Your Council

Great Saling Parish Council is part of the three tiers of Local Government which comprises Parish, District and County Councils.  Five councillors are elected every four years.  Councillors are unpaid but have the services of a part-time (15 hours per month), paid Clerk to the Council.

The council has the powers to raise income by means of a precept levied on households in the parish and this is collected together with Council Tax by Braintree District Council.  The Council precept and expenditure is, of course, monitored annually by independant auditors.

Code of Conduct

The new ethical framework for local authorities which became fully operational on 5th May 2002 is an integral part of the Government's modernisation agenda and is intended to help ensure high standards of conduct in loval government.

All authorities have a responsibility for their own standards of conduct.  All authorities were required to adopt a Members' Code of Conduct, consistent with a model approved by Parliament.  Following their election, all Councillors are required to give a written declaration that they will duly and faithfully fulfil the requirements of the role of Councillor according to the best of their judgement and ability.  Coupled with this declaration is the requirement to give an undertaking to observe the Code as to the conduct which is expected of Members of their authority.

Members of Great Saling Parish Council fully subscribed to this Code and adopted the Model Code of Conduct in May 2002.

Parish Paths Partnership

The PPP is now up and running but we still require more members for the team.  The aims of the partnership include the maintenance and improvement of the footpaths and tracks in and around the village.

The work is not arduous and a lot of it can be done while walking the dog!  The initial work is to survey what we have and identify where improvements can be made.

If you would like more information or would like to take part in this important activity, please contact Peter Wells, Robert Bucknell or Clinton Cornish.

Road Safety

The Parish Council has had a meeting with Essex County Council (ECC) to try and get the problem of speeding in the area looked at again and to improve the maintenance standards of the roads.  We have heard back with some proposals, which are being considered, but we have a problem with information that we hope everyone in the Parish can help solve.

ECC keeps records of Road Traffic Accidents and use these to decide priorities for spending.  We all know of accidents that have occurred over the years but the recording system used by ECC only seems to identify accidents if someone is injured and taken to hospital by ambulance.  The Parish Council are aware of many more accidents than are officially recorded.

We have decided that from now onwards we will keep our own records of accidents which can then be reveiwed to identify problems and also be used in our discussions with ECC and the Police who are responsible for enforcing the speed limits.  We will distribute to everyone in the village an "Accident Report Form" and would aks that anyone witnessing an accident within the Parish completes a report and sends it to our Clerk or passes it to any Councillor.