NALC Chief executive’s bulletin

30 November 2023

Star Council Awards 2023 winners crowned in parliament

We announced our Star Council Awards winners at a dazzling ceremony held on 29 November 2023 at our parliamentary reception in the prestigious House of Lords. Hosted by NALC’s president, Baroness Scott of Needham Market, the prestigious and packed-out event brought together councillors, clerks, MPs, Peers, academics, stakeholders, journalists and other leading opinion formers to celebrate the sector and recognise those individuals and organisations that have demonstrated exceptional dedication in supporting their communities. This year’s winners from local (parish and town) councils and county associations stood out among an impressive pool of nominees, showcasing their commitment to excellence and significant contributions to improving their communities. The expert panel of judges had the challenging and unenviable task of selecting the winners over the Summer, and I was delighted they could join us at the event. Speaking at the awards ceremony, Baroness Scott commented on her “privilege and honour of being re-appointed NALC’s president at last month’s Annual General Meeting” and how “all parties, not just the government, need to recognise the vital importance and contribution of rural areas and of rural governance, especially parish and town councils”, and empathised her commitment to take “every opportunity possible over what remains of this parliament to continue to make a case for parish and town councils to be empowered”. The event also featured a speech by the newly appointed local government minister, Simon Hoare MP, who thanked councils, councillors and clerks, stating they are”unsung very often unseen” but “towns and villages are demonstrably and immeasurably improved by what you do day in and day out”, and commented on the awards, he said, “the awards shine a spotlight on excellent work you have done and everybody who is involved in the work of a parish or town council is a winner”. The winners of the Star Council Awards are Council of the Year — Braunstone Town Council in Leicestershire and Rutland; Councillor of the Year — Cllr Lorna Berrett of Botley and North Hinksey Parish Council; Young Councillor of the Year — Cllr Cameron Palin of East Cowes Town Council; County Association of the Year — Essex Association of Local Councils; and Clerk of the Year — Andrea Mann of Odiham Parish Council. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists, and thanks to all our judges and the award sponsors Clear Councils Insurance, Blachere Illumination, Breakthrough Communications, CCLA, Cloudy IT and DCK Accounting Solutions! You can read more about the winners and finalists on our website and revisit the event as it happened on NALC’s X (formerly Twitter).

NALC committee election results

The results of our committee elections were unveiled at the National Assembly meeting held at the offices of the Local Government Association before the parliamentary reception on 29 November 2023. Cllr Keith Stevens has been re-elected unopposed as our chair, as has Cllr Peter Davey as our vice-chair (finance), and I am pleased to welcome our new vice-chair (member services), Cllr David Francis. I want to congratulate all candidates elected to governance roles on NALC committees for 2024/25, and I’d like to thank everyone who put themselves forward. You can read the full results on our website. The first meetings of the new committees take place in early December.

White Ribbon Day

On 25 November 2023, we celebrated White Ribbon Day, a global initiative raising awareness about combatting violence against women and girls. I’m proud that NALC became a White Ribbon accredited organisation in August 2023. Since then, we’ve been working on implementing a three-year action plan developed by our steering group. To show our support for White Ribbon Day, we published a group video highlighting male support from within the sector, uploaded a blog from NALC and a blog from UN Women, hosted an awareness-raising session at this week’s National Assembly, and implemented a social media campaign for the day and the 16 days of activism. We will continue raising awareness for this vital initiative, and I’d encourage all councils to get involved! Visit the White Ribbon UK website to find out more.

Autumn Statement

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt MP, delivered the 2023 Autumn Statement on 22 November 2023. Measures of interest for local government include:

• A long-term freeze in capital investment in the public sector with no new funding for adult or children’s social care or any general local government funding for 2024/25 beyond what was announced last year.
• Council tax referendums were not mentioned. This is expected to be set out in the provisional local government finance settlement (PLGFS) in December.
• The main rate of National Insurance was cut from 12% to 10% from 6 January.
• National Living Wage will increase from £10.42 to £11.44 an hour from April, with the new rate applied to 21 and 22-year-old workers for the first time rather than just those aged 23 and over.
• Independent Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts inflation will fall to 2.8% by the end of 2024 before reaching the Bank of England’s 2% target rate in 2025, with living standards expected to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2027/28.
• The 75% business rates discount for retail, hospitality and leisure firms in England extended for another year.
• Households living close to new pylons and transmission infrastructure to get up to £1,000 a year off energy bills for a decade.
• Local planning authorities will receive £32m to tackle planning backlogs and introduce new premium planning services across England, with faster decision dates for major business applications and fee refunds when these are unmet.
• Four new devolution deals, including Level 3 mayoral deals with Greater Lincolnshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, Level 2 non-mayoral deals with Lancashire and Cornwall and advanced discussions to agree on a Level 2 non-mayoral deal with Devon and Torbay.

