Two NALC Legal Topic Notes have been subject to small amendments

 

If you print off paper copies or keep electronic copies of Legal Topic Notes please be aware that they are periodically updated.

LTN No 35 Contracts has been amended to reflect the revised EU procurement thresholds for works, supplies and service contracts as of January 2014.

LTN No 39 Copyright. There are minor changes to the text for readability purposes and changes to the list of exemptions in the appendix occasioned by changes to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All Legal Topic Notes are available on the NALC website. All member councils have the Username and Password to access the Members Area of the NALC website

Sunday Times article - Love your parish council

Sunday 27th April Sunday Times article Richard Girling

At last a positive and supportive article in a broadsheet newspaper on parish councils! Thank you Richard Girling, award winning journalist and resident of Norfolk.

Landowner Statements - Village Greens

Briefing note on landowner statements from Open Spaces Society

Town and village greens are land where local people have enjoyed informal recreation, for at least 20 years, without challenge or permission.  Once the land has been registered, by the county or unitary authority (the registration authority) as a green it is protected from development.

Now landowners can submit to the registration authority a statement and map which challenge people’s informal use of land and thereby threaten the public’s ability to register the land as a town or village green.  Once a statement has been deposited and notices posted on the land, local people have one year in which to submit an application to register the land as a green based on 20 years’ use for informal recreation.

The Open Spaces Society has asked all registration authorities to tell it of any such statements.  However, it would be valuable if all local councils were to do this too.  There is no guarantee that a notice will remain on the land for long, so the only way you can be sure of knowing about the threat to your local green space is by getting the council to inform you.

We recommend that you contact your unitary council’s commons registration department and ask to be notified of any landowner statements made under section 15A of the Commons Act 2006.  (These may be combined with landowner declarations relating to public rights of way, under section 31(6) of the Highways Act 1980.)

Once you know of a landowner statement, you can check the land to see whether it is eligible to register as a green.  The Open Spaces Society’s book Getting Greens Registered helps with this.  If it is eligible as a green, local people have one year in which to gather evidence of use and submit an application.  If it is not eligible you might wish to consider alternative ways of protecting the land, such as designation as Local Green Space.

Details are on the Open Spaces Society’s website 
You can contact the society for further information and help, although the society will ask you to join if you are not already a member.

Locality have updated their Neighbourhood Planning hub

Locality, the government funded go-to organisation for funding and knowledge of Neighbourhood Planning has revamped its website.  You can find practical resources to help you at every step of your neighbourhood planning journey, from how-to guides, to case studies and newsletters.

Create a Council Week 19th May - 23rd May

 

Create a Council Week (19 – 23 May 2014) is a new NALC initiative to encourage more communities to form their own parish council. The week coincides with voters in Queen’s Park, London electing a new Community Council – the first in London for decades.

The theme of the week is giving your community some love, so it’s a perfect opportunity to celebrate local achievements.

Find out more about further grants available to support the Create a Council programme here.

Audit Commission don't support transparency code for small parish councils

The Audit Commission is working alongside its sponsor Departments and other key stakeholders to help design a new regime for local public audit, that will be robust and sustainable, following the closure of the Audit Commission as outlined in the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

The Audit Commission was pleased to respond to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) consultation on the draft Transparency Code for parish councils with a turnover not exceeding £25,000.

In our answers to the questions in the consultation document, we said:

• The Audit Commission supports the goals of transparency and proportionate accountability arrangements. However the Transparency Code, as drafted, will not adequately deliver these goals.
•  The Transparency Code will not be an effective substitute for external audit. Furthermore it will increase rather than reduce the burden on councils covered by it.
•  A truly proportionate approach to accountability for councils spending less than £25,000 would use existing mechanisms like Freedom of Information.

 
The Audit Commission response can be found here

Rule changes on sending agendas electronically - one click closer

The Government has written to NALC confirming their intention to clarify rules on sending agendas electronically to councillors.

NALC has long pressed for this change  to help parish and town councils modernise how they operate. 

The letter from the Department for Communities and Local Government to NALC’s chief executive takes forward an ongoing commitment from the local government minister Brandon Lewis MP on this issue, reiterated last week in response to a written parliamentary question from shadow minister Andy Sawford MP.

In his response Brandon Lewis MP said: “Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act 1972 requires local authorities (both principal and parish councils) to send summonses to attend meetings by post. Reflecting the take-up of digital communications, Ministers are minded to issue an Order under Section 8 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 to facilitate this being done electronically; although we do believe that councillors should continue to have a right to receive communications in hard copy by post should they wish, and that this should be reflected in any legislative change. We will be undertaking an informal sounding shortly on the wording of any draft Order with key partners, including the Local Government Association and the National Association of Local Councils.”

Councillor Ken Browse, Chairman of NALC said: “This reform to rules over forty years old is long overdue but very welcome and will help parish and town councils operate more efficiently and effectively. I am grateful for the cross-party support on this issue and shows the voice of our important tier of local government is being heard and acted upon”.

The Government intend to make an Order later this month.