Woodford Northamptonshire

Woodford Parish Council

Frequently used pages

Finance

Minutes

Planning Applications

This page provides information relating to the Parish Council.

Councillors

Woodford Parish Council comprises thirteen councillors serving a term of up to four years. Any casual vacancies arising within the four years are filled by either election or co-option, but all terms automatically cease at the following election. The next election is due to take place on 1 May 2025.

Click for details of current councillors.

A Chairman is elected each year and in accordance with legislation a council is not properly constituted without such an appointed person. The position of vice chair is not a legislative requirement but if a councillor is appointed to the role it does enable meetings to progress smootly in the absence of the Chairman. Within Parish Council legislation there is no automatic promotion of Vice Chair to Chair at the beginning of the Council year as in Primary Authorities.

Parish Clerk

Administration for the Council is provided by the Clerk, who is also the Responsible Finance Officer. Responsibilities include being primary contact point for council, ensuring the council operates within the confines of relevant legislation, answering correspondence on behalf of the council, keeping minutes of meetings, keeping financial records and generating annual return, and updating the Council's website.

The role presently averages seven hours a week

The present Clerk has been in post since 1998 and prior to that worked in Local Government finance / administration followed by school administration.

Contact

clerk@woodfordpc.co.uk    Office hours are Monday and Tuesday mornings although emails and phone messages are checked daily.

Meetings

The Council's Standing Orders require a meeting to be held on the third Tuesday of each month at 7.30pm. Meetings are presently held in a room at the Baptist Church, Rose Terrace, Woodford. See timetable

Attending a meeting

Members of the press and public are welcome to attend any meeting (although may be excluded from certain agenda items), and an item is included within the agenda for attendees to make a statement or ask questions. The meeting is effectively suspended for this agenda item, although a synopsis of the comments raised will be noted.

Please be aware that the Council is under no obligation to respond immediately to any points raised, and it may be necessary for the subject to be raised as an agenda item and discussed at the following meeting.
If more than one member of the public is making the same representation then they should elect a spokesperson.

Members of the public are not permitted to participate in debate during any other part of the meeting.

Protocol for attending Parish Council Meetings

Agenda

This is the latest Council agenda.

Under the Local Government Act 1972 all Parish Councillors are summoned to the Council meeting and must be provided with an agenda. The agenda should detail the business to be discussed. Unlike principal councils there is no right to add items once the agenda has been published. Decisions can only be made on items contained wihtin the agenda.

Minutes

Minutes of recent Council meetings, Once approved can be viewed on this page.
Minutes of other meetings can be obtained from the Clerk.

Council Responsibilities

Parish Councils along with Parish Meetings are the lowest tier of Local Government and as such are required to act within the Laws and Regulations laid by Parliament. There are significant restrictions on what a Council can or cannot do and what it can and cannot spend money upon. Depending upon the attributes of a Parish there the following duties can vary significantly, however, within the village of Woodford, the Parish Council is responsible for the following:

 

The Parish Council also nominates Trustees to the Woodford General Charity and The Woodford General Charity (Temperance Hall) and a councillor is nominated to the Police Joint Action Group (JAG) which is a local committee of Parish Representatives who meet quarterly to discuss local crime trends and set priorities for the local Safer Community Team of Police Officers.

Council Finances

Parish Council Finances are audited by an auditor appointed each year by the Council (known as an Internal Auditor) and an Annual Return is made to the Government appointed External Auditor each year. More information can be found on the Finance page.

Council Funding

Parish Council's primary funding source is through the Council Tax, and Woodford Parish Council raises a "Precept" each year which is collected by East Northamptonshire Council as part of the Council Tax and is paid to the Council in two installments, in April and September. The Precept is calculated as the final part of the budget calculation which is normally set at the December meeting preeceding the start of the financial year.

Councils can also borrow funds from specified sources and also apply for grants to supplement their income.

More details about the Council Tax in Woodford can be found on the Council Tax page

Code of Conduct

All Parish Councillors, when accepting the position of Councillor agree to adhere to the Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct adopted by Woodford Parish Council is similar to that used by most Parish Councils in North Northamptonshire.

Freedom of Information

The Council is obliged to make certain information available under the Freedom of Information Act and a link to the Publication Scheme can be found here.

General Data Protection Regulations

The GDPR when introduced changed the way data is held. The Data Protection Policy gives an overall view including the type of information we collect and hold, and the reasons, the Data Retention Policy lists how long we will hold the information for and the Data Privacy Notice gives details of how we will handle and use the information we collect.

Transparency Code

With effect of April 2015 a new Transparency Code became law giving all Councils with a turnover of less that £25,000 to opt out of formal auditing but to become more accountable to the local electorate. More details

Social Media

The Council adopted a Facebook policy in July 2022 the council's Facebook page. The purpose of the page will be that of an online noticeboard and a conduit for general enquiries, specific enquiries must be emailed to the clerk@woodfordpc.co.uk