Parish Council Services

In recent times, the parish council has taken on appropriate services that have a direct impact and provide direct benefit to the local community. These services are listed below. But with the imminent major changes undergoing in local government, there will be a new county authority from 1 April 2009 following the abolition of Cornwall County Council and the six District Councils in Cornwall. This major change will impact upon local parish councils and it is with this in mind that Feock Parish Council is currently reviewing what services may more appropriately be delivered to the community under new delegated arrangements. However, these services are only under discussion at this time. So, watch this space!

Current service delivery by the parish council.

Local Maintenance Partnerships – Rights of Way
It is the legal responsibility of the County Council under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to maintain the footpaths, bridleways and byways in the county. However, responsibility for the maintenance of the local network has been passed to Feock Parish Council under the above partnership agreement. (For full details of the footpath network, go to http://mapping.cornwall.gov.uk/website/prow/ You will need to register to accept the terms and conditions of using the interaction mapping service before you can proceed on the site.

If you wish to comment on the condition of any of the parts of the network, please use the Links page quoting the appropriate network number and details of the problem/obstruction. We will do our best to make sure the issue is looked at as soon as possible and report back to you what action will be taken.

Grass Cutting & weed control
At the present time, the parish council deliver grass cutting services using sub-contractors at the following locations:

General maintenance
Feock Parish Council also takes responsibility for maintaining certain property and assets that it either owns or, for which it is trustee. These are:

Planning
Feock Parish Council has a special arrangement with Carrick District Council to receive copies of all planning applications in the parish, which are then displayed at the parish office for the community to examine. The council members meet every month to discuss the applications as part of their general responsibilities as councillors. All comments on the applications are relayed to Carrick before the Planning Committee meet. Full details of all applications within the Carrick District can be examined on the Online Planning Register at www.carrick.gov.uk The parish council also involves itself in other aspects of planning, including the improvement of local planning policies and the protection of certain key areas.

Possible future service delivery involvement

The main thrust as to greater involvement in delivering services at a local level, is to set up closer working arrangements with the new Unitary Authority. The parish council will be able to bid to the Unitary Authority to take on greater responsibilities for local delivery of certain services. An obvious example of this may be to determine minor planning applications at parish level (currently the responsibility of the District Council). Others might be small scale transport issues, like traffic calming and signage, although the parish council already has devolved responsibilities in this area.

Whatever happens in the local government restructuring process, the parish council will take an active involvement in seeking a better delivery of local services, making sure that the community is involved in any major decision making. (See the Parish Plan page).