Recommended Changes to Your Parish Council

Hart District Council (HDC) is conducting a Community Governance Review which provides an opportunity to review and make changes to governance arrangements for town and parish councils.

The first consultation has already been conducted and HDC is currently carrying out a second consultation on proposed changes.

Winchfield Parish Council (WPC) has reflected very carefully on the outcome of the initial HDC consultation and the discussions that have taken place at recent Hart District Association of Parish and Town Council meetings regarding Community Governance. WPC has also considered very carefully the impact that Local Government Reorganisation in Hampshire, whichever option is selected by the Government, will have on the workload of the Council. In particular it is expected that the need for public engagement within the Parish will increase significantly, given the relative remoteness of whichever Unitary Authority option is selected by the Government. In addition, the Parish Council expects that there will be some level of housing development in the parish over the coming five years, most of which will be welcomed, but with it will come additional work for the Council. There is also the need to consider the geographical distribution of the settlements and other small conurbations within the Parish boundary that would be best served by individuals, preferably living in or close to those areas.

WPC notes that the guidance from the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) on the number of councillors for populations up to 900 recommends that the number of Councillors should be 7. The WPC establishment is currently 5. Given the changes that are expected to occur in the next five years in terms of the establishment of Unitary Authorities, housing and population growth, and the additional work likely to be delegated to Parish Councils in the absence of local District Councils, WPC has requested that the establishment for Winchfield Parish Council should be increased from 5 to 7 councillors.