Clause 19 - Application to parish and community councils
Local Government Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight, Conservative)
I am grateful for that guidance, Mr. Conway. I was going to say that in applying the legislation to town and parish councils we must ensure that it is reasonable, having regard to their size and responsibilities. The snoopers charter has been applied to tiny parish councils with populations in the hundreds, rather thousands, and with a precept in pence, rather in tens of pence—tiny budgets—and yet is has led to the resignation and retirement, or in this case the disciplining, of parish councillors. There has, as my hon. Friend the Member for Cotswold said, been a great reduction in the resources that are available to the community through the democratic local structures.
I will pause at this point, Mr. Conway, because I was going to say some things about parish partnerships and, because those are not mentioned in the clause, you may have ruled me out of order if I went in that direction. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to talk about them later.