What future?

Question

I am of the opinion that the future of Parish Councils is very uncertain and becoming more so as time goes by. We live in increasingly regulated times and making measured and accurate decisions is giving way to knee jerk and quasi populist control at the top of government which will no doubt filter down to what should be the purest and most in touch level of democracy we have. Free from party political influence which increases the higher you go up that tree.

There are more and more "institutions" that would love to see their ideals and forms of control imposed on us and no doubt are working hard towards ensuring that their assessment of how we should operate are adhered to.

If you are happy to become just a tiny insignificant cog in a vast bureaucratic control wheel then continue with such self centred disunity and unprofessionalism noted in many of these pages.

OR we can get our own house in order, do what we were elected to do and represent not ourselves but the interests and wishes of those who elected us to facilitate those needs of our communities. We must show that there is no place at grass roots for self interest. Are we not the purest example of democracy we have?

" The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke 1729-1797

Answer 1

Ironically, Parish Councils have as secure a future as anyone, given there is no organisation that can impose any form of sanction on them for acting unlawfully. With  no limits on how much they can precept themselves, and no control on how they spend it, the future seems as secure as ever. The only conceivable threat might be an elector led campaign for a governance review.

Answer 2

Interesting that you raise this Mentorman.
Over the summer I have been attending webinars as part of Neighbourhood Watch.
NW is 40yrs old in 2022 and during this time it has changed considerably following significant investment in 2019.
By 2023 NW is to be ' the voice of the community' as one of their key performance indicators.
As a vigilante group (their words) it will champion traffic, litter, ASB and to collaborate with other organisations.
Coordinators are encouraged to step up undertake visual audits of their areas amongst other things.

 Feedback from older established coordinators was one of "too much" and "how can I do this".
I felt a lot of NW related to what a  well run parish council would do working with their Community. Only time will tell...

Has anyone else heard about the modern NW scheme?

Comments

Mentorman I normally agree with you but not in this case
No one is bothered from Government level to the residents and with unitary authorities increasing the first tier will presumably receive even more money
Parish Councils are now almost completely unregulated and there’s no sign of that changing there are some really good ones and a lot of really bad ones
A lot of useful local bodies in my area refuse to have anything to do with Parish Councils