Our Policies and Procedures
Parish Councils have powers to represent and support their local communities. They protect local environments and provide local services and facilities. However, Parish Councils do not have a power of general competence - they do not have an unlimited power to do whatever they choose. Councils can only act if they have been given a specific power to do so by statute. This means that Councils are set up and controlled by Acts of Parliament.
It is important that Councils work within these statutes so policies and procedures are essential for ensuring that any business is conducted in the correct legal and transparent manner.
Our procedures and policies are set out below but some of these were revoked on Thurs 25 Oct 2012 under Minute 12O-6.6 to allow the Temporary Acting Clerk Ian Hutchinson work in his own style.
WFPC Standing Orders April 2011 (155.47KB)
Adopted Code of Conduct (27.95KB)
WFPC Complaints Procedure April 2011 (56.3KB)
WFPC Record Management Policy April 2011 (63.49KB)
WFPC Data Protection & Information Security Policy April 2011 (43.86KB)
WFPC Dignity at Work Policy 2011 (60.45KB)
Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Act came into force at the beginning of 2005 and encourages greater openness and transparency across the whole public sector. The Act obliges every public authority to adopt an approved Publication Scheme. The intention of a Publication Scheme is to require authorities to make certain kinds of information routinely available to the public.
The Parish Council has adopted the standard Scheme approved by the Information Commissioner's Office appropriate for parish councils.
ICO Model Publication Scheme v1.0 (54.79KB)
The guide below is a list of the current documents routinely available. Most of them will be found on this website.
How do I ask for information?
Requests for information can be made online, in writing, by telephone or in person. You must clearly state what information you are requesting and supply your name and address. You do not need to say why you want the information although it might help to find the information you require if you do.
WFPC Information Request Policy April 2011 (50.72KB)
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has produced some guidance on what to consider before making your request. Please see the link below:
When will I receive the information?
In most cases, the Parish Council will aim to respond to your request within 20 working days of receiveing it and if it cannot, the Council will explain why and let you know when you will receive a reply.
Can my request be declined?
The Parish Council will provide you with the information unless there is a good reason for not doing so, for example, if your request realtes to the personal detials of another person. It the Parish Council declines your request, it will let you know why it has made this decision. If you do not agree, you can ask the Council to reconsider its decision. If the request is still declined you can ask the Information Commissioner's Office to review the decision.
How much will it cost to make a request?
A lot if inforamtion may be supplied free of charge. However, sometimes you may have to pay a fee, either to cover adminstration costs, or to pay phtocopying or postage vosts, or because of the expense involved and supplying the information. You will be told in advance if a fee will apply.