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Extra parish plans scrapped for now by council chiefs
PLANS to create new parish councils for areas in Bedford Borough have been shelved.
But although the changes will not happen for the foreseeable future they may be revisited at a later date.
At a meeting of Bedford Borough Council’s general purposes committee on Tuesday, members voted not to proceed with plans to create new parish councils in the Castle, Cauldwell, De Parys, Goldington, Harpur, Newnham, Putnoe and Queens Park wards.
In a report to members, which included minutes from previous meetings on the subject, officers claimed that public interest in the proposals had been limited.
It said: “It was stated that, at the public meeting concerning the community governance review held in Newnham ward, only three of the nine people present had been general members of the public and that at the public meeting held in Cauldwell ward of the six people present only one had been a general member of the public.”
The documents recommended that the general purposes committee agree that four of the wards, De Parys, Goldington (excluding The Spires), Kingsbrook and Putnoe, where there was more than five per cent support for a parish council, should be moved forward to the second phase of the consultation process.
However the committee chose not to take that advice and voted not to proceed with the consultation process and the scheme will now be discontinued and will not go before a vote of the full council.
A parish council is an elected local authority which is the lowest, or first, tier of local government.
The elected bodies also take part of council tax payments and are responsible for low level services in the areas they serve .
These powers can include, responsibility for public toilets, allotments and maintaining footpaths and open spaces.
Are you disappointed that the plans have been cancelled? Email your views to editorial@timesandcitizen.co.uk
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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