. This mapping data allows communities to identify trends and spot opportunities’ to improve services to their local population.

If a picture can paint 1,000 words, imagine what a map of your local information could show. Geographic information can help identify the location of the problem you’re looking to solve. You can share complex information visually on a map background, and then share these local issues with your community and interested parties.

Town, parish and community councils are using mapping to:

• Plan community events and road closures
• Manage risks of surface water flooding
• Record health and safety inspections
• Develop community planning applications
• Profile resources and assets for future community needs
• To show developments within a neighbour plan
• Neighbourhood Development Plans.

Government support for creating new parish councils

The measures announced on 9th September 2013 by Don Forster, Communities Minister, Dept of Communities and Local Government, will enable more people to run local services and take decisions that affect their area.

Although there are almost 10,000 parish councils in England, only a handful are to be found in urban areas. 

So, while almost all of the country is covered by parishes geographically, only around a third of the population is represented by one.

Town and parish councils can directly run local facilities such as leisure centres and theatres, manage parks, establish bylaws, run job clubs, fund community groups and use the community rights and help stop the clock on the sale of important local assets such as pubs and green space.

The announcement will make it easier to create a parish council by:

• cutting by a quarter the number of petition signatures needed to start the new parish creation process - from 10% of the local population to 7.5%
• reducing the time local authorities can take to decide on parish council applications to a maximum of a year
• making it easier for community groups that have created a neighbourhood plan to kick-start the process - removing the need for them to produce a petition
• the Department for Communities and Local Government will also be supporting the National Association of Local Councils (NALC)     and County Associations of Local Councils to help campaigns for new town and parish councils and provide them with resources

More information on the DCLG website

Joint Committee On Draft De-Regulation Bill Call For Evidence

Joint Committee On Draft De-Regulation Bill Call For Evidence

Executive Summary

The new Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Draft Deregulation Bill has published its Call for Evidence.
 
The Committee, comprised of Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords, has been formed to scrutinise the Government’s Draft De-regulation Bill and make recommendations for its improvement.

The draft Bill proposes new powers for Ministers to abolish regulation "no longer of practical use" and a requirement for regulators to have regard to the impact on economic growth when proposing new regulation.

 The Committee is inviting evidence on the Bill, which is intended to reduce the burden of regulation on business, civil society and individuals.

The National Association’s Policy Committee considered the Draft De-regulation Bill under Item 7 (b) of its session on 16 July, 2013.  It considered (after officer recommendation), that the below three clauses of the draft Bill were the most relevant to local councils;

• 12 - Recorded rights of way: additional protection – surveying authorities may not in this clause - make amendments to definitive maps and statements under section 53(2)(b) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 if modification might affect the exercise of a protected right or the only reason for the change sought was that a right of way did not exist before 1 January, 1949;
• 13 - Unrecorded rights of way: protection from extinguishment – this clause seeks to insert clause Section 56A of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to enable the Secretary of State by regulation to allow a surveying authority to designate, at any time during the period of one year beginning with the cut-off date, public rights of way in their area that were extinguished immediately after that date; and
• 34 - Exhibition of films in community premises – this clause seeks to amend the Licensing Act 2003, Schedule 1 (provision of regulated entertainment), Part 2 (exemptions) – by exempting the provision of entertainment consisting of the exhibition of a film at community premises from being defined as the provision of regulated entertainment for the purposes of this Act (if certain conditions are met).  This clause is the most incisive as far as National Association policy is concerned as it adopted a position in summer, 2005 from the Herefordshire Association asking the National Association to lobby Government to increase the number of annually permitted events in community and village halls under current licensing laws. 

•    The web-link to the main consultation document is
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/draft-deregulation-bill/written-evidence/submit-evidence-form/ .
 
The National Association is minded to support two of the draft Bill’s main principles - the general provision for the repeal or revocation of legislation which a Minister considers to be “no longer of practical use”; and the introduction of a duty on persons exercising certain regulatory functions to “have regard” to the desirability of “promoting economic growth”.
 
The final deadline for receipt by the Joint Committee for the Draft Deregulation Bill, of  responses to the Call For Evidence, is 16 September, 2013.  The National Association welcomes responses from local councils and County Associations to inform its own submission and asks for them to be submitted to chris.borg@nalc.gov.uk by at the latest Noon on Friday, 6 September, 2013.    

How to be a Better Trustee Workshop

TRAINING: How to be a Better Trustee Workshop

'How to be a Better Trustee'  Workshop is being held on Wednesday 16th October 2013 at Tidmarsh Village Hall, near Pangbourne, at 7.30pm. It is a repeat of the popular sessions which have been held over the past couple of years and is aimed at village and community hall trustees in Berkshire. Every person who sits on a village hall committee is a trustee (if it is registered a charity) and this 2 hour session aims to inform volunteers of their roles and responsibilities in this position.

Attendance is free for anyone whose hall is a member of CCB's Community Buildings Advice Service, for non members the charge is £10 per person. Bookings to be made by email please to Wendy Dacey at wendy.dacey@ccberks.org.uk or by phone 0118 9612000

Training supported by Adult Community Learning, West Berkshire Council

Would you like your Post Office to support a community scheme?

Would you like your Post Office to support a community scheme?

Post Office branches in England (excluding Crown branches) can now apply to receive up to £10,000 to support a new scheme or service for their local community. These could include:

•  Classes in key skills such as reading, languages or the Internet
• Mentoring and advice service for local small businesses, or display space for local producers
• Partnership with a local charity to provide a meeting space, notice board and other forms of support
• A hub or meeting space for community groups involved in local issues, such as neighbourhood planning

If you have an idea you’d like your Post Office to support, download and print the PDF, write down your idea, take it into your Post Office and have a conversation with the sub-postmaster or branch manager about what you could do together to benefit the local community.

Sub-postmasters can find out more including how to apply on subspaceonline.co.uk. 
Deadline for applications is Friday 18 October 2013.

The Fund is a result of a partnership between the Department for Communities and Local Government and Post Office Ltd. It is limited to supporting a maximum of 20 schemes across the country (England only) in 2013/14.

Winning bids will be selected by a panel compromising Post Office Ltd, Department for Communities and Local Government, and others. Judging will take place in autumn with the successful schemes announced shortly after.

If you have any questions, email communities@postoffice.co.uk.