Objectives and Powers
To a large extent until recently, the role of the parish
council has been limited to Planning, Health and Safety, Tree,
Village and Public Space Management and the preparation of
reports from councillors who take part in meetings with local
organisations that the public need to be informed about. The
council also provides the interface between the parishioners and
the District and County Councils. Although these councils and
their Executives don't always agree with the Parish Council,
good relationships are maintained with both organisations
through their councillors. These duties require a largely
reactive role to be played by the Parish Council.
In Planning and Tree Work Applications, the application is
forwarded to the Clerk of the Parish Council and then circulated
round the councillors for their comments to be collected. A
summary of these comments is sent back to the appropriate
deciding body at the District Council where hopefully, they are
taken into consideration.
The council's role in ensuring Health & Safety includes
formal, twice annual inspections of each council member's
allotted patch and reporting back any problems. In addition,
there is an agenda item on H&S at every council meeting, and urgent
issues can be raised between meetings if necessary.
Village and Public Space Maintenance duties include ensuring
the grass is mown, playspace inspections, monitoring for
overhanging hedges, blocked drains, maintenance of council
property (including seats and bus shelters).
Councillors give a number of reports at each Parish Council
meeting. These reports include:
- Duxford Airfield Liaison Committee
- Thriplow Recreation Ground
- Village Hall Management Committee
- School Governors
- Police & Neighbourhood Watch
- Village Maintenance
- District Council Information
- County Council Information
The council also has various insurance policies to maintain,
In order to fund these services, the Parish Council sets a
Precept, which is included in the Council Tax you pay to the
District Council. Thriplow's 2009-10 precept amounted to
£12,000. The amount that each individual household pays is
dependent on the Valuation Banding given to your house, so a big
house will pay more than a smaller one, regardless of how many
people live in the house. The Thriplow Parish Precept for a
typical house (Band D) is currently levied at £24.81. That is
what it would cost the house (and everyone living at that
address) for the Parish Council for this year. There are only 12
parishes in South Cambridgeshire (out of 66) that are lower than
Thriplow, Fowlmere for example is £47.40 and the highest parish
precept in South Cambridgeshire is £103.57. The total Council
Tax levied per Band D house in Thriplow this year is £1,375.22,
which funds the County Council, District Council, Parish Council
and the Police and Fire Services.
There is one area where the council is being particularly
proactive and this concerns the spending of what is called
"Section 106" money, at Heathfield. This money has been given to
the Parish Council by the property developers who extended the
community to be used for infrastructure improvements there. It
does not come from the Parish Precept. After a lengthy round of
consultation, this money in now being targeted towards:
- foul-water drainage system repair
- improvement of storm-water drainage systems and road
resurfacing
- the construction of a footpath/cycleway between the
Heathfield Ward and the Village Ward
- improvement of a wooded area that the developers planted
- improvement of facilities for children's play areas
We trust that these improvements will make significant
differences to our community.
Highways and Footpaths
These are the responsibility of the County Council and the
Highways Agency. We do however report problems and questions to
the appropriate body, and again we have good relationship with
these people, so feel free to contact us if you wish to report a
problem and we will pass your comments on.
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