The vital role of parish and town councils in the upcoming local government reorganisation was highlighted at two recent events.
Suffolk County Association hosted a Zoom session (now available to view here) which focused on how Chippenham Town Council prepared for devolution of services from a unitary authority, and the benefits their community enjoyed as a result.
Here at DALC, we welcomed NALC’s head of policy Justin Griggs to our monthly Forum meeting (his slides are available here) to discuss the national picture and how it may impact us.
Key takeaways from the sessions were:
· Our sector’s voice must be heard in to ensure services continue to be provided at local level. NALC is lobbying nationally for this and we need to do so locally
· The agenda is moving quickly (recommendations for the structure in Derbyshire will be put forward to government this month)
· Guidance and support is needed re: taking on assets from principal authorities
· Unparished areas need to parished to ensure no loss of services in future
· ‘Very unlikely’ that the Derbyshire county boundary will change
On March 5th, DCC will hold its parish liaison forum at County Offices in Matlock, where proposals for Derbyshire reorganisation will be outlined. We understand that districts and boroughs may also be giving briefings this month.
The DALC Board of Directors have a workshop on 18th March to identify the role that DALC will take to promote and support the sector in Derbyshire through these changes.