By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
There are fears some Gloucestershire parish councils will not be able to cope with extra responsibilities as result of local government reorganisation.
Plans are afoot to abolish the district tier of local councils and create one or more unitary authorities in the county.
Gloucestershire is currently a two-tier area where local government responsibilities are split between the County Council and district councils such as the Forest of Dean.
There are also parish councils which are the closest tier of government to residents.
Parish councils are responsible for representing residents’ concerns, addressing local issues, and managing services like community buildings and open spaces.
However, there are grave concerns about how some across the county will cope if they are forced to take on extra assets and responsibilities.
Councillor Dave Wheeler (G, Newland and Sling) told the Forest of Dean District Council meeting on March 20 that it was one of the most important issues which will be impacted by the reorganisation of local government.
He believes some parishes will struggle to cope and may be forced to amalgamate with others which “takes away the whole point of being a very local council”.
“I’ve attended the parish councils I represent,” he said.
“And it is going to affect those three parish councils in a completely different way. West Dean will probably cope.
“At Newland, which is a medium sized one, the clerk is very concerned while Staunton Coleford Parish Council are going ‘well what the hell are we supposed to do?”
He said that one particular parish council only has five members and a “very part-time clerk” and they are not sure how they will be able to take on more powers and responsibilities.
“The Government has totally failed to understand the variety of strengths and abilities of parish councils when they’ve apparently said powers and responsibilities will be devolved down,” he added.
“I’ve heard a suggestion there may be potentially enforced amalgamation of parish councils which takes away the whole point of the very local parish council. I have absolutely no doubt.
“I joined the district council four years after it was created in 1983. I have no doubt the urban and rural district councils of West Dean, East Dean, Newent and Lydney felt exactly the same when they were forced into the district authority called the Forest of Dean.”
Newent Councillor Gill Moseley (LD, Newent and Taynton) criticised the lack of information from the Government regarding how devolution the changes will impact parish councils.
“There’s a complete vacuum of information from the white paper about how town and parish councils are going to be wired up and step into the gap of abolition of councils like ours,” she said.
“There are things like community support, assets… we have got to carefully decide what happens to them.”
And Cllr Gillian Kilmurray (LD, Dymock) said there was no acknowledgement from the Government that some parish councils are already failing.
She said some district councillors have been co-opted to parish council to bolster the numbers.
The meeting heard how there have been discussions between the Forest of Dean District Council with some parish councils over local government reorganisation.
Chairman Di Martin (L, Cinderford East) said they are expecting more announcements from the Government on towns and parish councils.
“I am aware that the Gloucestershire Association of Parish and Town Councils has been doing quite a lot of work in consultation with the smaller parish councils and town councils.
“We do need a better understanding of their roles.”