Parish and Town Council Charter

This Charter sets out how local councils in the Leeds City area and Leeds City Council aim to work together for the benefit of local people.

1. Shared goals

Introduction

1.1 Leeds City Council and the local councils within its area share the common belief that working closely together plays a vital contribution to the wellbeing of the communities they serve.

1.2 To this end, Leeds City Council and the local councils in the Leeds City Council area as set out in the Appendix have agreed to publish a Charter which sets out how they aim to work together for the benefits of local people. This Charter is the result of discussions locally to establish a new way of working and to confirm existing good practice, particularly in light of the aspirations set out in the government’s Localism Bill.

1.3 Leeds City Council and the local councils shown in the Appendix are committed to the principles of democratic local government. They are keen to see continued efforts made to improve our system of local democracy and to see greater public participation in and appreciation of this system.

1.4 Leeds City Council acknowledges that, where they exist in Leeds, local councils are the grass-roots level of local government. By working with them, and in particular through its own Community Committees, Leeds City Council aims to act in partnership with local communities, while balancing the needs of the wider community.

1.5 In their role as democratically accountable bodies, local councils offer a means of shaping the decisions that affect their communities. Parish and town councillors and officers possess local knowledge which can help decision makers in the City Council to make more informed decisions and parishes have made it clear that they would like more influence on services which affect their communities. They offer a means of decentralising the provision of certain services and of revitalising local communities. In turn, the local councils recognise the strategic role of the Leeds City Council and the equitable distribution of services which it has to achieve.

1.6 Leeds City Council and local councils recognise their roles in providing services to a wide range of communities, groups, individuals and the need to give ‘due regard’ to protected characteristic groups under the Equality Act 2010, when taking decisions and delivering services.

Sustainability

1.7 Leeds City Council will work in partnership with local councils in its area to promote sustainable economic and environmental wellbeing for the social progress of local communities.

Quality Parish Councils

1.8 The parties to this Charter recognise the Quality Parish and Town Council Scheme as providing a demonstrable statement that a local council:

• is representative of, and actively engages with, all parts of its community, providing vision, identity and a sense of belonging
• is effectively and properly managed
• has the ability and capacity to take on the enhanced role and responsibility that Quality status is likely to bring

1.9 In particular, local councils recognise the value of striving towards acquiring Quality status, and the City Council recognises that it can have increased confidence in dealing with a local council which has achieved it.

2. Practical support

General

2.1 Leeds City Council will, where practical, offer local councils access to their own support services, to enable them to take advantage of facilities such as printing and purchasing, at a mutually agreed price. In particular, assistance will be offered in helping to meet the training needs of local councils.

Specific arrangements

2.2 The following arrangements are in place to support and assist local councils (some of which are subject to a charge):

By Democratic Services:

• Nominated parish and town council liaison officer
• First point of contact for parish clerks and councillors
• Organisation and co-ordination of city wide liaison with other Council departments on parish issues/queries
• Co-ordination of city wide Parish and Town Council Forum meeting and seminar
• Liaison with YLCA
• Liaison with other Council departments on parish issues/queries
• Provision of training and development opportunities for local councillors

By Elections and Electoral Registration:

• Support and administration of local council elections
• Advice on electoral issues and legislation
• The administration of the establishment of new parish councils
• The administration of the review of parish electoral arrangements
• Arrangements for carrying out a parish poll
• Provision, on request, of full electoral roll and updates

By Financial Management:

• Calculation of the tax base for each local council and submitting figures for approval
• Calculation of amount of Council Tax for Leeds and each local council and submitting figures to Council for approval
• Calculation of amounts of Council Tax Support Grant (if any) to be passed to local councils (subject to Executive Board approval)
• For new parishes, calculate the amount of anticipated precept and consult about that (eg with local City Council ward members) before the figure is incorporated in an appropriate report for approval
• Dispatch emails and forms to local councils before Christmas each year notifying them of their indicative tax bases and any Council Tax Support Grant payments providing a calculator tool to help them assess the impact of various precept levels and requesting details of precepts for the following year. Precept request forms should be returned by the middle of February
• Dispatch emails to local councils after the full Council meeting in January confirming their final tax base for the coming financial year
• Arranging for payment of precept and any Council Tax Support Grant to local councils

By Leeds Revenue Services:

• Maintain council tax records, including which properties fall in which parish so that bills can be calculated correctly (so need to be kept informed about boundaries of new parishes or about changes in existing parishes) and so that correct information can be supplied to Financial Management for calculation of tax base
• Send out council tax bills and collect council tax

3. Working in partnership

Provision of information

3.1 Leeds City Council will publish details of all agendas and minutes of meetings and of all delegated decisions by officers, together with associated reports which will indicate any electoral wards of the City Council which are specifically affected.

3.2 Leeds City Council will aim to acknowledge emails within one working day and provide a full response as early as possible, but certainly within 10 working days.

3.3 Leeds City Council will respond to all letters and faxes as soon as practicable, having regard to any schedule of meetings of the relevant local council and, in any event, within 10 working days.

