Councillors Register of Interest forms

To view the Councillors register of interest forms click on this Link then scroll down to each councillor and click on their names individually.

Clerk: Mrs Teresa Murphy: [email protected]
61 Victoria Road
Bidford on Avon
Warks
B50 4AR

The council is made up of a maximum of five members. There are elections every four years, if there are more than five candidates then an election is called, if there are five or fewer an election is not necessary. If positions on the council become vacant they are advertised and new councillors can be co-opted onto the council by its members.
 
The Parish Council meets every two months. The agenda is posted in advance on the noticeboards and website and the Minutes are similarly displayed. Usually the District and County Councillors attend the bi-monthly meetings.
 
The main role of the council is to put forward the interests of the people who live in Sambourne Parish, based on experience, consultation, opinions expressed to members, and to act in what is seen as the best interests of Sambourne Parish. The consensus is expressed by way of approval or objection to for example planning applications. This is conveyed formally to District Council - who may or may not find in line with the recommendations.
 
Examples of what has been discussed in the past:

• Planning applications
• What can be done about speeding traffic
• The village appraisal
• The Coughton Festival (2004)
• The Studley Bypass
• Gateway scheme
• Flooding problems - sandbags, blocked drains, badly maintained ditches and culverts
• How can more people be kept informed as to what's going on - The Link, "fliers" etc
• Village events
• Correspondence from various sources -
  • Stratford District Council
  • Warwick County Council
  • Bodies like CPRE, WALC etc. 
  • The public - usually asking the council to help in some matter.

In May there is the annual parish meeting. The extent to which the issues affect Sambourne Parish range from very little to greatly. It is apparent that the attendance by the public is much greater when they feel directly affected - for example, the Studley bypass, the gateway scheme, or issues relating to the Sambourne Trust. It would be welcome to see more people attending, matters are discussed which relate to where they live, this would also add to the width of the debate. 
 
The parish council in reality has very little power, however, it can draw up local bye-laws; what the scope of how the process works is a mystery, as no one can remember this happening in recent history.

In accordance with the Transparency Code reports concerning the council's accounts can be viewed in the Finance tab above.