| Northumberland Association of Local Councils – A Pen Portrait |
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1 – Our organisation is an association of member Town and Parish Councils covering the historic county of Northumberland. · Its members are the councils themselves; they pay a membership fee based on:
o a) a flat fee charged to all councils; b) a sliding scale fee based on population payable directly to the National Association of Local Councils and; c) A sliding scale fee based on population payable to our county association.
· The association is managed by a County Committee selected from councillors of those member councils.
· We have no paid employees but we do buy in services generically supplied by Community Action Northumberland (CAN) for which they receive an annual negotiated fee.
2 – The association has four main functions:
· To protect and promote the interests, rights, functions and privileges of members
· To assist members in the performance of their duties and to promote and develop the economic, social, cultural and recreational life of parishes
· To promote widespread and well-informed interest in local government
· To promote good local government.
3 – The bulk of the business of the association is fulfilled by its Honorary Secretary. This covers issues concerning:
· Technical help on all aspects of running a local council including their statutory duties in work covering:
o Allotments; Burial grounds; Memorials; Bus shelters; Play areas; Seats; etc.
· Legal advice on issues affecting councils
· Issues concerning performance of councillors, such as discipline and efficiency questions including code of conduct, standing orders etc.
· Interaction of councils with other bodies
· Charter implementation and review
· Parish Planning
· Assisting councils to relate to other bodies including County Council, National Parks Authority, Area Committees, Area Partnerships, Community Forums or other local organisations.
4 – Aspects of NALC work that is also done on our behalf by CAN:
· Parish Council Training
o Clerks; Councillors; Chairmen
· Specialist training on various issues
o Quality Parish Councils; Advanced Clerks’ Qualifications; Planning; Allotments; Burial Grounds; Standards; Parish Plans; etc
· Administration
o Organisation of meetings; Distribution of papers; Financial management; Subscription management; Hall and equipment hire; Quality Parish Council Assessments; etc.
5 – CAN staff involved in the assistance to NALC are the Administration and Finance Teams, and Louise Currie who assists with training but contributes much work and effort to Parish Clerks’ qualifications. Almost everything else is done by David Francis. Although some aspects of the work are covered by our fee to CAN it does not cover the bulk of the work undertaken voluntarily in his own time including the work David does to support to the County Committee.
6 – Currently Norman Dunn is employed on a part time basis as a Development Officer, working with local councils on systems development and project work.
7 – In addition to the work that we directly get from CAN, their Community Development Workers also support parish and town councils as they would any other community group in project work and parish planning.
Please use this link to see the CAN/NALC Memorandum of Understanding
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