About the Parish Council

Your Parish Council team is made up of volunteers from the community and we all care passionately about our community and each do what we can to help maintain and develop such a wonderful place to live, work and raise families.

Chairmans Report

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What is a Parish Council?

Parish councils were formed in England under the Local Government Act 1894 to take over local oversight of civic duties in rural towns and villages.

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What we do

The Parish Council has the power to raise a local tax known as the “precept”. This gives our council an income of just under £52,000 this year, which the team allocate to support our statutory duties, other responsibilities and community initiatives.

The Precept for Bishop Middleham and Mainsforth is set at £123.56 this year (2023-2024), which equates to £2.38 per week per household for a Band D property. Most households in the Parish will pay this tax and our aim is to use this money to provide value for money services, amenities and to maintain the local environment for the 1,300 people who live in our community.

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Council Meeting's

Click the button to view the latest meeting Agenda

View Agenda 9th October

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Items to help you...

Take a look at our forms and our policies.

Forms Policies

How to get involved

The council meets in the Village Hall at 7pm on the second Wednesday of each month, except for August. The Agenda for each meeting will be posted in the noticeboard in Bishop Middleham and Mainsforth and on the Parish Council website and social media about 1 week prior to the meeting.

You will notice on the Agenda that there is an item for Public Participation. At this point the Chair will ask if there are any short points/comments that you would like to raise. Please note that this is not a question and answer or a debating time, rather an opportunity for you to make your views known to Council members or to bring forward new ideas that you would like members to discuss.

If possible, the Chair will give an immediate answer if he or she is able to, but the council cannot take a decision as such at that time. If the item is already on the agenda, then discussion on the matter and possibly a resolution will take place at that point in the meeting. (In accordance with our Standing Orders – no decision can be taken without prior notification on an agenda.)

If you would like to add something to the agenda, this must be submitted to the Clerk, parishclerk@bishopmiddleham-pc.gov.uk, 2 weeks prior to the meeting, to give time to make the necessary amendments before the Agenda is put out. If you are just interested in what is discussed, please come along.

Outside of the formal meetings, your Parish Councillors are available to speak with individually and confidentially should you wish. Councillor contact details are on the Councillors page. The Parish Council hold an Annual Meeting in May each year, this is a good opportunity to come along and meet the team.

Please keep an eye on the noticeboards, this website and social media for all of the latest information.

Michaelmas Fayre

Saturday 28th September, 1-6pm at the park.

More information.

Armed Forces Covenant

Bishop Middleham Parish Council are committed to uphold the Forces Covenant. To read the document please click here.

Newsletter

Welcome to the the first edition of our new village newsletter! We are excited to launch this quarterly publication as a platform to keep our community members informed about the latest news and events happening in the village.

To read the new newsletter please click here.