Issue - meetings

Questions raised by the Area Committee of CALC

Meeting: 28/01/2010 - Parish Councils' Forum (Item 20)

Questions raised by the Area Committee of CALC

1.         Would it be possible, if the parishes wanted to do so, to include an explanatory paragraph / small leaflet about the parish precept in the mailing sending out the Council Tax bills?

2.         Hugh Bennett had made a presentation about the Older Persons Task Group at the last meeting and the parishes had been asked to submit comments.  Did he receive any feed back and has a report emerged yet?

3.         News on the Core Strategy?

4.         Shared services with Redditch - are there likely to be any disadvantages (Redditch has little experience with working with parishes)?

5.         What impact will there be on the parishes arising from cuts in funding to the District Council?

6.         Provision of training for the parishes by the District Council on:-

§         planning issues

§         the Code of Conduct

 

Minutes:

(a)       Parish Council information in Council Tax billing packs

 

"Would it be possible, if the parishes wanted to do so, to include an explanatory paragraph / small leaflet about the parish precept in the mailing sending out the Council Tax bills?"

 

The Chairman stated that this issue had been considered in the past but had been reluctantly turned down due to the increased costs which would be incurred by including an individual leaflet relating to each of the parish areas.

 

The contents of a statement from Ms. J. Pickering, the Head of Financial Services, was read out to the Forum giving a further explanation of the issues involved.  However, the statement included details of a possible solution for the 2011/2012 Council Tax year (the bills having already been prepared for 2010/2011) by way of a generic explanation on behalf of all of the parishes contained within the County/District Combined booklet which was sent to all households with the Council Tax bills.  Members of the Forum were advised to contact Ms. A.-M. Darroch, the Council's Communications Manager, with a view to obtaining space in next year's combined booklet.

 

The Forum considered alternative methods of communicating an explanation of what parish councils do and why they raise a precept.  It was noted that each parish operates in differing ways and do different things so a generic statement on behalf of all parish councils may not accurately reflect the work undertaken within the parishes.  For example, some parish councils within the district employ the services of a Lengthsman, paid for out of the parish precept.  However, the Forum considered that the Lengthsman scheme was something that should be investigated at a later date.

 

This was noted

 

(b)       Older People Task Group

 

"Hugh Bennett had made a presentation about the Older Persons Task Group at the last meeting and the parishes had been asked to submit comments.  Did he receive any feed back and has a report emerged yet?"

 

The Forum were advised that two responses had been received following the presentation on the Older People Task Group by Mr. Bennett at the previous meeting.  Brief details of these responses were relayed to the Forum.

 

It was reported that, whilst the Task Group's report had been drafted, the Overview Board would be considering the report at its meeting to be held on 2nd February 2010 before being presented to Cabinet on 3rd March 2010 which would then consider the recommendations made by the Task Group.

 

This was noted.

 

(c)        Core Strategy

 

"News on the Core Strategy?"

 

The Forum were advised of the current situation in respect of the development of the draft Core Strategy; that is, the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) report had been received and more focussed work on the draft Core Strategy could therefore be undertaken.  The Forum were also informed of the approach the Council were intending to take in respect of the housing allocation within the District of 4,000 houses initially up to 2021, with scope for a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20