NALC event explores how to improve the planning system for local councils

Our latest online event took place on 22 November 2023, looking at how to make the planning system work for local councils. The event highlighted how to improve the planning system to meet local councils’ needs, the challenges and opportunities they face, different approaches for improving community engagement, promoting sustainable development, and ensuring a fair and transparent planning process. Richard Blyth of the Royal Town Planning Institute spoke about the local council’s vital role in planning, stating, “On applications, local councils are obliged to be consulted about all planning in their area”. Cllr Sue Camp of Sevenoaks Town Council’s Planning Committee spoke about how her council benefitted from the infrastructure to deal with planning, saying, “Sevenoaks Town Council successfully deals with planning applications by holding their Planning Committee every two weeks”. Cllr Sanchia Davidson and Cllr Helen Sunday of Wing Parish Council spoke about the neighbourhood plan introduced at the council to help control the future development of the village, commenting, “The team needs to be big enough to represent but small enough to function”. You can find out more about NALC online events on our website.

National Network: Coastal communities

NALC’s national network on coastal communities held its latest meeting on 23 November 2023. Dr Joanna Williams, from the Sea Level Group at the National Oceanography Centre, gave a fascinating presentation on the impact of rising sea levels on coastal areas. In the Q&A session, Dr Williams discussed how flooding prevention methods are locally variable, the implications of extreme tidal waves on barriers, and flood weather warnings. Lisa Bowman, the clerk at Exmouth Town Council and the network’s representative at the Local Government Association’s Coastal Special Interest Group (SIG), provided an overview from the most recent SIG meeting. Lisa urged the network to check if their principal council was represented on the SIG and to link up with the relevant council officer. Stephanie Bennett, clerk at Fawley Parish Council, discussed better guidance on dealing with litter clearance in coastal areas with coastal designations, and the network gave feedback on how they were dealing with this issue. The network also discussed an upcoming survey aimed at improving insight into the experiences of coastal communities in the sector and shaping the delivery and aims of the network. If you’re a local council in a coastal area and want to connect with your colleagues, please sign up for the network.

On the blog: The Tree Council

This week’s blog from The Tree Council celebrates National Tree Week 2023, which runs between 25 November 2023 and 3 December 2023. The week is an excellent opportunity to come together and appreciate how vital trees and woodlands are in the fight against climate change. The need for more trees has been recognised through national targets and policy. But, like for so many things, local action makes a huge difference. This year’s National Tree Week theme is to Grow a Tree in 2023. Check out their website for ways to get involved.

Out and about

• It was great to be back in Milton Keynes (the location of our past Annual Conferences and a wholly parished city!) speaking at the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Association of Local Councils Planning Conference — Planning, love it, like it, or hate it – it’s happening in a parish near you. The conference heard from Milton Keynes Council leader Cllr Peter Marland about their support for councils and ambitious plans for a new city plan for 2025. Neighbourhood plans were described as a game changer for the sector, and we heard from Newport Pagnell Town Council about their latest draft plan (they are now on their third!), which includes an allocation for an Aston Martin heritage centre. One clarion call from the event was for NALC to press the government to keep planning simple, and we’re on the case, as you can see from our numerous consultation responses, which you can find on the NALC website.
• We’ve had the pleasure of attending the Association of Democratic Services Officers (ASDO) Annual Conference and Awards, which Keith attended as their guest on 23 and 24 November 2023. The event also saw the publication of joint research with the Local Government Information Unit on The changing role of the monitoring officer. I’m pleased to continue our links with ADSO, given our work on the campaign for remote council meetings and the critical role monitoring officers play, particularly in the standards regime.
• Gary Barker, solicitor in the member services team, remotely attended an Oxfordshire Association of Local Councils councils’ meeting, where he gave an update on various legal issues, including remote meetings, the biodiversity duty and the Building Safety Act 2022.

Joint Panel on Accountability and Governance

The Joint Panel on Accountability and Governance (JPAG) met on 28 November 2023 to confirm the 2024 Practitioners’ Guide changes. These updates were proposed by the technical working group based on feedback from practitioners, councils and auditors. NALC has now begun writing those changes, which include clarifications to make the guide easier to use, plus an updated section on gov.uk domain names, in preparation for the guide’s release in March 2024.

And finally…

This month’s Rural Insight Forum – which brings together officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) with national organisations with a rural interest – reflected on the recent Cabinet reshuffle with the appointment of Steve Barclay MP as Secretary of State and former Alnwick Town Council councillor, Robbie Moore MP, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary. The forum discussed the Autumn Settlement, noting positive elements for rural areas, including reducing VAT on energy efficiency measures, for example, in village halls, and rate relief on hospitality. Other measures, mainly decreasing financial support for principal councils, would put more pressure on services in rural areas. The forum also heard about progress with implementing the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, which includes a new duty to have regard to rural areas and is the subject of active discussions between ministers and officials in Defra and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It was also noted that the Levelling Up Advisory Panel includes a sub-group to consider the design and delivery of levelling up in rural areas.