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)
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unnecessary red tape, outdated rules and regulations can stop local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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
