Garden Parties, Levelling Up and Training w/e 17 Feb ’23

Firstly thank you to all those who submitted a nomination to this years Annual Garden Party.  We have received an unprecedented number of nominations this year, testament to the tremendous work and commitment from our Town and Parish Councils.  The nominations have all been weighed against the criteria issued by the Palace and NALC and two candidates have been put forward to the NALC.  It is unlikely that BMKALC will hear anything further now as those nominations are dealt with directly by NALC and the Palace.  The process highlighted the remarkable efforts around our community and I wanted to remind you that this invitation is not the only way to seek formal recognition for our shining stars.  Take a look at Nominate someone for an honour or award: Overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

At a national level the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill before Parliament provides an excellent opportunity to raise several issues that have concerned the sector in recent years where they fall within the remit of the Bill.

Jonathan Owen from NALC reports  “I am very grateful therefore to our president, Baroness Scott of Needham Market, for tabling nine amendments to the Bill which seek to address many of the most pressing issues we face including:

• Providing for councils to be able to hold remote meetings.
• Suspension of councillors who breach the code of conduct.
• Access to direct government funding and grants.
• A clear timetable for the neighbourhood governance review to make it easier to set up new local councils.
• Payment of dependent carers allowance to parish councillors.
• The extension of the general power of competence.”

So, if you are in touch with a Peer of the realm, make sure they know how important these amendments are to our sector and the real positive impact that these changes will have on the work we are able to do.

We are looking forward to the next Parish Liaison meeting for BC on the 1^st March 2023, which we hope will be in person, I am awaiting confirmation.  In the meantime the only question I have received relates to Developer Funds – CIL vs S106.  I already have Parish Charter on there too.  I’m sure there must be more, please let me have them so that I can work on the Agenda with Simon.

Next week we have Community Assets, Councillor Training and on the 28^th we have Planning Application Responses.

I can tell from our inbox that lots of RFO’s and Finance Committees have been sharpening their pencils and reviewing their work in preparation for the end of the Financial Year.  This means the sale of strong coffee and biscuits might be booming, whether the biscuits are chocolate of not may depend on willpower, or in my house the weather. Rain = chocolate.  It’s been a hard month! 🙂

Wishing you all a safe and restful weekend and looking forward to speaking with you next week.