Tag Archives: parish councils

Mark Valladares

Tales from a Small Parish: welcome to Dibley?…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 19th October 2020 - 12:45 pm

For those of you who live in urban conurbations, your concept of a Parish Council is possibly associated with the TV series “The Vicar of Dibley”. Funny really, because the Vicar usually works with a Parochial Church Council, a very different animal indeed. But 30% of England’s population is covered by Parish Councils which, for the most part, operate under the radar of political activists…

I moved out of London more than a decade ago but hadn’t been here for very long before a vacancy arose on the Parish Council and, well, …

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Posted in Local government | Also tagged | 6 Comments
Paul Walter

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water – there are referendums galore this Thursday

By Paul Walter | Mon 27th January 2020 - 8:15 am

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You probably thought that we have had our fill of referendums for the next several millennia.

But, in my researches for this Thursday’s by-elections, I stumbled upon several Neighbourhood planning referendums happening this Thursday, 30th January.

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Posted in Local government | Also tagged | 18 Comments
Mark Valladares

A bit more about Parish Councils…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 28th May 2018 - 8:12 am

Last week, I wrote in these pages about becoming a Parish Councillor as, perhaps, a stepping stone to other things, although it can be, and often is, worthwhile in itself. I then went home to my Annual Parish Council Meeting and, rather unexpectedly, became Chair. That will teach me…

On explaining a bit about my particular Parish Council, a friend noted that it seemed to be one of the common models, an anarcho-syndicalist collective, whereby someone is notional in charge (a bit like the Constitutional Peasant scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail), as opposed to the Stalinist school of …

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Posted in Local government | Also tagged , and | 13 Comments
Mark Valladares

Have you ever thought of becoming a Parish councillor?

By Mark Valladares | Mon 21st May 2018 - 11:28 am

Now I fully accept that, for many of our readers, the idea of Parish Councils is all a bit redolent of “The Vicar of Dibley” (albeit the cause of confusion between Parish Councils and Parochial Church Councils), but they can be a key element of rural campaigning.

I ought to declare an interest first, in that I’m a Parish councillor in mid-Suffolk, and have been for about six years. Mine is a small Parish, population about 270, with an annual precept of less than £6,000. But this tier of local government is widely varied, ranging from the likes of Hereford City …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 7 Comments
Paul Walter

In praise of Parish Councils

By Paul Walter | Wed 14th February 2018 - 12:25 pm

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This is a rather unfocussed post, but I just wanted to give a shout-out for Parish Councils.

One of our number here at LDV Towers, Mark Valladares, writes a blog called Liberal Bureaucracy. One of its main subjectival strands is Mark’s role as a parish councillor. Just leafing through some of the post titles gives one an excellent flavour of parish council life:

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

Should parish councils be “completely apolitical”?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 29th August 2009 - 11:40 am

An intriguing row has broken out in Shoreham, West Sussex, in the lead-up to a by-election to fill a vacancy on the parish council. The local paper tells all:

CONTROVERSY is stirring in grassroots politics, with the nomination of a Liberal Democrat to stand in a Rustington Parish Council by-election. Jamie Bennett’s punt at parish politics has rippled the normally tranquil waters of the council, on which all 15 current members sit as independents.

Lib-Dem Jamie will contest the West ward seat vacated by former parish council chairman Mike Warrington, who has moved away from the area, in a two-horse race with Andy Cooper, described as the “Keep Rustington Council Independent” candidate. The by-election is on Thursday, September 17.

This kind of debate isn’t unusual at parish council level – the size of most parishes, and their limited budget powers, tend to mean the decisions they can make are small-scale: what place does party politics have in such circumstances?, goes the argument.

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Posted in Local government and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 20 Comments
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