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Newly elected MP’s, BC Planning Forum, Chair of Council Database, NALC Star Council Awards and SLCC Clerk of The Year Nominations

Dear Colleagues

I trust that this email will languish in your mailboxes until Monday and that you are making the most of the sunny snap!  I’m anxious to finish off my workload on my non-working day, so that I too can escape and make the most of a rare and lovely day!

This week has been filled with announcements, speeches and promises of a brighter horizon.  Welcome to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.  As local councils we eagerly await the opportunity to scrutinise the full details before becoming over excited.  I’ve written to the 8 MP’s who represent our area (a copy of the text has been circulated to clerks by separate email cover).  

  • Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury)
  • Joy Morrisey (Beaconsfield)
  • Sarah Green (Chesham and Amersham)
  • Callum Anderson (Buckingham and Bletchley)
  • Greg Smith (Mid Bucks)
  • Chris Curtis ( MK North)
  • Emily Darlington (MK Central)
  • Emma Reynold (Wycombe)

If you would like to write to them too, then Parliamentary addresses for MP’s follow the convention firstname.familyname.mp@parliament.uk.

Having said that, we are excited, AGAR’s have been completed, elections are out the way and for many of you a summer recess awaits.  We started the week with BC Clerks Forums on Monday and Tuesday then welcomed a second cohort of councillors to Judges Lodgings for Chairing Skills on Wednesday evening and the CiLCA Thursday group for Unit 3 the next day.  We have a date in the diary for the January BC Planning Forum of the 27th, between 10 and 12 am at the Gateway and are trying to fix a location for the September date.  Fixing these dates brought home the difficulty of trying to organise meetings which are held quarterly.  They all land up in the same fortnight every time!  I shall be meeting with Gail and Kay to see how we can try and smooth them out throughout the year.

Over the next two weeks we will be holding the BMKALC Executive Board Meeting and the Wednesday CiLCA group.  We don’t train over August and use the time to undertake some of the many housekeeping activities which we neglect in the rest of the year.  

On a homework front.  

  • Please could all councils confirm by return the name of their Chairman/woman for this year and a current email address in order to update our records.  You may be surprised to learn that we do not have a register of the Chair’s name or who your councillors are and it would help me a great deal both to keep in touch but also establish who is on the end of a telephone and if they are who they say they are! Please email balc@bucksalc.gov.uk
  • This is a call to arms.  Have you considered your nominations for the NALC Star Council Awards and the SLCC Clerk of the Year?  If not do so now!    In a sector beset with criticism and doubt it is easy to ignore the brilliant work that is taking place and we need to get better at recognising it.  The process of nomination is painless, the feeling you get when someone has nominated you or your council, is priceless. 

We wish you a safe and sunny weekend and look forward to speaking with you next week.  

Kind regards Mel Woof PSLCC

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