Welcome ...All about your council

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 A parish council has statutory duties and responsibility for certain local issues.  We set an annual precept - a local addition to your Council Tax - to cover the Parish Council’s operating costs and the costs of projects it decides to undertake to the benefit of the parish.  Annual accounts are available for public scrutiny.   We employ a Clerk to take care of administrative functions and carry out certain decisions.  We are one of sixteen parishes in the Fovant & Chalke Valley division of Wiltshire Council, for which the County Councillor is Nabil Najjar.  Parish councillors and county councillors are elected every four years, and a parish council can also co-opt members at any time.  FPC is allowed up to nine councillors, with a legal minimum of five.  The Chair of a parish council is elected annually by the other councillors.

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Meetings  

We have regular meetings, at present six times and year.  We also have extraordinary meetings when necessary, for example to fulfil the statutory duty to consider each planning application submitted in the parish, when we can make recommendations to the Wiltshire Council Planning Officer.  (See News Flash for all meeting dates).  

 

Planning

Planning applications are flagged up on this web site as soon as we receive them, by an alert in the News Flash box and with more detail by clicking on the link to the Planning page.  The agenda for each council meeting is displayed well in advance on the FPC noticeboard outside the village hall.  Agendas and meeting minutes are published on the web site, with a shortened version in the 'Three Towers' magazine.   The public and press are welcome at every FPC meeting, and time is set aside at the start for the public to speak.  We invite Wiltshire Councillor Nabil Najjar to each regular meeting, and ask him to report relevant County activities.  

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Residents wishing to raise issues with the FPC are welcome to contact any councillor or to write to the Parish Clerk, or to raise an issue in person at the start of a FPC meeting.   Residents are also encouraged to contact their Wiltshire Councillor.     

   

Area Boards  

We are one of 39 parishes grouped under the South West Wiltshire Area Board, one of 18 Boards set up under the Unitary county council to provide a discussion forum between County Councillors serving the area and members of the public.  A broad range of issues can be addressed, such as youth opportunities, policing and crime, housing, broadband connectivity, public transport, wellbeing and road safety.  The AB has funding to support non-profit organisations including community groups, charities and community interest companies.   A parish council can support applications for funding by activities in the parish.   An AB grant usually comes as ‘matched’ funding. 

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Road safety 

Each AB has a sub group called Local highway and footway improvement Group (LHFIG) which sets up dialogues between parishes and county Highways Engineers and considers emerging requests for specific changes to improve road safety. Road safety has been a major focus for FPC, both on the A30 and the village roads.  To this end, FPC has been an energetic participant in the LHFIG of our AB, and has succeeded in arguing for several significant changes in our local roads.   The 30 mph limit on the A30 and the more recent change from 30mph to 20 mph on other village roads are examples.  FPC also works directly with Highways Officers on drainage, and we give guidance to the Parish Steward contractor who comes monthly to clear Council verges and gullies.   We consider how footpaths in the parish can be kept in good order.   We have funded a public access AED (defibrillator) which is fixed to the outer wall of the village hall, and we will maintain its registration with the South Western Ambulance Service.  

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Some of our parish councillors volunteer to take special responsibility for particular ongoing issues, and you can see this in the list of councillors.  

   

The powers and responsibilities of a Parish Council are complex but further information can be found on

 

Wiltshire Council's website >>>

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All about Parish Councils