PDF posts

Posted on

COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE REVIEW BERGH APTON PARISH COUNCIL’S VIEW

Dear Parishioners
PLEASE HAVE YOUR SAY-EVERY VOTE COUNTS

You will no doubt have seen the notification,from John Fuller, on the Parish Website regarding the Community Governance Review.
The Parish Council also wishes you to have your say by visiting :- http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/communitygovernancereview1/

BERGH APTON PARISH COUNCIL IS SOLVENT

There appears to be a trend to no longer have each Village represented by their own Council but for Parish Councils to merge. One of the reasons is cost. We are concerned that from the article published our parishoners may feel that Bergh Apton cannot sustain the cost of a Parish Clerk. We wish to reassure all of you that this is not the case. We are solvent with a considerable bank balance which will more than pay for the clerk and additionally there is the funding for us to take steps to improve the village such as bringing in speed restrictions to protect walkers, dog walkers, horse riders and the wildlife. If you are intending to complete the survey please therefore do not make your decision based on the solvency of the Parish Council, we would reiterate we can comfortably afford a Clerk!

BERGH IS MERGED WITH APTON

The thought of amalgamation with other villages brings risk. Mundham and Seething Parochial Councils merged in 1604 and the people in each village still have the interests of their own church at heart. The principal is entirely the same here. Whilst each village would have a couple of representatives for the village, it would lead to long meetings dealing with issues which do not affect your own village, conflicts over where new build would be positioned and these are just a couple of examples. If one village becomes stronger the interests of that village will be served before our own. Do remember there is also only one Chariman who also has a casting vote if needed so which village would the chairman come from?

To date, no other village council has approached Bergh Apton about merging and we as your parish council feel a move like this would be detrimental. We wish to preserve the beauty and identity of the village and represent the Parishoners wishes.

BERGH APTON NEEDS TO RETAIN IT’S IDENTITY

To date, we as a Council had voted that this move would not take place however that decision on our part to date appears to have been disregarded and this recent article does not reflect the thoughts and feelings of your Parish Council. We have a new parish council now, with a new Chairman and Clerk and wish to keep you all fully appraised. Please do come along to the meetings and support what we do, you are very welcome and its very encouraging to hear from you. We have to be careful in these fast moving times that our wishes do not get overlooked and our interests are protected and that responsibility lies with your own Parish Council.

Julie Gosling
Clerk to Bergh Apton Parish Council

Posted on

Community Governance Review – Please fill in the survey – SNDC view

The background is this…

There are 119 parishes in South Norfolk.  In 2015 only 19 held parish council elections, and many of those didn’t have elections in 2011, or 2007 either –  Bergh Apton is one of those parishes.

It’s not good for local democracy if those that govern us are not subject to election. Not only are many of our smallest parishes not elected, the proportion of the tax they raise that they spend on their own administration has got out of control.  In a small parish like Bergh Apton about 2/3 of the tax it raises is spent on the Clerk, Insurance – leaving just one third to be spent on the village.   If it was a charity it would be closed down, and Bergh Apton is not alone.

Now is the time to consider whether Bergh Apton and villages like it would be better served by joining together their Parish Councils.  There’s no question of removing the road signs and the village boundary would still exist.  It’s just that several parishes would club together to have a single Parish Council serving all of them.   Alpington and Yelverton have had a joint parish council for years.  Perhaps it’s time that Bergh Apton joined-up with neighbours too…

Ideally to get to about 1000 people instead of 300.   We need arrangements that are going to hold good for the NEXT 20 years that address the realisation that it’s difficult to get people to serve and to solve the problem of smaller parishes spending over half of their income on running costs.

South Norfolk is encouraging Parishes to think deeply about their future and want the initiative for any changed arrangement to come from them, a bottom up, not a top down process. Our consultation opens on 20 March and you can have your say by visiting

www.south-norfolk.gov.uk.

Due to the snap general election the consultation period has been extended for the South Norfolk Community Governance review. The deadline has now been moved back to July 12. The links to submit representations are below.

 

The first survey is for residents which will be put on our website

http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/communitygovernancereview1/

 

 

If you have any queries please feel free to contact the team.

 

Kind regards,