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Councillors and Parish Clerk
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High Standards of Service in Suffolk Three new local councils (town and parish councils) have joined the ranks of those Suffolk councils who have been recognised as Quality Councils. This comes at a significant time for local councils which anticipate taking on more power and functions to support their communities under proposed changes in local government proposed by the Boundary Committee. The 14 Quality Councils in Suffolk will be expecting to receive recognition in any emerging unitary structure where they will be an important centre for local decision-making and anticipate being central to discussions on how future unitary arrangements will work. The Quality Parish Council Award is proof of the hard work and commitment by members and staff to a standard of excellence in public service. The three new Quality Councils are Kessingland, Needham Market and Melton. Shona Bendix, Chief Executive of Suffolk Association of Local Councils, attended the first presentation evening with Kessingland Parish Council on 23 July and presented the Council with their Quality Status certificate. She said: Kessingland Parish Council has a lot to be proud of. Not only has the Council received appropriate recognition but it has also set itself up well for taking up a bigger role in any future new unitary arrangements. Most notably, Kessingland Parish Council is also leading the way by being the first local council In Waveney to achieve this status. Cllr Liam Martin, Chairman of Kessingland Parish Council was delighted to receive the award and said: For Kessingland Parish Council to achieve Quality Parish Status has been the result of a tremendous amount of hard work over the past 3/4 years. All members of the Parish Council have worked consistently to achieve a this standard of excellence in public service but none of this would have counted if it had not been for the fact that the Parish Clerk, Mrs Lesley Beevor, worked extremely hard to gain the necessary qualifications as a clerk, so that we could eventually apply for QPS. We are proud to be the first Council in Waveney to achieve this status, which goes to show that Kessingland Parish Council is a forward thinking proactive Council. Personally I would like to sincerely thank my Parish Clerk, my existing Councillors and past Councillors who have made this possibleI
The Quality Parish and Town Council scheme was launched in June 2003, following the publication of the Governments Rural White Paper 2000. The scheme is designed to provide benchmark minimum standards for parish and town councils, and enable them to better represent the communities they serve. The scheme also aims to enhance relationships between local councils, principal authorities and community and voluntary sector organizations. In order to achieve Quality Status, parish and town councils must demonstrate that they have reached the standard required by passing several tests on electoral mandate, qualifications of the clerk, council meetings, communications, annual reports and Code of Conduct. The test exceed the statutory duties of parish and town councils and represent the standards that an efficient, well ru n parish council should achieve Quality Councils: - Are able to demonstrate that they have met benchmark standards to their residents
- Should be recognized by other tiers of district and county councils for devolution of services.
- Can evidence their standard of service to bodies allocating grants
- Can take advantage of statutory powers allocated to Quality Councils.
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