As I write this note I’ve just watched various video clips of a parish in Cheshire attempting to run a meeting over Zoom with some what can only be described as ‘bawdy’ behaviour. I’ve also just received messages from friends across the county saying am I listening to BBC Radio 4 or BBC News as the same council has been mentioned extensively, as have all of the councillors and Clerk caught up in the sorry affair. Also pouring fuel on the fire a few celebrities on Twitter with huge numbers of followers, having their moment in the sun at the expense of our sector.
Why do I mention this? In this age of social media good news can be spread easily, bad news is often described as going viral and that’s what we have here. It’s everywhere, the online press, social media, national media and that’s before the local newspaper wakes up and runs a headline or two. Does it make our sector look good? No. Does it enhance the reputation of local politics? No. Does it encourage new councillors to serve their community? No.Does it take the shine off some of the excellent work done in our sector? Yes and unfairly in my opinion.
Like many issues it is a minority of situations this occurs in thankfully. Is it something that can be avoided? Yes. There is a Code of Conduct in place and there are rules you all have known as Standing Orders to govern meetings. Understand and use them wisely and remember the Nolan Principles. For one brief moment in the first lockdown we were being kinder and more civil to one another and I sense this feeling has been lost of late. Just ask yourselves – could this be us next week?
Soon we’ll be launching training in support of a revised Code of Conduct – we hope all our members will view these as important and an improvement going forward. Our Executive Committee have endorsed the new code and we will be out to you soon with some communications and training dates. Watch this space, it doesn’t have to be your council in the spotlight….lecture over.
Neil
Please forward this update to elected members so they can also keep up-to-date and have an appreciation of what's happening in the sector.
INFORMATION | GUIDANCE | ADVICE
1. Brand new offer from DAPTC Training - New Councillor Induction Training
Our training team has been busy working on a brand new offer for any new elected / co-opted Councillors. The New Councillor Induction training which starts on 29th March 2021 will now be run each month.
Previously we used to wait for a reasonable number of new councillors before staging a training session. We've changed that approach and will now run monthly training for new councillors. It looks like this over the course of their first 4/6 weeks and is booked by the Clerk:
Councillor attends their first council meeting or committee
Councillor attends online the'What We Do'drop in session with DAPTC that explains how we can support them going forward (this optional and free)
Councillor attends'New Councillor Induction'which offers a chance to ask questions and sense check impressions and understanding from 1, 2 & 3 above. This will be a 90 minute webinar.
We hope the above programme helps clerks and chairs get their new councillors hitting the ground running. The cost per delegate is £35 all three sessions listed above.
2. Dorset Cultural Strategy engagement
DAPTC and the The Arts Development Company hosted an engagement event with parish and town council representatives as part of a series of meetings with key stakeholders in Dorset. Around 40 attended on the evening online. A recording of the event is available to viewhereand also attached to this webpage are the event agenda, draft Cultural Strategy and slides from Sam Rowlands at The Arts Council whom opened proceedings.
3. Neighbourhood Plans in Dorset
We have been receiving an increase in enquiries on the setting up of Neighbourhood Plans. There are a number of parish and town councils who have already created plans. You can view these on the Dorset Council websitehere.
4. Section 137 Expenditure Limit set for 2021/2022
Please note that the appropriate sum for the purpose of section 137(4)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 (the 1972 Act) for parish and town councils in England for 2021-22 is £8.41.
5. Website offer for smaller parishes
DAPTC have teamed up with the technology company Aubergine to enable smaller parish councils in our membership to obtain a very reasonably priced WCAG (Web Content Accessibilty Guidelines) compliant parish council website.
Further information on the offer can be found here.
If your council is interested in signing up to this offer, or hearing more please contact the DAPTC office.
6. The 2021 Census - 21st March 2021
DAPTC will be working with Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council to give some practical tips on how your council can help to engage your communities in the lead up to the Census going live next year.
The person who is taking the lead on the 2021 Census in the Dorset is Philip Eades. Philip can be reached via philip.eades98@field.census.gov.uk
Philip has provided us with a number of resources and links to further information that your council will find useful. These are all shown below:
As well as providing you with this regular E-News, we intend to introduce a quarterly publication which showcases the work being done around the county by our members. Please send into us your news with a view to it being included in the publication.
We would be very happy to receive any photographs (along with your permission to reproduce them) and news articles as soon as you have them. Please send them in to the DAPTC office
February’s edition of the training e-newsletter (link above) was sent on 3rd February.
Details include:
- 18th February - Finding New Parish & Town Councillors (limited spaces left) - Planning & Neighbourhood Planning – new dates released including some evening dates/times - New Councillor Induction – brand new offer; first training on 29 March 2021. Monthly training for newly elected/co-opted councillors - Code of Conduct & Register of Interests - DAPTC are currently writing a new course to roll out in March/April. More news and dates to follow - A printable schedule of courses throughout 2021
- Courses coming up in March including new dates for Neighbourhood Planning training
The CiLCA Portfolio Guide 2021 has been recently updated. Take a look at the guide for more information on how the qualification is now administered and what subjects are included in the qualification.
I
NALC's dedicated Coronavirus webpagenow includes updated information on the possibility of the return of face-to-face meetings, suggestions to help prepare, risk assessment considerations and some tips to help manage remote meetings.
Do you want to keep up with Dorset Council Meetings?
You can access all the Committees and meetings held in public that Dorset Council Adminsters on the Dorset Council Website Committee pages here. On this page you can also access the Dorset Council Constitution that sets out the detail of the governance arrangements, and also the calendar of meetings. Agendas and associated reports are published 5 clear days ahead of each meeting.
You will see on the right hand side an option to “subscribe to updates” as shown below. If you click on “subscribe” you will then be invited to select those Committees that are of interest to your Parish Council.
Alternatively, you may choose to subscribe to the Modern.gov app that you can download from the app store on your device - this is a free app. Once you have the app, you can then subscribe to Dorset, and again, sign up for the Committees that are of interest. The benefits of using the Modern.gov app are that you can make notes for your own reference on the documents, bookmark pages and navigate simply to each report.
Have your say on Dorset Council's Local Plan
Dorset Council's Local Plan consultation began on 18th January 2021 and will last for eight weeks. For information on where you can view the plan and details of how the consultation will take place, please see the attached document.
You can view and comment on the consultation here.
Better Days - Day Opportunities and Support - Survey
Dorset Council Adult Social Care and Services are keen to hear from you if you use the following services:
Get the latest news from Dorset Council, including leisure centre offers, waste and recycling, libraries and more. Sign up to their various newsletters here.
Community Engagement - Website Content & Navigation
We are looking for more volunteers to join our group to help us review the structure of our content and website navigation to ensure it is user-friendly, accessible and easy to understand. Do you think you could help?
To get involved and join the group, please complete our quick survey here.
Latest news from the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
The NHS have now started the COVID-19 Vaccine programme. To find out more about the COVID-19 Vaccine please visit the NHS Vaccine Page.
Through our partnership with Dorset CCG, the communications team have asked that we share the attached social media assets which can be used on your website and social media profiles.
The simple messaging is: The NHS will get in touch when it’s your turn to be vaccinated.
Please use asap for the remainder of December and into January – these are formatted as a poster to print and in other sizes for social media profile images or cover images. They can also be used as standalone images. Help support your community by sharing the message.
