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COUNCILLORS' NETWORKING EVENT |In the next week or so we will publish details of our next in person event at Kingston Maurward. This takes place on 9 March 2023 from 10am. Registration will open in January and I am pleased to say that Cllr. Spencer Flower (Leader of Dorset Council) will open proceedings followed by a Q&A. We are currently pulling together other key sessions which will hopefully make for an informative and beneficial event. Also in attendance will be the Chair of NALC, Cllr. Keith Stevens and Justin Griggs. We will be looking to make sure you all get a chance to have a catch up and exchange of views with some folk you might not have seen for some time.
JOHN BROOM (LYME REGIS TOWN COUNCIL) |We were advised earlier this week of the sad death of Cllr. John Broom who was a formerMayor of Lyme Regis and long time supporter of DAPTC. Our thoughts are very much with John's family, friends and colleagues at Lyme Regis Town Council. Tributes to Cllr. John Broom
STANDARDS IN PUBLIC LIFE / EMPLOYEE RELATIONS | We have some new training courses never delivered before to help support councils in parts of council life that are difficult to deal with and often ignored. The course dates and further information are on our dedicated webpage for STANDARDS IN PUBLIC LIFE. Amongst the courses in the early part of 2023 are:
If you are a Chair / Clerk currently at a council with some challenging working relationships or awkward discussions to have with an employee - you need to get on to these courses. These are timed as many of you will be doing appraisals towards Spring at the conclusion of the year and are ideal preparation. I will be writing to Chairs of councils on this topic to ensure it's on council radars. These courses build essential knowledge for those responsible for employee appraisals and also if you are an employee and want to understand how the processes should work. The trainer and adviser in these sessions is Chris Moses LLM Chartered FCIPD.
WORKING TOGETHER WEBINARS |We will be publishing dates/times up to 31 March 2023 in the coming weeks:
7 February 4pm | Dorset Council 20 mph policy - REGISTER NOW
23 February 4pm | Digital Inclusion - REGISTER NOW
Climate, Ecology and Environment (To be confirmed)
Electric Vehicle Charging Points (To be confirmed)
Armed Forces Covenant (To be confirmed)
The first three months look busy and all these are free to attend and online for ease of participation. We will email direct the information and joining instructions as soon as they become available.
COUNTRY WATCH WEBSITE LAUNCHED | DAPTC sit on the Police & Crime Commissioner's Rural Crime Reduction Board for member councils. We are pleased to announce a new website that has been developed through the inputs to this important forum. You can see the resources and information on the following link:Country watch Dorset
Finally - January is the last chance to meet as council and set your precepts! Please follow the guidelines issued by Dorset and BCP Councils.
** NEW ** 1. Example of Parish Council local resilience planning during paramedic strikes for winter 22/23
Cllr Andrew Davis, the Chair of Fontmell Magna Parish Council has sent over to us their resilience plan for the paramedic strikes this winter that has been created by Fontmell Magna residents and the Parish Council. Your own council may find it useful to look at and perhaps use as a good example to help create your own plan.
** NEW ** 2. Fresh funds for village halls
The new Platinum Jubilee Village Hall Fund is now open to applications and can be accessed on the ACRE website here. The fund is open to groups responsible for their village hall within parishes of a population of less than 10,000. Groups can apply for a capital cost grant between £7500 - £75,000 (20% of overall project cost). Stage one of the fund is open from today for one month until 20th January 2023. It will then close for one month and re-open again on 20th February for further stage one applications. Further enquiries: villagehallsfund@acre.org.uk
NALC has recently updated its materials for local (parish and town) councils making proposals under the Sustanable Communities Act. You can find out more about what NALC are up to on their webpage here and also through their webpage hereand also through their Sustainable Communities Act Toolkit.
** NEW ** 4. This Utility Aid blog may be able to help your council reduce energy consumption
In light of the energy and cost-of-living crisis, this NALC Utility Aid blogoutlines steps to reduce enerby consumption, become greener and save money.
NALC have a large number of publications available to all its' members, and as a member of DAPTC your council is also a member of NALC.
Over the coming few weeks we will highlight some of these publications, all of which are available on the NALC website. If you as Clerk, or councillor, don't know the user id and password to the Members Area on the NALC website, please get in touch with the DAPTC office.
