Questions about town and parish councils
Follow Councillor Q&A on X/Twitter

Follow us on X/Twitter

0 votes
My parish council has decided to ignore a petition signed by 30+ parishioners regarding their code of conduct. The parish council have ignored the request for a parish meeting and have even stated that they do not recognize parishioners who live in the village. They have even instructed the venue in the parish that could hold a meeting to block the meeting. Therefore to cover a number of questions what do you think would be a good question to put to a parish poll to bring the council to account. The council have also changed historical minutes, held meetings during lockdown, refused applications to become councillors, verbally abused parishioners in meetings and so on. We have the 10 parishioners required for the poll. but a question to be set needs to be all encompassing. The council are aware of the petition deadlines being set, but they ignore it. Can you help?
by (370 points)

2 Answers

+1 vote
There are a lot of accusations in here.  Do you have elections in May?  If so, that is your opportunity to change things.
by (18.0k points)
+2 votes
I agree with DBW.  If the council is as bad as you suggest then I would not waste your time with a parish poll. Rather, I would pull a team of people together to stand at the next election and put your energies into righting the wrongs that you have mentioned.
by (9.6k points)
I live not to far from you Colin and like you have many issues with how my PC is run.  But as has been said so many times before the only people who  that can really change things are Councillors themselves.  My first issue is do I want to apply again in May as to date I feel that I have been banging my head against a brick wall with many Cllrs not having a clue as to their role and way of working .   Locally there seems a  real apathy about PCs in general and many of the potentially good Councillors don't relish "continual conflict" rather than actually improving village life.  Personally I feel PCs as a model  are generally dysfunctional and the only way it will be sorted is by investing in Councillors themselves
Completely agree with you Scottie

Colinbarker you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink so get people to stand against the old guard
Jules I would however change "drink" to "think"  !!!

Welcome to Town & Parish Councillor Q&A, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of the community. All genuine questions and answers are welcome. Follow us on Twitter to see the latest questions as they are asked - click on the image button above or follow @TownCouncilQA. Posts from new members may be delayed as we are unfortunately obliged to check each one for spam. Spammers will be blacklisted.

You may find the following links useful:

We have a privacy policy and a cookie policy.

Clares Cushions logo Peacock cushion

Clare's Cushions creates beautiful hand made cushions and home accessories from gorgeous comtemporary fabrics. We have a fantastic selection of prints including Sophie Allport and Orla Kiely designs and most covers can be ordered either alone or with a cushion inner. Buying new cushions is an affordable and effective way to update your home interior, they're also a great gift idea. Visit our site now

2,896 questions
5,617 answers
7,949 comments
10,028 users
Google Analytics Alternative