Saturday saw the third annual ALDC online Conference for Town and Parish Councillors, an event which has developed as an opportunity to reach out to the Cinderella tier of local government, although we’re more likely to have the budget for a glass slipper than our principal authority colleagues do these days.
Opened by Sarah Green MP, Town and Parish Councillors from across England, including some pretty heavy hitters at the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), came together to discuss some of the big issues that face the sector – Local Government Reform, the accelerating devolution of valued local services to the sector – and how to use the opportunities of local power to promote the Party, build campaign teams and win elections at principal authority and Parliamentary levels.
Sarah spoke passionately about how success in elections for Amersham Town Council just before her famous by-election win laid the platform for the campaign that followed, establishing the Liberal Democrats as the best option to defeat the Conservatives, and how town and parish councillors across her constituency act as an “early warning system” for issues that affect residents.
The Conference then broke out into three sessions;
- the impact of national change on town and parish councillors, with Justin Griggs from NALC;
- social media best practice for town and parish councils, with Dan Purchese from parish consultants Breakthrough Communications; and
- building the Lib Dems at a town and parish level, with Councillor Hannah Perkin (ALDC) and Councillor Sam Potts
Conference was fortunate enough to have Justin Griggs, NALC’s Head of Policy and Communications, to take delegates through both the key aspects of Local Government Reform but also to explain how NALC was responding to the various strands of current proposals.
After a critical break for refreshment, delegates came together for a roundtable on how Liberal Democrat Town Councillors have used the platform of their councils to make real change in their communities, chaired by Baroness Ros Scott in her usual ebullient manner. Ros has been NALC’s President for three years, having been a former President of ALDC, so she knows the sector well.
Tom Deakin, the Leader of Taunton Town Council, spoke about how they had formed a council from scratch – Taunton had not been parished until the abolition of Somerset West and Taunton District Council just two years ago – and had boldly decided to commit to spending, and thus raising, a significant precept. As he noted, you have to do things that are seen to improve the community and, with nineteen councillors out of twenty, they had the confidence to do just that.
Kelly-Marie Blundell-Smith, from Hailsham Town Council in East Sussex, told of how she became a Town Councillor and went on to become Chair of the Finance Committee. Her Council run the local Post Office and are actively seeking to make it into a banking hub now that the major banks have all closed their local branches, something that drew interest from other delegates facing similar challenges.
Sam Potts, from Hereford City Council, entertained delegates with his story of how he became a City Councillor. Hereford has a precept of over £1.2 million, and even runs its own free bus service, connecting up the different parts of the city. It also manages the tourist information service.
And finally, Mark Roberts, from Amersham Town Council, explained how they built upon the Amersham in Bloom campaign to attract visitors to the town and to put pride back into the community. From that, they’ve built an election-winning machine that secured Sarah Green’s re-election last year and won eleven Buckinghamshire Council seats earlier this year.
A live question and answer session followed, with questions answered on the financial relationship between towns and their surrounding hinterland after devolution of services and assets to the towns, what the panel were most proud of achieving in their areas and much more, and before we knew it, it was time for a closing speech from Zöe Franklin, the Party’s new Commons spokesperson on Local Government.
Zöe spoke of the importance of our sector in improving the lives of our residents in a range of ways from advocacy to, increasingly, providing services that make life a bit better, from youth services to culture, from public toilets to community events. She emphasised that she wanted to engage with the sector, and to campaign for policies that would make it easier for town and parish councils to get things done for the communities they serve.
And with that, the Conference came to a close. Many thanks must go to the ALDC team, led by Tim Pickstone, Abi Bell and Ed Stephenson, for bringing the event together and for offering a forum for Liberal Democrat Town and Parish Councillors to come together. And next year, if you’re in the sector, make sure to register, it’ll be worth your while.
* Mark Valladares is Chair of Creeting St Peter Parish Council in Suffolk’s Gipping Valley, chairs NALC’s Smaller Councils Committee and co-chairs its Micro Councils Network.
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10 Comments
Hello Mark – and thank you for this excellent and very interesting report.
It arrived at just the right time for me . . . I knew that the revered Dr. Pack and ALDC both reported on ‘principle’ elections, but how to find details of ‘lower’ elections. And then I found NALC. I have a family member who is a Town Cllr on Sevenoaks Town – all 18 Cllrs there are Lib Dems !!
