Who we are

A little information about the current Councillors and Staff is available here.

We are a non-political council and all Parish Councillors are volunteers. Councillors and Staff can be contacted at the following address :

Backwell Parish Council, 43 Rodney Road, Backwell, North Somerset, BS48 3HW

What do we do as Councillors?

A Council must do what Parliament requires it to do and must only do what Parliament says it may do.

One of the most important things we do is to set a local precept (tax) for the year which is used to fund all expenditure by the Council. We give grants to local voluntary organisations who ask for help. This is not automatic and has to be approved by the Council.

We may put pressure on other organisations (i.e. Members of the European Parliament, or local MPs). We are non political and all Parish Councillors are volunteers.

Our Code of Conduct, adopted by Backwell Parish Council 4th October 2012 is available.

Part of the regular work of a Parish council is informing and contributing to North Somerset Council’s planning system. In addition we respond to consultations relating to major proposals in and around our Parish. For example, we have a Working Party looking at development of the village until 2036, trying to influence and inform the West of England Joint Spatial Plan and the North Somerset Council Local Plan and Bristol International Airport.

We organise several events to foster good community relations.

What can’t we do as Councillors?

A Council must not do anything unless it has a legal power to act, granted by Parliament.

This is most important as we have to ask this question when making decisions, especially if it involves spending public money. We do, however, have a power (section 137 local government act 1972) to spend money where there is no other specific power governing the action.

A little bit of history

Parish Councils (not now connected to Churches or parochial church councils in any way) are the lowest / most devolved level of Government and were first formed in 1894 by an Act of Parliament. Before that, all local matters were dealt with by the Church. The initial problem was the lack of literacy of the Parishioners. The leaders in the Villages were the Squires (because of their wealth), and the Parson. Even after the 1894 act was passed, it took about 60 years for councils to emerge as an effective level of local Government. A Parish Council in a rural area is the same as a Town Council in towns.