Description:Officials and visitors are pictured at the “Brains Trust” on Parish Council problems held by the Staffordshire Parish Councils Association. Seated left to right: Mr J Snelson, Mr G H Edwards, Mr G C Lowe, Mr J R McKnight, Mr E J Nicol and Mr G K Pullen. Please contact us if you recognise anyone else in the photograph.
Subjects ranging from the allocation of houses to the repair of stiles and footpaths were discussed by a “Brains Trust” at a conference on Parish Council problems, attended by parish clerks from all parts of the county, at the County Buildings, Stafford, on the afternoon of Saturday 5 April.
Mr J R McKnight (Hon. Treasurer), acted as question-master and the panel of speakers comprised of Mr G C Lowe (Association Chairman), Mr J J Snelson (Vice-Chairman), Mr A N Hillier (Staffordshire representative on the Executive Council of the of the National Association of Parish Councils), Mr G K Pullen (Clerk to the Lichfield Rural District Council), Mr E J Nichol (Midland Regional Officer of the National Council of Social Services), and Mr G H Edwards (Association Secretary).
A topic arousing considerable discussion was raised by Mr W E Ridgway, of Featherstone, who asked the “Brains Trust” if they considered that tenancies of houses erected in a parish should be allocated by the parish council. Mr Snelson replied that this had been a vexed question for some time. He said that he had heard that one parish to whom the allocation of houses was delegated had handed the job back to the rural council. Mr Pullen pointed out that in dealing with housing, rural councils had to take a wider view and consider the needs of the area as a whole. Mr A N Hillier said that parish council had no legal standing in the matter. The rural council was the housing authority and the final decision in every case must rest with them.
A question put to the team by Mr A Wood, of Fawfieldhead Parish Council, was whether there was any likelihood of the 4d rate allowed at present being increased to 6d or 8d. Mr A N Hillier said it was a thorny question. The National Association had been trying to get the maximum of 4d. increased to 1s. since 1946.
Mr E E Sanders, of Swynnerton Parish Council, asked the “Brains Trust” if they were in favour of recommending that clerks of the rural district councils forwarding to clerks of parish councils copies of the rural council minutes after each meeting. Mr G H Edwards said that the cost would be rather against it and there was the difficulty of separating rural district business into parishes. Mr Snelson suggested that the best answer might be a monthly newsletter, including matters relating to particular parishes. Mr Lowe commented that the question of giving information to parish councils was an important one and both parish and rural district councils would be serving the electors by exchanging all possible information.
There was a question from Mr E Balance, of Saredon Parish Council about the fire station built 50 years ago for the benefit of the village which had become redundant; he asked if the parish council had power to sell the property without consent of a parish meeting. Mr Lowe replied, a parish council could not buy or sell land or property without the consent of the parish meeting. In this case if the fire station was vested in the Charity Commissioners, their consent would also be required.
Mr V Clewes of Horton Parish Council asked why the County Council was taking over public footpaths in October 1952. Mr Nicol said that under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, the opportunity was taken of tidying up the law relating to footpaths. It established that footpaths were the responsibility of the highway authority, which was the County Council. However, it did not take away the parish councils power to maintain a footpath if it so desired.
The above information is an extract from an article with this photograph published in the Staffordshire Newsletter on Saturday 12 April 1952. Reproduced by kind permission of the Staffordshire Newsletter who retain copyright.