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Local Government
Rochford Parish Council
Rochford Parish Council
To see the part of the conversation where Sandy speaks of her role as a PARISH Councillor, please CLICK HERE.
To see the part of the conversation where Keith speaks of his role
Interview with PARISH Councillor Keith Gordon (5th Nov.2010)
In order to compare Parish and District Councils, we spent some time with Keith & Sandy Gordon, both Councillors. Here is the part of the conversation where Keith speaks of his role on the PARISH Council.
Rochford Life: Keith, how long have you been a councillor?
Keith: Seven years as a District Councillor and almost five years as a Parish Councillor.
RL: So why did you go for Parish after you were already a District Councillor?
Keith: I felt it would get me closer to the people I actually represent, and it also meant I could represent better because I knew what the Parish were trying to do and would get some joined up thinking between the two, because you’ve always had this difference between District and Parish and there’s no point in two people pulling on the same rope but going in different ways
RL: But District are clearly big brother.
Keith: Yes, but Parish get their word in. I’m not the only District Councillor on Parish; there are quite a few of us spread throughout the District, so we do fight the Parish’s corner as well.
RL: I think you’ve probably given me half the answer to this, but why are you a Parish Councillor, you’ve been on District for seven years and five on Parish, why would you want to take time out of your obviously very busy life to do this?
Keith: Well, I think I can do more, and more quicker, for people being on the Parish Council than I can on the District. District is more strategic; it’s for the whole of the area, so I might be doing something that is of benefit to Rayleigh. As a Parish Councillor, I can do things of benefit to Rochford. Now we have a leaner committee structure which means decisions can be made and acted upon much quicker. We don’t do politics on Parish. It used to be Labour control, but we took it all away and streamlined the committees so we have the General Purposes Committee, the Planning Committee and the Finance Committee, that’s it. Everything gets done within those three committees so we don’t have the messing about that others might do. We can make a decision and it can be acted upon.
RL: And what is your role in the Parish Council?
Keith: I am Vice-Chair of the Parish Council and I am Chairman of the Finance and Employment Committee
RL: Keith, what does Finance do?
Keith: Finance basically agrees budgets, keeps an eye on the budgets; it manages the Parish Rooms as well, so extensions, alterations, refurbishments, etc. all come through finance, and so it works like a watchdog. It was more important when you had five or six committees because it was keeping an eye on every single one, but it still has a place to play in auditing the accounts, making sure that the Parish Rooms are acceptable and that the facilities are acceptable. Of course the other part that comes under Finance is employment and we employ the manager at St. Marks, we have our own Caretaker, we have a handyman and an assistant for him, and Janice as well, who is their line manager. All those things come to the Finance Committee.
RL: Can you explain the Parish precept?
Keith: The precept is virtually the Parish’s version of the Council Tax, but in the case of the Council Tax and the District, the tax covers what Rochford District Council do, also the Essex County Council, Essex Fire and Rescue, the Police - all of those have a lump out of that Council Tax, and that is capped by the Government. The Parish have the one charge they call the precept which goes back hundreds of years and that is not capped, so with the Parish, if they wanted to do a special function or special project during the year they could, before this government acted, increase their precept by whatever they wanted
RL: That’s what I wondered. Can they increase it my as much as they like?
Keith: Well I think last year Stambridge almost doubled it and Sutton doubled it a couple of years ago because they had such a low precept that they needed to double it just to get some money to do a project.
RL: Has the present Government changed things?
Keith: There’s been legislation coming through that states that if you’re not happy with the precept increase then it can be called in if enough people demand it. We haven’t increased ours for the last two years having seen how the recession was going. We just said no to increase. But the other thing you have to remember is that we have to manage our capital reserve. and we have to have a minimum of three months money in capital reserve so that if nothing came in for three months, we could still pay all our bills. Five years ago there was something like £6,000 in the capital reserve. We’ve now built it up to about £79,000 so we are over what we need for three months.
We get our precept from the District in two bites, but it’s good to have that so we can carry on doing functions and paying for stuff. For example, we paid for Minimees at St. Marks Hall and part of the schools’ facilities for the Summer holidays at St. Marks Hall because they had no funding. We’re looking to sponsor Minimees next year as well as a few other bits and pieces down there, out of our precept so that, if you like, we’re taking money through the precept from the slightly more advantaged areas and distributing it to the less advantaged areas, and so we’re helping the kids that way, because there’s no other way we can do it.
We’d love to do other stuff but there’s no way the Parish could actually afford to build a Youth Centre or anything else like that. We also helped out the Hockley Round Table last year to enable Rochford children to go on a special day out that is arranged from special schools. We don’t say much about this sort of thing. Perhaps we’re guilty of not blowing our own trumpet.
RL: Well, I’ve probably taken too much of your time. Is there a final word you want to say?
Keith: Yes, If people want to contact me, that is what I am here for, it doesn’t matter when, all they’ve got to do is phone. I can’t promise we can get everything done, but at least we can try.
RL: Well thank you both very much indeed.
