Broadmayne Parish Council

Parish Councils provide a tier of local government that is most accessible to the people. Councils are elected by parishioners and have regular meetings to which members of the public are invited. Parishioners attending meetings of Broadmayne Parish Council (usually held in the Church Hall) are given an opportunity during some part of the evening to question councillors or comment about parish affairs; it is rare for there to be no parishioners at a meeting. The current councillors were elected in May 1999 to serve for four years.

Broadmayne’s county councillor, Mr D Crowhurst, and district councillor Mr A Thacker are very welcome regular visitors to the meetings and are supportive of the council. The council sets a precept to be paid by parishioners as part of the tax system each year, to enable the councillors to fulfil their responsibilities in the interest of the village. It liaises with the County and District Councils, Dorset Community Action and other organisations. It is a member of the Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils and of the National Association. Its role encompasses many interests; it advises on planning matters and is concerned with general maintenance of the village. It owns the playing field though, like the Village Hall, it is administered by an elected committee. Due to the generosity of the Misses Cross who lived in the village for many years, it owns the allotments and the doctor’s surgery. Each year the Annual Parish meeting must be held between 1st March and 1st June, chaired by the Parish Council Chairman, to give every parishioner an opportunity to raise any matter of village interest. It has become the habit in Broadmayne to invite representatives of organisations and clubs within the parish, to give a short update of their activities at this meeting. Over thirty reports were given in 1999. The Chairman presents an annual report of the work of the Parish Council; below is a copy of that report, with a copy of the minutes of the May meeting of the Council.

June Salt – August 1999

The Council, from the left: Mrs V Latham, Mr R Noble, Mr K Jarvis, Mr R Firth (the council’s clerk),
Mrs J Salt (Chairman), Mr A Bradshaw (Vice Chairman), Mr F Cross, Mr G Pearce.

 

Report of the work of the Parish Council 1998/9
Personal View of a Parish Councillor            
Minutes of Council Meeting