Communicating with residents
Do you as a parish council communicate with your residents regularly? Do you send out newsletters across the parish? Do you ever conduct surveys of what residents think about issues? Bob can design, arrange for the printing, and coordinate deliveries of newsletters and flyers; he can conduct online surveys using the system known as Survey Monkey.
Play areas
Do you look after one or more play areas in your parish? You may arrange for an annual safety inspection by RoSPA, but do you carry out more frequent visual inspections to ensure that the equipment remains in good condition? Having attended the RoSPA inspection training course, Bob is able to help set up a customised checklist for each play area and to provide training in how to carry out regular visual inspections.
Public footpaths
Do you look after public footpaths in your parish under the Cornwall Council local maintenance partnership arrangement? How well do you ensure that the contract that you let with a local contractor meets the specific needs of your local area rather than just being a copy and paste from the Cornwall Council scheme? Do you ensure that the right number of cuts are done each year on each path? Do you need help in writing the specification when going out to tender?
Project management
When you undertake specific projects within the parish, do you feel that you have the necessary expertise in-house to manage the letting of the contract and to oversee the implementation of the project? Bob would be able to provide that project management function if needed.
Training for councillors
Do you any of your councillors need additional training in matters such as code of conduct, planning, data protection, freedom of information, or a general introduction to the role of being a councillor? Customised short courses can be provided for your council.
All training can be tailored to the particular needs of the parish council and its councillors. However, to give you an idea of what can be offered, see planning training topics.
Website health check and other legal formalities
Bob is not a website designer but he is able to give your website a check to ensure that it is doing the job that it should be doing: providing the information that the law says should be provided, and other information of benefit to local residents and other interested persons, and that it is accurate and is up to date.
Are your standing orders and financial regulations in place and do all your councillors know what they are? When were they last updated? Bob can help with checking them and ensuring that they are appropriate.
