Parish Councils are the most direct form of democracy in England and Wales, being the first tier of local government. This tier of local government has had a variety of responsibilities placed upon it due to changes within the law relating to the Localism Act of 2011, the Audit and Accountability Act of 2014 and a number of other legislation currently being laid before parliament. This has resulted in a busier Council and, from a resident’s perspective a more local place to access information and raise concerns.
The Council is an elected body with eleven seats fill by Orford residents and one seat filled by a Gedgrave resident. The primary function is to ensure the at the Parish is efficiently and economically run using a proportion of the annual Council Tax income.
Please see below a link to the East Suffolk Council Register of Interests.
https://roi.cmis.uk.com/QuestionSets/ROIListByGroup/1
The Parish Council has a broad range of responsibilities some of which can be summarized below:
Provision of Playgrounds and Play Equipment
Street Cleaning
Statutory consultations on planning issues
Making representations to other local and national bodies, on issues that affect the local community
Working with the County Council on traffic matters
Engaging with other local Parish Councils on matters that affect us all
Whilst there are limited powers to make decisions, Parish Councils do have the ability to negotiate with, and the power to influence, those other organisations that do make the final decisions.
Orford & Gedgrave Parish Councillors also operate as the sole Trustee for New Orford Town Trust.