West Dorset District Council

I have lived in Dorset for all but a few months of my life, have been a resident of West Knighton for the past seventeen years and prior to that lived fourteen years in Broadmayne. I therefore feel that I am justified in considering this area as my home and, although I have been fortunate enough to travel fairly extensively with my work and on various holidays, I have seen no other place that I wish to make my home, on a permanent basis. My first venture into the basic levels of local government was not particularly by design. Approximately twelve years ago, my immediate neighbour in West Knighton, a parish councillor for many years, accepted a job away from the area and suggested that I might be interested in taking his place on Knightsford Parish Council. I was co-opted and became a parish councillor only to discover that the post of Chairman of the Parish Meeting also seemed to come along with the job.

A few years later, I was approached by a few local residents who thought that I should give some serious consideration to putting my name forward for district councillor. I agreed to this and enjoyed the canvassing prior to election day. This is certainly an interesting way of discovering areas and properties within the local area that one does not normally see. However, I was not successful at this attempt but a year later the victorious candidate gave up the post due to pressures of work and I was co-opted as district councillor for the Broadmayne Ward. I have been the district councillor since then having been returned unopposed for the following election and successful in the election held earlier this year(1999).

One of the tasks of a district councillor is to attend the meetings of the other parishes within the Ward, which for me includes Broadmayne, Knightsford (which I attend as a parish councillor, recently elected Chairman) and Winterbourne Farringdon. I also attend meetings at Crossways as the Minor Authorities (now renamed as additional co-opted) Governor. These parish councils undertake their business in slightly different ways but the common theme is that as volunteers the elected councillors do their best for the communities they represent. The exact areas of responsibility of the three tiers of our local government, the parish (and town), district and county councils remain obscure to the majority of the general public. Many of the West Dorset District councillors are also parish councillors and some are county councillors as well.

On a personal level, I find that posts of parish and district councillor are very compatible and being a member of the former is beneficial to the latter. Attending the meetings of the other parish councils is an excellent way of keeping in touch with things that are happening locally and, although each village tends to have and perhaps jealously guard an individual identity, (and long may that continue) we all make up a community in the slightly wider sense and should support each other. The District Council has responsibility for administering many of the things that affect our day-to-day lives. It is the Planning Authority for West Dorset and this very sensitive subject has the ability to engender a much greater reaction in individuals and in groups than possibly any other. Buying a home is said to be one of the most stressful things in our lives, and therefore anything that threatens to bring change, usually seen as change for the worse, is bound to evoke a fairly strong reaction. The Environmental Committee (I am a member of this committee) which now embraces the Planning Committee, has responsibilities for all aspects of waste management which includes the collection of rubbish from our homes, the removal of bulky household items, and the very important and now mandatory waste re-cycling. This is of vital importance in the protection of our environment and the targets for the percentage of waste re-cycled will increase over the next few years. In protecting our environment in the wider term, we in West Dorset, have a responsibility for the management of a large stretch of coastline and this along with sewage and flooding problems comes under the auspices of the Engineering Department within the WDDC. The organisation of the District Council changed after the elections this year and now there are three main committees, the Environmental (some of its duties outlined above), Community Development and Policy and Resources. The second of these, Community Development, along with other tasks, has responsibility for Leisure and Tourism which is very important in terms of employment and sustainability in our area. The management of the various Leisure Centres within West Dorset is partly the responsibility of this Committee. The Policy and Resources Committee, as the title might suggest, has the role of formulating the general policies of the council, the services provided and, very relevant to all of us, the level of expenditure of the council which ultimately is seen by us as part of the council tax. There are many other areas of work within all of the above committees and many other sub-committees and working groups within the council but a full breakdown and description of their work and involvement would be inappropriate in this short note.

Within the next months and years, the services provided by the District Council, and other public bodies, will all come under scrutiny under the terms of ‘Best Value’ which is a government initiative to question and improve the services carried out. For this to be a success there will need to be consultation at the basic level of our democracy – the individual; this will primarily be done through the parish meetings and parish and town councils. It is therefore important for the community to support its parish meeting and parish council and use this as a voice to express their satisfaction or otherwise with the local services they receive. The District Council is an important provider within our current system and has dedicated staff and dedicated elected members who endeavour to do their best for their local communities. I am pleased to be part of West Dorset District Council and hope to continue to represent the local community, both at parish and district level, for some time to come.

Alan Thacker – November 1999