It is about this time of year when we receive questions relating to the value for money which membership to NALC and BMKALC delivers. So here are some highlights.
The digital Local Councils Explained provides a dynamic framework from which contemporaneous advice and support can be accessed. All officers and councillors may now register for a personal login to allow them to explore the mountain of information which is available. A dramatic change from when I first registered 9 years ago! LCE and other publications are free to access using your login.
Still despite best efforts, there are numerous key issues which councils feel are critical, which have yet to be resolved, and so lobbying by our National Association is essential. It is your Association so please take part in the many consultations and policy requests that come through. Our representative for Bucks and Milton Keynes is Cllr Paul Harvey who is himself a councillor in West Bletchley, and is always pleased to talk about NALC and its ongoing value.
Let’s highlight some of the key deliverable for this year….
NALC Legal, Financial, and Consultation Updates:
- Legal Advice Note Updates: reissue and clarification of advice notes covering rights of way, parish council meeting definitions, pre-election publicity, advice note on basic charity law, advice note on Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity and publicity during the pre-election period (England)
- Also updated procurement advice, publication of information regarding home working tax changes,
- NALC’s responses to three major planning consultations, including the National Planning Policy Framework, estate management and unadopted amenities, and planning practice guidance.
- In terms of Martyn’s Law, The Home Office confirm that Section 27 statutory guidance should be published “in the Spring” – and that will be the definitive guidance that we should all follow as chapter and verse – after legal commencement of Martyn’s Law (April 2027), regarding compliance with the Terrorism (Protection of Premise) Act 2025.
For now, the steering group is trying to strongly encourage parish and town councils to develop more broadly a good security culture in their business as many councils do not seem to even be aware of ML or doing this more broadly at the moment (please see links to the three guides on the ML web page here [https://www.nalc.gov.uk/campaigns/importance-of-community-safety/anti-terrorism-and-cctv.html] which cites likely areas for compliance with ML post commencement in 04/27).
I wanted also to highlight NALC’s Case Studies which could be of interest to you or your councillors.
- Devolution case studies
- Community safety case studies
- Cost of living case studies
- Climate change case studies
- Health and wellbeing case studies
- Creating a parish or town council case studies
- Young people case studies
- Planning case studies
- Tree Charter case studies
BMKALC’s new website is settling in nicely now, initially there wasn’t a lot of visible change, much of our effort needing to concentrate on the engine of the system to increase it’s resilience and flexibility. The Clerks Dashboard is still finding it’s feet, and we thank everyone who has gently, pointed out where further improvement is needed. Jess is now launching a workstream of reviewing our asset library, ensuring that the advice is up to date and implementing a simple version control system.
BMKALC are increasingly busy. Governance advice and core training, still takes the majority of our capacity. The balance is made up of soft intervention, responding to Principal Authority initiatives and proposals, providing training into emerging legislation and trends, hosting seminars and conferences.
A key service is the availability of Member Service Partners in our main workstreams, finance, HR, planning, communications, data, legal, procurement and risk management. We try and identify two partners for each workstream, negotiating a 15 min service for all councils on the back of BMKALC paying a subscription to the provider.
BMKALC are now able to provide Clerk and Councillor Induction courses free of charge, with a structured chargeable framework of ongoing training to upskill both officers and councillors in their council roles. Last year we also hosted Saturday training sessions for new councillors following elections.
The combined cost of membership to both BMKALC and NALC will be 24p per elector in the 26/27 financial year. The subscription fee having been resolved at the AGM last year. We believe this represents excellent value for money.
A quick reminder from Gail at Bucks Council….
A gentle reminder that we are still accepting nominations for this Years Proud of Bucks Awards.
Full information can be found on the councils website: Proud of Bucks Awards | Buckinghamshire Council
I think we have a couple of sunny days although possibly with frosty starts, to look forward to. We wish you a restful and happy weekend and look forward to speaking with you next week.
Kind regards
Mel, Lorraine and Jess