New members join the Smaller Councils Committee

New members joined the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) Smaller Councils Committee at a meeting on 18 July 2023.

The committee welcomed Cllr Marcus Allen (Herefordshire), Cllr Allan Blakemore (County Durham), Cllr David Francis (Northumberland), Cllr Sarah Jackson (Dorset), and Cllr Mark Valladares (Suffolk) as new members. Cllr Valladares was also elected as committee vice-chair.

At the meeting, councillors agreed to work closely with NALC to encourage greater participation from smaller councils in the upcoming committee elections. They also supported plans to set up a new network for the smallest local councils with a precept not exceeding £10,000.

The committee also urged county associations to share information about the number of local (parish and town) councils that have declared a climate emergency, what they've done to tackle climate change locally, and examples of how they have partnered with principal authorities to tackle climate change. Please get in touch with NALC at  to share ideas.

The committee agreed for NALC's partner WorkNest to engage with the committee further on updates to NALC's HR templates. There were also updates on the Joint Panel on Accountability and Governance (JPAG) and reminded to complete the online form to provide feedback on the Practitioners' Guide and to sign the Civility and Respect Pledge.