Now I see that there are over 10,000 Parish Councils in England, which represent over 40% of the population. So why not more news of what goes on there ??
Paddy A. used to call it ‘Subsidiarity’ & all the Cllrs and Lib Dem activists there are the closest to the ground, so hugely important in making the Lib Dems ‘brand’ noticed.
When Sarah Green won her bye-election I investigated and learnt that Lib Dems had taken control of Amersham Town so that explained a lot.
I cannot find details on the NALC website of numbers of councillors by Parties, Regions or whatever. How can we learn that data ??
And, importantly, how may the efforts of our lowest ground troops be better reported and acknowledged ?! Could appoint yourself to do regular reports ??
Kind regards, Paul Rustad.
(Still in Chiswick, L.B. Hounslow, but in the new constituency of Hammersmith & Chiswick – is that more up-market ?!)
Given that we all value first tier councils, and that we all believe that democracy and the rights of citizens can not be compromised, can I put forward a policy suggestion. I propose that when a vacancy arises in a Town or Parish council, as election MUST be held. The current practice of co-option is clearly open to abuse and imagine if your MP or Borough/County council representative was chosen not by the public but by the other councillors. There would be outrage.
The only argument I have heard against this proposal is cost. Apparently it costs £3000 to hold a parish election. So now we have an exact figure for the value people put on local democracy.
A would like to hear other members justification for the status quo.
If you want to keep in touch with what we are doing on Town & Parish Councils you can joint the Facebook group Lib Dem Town & Parish Councillors.
@Mike Drew
Why should I have to sign up to facebook to keep up to date with LD activity on Town and Parish Councils? I should not have to provide personal data to zuckerberg and his pals.
@Chris Cory How would you legally force people to put themselves forward as candidates in your MUST be held election?
Under Electoral Law all Town/Parish vacancies must be advertised in the same way as principle tier Council vacancies. At that point anyone qualified by residence etc can call the election and put themselves forward for election. The difference is that at the end of the legally stipulated period a principal tier vacancy remains vacant until or unless an election is eventually called but a Town/Parish can then Co-opt someone to fill the vacancy instead of leaving the position empty.
I have campaign managed numerous elections for numerous people, at every level from Parish to European Parliament, between 1985 and 2025. I can assure you that finding people who actually want to be a serious candidate and seek to get elected and fulfill their elected duties is not as easy as you seem to believe. How many times have you stood for election yourself?
Cllr Paul Holmes – 31 collective years in elected public office as variously Parish and Borough Cllr and as an MP.
Nonconformistradical: you do t have to. The group I set up on a platform that was most convenient and ease of use. If you want to set up a similar service on another platform, you are welcome.
@Paul Holmes. Sorry in delay in responding.
How many times have I stood for election ? Well that took a bit of working out but my best guess is 12, successful only twice, starting in the late 1980’s. Why did you assume that wouldn’t be the case ? I am also fully aware of the regulations governing first tier council elections.
I am simply suggesting that the same rules apply for a town/parish election as for a district/borough election. As for difficulty in finding candidates, with all your experience you will be aware that in other parties there is vicious infighting to become a candidate at local elections. If the Lib Dems don’t have that level of competition then we need to think about how open and accessible our party structures are.
@Paul Holmes. A quick PS, if nobody is willing to stand for election in a first tier council the vacancy should be held open, the time limit for calling an election extended indefinitely.
If the situation becomes so bad that the council becomes inquorate then its power are absorbed into the principal council. There is legal provision for this to happen in extreme circumstances at present. Still interested that you think councillors, not the public, have that right to choose who sits next to them.
It is ALWAYS possible to find a candidate. I have never failed to get a full slate of town council candidates when it was my responsibility to do so. You start with party members, then use Connect to identify likely supporters, then you look at clubs, societies, action groups for potential leaders and then you go and knock on their doors – without notice or they will refuse – and ask them. I get a hit rate of about 1 in 10 and I’ve found some absolutely excellent councillors. In 2019 only 5 candidates were party members. The other 13 were found and persuaded by me and we got 6 elected out of 18 when Labour were riding high. Actually, the hardest thing is to sell being party members and the selection process rather than the idea of being a town/parish councillor.
As to how many times I’ve stood? Borough council 1 (successfully), principal council 13 (7 successfully) town/parish 6 (5 successfully) and Parliament 6.
@Mick Taylor. Well said. If you can’t find the people it’s because you’re not really trying.