January 2022

18 Buckden Roundabout January 2022 The Parish Council & BLG The Parish Council—Part 12 I hope that residents have enjoyed the opportunity to read about the Council ’ s activities over the last 127 years. All that I have written is available in the Council minutes which are kept by the Clerk and in public records office. As I review what I have written it is interesting to note how very little has changed. The amount and speed of traffic and problems associ- ated with the A1 have always been high on the agenda. Rights of Way and trees have also been regular issues as have the concerns about the building of too many new houses in the village and ensuring the preservation of the conservation area. Since the end of WW2 there have been complaints about the lack of public transport and since the mid - 1990s the issue of flooding has often been foremost in councillors ’ minds. The Parish Council is the closest tier of local government to residents. Buckden Parish Council has 15 elected councillors who serve a four - year term. All are unpaid but may receive expenses. The council is apolitical and members do not, usual- ly, declare any political allegiance. The only salaried staff are the clerk and the handymen. The clerk is the Proper Officer and Responsible Financial Officer of the Council and is under statu- tory duty to carry out all legal functions of the Council. Council meetings are held in public each month and members of the public have the opportunity to speak at the start of every meeting. The District and County Councillors attend most meetings and it is important that the council has a good work- ing relationship with them. Regular readers may remember that in August I explained how the Council used one committee and numerous working and advisory groups to make recom- mendations to full council. Most towns have their mayors but parish councils have Chair- men the difference is historical because both have exactly the same responsibilities. Obviously, the importance of these will depend on the size of the settlement and on its annual budget. Buckden ’ s annual budget is set, in agreement with the District Council, in January. The precept to meet this is recovered through the annual Council Tax. The Council has limited pow- ers concerning planning matters and can only make recom- mendations. It does, however have overriding responsibilities for the cemetery, the closed church yard around the parish church, bus shelters, war memorials, some street lighting, street cleaning and litter, allotments, some trees and a limited responsibility for Rights of Way. It can, if it wishes, promote tourism and encourage local arts and crafts. Each year it makes donations to charities and activities which are centred in the village. In addition it acts as a major voice for village concerns through its membership of other bodies (I have already men- tioned the A1 Safety Advisory Group) and its ability to speak directly to the District and County Councils, the Highways Au- thority, the mayor and our local MP. A major responsibility for most Parish Councils is the provision of a village hall with associated sports fields and children ’ s play areas. As I have recorded in previous months these are run by a separate charity, The Village Hall Trust. The Council ’ s only legal responsibility is as Custodian Trustee. This means that it holds the legal title to VHT property and provides safe custody for securities and other documents relating to property. How- ever there has always been a close working relationship be- tween the Council and the Trust. Readers will remember that it was a joint committee that raised the money for the Millenni- um Hall and the construction was supervised by the Chairman of the Council. Since then the Council has made various loans and grants to the Trust, including an annual grant for the play- ing fields, and it has taken over responsibility for the children ’ s play area. Although there have been some challenges, there continues to be a close working relationship between the two and representatives meet regularly. I hope that I have been able to provide a picture of the varied tasks and decisions that befall a parish councillor. From experi- ence I can assure readers that it can be a worthwhile and satis- fying way of serving your local community. The next election will be on the 5 th May 2022. To be eligible you must be over 18 years old and live or work in the local area. - Terry Hayward Buckden Learning Group Update During the Autumn, BLG has run a 10 week face - to - face course on the American Civil War, with 40 attendees. It ’ s great to be back in our ‘ home ’ at Buckden Towers and to mix once more with ‘ real people ’, particularly with those that were unable or unwilling to join us on Zoom. We ’ ve learnt about the context of the war, the songs of the time, and of course the battles. This term we ’ ve used the King ’ s Room to allow for adequate space between people, and asked people to bring their own drinks; but other than that we are almost back to ‘ normal ’. At the time of writing (December 1st) we are about to open up enrolment for our next course, called ‘ The Eye of the Behold- er ’. We will spend 10 weeks looking through the centuries at different examples of beauty from art, landscape and life. By the end of the course we should understand how to recognise something or someone that is beautiful! Further face - to - face courses are planned through to Easter 2023, although we will continue to run some sessions on Zoom. We continue to have stimulating discussions during the re- freshment breaks; the only difference being that Judith is no longer ‘ wo - manning the urn ’. Although hopeful about the future, we recognise that new restrictions could be imposed at any time, but look forward optimistically to 2022. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all former and current group members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.