Floods, Emergency Response and Futureproof planning!
Well as the first frost has bitten hard, I think I can now legitimately say, 33 sleeps till Christmas! In our governance terms probably only one more full council meeting, your Christmas lights are probably up with light up ceremonies looming large. Don’t forget in the midst of all the excitement to get your council votes in for the NALC governance elections. Please visit the NALC website to register to cast your vote. You have until the 28th of November. Each council can cast one vote per election. It is important to note that larger parish or town councils should only vote in the Larger Councils Committee election, and smaller parish or town councils should only vote in the Smaller Councils Committee election.
Given that immediately before the frost hit us we had high rainfall to contend with I wanted to bring to your attention the following website, About our services – Flood Forecasting Centre – GOV.UK
I sent out some of the clarifications following the Home Office update on Martyn’s Law in last week’s View, regarding the need to register affected buildings. However, there is one further element parishes need to also be aware of, and that is events. These also qualify under Martyn’s Law. Home Office has confirmed that it is the event advisor who is responsible, in every case, not the land owner, although these may be the same people. It only affects ticketed events, or events where entry is controlled. It does apply to areas where there are no buildings, e.g. parks, provided gated entrance is possible. Thank you Shar, for this further clarification.
I was invited to the South Bucks Association of Local Councils AGM this week. I won’t steal their thunder by anticipating their minutes, but following the formal elements the councils present were invited to highlight their top three concerns. These are echoed around the BC community and I will use these as a basis for my next meeting with Steve Bowles our BC cabinet member.
The Emergency Response Project which I observed on Tuesday in Wingrave was extremely useful and will be fed into our training programme next year. The day was organised as a Thames Valley event, and the same exercise took place at the Stadium in MK the next day. The objective is to test certain aspects of a humanitarian response to a disaster. There are players and there are officers and volunteers. I took away many positives from the exercise and will be working with the team to consider the role town and parish councils play as first on the ground, in a real situation.
On Wednesday our CiLCA wrap up day was severely hampered by a combination of weather, and road works! In the end we had four candidates and worked as a group through the syllabus again looking at areas where they were finding It difficult to move forward. We are planning a second session in December for other delegates who couldn’t reach us on Wednesday. It was a great week for qualifications though with three candidates qualifying. Congratulations to Ryan, Sean and Tommy. I think Ryan may be qualifying for fastest finisher!!!
The new portfolio for 2026 should be with me imminently and we will be announcing dates for the mandatory introduction day which will take place in March with the fist of the five portfolio days to take place in April. There will be tweaks and a couple of new learning outcomes, but the most significant changes are how the SLCC are securing the integrity of the learning process and qualification. More on that when I have all the fine print. In the meantime, all those people currently busy with their portfolio’s crack on, and if you stall get in touch!
We held two Data Protection events this week one for officers and then one for councillors. Breakthrough Communications are the experts in this field alongside their excellent work in effective communications. Don’t forget you have access to them as a member benefit if you hit a query, free of charge, but you must come through BMKALC to claim it.
Next week, we kick off with Futureproof Planning, it’s an exciting line up and whilst we are short on crystal balls and silver bullets we’ll explore the impact of changes in our planning system and our best direction of travel. I’ll be joined by Neil Homer, Tom Sykes, Matthew Stanton, Esther Kurland, Steve Walker. Following on from that, two bespoke council training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
I’ve been asked to forward an invitation for your participation in a survey relating to Public Toilets. In order to inform that lobbying exercise, please follow the following survey link here, where you will be asked to complete the linked short snapshot survey on public conveniences you own or manage (one response each per council, please) by latest 23:45 on 14 January 2026 (the survey will take around 5 minutes to complete).
Lorraine will be back with us from Monday, just in time for a handover before Jess goes on leave on Tuesday! We’re a busy team at BMKALC but never too busy to hear from you. We wish you a restful weekend and look forward to speaking with you soon!