Lolworth Parish Meeting

 

What is it?

The Parish Meeting is the most direct form of democracy in the United Kingdom. Most towns and villages have a parish council made up of councillors elected by the local government electors in the parish. This is known as representative democracy. Lolworth is too small to have a parish council; instead it has a parish meeting which is made up of all the local government electors in the parish.

The parish meeting has a chair (currently John Short) [email protected] and a parish clerk (currently Margaret Duesbury) [email protected]. It also has a vice chair (currently Steph Chamberlain). In contrast to a parish council where the clerk is the Responsible Financial Officer, this role is performed by the parish meeting chair.

Our District Councillor representative and our County Councillor representative attend the parish meetings and are an important source of support for our small community.

 

How often does it meet?

The parish meeting must meet at least two times a year. The first meeting takes place in April when the first business is to elect a chair and clerk for the new year which begins in April. The other main business is to consider and approve the accounts for the year just ended.

The second meeting usually takes place in late November when the Chair reports to the meeting on the parish meeting’s finances and obtains approval of the budget for the next year. This is circulated in advance and is also available on the village website. Approval of the budget involves fixing the precept for the following year. This is the amount of money that the parish meeting considers that it needs to meet its financial obligations for the following year. All those present vote on the proposal and, if passed , all residents are bound by the decision. A proportionate part of the village precept is then added to each household’s council tax bill issued by the District Council in the following March.

Exceptionally other meetings can be called for special business. An example is that a few years ago meetings were called to  consider drawing up a village plan. In the event the idea was not taken up but it was nevertheless a worthwhile exercise to obtain views from residents on a wide range of issues.

 

What does it do?

The powers of parish meetings are very limited. However, in 1994 Lolworth applied to the District Council and the parish meeting was granted enlarged powers which means that it can do anything which a parish council can do.

 

The parish meeting is responsible for the following:

• Maintaining the children’s play equipment on the Green and the allotments
• Grass cutting on the Green and verges
• Maintenance of trees on the Green
• Providing financial support to the Village Hall (Robinson Hall Lolworth a registered charity)
• Providing financial support to the Town Acre charity which owns the allotments and the communal orchard
• Providing financial support to the Village warden scheme
• Payment of electricity for the provision of street lighting
• Maintaining public liability insurance and the village website