Town and Village Management Committees

Posted by Admin on 27 June 2007, 12:00 am

Dear Clerk,

Town and Village Management Committees – April 2008

I am writing to advise all existing Town and Village Management Committees on the Isle of Wight of the likely process which will ensue following the creation of new Parish Councils in your area, which we hope will take place on 1^st April 2008.

Once the new Parish Councils are created then the relevant Town or Village Management Committee will cease to exist; technically this will occur at midnight on the 31^st March 2008 as per your constitution, provided that the Creation Orders for the new Parishes have been made by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Electoral Commission.

This of course has a number of implications for the Town and Village Management Committees, and these are detailed below:

The Isle of Wight Council will set the precept for the first year of the Parish Council ,as these do not actually exist until after the Council tax has been set, which takes place in February. In the past we have done this by using our judgement of what a Parish Council will have to spend in year one (Clerk, insurance, paper etc) and then doubling it so that there is something of a "working balance" for the new Parish Council. As we now have the benefit of the T/VMC’s working in local areas the Isle of Wight Council will discuss projected precepts with you and will rely a lot on your help in setting something that is realistic and will meet anticipated needs. Of course we must remember that the Parish Councils will be their own completely separate legal entity and neither the T/VMC’s, nor the Isle of Wight Council, can determine what they will choose to spend the precept on.

All of the money raised from the precept will go to the Parish Council. The current "special expenses" (the third / two thirds split) will cease to exist, and will therefore not be levied by the Isle of Wight Council, as soon as the Parish Council comes into existence. This is, in effect, a completely different funding regime, but is exactly the same as all existing Parish Councils.

As the Parish Councils will come into existence on 1^st April, and the first elections are in May, this does mean that for six weeks (being realistic about getting the new members together etc) the Parish Council will exist, with the money, but no members, so the whole process stops until the members are in office and able to operate. Town and Village Management Committees must ensure that all of their commitments and funding ceases at the end of March 2008 .

This means that your budget should be fully spent by the end of March 2008, as any surplus funds will be retained by the Isle of Wight Council. As we move from one body to another (and the new Parishes technically will not have any members until May) we cannot simply pass things onto the new Parish Councils – they could choose not to accept them. So in effect there may well be an unavoidable hiatus.

Finally, under the legislation the Isle of Wight Council has to Clerk the new Parish Councils until they appoint their own clerk. As we are hoping to have either 4 or 5 new Parishes in 2008 then we will be approaching existing clerks to the Management Committees to see if they are interested in Clerking the new Parishes on an interim basis until such a permanent appointment is made.

I trust the foregoing is self-explanatory, and that all Management Committees are aware of the sequence of events which will take place early next year. It is important that the Management Committees do not enter into any agreements or projects which will commit them either financially or in terms of physical resources beyond March 2008.

If you do have any questions or comments then I will do my utmost to assist you.

Yours sincerely,

Clive Joynes

Elections and Land Charges Manager