Local Information
About Parish Council
Information About Parish Council
Welford Parish Council
The Parish of Welford has 417 parishioners whose names are on the Register of Electors. There are currently 212 properties in the parish. Every four years there is the opportunity to elect the members of the Council. There are six seats on the Council. The Chairman and Vice Chairman are elected by the Councillors each year.
What’s the role of a Parish Council?
A Parish Council is a civil local authority found in England and is the lowest, or first tier of local government. They are elected corporate bodies, have variable tax raising powers and are responsible for areas known as civil parishes. Their activities fall into three main categories:
1. Representing the local community
2. Delivering services to meet local needs
3. Improving quality of life and community well being.
Parish Councils have the power to precept (tax) their residents to support their operations and to carry out local projects. Local councils can provide and maintain a variety of important and visible local services including bridleways, burial grounds, bus shelters, car parks, commons and open spaces, community transport schemes, community safety and crime reduction measures, events and festivals, footpaths, leisure and sports facilities, litter bins, planning, street cleaning and lighting, tourism activities, traffic calming measures, village greens and youth projects.
Our Meetings
The Parish Council meets every two months in the Wickham Village Hall at 7:30pm
Dates of our 2025/26 meetings are:
Wednesday 25th June 2025
Wednesday 3rd September 2025
Wednesday 12th November 2025
Wednesday January 7th 2026
Wednesday March 4th 2026
Please note the meeting on Wednesday May 6th 2026 has changed to Wednesday 13th May 2026.
Wednesday May 20th 2026.Parishioners may attend Parish Council meetings to raise issues during the open session.
At the Annual Parish Meeting the Chairman reviews the activities of the previous year and parishioners are able to discuss any issues that concern them.
What’s the role of a Parish Clerk?
The Clerk to the Council is the Proper Officer of the Council and as such is under a statutory duty to carry out all the functions, and in particular to serve or issue all the notifications required by law of a local council’s Proper Officer. The Clerk will be responsible for ensuring that the instructions of the Council, in connection with its function as a local council, are carried out.
The Clerk is expected to advise the Council on, and assist in the formation of, overall policies to be followed in respect of the council’s activities and in particular to produce all the information required for making effective decisions and to constructively implement all decisions. The Clerk is accountable to the Council for the effective management of all its resources and will report to it as and when required. The Clerk will be the Responsible Financial Officer and is responsible for all financial records of the Council and the careful administration of its finances.
Your role
Our Parish Plan
This Parish Plan has been created in response to a Government initiative designed to give local communities more control over the future of their neighbourhood. Following extensive consultation, it records the views of the people living in the parish, concerning their present environment but more importantly, it identifies issues that need to be addressed for the future. The aim is to form an action plan which will address these issues over the next few years. This will provide a means of influencing decisions on planning and community strategies made both at Parish Council level and District Council level. You can read the full report by downloading the adjacent file.