Header Image for The Orchards and Margaret Marsh Parish Council

The Parish Council

The Orchards and Margaret Marsh Joint Parish Council (Group) has seven members who, between them, represent East Orchards, West Orchards and Margaret Marsh parishes.

Meetings:The Parish Council normally meets quarterly, in February, May, August and November.  The May meeting also includes the Annual Parish Meeting and Annual General Meeting.   The meetings are held at Manston Village Hall, generally on the third Monday of the month, starting at 6:45pm.  Please check out the latest Agenda for specific dates and times. 

Agendas: are posted on the four parish notice boards and on the website, at least five working days before each meeting. Parish notice boards are located at the junction of Church Lane at Hartgrove, Vale Farm at West Orchard, next to the post box at East Orchard and opposite Church Lane junction at Margaret Marsh.

Public Participation: The public are invited and welcome to attend the meetings. There is a period set aside before the formal start of the meeting for members of the public to raise any concerns or ask questions. County Council ward members are also invited to present their report at the meeting. 

The Primary Aim: The Parish Council's role is to represent the interests of the local community. The Parish Council has limited powers to make decisions but can lobby, negotiate with, and sometimes influence organisations, such as the Dorset Councils when they are making decisions that affect residents. They are also a statutory consulted on local Planning Applications.

Funding: The Parish Council also has the power to raise money through taxation. This is known as the precept. The precept is the Parish Council’s share of the council tax. The precept demand goes to the billing authority, currently Dorset Council, which collects the tax for the Parish Council.

If you would like to become a member of the Parish Council please contact the Clerk 


Other Pages in this section:

 

Parish Council Responsibilities

Parish and town councils ensure that local voices are heard on critical issues, from planning and development to health and safety.

Parish councils are the first tier of local government and are statutory bodies, they serve electorates, are independently elected, and raise their precept (a form of council tax). 

  • Across England, there are 10,000 parish and town councils and around 100,000 councillors. 

Parish and town council activities fall into three categories:

  • Delivering services to meet local needs
  • Giving the community a voice and representation
  • Improving the quality of life and community wellbeing 

Depending on their size, they may run a range of services including:

  • Local services such as allotments, car parks, celebrations and festivals, community buses, community and leisure centres, litter bins, parks and open spaces, public toilets and street lights.
  • Improving the quality of life through the provision of community hubs, neighbourhood plans, funding community projects and services, suitable housing, setting up dementia-friendly groups, solar panels, tackling loneliness and youth projects, etc.,
  • Giving the community a voice on planning matters with principal authorities and developers, local police and health services, and the government.     

Services are delivered alongside Dorset Council, and there may be areas of overlap, depending upon the size of the parish and the facilities that exist within it.

 

 

 


Gallery Item 1

Applying to be a Councillor

The process for becoming a Parish Councillor is guided by the legislation and the local district council electoral office.

The process is led by Dorset Council every four years through the main local elections. The most recent elections were in May 2024.

In between these, the Parish & Town councils can co-opt new councillors to join the council. This happens when there have been insufficient candidates to fill all the available seats at an election, OR, a casual vacancy has arisen between elections, and there is no demand to hold a by-election.

To fill their vacancy through co-options, the Council is guided by its policies and procedures, which are based on good practice and the existing legal frameworks.

You can read The Orchards & Margaret Marsh Parish Council Co-Option Policy here.

This contains the policy and guidelines for the procedure we follow, along with the application form and eligibility form, both of which need to be completed if you wish to apply.

Being a Councillor

Councillors are elected to represent the local community, so you must live or work in the parish council area.

It is a rewarding role as you can help improve residents' lives. This might include

  • Developing strategies and plans for the area, helping with problems and ideas, representing the community,
  • Working with other local community groups, making decisions, and talking to the community about their needs and what the council is doing.

A Councillor's role has three main areas: Decision making, Monitoring and Getting involved:

  • Attending meetings and committees to propose, debate, and vote to decide which activities to support, where your money should be spent, what services can or should be delivered, and what policies should be implemented.
  • Monitoring how well things work to ensure their decisions lead to efficient and effective services.
  • As local representatives, councillors have responsibilities towards their constituents and local organisations.

The Orchards & Margaret March Parish Council can elect up to 7 councillors, who, between them, will represent the three parishes in the group. All decisions must be voted and decisions are made as a 'corporate body'. As the council is a 'corporate body', responsibilities may be shared amongst the Councillors, depending upon what an individual Councillor wants to achieve and how much time is available. Council meetings are held quarterly, in public, and all decisions are minuted. No individual can make a decision on their own for the Council.

What skills do you need to be a Councillor?

There are many skills that can help a councillor carry out their role. 

Some useful skills include:

 

  • being a leader in your community or at work
  • having good communication skills
  • enjoying partnership and teamwork, problem-solving, 
  • questioning and analytical skills
  • being flexible, adaptable and open-minded
  • being organised and having good time management
  • having some political understanding
However, if you have never done anything like it before, there is also a lot of training to help people become more experienced and confident once elected. It might be a steep learning curve, but it is well worth it for what you can achieve for your community.

 

Follow the links below to hear testimonials and learn more about why becoming a parish councillor: