What is a Parish Council?
Long Itchington is one of 109 parishes within the Stratford-on-Avon District, which in turn is one of 5 districts within the County of Warwickshire.
Its Parish Council is a directly elected body with elections held every 4 years, and there are currently are 9 council members.
Despite its name, it has nothing to do with the parish church or its governing body although the geographic area covered by the Parish of Long Itchington roughly coincides with the parochial boundaries of Holy Trinity, the local C of E church. This is because the old parish church boundaries were used as the basis for creating civil parish councils towards the end of the 19th century.
The Parish of Long Itchington covers the area bounded by Firs Farm to the east, Snowford Hill to the west, the old railway line to the north and just beyond the main road between Southam and Ufton to the South.
What does the Parish Council do?
Long Itchington Parish Council has a wide range of responsibilities including allotments, bus shelters, community centres, footpaths, lighting of certain roads, litter bins, the acquisition and sale of land in its parish, tree planting, public conveniences, provision of recreation grounds and facilities, public seating, open spaces (e.g. greens and ponds), signs and place names. We have a wide number of working groups with different responsibilities – see the Structure Chart for more information.
In addition, parish councils can spend a limited amount of money on projects, services and grants that they deem of benefit to the community.
Finally, LIPC can also offer support to other village organisations to achieve their individual objectives. This may include giving grants, or helping with advice or publicity.
How does the Parish Council relate to other councils and organisations?
LIPC works closely with Warwickshire County Council and Stratford District Council. Each council has its own distinct responsibilities – find out more.
The District Council must notify the Parish Council of any planning applications for the area so that we can display them for residents. Any comments submitted to the planning authority by the Parish Council must be taken into account.
LIPC can also act as an interface between the village and local government agencies and service providers, especially the police, highways, water, and environmental authorities. If we feel that a topic is sufficiently important we can call a public meeting to enable a wider discussion.
How is the Parish Council funded?
There are three sources of external funding available to LIPC – precepts and grants from the District Council and loans from a range of sources. Precepts are local community charges raised on behalf of the Parish Council by the District Council as part of their annual Council Tax charges each year.
The precept covers items such as street lighting, grass cutting, the community centre, play areas, minor running costs and repairs around the village as well as the Parish Clerk’s office.