Local Council Representation on SDC’s Audit and Standards Committee

Mar 27, 2024

Thank you to outgoing Parish Councillor representative, Cllr Rosalind Bolton, for providing this insight to an Audit and Standards Committee. Cllr Bolton encourages Councillors to consider the advantages of local Council representation on this Committee.

Stratford-on-Avon District Council are re-appointing two parish/town representatives to their Audit and Standards Committee.  Nomination packs will be sent to parishes by 5 April, with details of pay and meetings.

District Councils are not legally obliged to have Parish/Town councillor representatives on a Standards Committee. Stratford-on-Avon District Council, however, believes that the role is important.

Service on the Committee raises the profile of Parish and Town Councils in several ways:

  1. You are in a position to raise the Parish Council aspect of local governance.  A number of District Councillors on the committee may well not have had the experience of being Parish Councillors themselves.
  2. Whenever the Code of Conduct is reviewed, in part or whole, (which now happens more often than it used to) you can make sure changes are appropriate to the role of Parish Councils – often the focus is on the higher tiers of local government.
  3. You become aware of complaints being made against Parish Councillors, see how seriously they are rated and how they are dealt with, and comment on any patterns you can see emerging.
  4. You will be asked to act as an adviser to a panel drawn from members of the Committee on the occasions when one is established to examine a complaint about a Parish Council or Parish Councillor. This has not happened recently, but it is a key part of the role.
  5. You can comment on issues categorised as Governance. One example is requests from parishes to merge with a neighbouring parish or increase or decrease its number of councillors.

You do not have a vote on the agenda item as an non-voting observer: however, you will be able to fully participate in the item.

As a bonus, you gain some awareness of how Stratford-on-Avon District Council works.

Note – Do not be put off by Audit being part of the title! Standards and Governance business is taken first in the order of business in the meetings: you do not have to remain for the audit-related part of the meeting.