Parish Pulse Survey 2014

C Locality

Last spring the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) conducted a survey, to learn more about how town and parish councils were embracing the new Community Rights which allow them to take action and to influence local services. The survey provided the Government with a valuable insight into the take-up of Community Rights and an understanding of what support would encourage more town and parish councils to make better use of the rights.

The aim of the ‘Parish Pulse Survey 2014’, one year on, is to find out what the picture looks like now for town and parish councils with Community Rights.

The Government wants parish and town councils to tell them about the activities they are doing to support Neighbourhood Planning, Community Right to Challenge and Community Right to Bid. The feedback will help to inform the Government’s work with town and parishes and shape the type of support they provide.

Stephen Williams MP, Minister, DCLG, said: “I am delighted that so many town and parish councils are taking on the opportunities presented by Community Rights to help make the ambitions of their local community become a reality. I see huge potential for councils to continue working together with their communities to build upon these successes to give local people the ability to influence the important decisions about their local area. I do recognise that there are still many councils we still need to support to make better use of the rights. For this reason, I see the Parish Pulse 2014 as a vital tool for capturing what more we can do to motivate councils to make Community Rights a reality. I would therefore encourage all town and parish councils to complete the survey and to share their experiences of Community Rights so far”.

Cllr Ken Browse, chair of NALC, responded: “The National Association urges all parish and town councils to take part in this important survey on Community Rights. We believe that the trends and feedback from this survey will help to inform the future direction that Government policy takes with regards to parish and town councils.”

The survey is open from Monday 14 July 2014 and will close on 11 August 2014: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/parishpulse2014