After a charter was approved around a week ago, plans have moved forward to allow local councils to work alongside the County Council to benefit the people of the county and achieve their respective aims.
With the wider UK Government outlining plans to achieve carbon net zero and ‘levelling up’ the country, as well as the projects outlined in last week’s Queen’s speech, collaboration between local councils at all levels can only be a positive thing. County councils are responsible for social care, highways, schools, and other more major services, whilst parish councils are looking to generally improve the standard of life for their residents by dealing with the issues that are on their doorstep and this means that they will often cross paths as they look to achieve their goals.
Councillor Aidy Riggott, cabinet member for economic growth and development and member of Euxton Parish Council, said:
“Parishes have a desire to deliver things in their community and willingness to work with other partners, especially [the county council] to do that.
I think a great deal of good will come for Lancashire communities at a real grassroots level by us having better relationships driven by this charter.”
Cabinet member for adult services, Graham Gooch, said:
“The charter should be seen as a way of empowering parishes. Many of them could do more – and I think this is a way of stimulating them into action.”
The empowering of parish councils will allow local ambitions to be realised, with the standard of living in more deprived areas of the country on the agenda and the wider government closing in every month on its accelerated net zero deadline of 2030.
