Future of Parish Councils
The Government's Rural White Paper was issued at the end of November 2000 and is subject to further consultation. An entire chapter (12) of the White Paper was dedicated to the role of parish and town councils in shaping their communities.
Within the White Paper there is a clear intention to give local communities a much bigger part in running their own affairs and there is a recognition that each community has its own priorities, its own strengths and weaknesses, and its own methods for achieving its aspirations.
Local Power for Country Towns and Villages
The Government has set itself five key tasks for enabling parish and town councils to take on an enhanced role and these may be summarised as follows:
To enable local councils to achieve the highest standards and thus reach a new status within the framework of local government. This will be achieved by granting "quality" status to all qualifying parish and town councils.
To enable larger local councils to deliver a wider range of services through enhanced partnership working with principal authorities.
To help rural communities to develop Town, Village and Parish Plans to indicate how they would like their town or village to develop by encouraging communities to undertake town or village plans.
To create stronger local partnership arrangements through more modern local government, including the requirement for principal authorities to develop community strategies which should cover a wide spectrum of community needs and aspirations.
To help rural communities to train and attract volunteers to support local services, including support for village halls.
Relations Between the Tiers of Local Government
Many of the proposals contained in the Rural White Paper rely on close and co-operative relations between the tiers of local government. The Government intends to publish guidance on how principal authorities and local councils can work together in partnership. This guidance will include a model 'charter' based on existing Best Practice between the tiers.
The White Paper encourages the development of locally based plans through parish appraisals and Village Design Statements which can be further developed and then brought into the planning process as Supplementary Planning Guidance.
Complete copies of the Rural White paper are available from The Stationary Office Limited (price £28) and it is available on the DETR web site. |
