What does the Parish Council do?
The parish council meets regularly to discuss issues of interest to the parish. It has powers relating to planning, provision of recreational facilities, halls, crime prevention, community transport, public toilets, tourism, allotments, footpaths and commons.
We are a team of ten elected members of the Parish. The Council meets at 7pm on the fourth Tuesday of each month when possible, usually in the Village Hall. At the beginning of each meeting villagers can ask questions and put forward ideas. The meeting itself is open to the public but the public has no right to speak (although heckling is permitted). The agenda is posted on the Parish Council notice board in the Library window a few days before each meeting.
Every May we elect the chairman or woman and the vice-chair and then decide on which of the committees each councillor wishes to serve. These are Village Hall, Sports Field and Pavilion, Field 84 Riverside and Footpaths, Youth Support, Allotments, Finance, Planning and Highways, and Police Liaison. We have representatives on the Infant and Junior Schools Governor Groups, the Millennium Trust, Ainstey Parishes Working Group and York Local Councils Association. Each councillor usually sits on two of the committees. See the Sub-Committees page for who is on which committee at the moment.
What are our responsibilities?
We are a village government and the closest form of government to you the people who live in the village. We undertake to manage the village in the way the Local Government Act has laid down. Each year we have to set the Precept, which means deciding the amount of money needed to carry out the improvements from which the village will benefit. It's collected from you as part of the council tax.
Read on for a more in-depth piece on Parish Councils in general...
