County Officers Weekly Review

Dear Clerks and Colleagues

Please share with your Councillors

The Jubilee celebrations all went off well and were enjoyed by all.  Thank you so much to those of you who have supplied pictures and images of this historic moment which may never happen again.  The Jubilee has been a great opportunity for Town and Parish Councils to be involved with their communities and to celebrate with the nation.  We will be posting a montage of Parish & Town Councils Jubilee events on our website and socials in the coming week as there are several Clerks on leave, and we are waiting for their contributions. 

It has been another busy week for us, a great many enquiries have been raised, and answered, this week by Clerks and Councillors.  It has been lovely for me to speak with so many of you and I am thoroughly enjoying being part of the team, I can’t believe I have been in post for two months now. 

Common Land Training took place this week (with some technical challenges) led by Roger Taylor of Wellers Hedley, thanks to all for your patience with this – I am sure you will agree it was worth the wait.  This is a topic that requires knowledge of the legalities surrounding Common Land and Roger delivered this extremely well with a great many examples.  The opportunities for questions at the end raised some interesting scenarios regarding Common Land and attempts to use it other than the way intended. 

Procurement Training – this was Mike Deegan’s debut with BMKALC.  A great deal was covered in the course with lots of opportunity to ask questions throughout.  Mike delivered a tough subject in a way that was easy to understand and lots of practical advice was given regarding the whole procurement process from start to finish and beyond to evaluation.  I am sure that all attendees came away eager to implement what they had learned.

Over the next few weeks training is in place for those who are about to finish their CiLCA training and Code of Conduct training. Wellers Hedley return on 5^th July with vital training for those of you with Village Greens.  We also have some exciting NEW trainings sessions coming up.  How To Review Your Neighbourhood Plan Planning Policies on July 7th in-person with Neil Homer; we welcome back Mike Deegan presenting Writing Grant Applications and Sourcing Local Council Funding Opportunities on July 21st and look forward to new in-person finance training with Kevin Rose of IAC; dates to be announced soon.

A few have raised enquiries regarding Model Standing Orders April 2022 V2 – just to confirm the wording has been amended to be gender inclusive – see e.g., below.

a            A councillor may move an amendment to his/her/their own motion if agreed by the meeting. If a motion has already been seconded, the amendment shall be with the consent of the seconder and the meeting.

Mel returns to the office next week after a well-deserved break.  I wish you all a lovely weekend and hope the sun, as forecast, arrives for us all to enjoy.

Kind regards

Helen & Lorraine.