Parish council guidance

All of the files on this page are available in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) and Microsoft Word / Powerpoint format. Large files may take several minutes to download. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader or Microsoft Office (or compatible) to view these documents. Adobe Acrobat Reader (This link will open in a new window) and Microsoft Office Viewer (This link will open in a new window) can be downloaded free.

Schedule of Parish and District Elections | Parish Council Chairmen & Clerks (This link will open in a new window) | Standards Committee (This link will open in a new window)

Parish Council Code of Conduct

For further information and guidance on the code of conduct including Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) please visit the Standards for England (This link will open in a new window) website, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Association of Local Councils (This link will open in a new window) website. We are also answering Frequently Asked Questions (This link will open in a new window) about the Code of Conduct and related issues, like the role of the Monitoring Officer and about the Standards Committee.

Declaration of Acceptance of Office | Model Code of Conduct (2007) including 12(2) optional clause | Register of Members' Interests (2007)

Under Section 81(6) of the Local Government Act 2000, the original register of interests and any subsequent updates must be sent to the Monitoring Officer at the District Council, with a copy held locally by the parish clerk. SCDC will do regular audits of the registers held and contact parish clerks about any registers which have not been received, although parish councillors bear the ultimate responsibility to ensure that the their registers of interest are sent to the Monitoring Officer.

Dispensations

Dispensation Flowchart | Dispensation Request form

Standards Committee Newsletter (This link will open in a new window)

Parish Council Toolkit and Meeting Preparation Checklist

The Parish Council Toolkit version 3 is published by the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors (ACSeS), in partnership with the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC), Standards for England (SfE), the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) and the Local Government Association (LGA), and supported by Milton Keynes Council, and was designed to help ensure good governance for Parish and Town Councils. It is aimed at Parish Council clerks, bringing together in one place all the relevant legislation, but is also intended to be a useful reference for parish councillors and those interested in becoming parish councillors, principal councils wanting to establish parish councils, and Monitoring Officers. The complete document (117 pages) has been sent to all Parish and Community Council and Meeting clerks in South Cambridgeshire in July 2009 and is available here electronically for download as an Adobe PDF file.

Also available is the meeting preparation checklist prepared by South Cambridgeshire District Council to assist clerks in planning for a public meeting. This checklist was also sent to all Parish and Community Councils and Meetings in August 2009 and can be downloaded as an Adobe PDF file.

Parish Council Toolkit | Meeting Preparation Checklist