Consultation

3.4 Consultation will be used to involve local councils in decisions of the City Council that affect local communities. Consultation between the partners of this Charter is a two-way process, which can only be effective where there is a sense of partnership and mutual trust. Consultation will not be used as a form of advance warning or of public relations.

3.5 In some cases, consultation is a statutory requirement and, carried out carefully, it ensures that good decisions are taken based on the best information.

3.6 In other cases consultation is used to seek local information and views to establish whether a new service or policy will achieve what is intended. It tests the technical or policy basis of a proposed development to ensure its relevance and suitability in a locality.

3.7 Sometimes it will be necessary for the City Council to take decisions based on considerations which extend beyond an individual community. In these cases the decisions may not reflect the local council view, even though suggestions and opinions will have been considered.

3.8 Leeds City Council will maintain and publish a list of forthcoming key decisions to be taken by the Council’s Executive Board and Directors, together with details of consultation arrangements applicable, have regard to Parish Plans and will include parish and town councils within the consultation arrangements for all key decisions with specific implications for them.

3.9 Leeds City Council has an Equality Assembly and Hubs through which it consults and involves ‘protected characteristic’ groups including Black Minority Ethnic (BME), Disability, Age, Faith, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans (LGB T*) and Carers. These Hubs are supported by the Communities Team and are open to the involvement of local councils. Further information can be provided by the Communities Team.

3.10 Leeds has the ambition to be a child friendly city and this means putting the views of children and young people at the heart of decisions that affect them. Parish and Town Councils can support this approach by pro-actively seeking the views of children and young people consistently, where decisions in a local area have a direct impact on them.

3.11 There are existing mechanisms in place to carry out this consultation including school councils, cluster based councils for children and young people and local interest/participation groups. Particular consideration should be given to promoting the voices of vulnerable children and young people (such as those in care, those with special educational needs and those who do not access mainstream education). For further information and advice on accessing school or cluster councils and examples of existing good practice, please contact the Voice and Influence Team in Children’s Services (vic@leeds.gov.uk).

3.12 An annual meeting of a city wide Parish and Town Council Forum will bring together representatives from all local Councils for the purposes of:

• Encouraging networking and sharing of best practice amongst local councils
• Considering Code of Conduct and other governance issues of common interest to local councils
• Conducting an annual review of this Charter
• Formulating proposals for an annual seminar

3.13 All local Councillors and Clerks will be invited to an annual seminar for the purposes of:

• encouraging networking and sharing of best practice amongst local councils
• receiving briefings and presentations from LCC Departments and other partner organisations on key issues and developments

3.14 Officers and councillors of Leeds City Council will attend meetings as requested by local councils (or groups of such councils) at a mutually agreed time to discuss matters of common interest.

3.15 On request, local councils will send copies of their agendas and papers to Leeds City Council and to councillors for their area. Officers and councillors of Leeds City Council will be given opportunities to speak, at their request, at local council meetings on matters of mutual interest.

Locality based plans, strategies and partnerships

3.16 Leeds City Council will involve local councils in the processes of preparing its locality based plans and strategies to promote or improve economic, social and environmental wellbeing. Leeds City Council Community Committees will consult and involve local councils accordingly about the content and direction of strategies as they affect the local communities they represent.

Ward members

3.17 Members of the City Council represent the interests of the wards for which they are elected and deal with constituents’ enquiries and representations. All City Councillors sit on the Community Committee which covers their individual ward, in addition to which they may sit on a wide range of Council and outside bodies.

3.18 Local councils recognise the key community engagement role fulfilled by City Councillors and the benefit of working closely with City Councillors on matters of mutual interest.

Community Committees

3.19 Each Community Committee of Leeds City Council will establish a mutually acceptable consultative and/or liaison arrangement with the local councils in its area. Community Committees will seek to maintain and promote partnership working and funding arrangements with their local councils as appropriate for the sustainable social, economic and environmental wellbeing of their local communities.

3.20 The Leeds City Council Community Committees each agree an annual ‘Community Plan’ that sets out the committees’ priorities for action over the coming year. As appropriate, local councils will be consulted on the draft Community Committee Community Plan, as it may affect their community, and their comments reported to the relevant Community Committee.

Council Departments

3.21 Leeds City Council departments will work with local councils in establishing clear arrangements describing the operational relationships which exist between them, including the provision of service standards and contact details within key service areas.

4. Maintaining high ethical standards

4.1 Both Leeds City Council and the local councils have adopted codes of conduct, consistent with the general principles of public life and setting out the authority’s requirements for its Members to register and disclose pecuniary interests and interests other than pecuniary interests. Each Council is responsible for promoting and maintaining high standards of conduct by its Members.

4.2 Leeds City Council has put in place arrangements under which allegations against Leeds City Councillors and Parish and Town Councillors in the Leeds area can be received, investigated, and under which decisions on allegations can be made. This includes appointing an Independent Person whose views may be sought by a Member of an authority if that person’s behaviour is the subject of an allegation*.

*The Independent Person can be contacted through the Monitoring Officer or Deputy Monitoring Officer (Head of Governance Services).

