Standards In Public Life, Town Centre Regeneration, From Parish To Community Council, Home Office Martyn’s Law Update, CiLCA Day 5 2025 Cohort Final Formal Session
CLERKS, PLEASE CIRCULATE TO ALL COUNCILLORS.
Sadly, a rather dreich end to the week, with the promise of wind and rain to come. Still, we are racing through October, and these things are to be expected, is it too early to be starting a sleeps counter? Certainly, worth pointing out that you may only have three meetings left between now and when you will be submitting your precept request. I’m sure you are all under way looking at your plans for the 2026 – 27 year and if you aren’t sure what they are, this might be a great time to plan an event with your councillors to remember why they became councillors and start your ambitions list!
This time last week I was in a room with an impressive cohort of legal minds from BC and MKCC together with Paul Hoey as we took a deep dive into Standards. Despite the subject matter, for which some statistics can be depressing, we had a fabulous day and it was wonderful to see full engagement from around the room. We all left having learned something and with the understanding that there are no silver bullets, but there are steps which can be taken and we can all support each other when things get tough.
We kicked off this week with Chairing Skills training. A smaller cohort this time, which allowed for active discussion around the room.
On Tuesday together with 3 Town Councils, Community Board Chairs, Cabinet Members and Service Directors, BMKALC met to consider Town Centre regeneration. It was an opportunity for a conversation and sharing of observations. We touched on public engagement, recruiting new councillors, physical regeneration opportunities, repurposing of derelict buildings, things that have worked to date.
You, like me, may have experienced a push back when inviting people to your council meeting. I was rebuffed with,” I’m sorry Mel, we don’t do Church..”. Following the May elections, it was apparent that there was scant appetite for people to come forward resulting in many councillor vacancies which we are still trying to fill. The word Parish may be responsible for some of the disengagement. It conjures up a very traditional image which is unhelpful in the current context. It is an easy process to change your council’s name from Parish to Community. The word Community lays out the engagement model and remit and invites people in to participate, altogether a more positive process. We will produce a Good Practice Note, to support this process.
Wednesday was week 2 of the Finance for Councillors training. If you are on the Finance committee, you should be attending appropriate training, even if you are an accountant! We do things slightly differently in the world of local government finance! This has been Eleanor’s first training event for BMKALC and Lorraine has received excellent feedback for the courses so far. So I expect she’ll be back again soon.
Today, we have the Local Democracy in Action online event hosted by NALC and chaired by Poonam Mistry from the LGA. We will be reflecting on the recent elections and the lessons we can learn.
Next week we have the BC Clerks Forums, a Martyn’s Law update from the Home Office and CiLCA Day 5! I can’t believe that we are in our final formal training day for the 2025 cohort and this team are steaming along.
So, you might need to grab a hat and waterproofs, but I hope you get a chance to get outside and take in some fresh air this weekend, all those spreadsheets addle the brain if you don’t take a break. We will look forward to speaking you next week. Until then,,,
Kind regards
Mel, Lorraine and Jess