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Basic Facts
A few facts you may or may not know about parish councils:
The councillors are unpaid, though if attending courses, meetings, or official duties they can claim travelling expenses, but only from the border of the parish. The parish has a right to raise a precept which must be spent within the parish for the good of parishioners. With this precept it can provide and maintain monuments, playing fields, footpaths, and churchyards, administer local charities, help maintain village halls, assist local organisations, fund environmental and historical projects, and keep an eye on the state of highways, footpaths and hedgerows. Planning is an area where the council is consulted by the district council, but unfortunately they are not obliged to take notice of their opinions and decisions. There is a Parish Clerk, who is the proper officer of the parish and is paid a small annual salary. It is the clerk’s duty to deal with the correspondence, administer the finances and produce a set of annual accounts. Councillors can be trained in administration, planning controls, finance etc. and the Chairman, who is elected annually by the councillors, is also trained separately. There is training for clerks also. Councillors regularly attend meetings within the district (Mid Suffolk District Council) and SALC (Suffolk Association of Local Councils) where local initiatives are discussed. Councillors are elected every 4 years, buit should the need arise to fill a vacancy there can either be an election or a co-option.
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