4.3 All complaints against Leeds City Councillors and Parish or Town Councils in Leeds are received by the Monitoring Officer of Leeds City Council. If the Monitoring Officer decides that a complaint is ‘valid’ under these arrangements, the complaint will be sent to the subject Member for them to try and resolve the issue with the complainant informally, with the assistance of their political group Whip or Leader or the Chairperson of the Parish or Town Council concerned.

Standards and Conduct Committee

4.4 Leeds City Council has appointed a Standards and Conduct Committee which is made up of Leeds City Councillors. The Standards and Conduct Committee has appointed a Consideration Sub-Committee to consider any complaints against Leeds City Councillors or Parish or Town Councillors in the Leeds area which have not been resolved informally. When meeting to consider a complaint against a Parish or Town Councillor, the sub-committee will include a non-voting Parish representative.

4.5 Following the meeting of the Consideration Sub-Committee the Chair will forward the finding and the report on the complaint to the Parish or Town Council concerned for the Council to note or to take action as appropriate.

Monitoring Officer

4.6 The Council’s City Solicitor acts as Monitoring Officer both to Leeds City Council and to the local councils. The Monitoring Officer is statutorily responsible for establishing and maintaining a register of interests of members of the authority. The Monitoring Officer must ensure that a copy of the register is published on the Leeds City Council website, and each local Council should provide a link to the register on its own website (if applicable).

4.7 The Monitoring Officer is also responsible for considering any requests from Leeds City Councillors or Parish or Town Councillors to treat any of their disclosable pecuniary interests as a ‘sensitive interest’. If the Monitoring Officer agrees that the interest is sensitive, she must ensure that details of the interest are removed from the published register and are retained in a private register not available for public inspection.

Dispensations

4.8 Members are able to request a dispensation to allow them to take part in a decision in which they have a disclosable pecuniary interest. Requests must be made in writing and submitted to the proper officer of the local council. It is up to each Parish or Town Council to make appropriate arrangements to receive and consider applications for dispensations from its own Members.

5. Allocating responsibilities

Double taxation and concurrent functions

5.1 “Concurrent functions” is the term used to describe services which both Leeds City Council and the parish and town councils within its area have the legal power to provide.

5.2 Where Leeds City Council and one or more local councils agree that a particular concurrent function will be provided by the parish or town councils in their own areas instead of by Leeds City Council, then Leeds City Council commits itself to ensuring that double taxation does not occur in financial arrangements it makes with the local councils.

Delegating responsibility for service provision

5.3 If a local council (or group of local councils) wishes to discharge functions on behalf of the principal authority, Leeds City Council will consider this where it provides best value (taking account of cost, quality, local preferences and practicability). Where it is not good value or practicable, Leeds City Council will, in consultation with the local council, explore alternative solutions to encourage more local-level input into service delivery.

5.4 The first step towards devolution of a service currently provided by Leeds City Council to a local council is for the Clerk of that local council to write to the Chief Executive of the City Council with a copy to the Chief Officer Democratic & Central Services. The Chief Executive will then ensure that the local council is able to have discussions with a service manager of appropriate seniority to consider the feasibility of devolution of a service.

6. Managing the relationship

Complaints

6.1 If a local council is dissatisfied with the actions of Leeds City Council then in the first instance, it should raise their concern with the relevant Council department and, if remaining dissatisfied, may submit a complaint to the department in accordance with the Council’s published procedure for dealing with complaints and compliments. The Council will provide a response within 10 working days.

6.2 If a local council is dissatisfied with actions of Leeds Council arising from this Charter, but which are not specific to a Council department, the local council may make a formal complaint to the Chief Officer Democratic & Central Services who will investigate the complaint and arrange for an appropriate response to be submitted by the Council, within 10 working days.

Performance, monitoring and review

6.3 This Charter is intended to be flexible and adaptable to the changing circumstances and arrangements for local government. This will be achieved by an annual review of the Charter by the Parish and Town Council Forum, to keep pace with developments.

6.4 The local councils will monitor the effectiveness of the Charter. The local council will decide whether or not, on balance, the Charter has been upheld by Leeds City Council and will, as they consider appropriate, submit views for consideration by the Parish and Town Council Forum as part of the annual review.

6.5 Leeds City Council will also conduct an annual monitoring exercise, reviewing from their perspective, their relationship with their local councils and the performance of local councils compared to the standards set out in the Charter.

Appendix - Councils included within the Charter

Leeds City Council

Aberford & District

Allerton Bywater

Alwoodley

Arthington

Bardsey cum Rigton

Barwick in Elmet & Scholes

Boston Spa

Bramham cum Oglethorpe

Bramhope & Carlton

Clifford

Collingham with Linton

Drighlington

Gildersome

Great & Little Preston

Harewood

Horsforth (Town Council)

East Keswick*

Kippax

Ledsham

Ledston

Micklefield

Morley (Town Council)

Otley (Town Council)

Pool in Wharfedale

Rawdon

Scarcroft

Shadwell

Swillington

Thorner

Thorp Arch

Walton

Wetherby (Town Council)