To see the part of the interview with Keith speaking about his role on the DISTRICT Council, please CLICK HERE
To see the part of the interview with Sandy speaking about her role on the PARISH Council, please CLICK HERE
Councillors Keith & Sandy Gordon
5 Willow Walk, Hockley, Essex, SS5 5DQ
01702 207470
In order to compare Parish and District Councils, we spent some time with Keith & Sandy Gordon, both Councillors. Here is the part of the conversation where Keith speaks of his role on the PARISH Council.
Rochford Life: Keith, how long have you been a councillor?
Keith: Seven years as a District Councillor and almost five years as a Parish Councillor.
RL: So why did you go for Parish after you were already a District Councillor?
Keith: I felt it would get me closer to the people I actually represent, and it also meant I could represent better because I knew what the Parish were trying to do and would get some joined up thinking between the two, because you’ve always had this difference between District and Parish and there’s no point in two people pulling on the same rope but going in different ways
RL: But District are clearly big brother.
Keith: Yes, but Parish get their word in. I’m not the only District Councillor on Parish; there are quite a few of us spread throughout the District, so we do fight the Parish’s corner as well.
RL: I think you’ve probably given me half the answer to this, but why are you a Parish Councillor, you’ve been on District for seven years and five on Parish, why would you want to take time out of your obviously very busy life to do this?
Keith: Well, I think I can do more, and more quicker, for people being on the Parish Council than I can on the District. District is more strategic; it’s for the whole of the area, so I might be doing something that is of benefit to Rayleigh. As a Parish Councillor, I can do things of benefit to Rochford. Now we have a leaner committee structure which means decisions can be made and acted upon much quicker. We don’t do politics on Parish. It used to be Labour control, but we took it all away and streamlined the committees so we have the General Purposes Committee, the Planning Committee and the Finance Committee, that’s it. Everything gets done within those three committees so we don’t have the messing about that others might do. We can make a decision and it can be acted upon.
RL: And what is your role in the Parish Council?
Keith: I am Vice-
RL: Keith, what does Finance do?
Keith: Finance basically agrees budgets, keeps an eye on the budgets; it manages the Parish Rooms as well, so extensions, alterations, refurbishments, etc. all come through finance, and so it works like a watchdog. It was more important when you had five or six committees because it was keeping an eye on every single one, but it still has a place to play in auditing the accounts, making sure that the Parish Rooms are acceptable and that the facilities are acceptable. Of course the other part that comes under Finance is employment and we employ the manager at St. Marks, we have our own Caretaker, we have a handyman and an assistant for him, and Janice as well, who is their line manager. All those things come to the Finance Committee.
RL: Can you explain the Parish precept?
Keith: The precept is virtually the Parish’s version of the Council Tax, but in the case of the Council Tax and the District, the tax covers what Rochford District Council do, also the Essex County Council, Essex Fire and Rescue, the Police -
RL: That’s what I wondered. Can they increase it my as much as they like?
Keith: Well I think last year Stambridge almost doubled it and Sutton doubled it a couple of years ago because they had such a low precept that they needed to double it just to get some money to do a project.
RL: Has the present Government changed things?
Keith: There’s been legislation coming through that states that if you’re not happy with the precept increase then it can be called in if enough people demand it. We haven’t increased ours for the last two years having seen how the recession was going. We just said no to increase. But the other thing you have to remember is that we have to manage our capital reserve. and we have to have a minimum of three months money in capital reserve so that if nothing came in for three months, we could still pay all our bills. Five years ago there was something like £6,000 in the capital reserve. We’ve now built it up to about £79,000 so we are over what we need for three months.
We get our precept from the District in two bites, but it’s good to have that so we can carry on doing functions and paying for stuff. For example, we paid for Minimees at St. Marks Hall and part of the schools’ facilities for the Summer holidays at St. Marks Hall because they had no funding. We’re looking to sponsor Minimees next year as well as a few other bits and pieces down there, out of our precept so that, if you like, we’re taking money through the precept from the slightly more advantaged areas and distributing it to the less advantaged areas, and so we’re helping the kids that way, because there’s no other way we can do it.
We’d love to do other stuff but there’s no way the Parish could actually afford to build a Youth Centre or anything else like that. We also helped out the Hockley Round Table last year to enable Rochford children to go on a special day out that is arranged from special schools. We don’t say much about this sort of thing. Perhaps we’re guilty of not blowing our own trumpet.
RL: Well, I’ve probably taken too much of your time. Is there a final word you want to say?
Keith: Yes, If people want to contact me, that is what I am here for, it doesn’t matter when, all they’ve got to do is phone. I can’t promise we can get everything done, but at least we can try.
RL: Well thank you both very much indeed.
To see the part of the interview with Keith speaking about his role on the DISTRICT Council, please CLICK HERE
To see the part of the interview with Sandy speaking about her role on the PARISH Council, please CLICK HERE
Councillors Keith & Sandy Gordon
5 Willow Walk, Hockley, Essex, SS5 5DQ
01702 207470
To return to the Rochford Parish Council front page, please CLICK HERE