WELNEY PARISH COUNCIL - INFORMATION The Parish Council consists of nine members elected every four years. The next elections are due in May 2011. The Parish Council are responsible for the management of the Welney Parish Hall, and also run the Playing Field and Pavilion, which is a registered charity. The Welney Archive and Social History Committee of the Parish Council was formed in 2006 to collate an archive of the village history. This includes photographs, documents and any relevant information. A 15 year old local lad was appointed as archivist, and the Committee was successful in obtaining funding from Awards for All to purchase IT equipment to assist with the archiving of the material The Parish Council covers the civil parish of Welney, In 2001 there were 415 people aged 18 or over on t he electoral roll, living in approximately 208 dwellings. The total population in the 2001 Census was 520.
The Council is responsible for a limited range of local services such as street lighting, the Parish Hall, the Playing Field and Pavilion, the bus shelter, village sign, parish notice boards and for the emptying of the dog waste bins It also provides a channel for representing local views to the Borough and County Councils and the local Member of Parliament, Mr. Christopher Fraser. It is also consulted by the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk on planning applications within the Parish The Parish Council appoints nominative Trustees to the two local charities, Marshalls Charity and the Bishops Land Charity and these nominative trustees do not have to be councillors.
The Council employs a part time Parish Clerk who is responsible for the Council’s administration, finances, agendas, minutes and general correspondence. In January 2008 The Clerk was successful in achieving the Certificate in Local Council Administration.
Ordinary Council meetings are held in the Parish Hall on the first Tuesday of every month, starting at 7.30 p.m., with the Annual General Meeting taking place at the May meeting. The Annual Parish Meeting is held at 7 p.m. before the Parish Council meeting in March. Additional meetings are held as and when necessary. The Public may attend all meetings, but can only speak during the Public participation section. Agendas and dates of all meetings are displayed on the Notice Board on the Parish Hall and the Notice board at the top of New Road, as well as on this new website. The Council’s budget for the year 2009/10 is £8,250. The amount needed is raised by setting a “precept, a tax on all residential property in the Parish. It is collected for the Council by the Borough Council. Additional income of approximately £50.00 per year is received from the bottle and paper recycling facilities on the carpark near the Lamb and Flag Public House. One of the major expenses for the Parish Council is street lighting, which now costs approximately £1,300 per year. The figure includes maintenance and electricity supply. The Parish Council Insurance premium for the year commencing June 2008 was approximately £950. Administration overheads amount to approximately £3,500. Minor expenses include annual grants to the Church, and the annual rent of £178 for the Parish Hall paid by the Council as leaseholders to the Environment Agency, The income for the Playing Field is from the Cricket club for the hire of the ground for home matches, carpet bowls and yoga. The Insurance cover from the pavilion and the cost of the grass cutting are paid by the Parish Council, and this means that the everyday running costs are covered by the income.
In November, 2004 the Parish Council received a donation of £3,841 from the Gala 2004 organising Committee to help towards replacing the dilapidated play equipment at the Playing Field.. This is being held in a High Interest Account which is gaining interest. The Hall Funds, Playing Field Funds and Play Equipment Funds are kept separately from the Council’s other funding. A full set of accounts for all the accounts held by the Parish Council is available (usually during October/November) once they have been subject to internal audit and annual audit by the Audit Commission and copies of the Annual Return are published on the Parish Council website. In January 2005 the Council set up a steering group to oversee the New Parish Action Plan, which after much hard work was completed and a copy circulated to every household in the Parish. The Council have also prepared a Parish Emergency Plan, which has been lodged with the County and District Councils, as well as the Police and the local School.
The Parish Council are now beginning an exciting period. It is hoped that they will be in a position to purchase the site of the Parish Hall from the Environment Agency, and then sell the site to the local brewery. The Council are now making plans for the constrution of a New Community Centre and it is hoped that this will be at or in the vicinity of the Playing Field.
