Parish Council guidance and information

• Parish Council details and information
• Civic affairs committee

Parish Council Code of Conduct

• Declaration of Acceptance of Office
• Model Code of Conduct (July 2012)
• Register of Members Interests guidance on disclosable pecuniary interests
• Guidance note on registering interests
• Parish register of interests form
• Government guidance on personal interests
• Letter from Bob Neill to Councils

Please note that 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. We 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 their registers of interest are sent to the Monitoring Officer.

Complaints procedure

See complaints about councillor conduct for details on how to complain about the conduct of one of our councillors.

Dispensations

The Localism Act provides that Parish Councils should now grant their own dispensations to any parish councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest. The District Council has prepared a guidance note for parishes on what to do, along with a template dispensation request form for parish councils to adapt and use.

• Dispensation procedure guidelines
• Parish council dispensation request form

Parish Council Toolkit and Meeting Preparation Checklist

The Parish Council Toolkit 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.

It 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.

• Parish Council Toolkit
• Meeting Preparation Checklist