CENTRAL BEDS PLANS TO DRASTICALLY REDUCE PARISH COUNCILLOR NUMBERS
PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR PARISH COUNCILS
Central Beds Council is consulting on reducing the size of our Parish Council as well as those of Clifton, Henlow, Langford and Stondon as part of its 2025 ‘Community Governance Review’. None of the Parishes have requested these changes.
The revue has classed Northill as only a ‘small’ parish and as a result are recommending a drastic cut from the current 12 to just 7 councillors, effectively almost doubling the workload for the remaining voluntary, and unpaid, positions.
Why does this matter? Cllr John Baker who led the Community Governance review at Central Beds says reducing the size of Parish Councils will help to make parish council elections more likely.
A strong democratic process is of course to be welcomed but should not be the main reason for deciding the size of a Parish Council and should not be an end in itself. The desire to stimulate an election should be balanced against the significant workloads these parishes carry.
All our Parish Councillors are volunteers and with the support of a paid clerk, carry out the Parish Council duties themselves. Sometimes you need a generous pool of people so that overall there is the capacity to run an effective Parish Council.
For all 5 Parish Councils the main concern is to be able to populate and share the workload. Bedfordshire is an area of exceptional growth especially with regard to new housing. A reduction in Parish Councillors seems perverse at a time when the work loads in all 5 parishes is increasing.
Parish Councillors work hard for our community and we’d ask you to support them and object to the proposals in the Community Governance Review Stage 2.
The link is below
CLOSING DATE MONDAY 26th JANUARY
https://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/…/community…/2
Of course, if enough people choose to stand when there are local elections in 2027, there will be elections and not just a co-option process.
Rob Smith. Chair, Northill Parish Council