The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has demanded that Government’s devolution plans must include communities, neighbourhoods and parishes through the publication of its Devo Local paper.

DCLG has recently published a short, informative paper promoting the involvement of parish councils in Devolution Deals.

The NALC Sustainable Communities Board met on 11 September and Cllr Derek Liddell was re-elected as Board Chairman for 2015-16. The Board agreed to re-submit the Burton on the Wolds (Leics.) Parish Council proposal to DCLG on asking for non-councillors to have voting rights on Neighbourhood Planning Committees (as they currently do for tourism, land, festival and harbour management committees) – under the Parish and Community Councils (Committees) Regulations, 1990.

We need stronger and more robust local community media to scrutinise local councils. If this does not happen then local democracy will be weaker for it.

The National Rural Crime Network (NRCN) has received Home Office funding to undertake a rural crime and policing survey. The online survey will run for about five weeks and it is hoped that the findings will help shape and inform more on:

From the very beginning stages of the Our Place programme, also known as the Neighbourhood Community Budget pilot, the parish sector has been involved in this new approach to bringing the community together to join up public service delivery.