There are some 8,350 parish councils in England. Most parish councils were established in 1894 by an Act of Parliament. This created the civil parish, separating it from the church after a long history of delivering local services such as care for the poor, maintenance of roads and collecting taxes.
A typical parish council serves around 1700 people but some have much larger populations and some only a handful. The diversity of parish councils is their strength. Each can make a unique response to the needs of their community with a sensitivity that is more difficult for principle authorities such as District and County Councils to achieve.
Our council is a typical council with councillors possessing a wide range of skills including nursing, teaching, telecommunications, computer technology, and farming. The Clerk provides advice and administrative support and takes action to implement council decisions.
The job of the council is to represent the interests of the whole community. Discovering the needs of different groups in the community, such as young and elderly, is an important part of councillor’s work and making decisions in an open and reasoned way is something that parish councils need to do well. The Parish Plan has provided a valuable opportunity for local people to “have their say”.
A glimpse through the minutes of a Grundisburgh & Culpho parish council meeting gives a good indication of the many and varied activities and issues the council involves itself in. Items that regularly appear on the agenda include Affordable Housing, Allotments, Bus Shelters, Village Greens, Highways, Conservation, Footpaths, Planning and Transport.
The parish council has the power to award grants to village organisations for capital projects. These have included; equipment for the Netball Club, repointing St.Mary’s Church wall, the purchase of computer equipment and a digital camera for the Grundisburgh & District News, the refurbishing of Grundisburgh's tennis courts and new signs for the Village Show and Neighbourhood Watch.
For more information about the Grundisburgh & Culpho Parish Council please contact the Parish Clerk:
