FOR residents in towns and villages who want to have a say in how their community is run, joining a town or parish council can be a way to affect local decisions.

They are the smallest councils in the country, with the fewest powers, and their running relies on community-minded individuals willing to give up their free time to consider things like local planning matters, public toilets, road safety and donations to good causes.

The decisions made can often have a tangible impact on residents living in the community, with local councils often responsible for spending money on maintaining parks and footpaths, or community projects, such as bringing in a defibrillator for their area.

In recognition of their importance, representatives from the Northumberland Association of Local Councils (NALC) are doing the rounds to speak to local councils about how they can support them with things like legal matters.

The association offers its members specialist training, advice and other support, something which can be beneficial to volunteers who take on the role in their spare time who might not have a background or expertise in local government.

But despite the support on offer, the time commitment could be one of the things deterring people from stepping forward and joining their town or parish council.

With only a handful of contested seats in the last local council elections, the number of people hoping to become local councillors isn’t exactly booming.

Elections for parish and town council seats only take place in areas where there are contested seats.

Otherwise the seats are filled by co-opting people on to the council, with the exisiting councillors choosing the new members.

In the latest local elections in May, parish council elections in the district only took place in Rochester (Byrness), Wark and Wylam, and town council elections were held in Ponteland North and Hexham’s Gilesgate, Leazes and Priestpopple wards.

Elsewhere, there were no elections at more than 40 parish councils across the district. Some parishes attracted only the exact number of nominations to match seats, while many failed to attract sufficient numbers and were left with vacancies.

However, all the local seats on Northumberland County Council were contested.

When chief officer of NALC Stephen Rickitt attended Broomley and Stocksfield Parish Council last week, councillors voiced their concern that the role of parish councils wasn’t being recognised by the larger unitary authority of Northumberland County Council, despite the important role they played in their communities.

Chairman of the parish council, Coun. Maggi Hunt, said: “The bottom line is we represent people locally and we do know how local people think and feel about things.

“The emphasis the county council placed on that role seems to have disappeared with everything else that’s going on, and if NALC are able to keep us up to date with information through their website, that will be a benefit.

“I get the impression some officers don’t really understand the work of a parish council and the work they do in conjunction with, rather than despite, the county council.”

Mr Rickitt said: “I am trying to get them to allow me to come and brief officers, just spend an hour or so with them, on what actually is a parish council, and push the message “think parish”.

“With the new administration – not that the old one was bad – there seem to be some positive things coming through, but a lot is going to depend on finances.”

Coun. Richard Wearmouth, cabinet member for economic development at Northumberland County Council, said: “Town and parish councils form a very valuable tier of local government and we wish to work closely with them for the benefit of communities right across Northumberland.

“The county council works with parish and towns in a number of ways, including joint working on local neighbourhood services in some areas – work we would be keen to expand upon.

“We also have regular liaison with parish and town representatives, including the recent very successful and well-attended annual conference and market place.”