RURAL NEWS!

"Save Parish Councils!" Campaign
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Dear All,

As a Parish Councillor in my village in Rural Cambridgeshire for more years than I care to remember, I am writing to as many other Parish Councils and interested parties as I can, seeking support for the Petition I have placed on the No. 10 Downing Street Website concerning the ever increasing mountain of bureaucracy that now threatens to engulf us.

When I originally became a Parish Councillor, the meetings were very relaxed and free of most ‘red-tape’ and bureaucratic nonsense and we spent our time discussing and arranging truly local matters. Of course we had to account for the Finances, as we were handling public money, but not to the same ludicrous extent that we now have to, particularly considering the relatively small amount of money involved (Our Parish’s Annual Budget is about £10,000).

It seems to me that it is very unfair to expect us, as unpaid volunteers, to have to deal with all this volume of bureaucracy and paperwork, which I believe is roughly the same as that for the much larger Town and District Councils, who can at least employ specialists to deal with it.

I, for one, am finding it more and more difficult to come to terms with and it is certainly making me re-consider whether I wish to give up my time freely to mainly deal with all this unnecessary, boring and time-consuming paperwork, rather than trying to help my local community. I also feel that, for similar reasons, it is contributing to the difficulties that are being encountered by many Parish Councils, including my own, in recruiting Parish Clerks.

Hence the reason for the Petition - to see whether we might get some relaxation in the number and complexity of the rules and regulations that small Parish Councils have to deal with, so that they may concentrate on what they do best - that is look after very local matters of interest to their Parishioners. If this does not happen, then I think many Parish Councils, particularly the smaller ones, may well disappear and that many of us will end up having to pay more Rates to employ Town and District Councils to carry out the same services, but not with the same local knowledge or sensibilities.

So I would ask as many of you as possible, to support this Petition, which can be found on the No. 10 Downing Street Website at:-

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SaveCouncils/

and should be very pleased if you would sign up to it by following the very simple instructions that are given there. If you can also get your parish councillors, family, friends, work colleagues or anyone else to do so as well, all the better.

Thanking you in anticipation of your support.

Allan Parsons