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Thurston Parish Council

PC Office Parish, Town and Community Councils are the most direct form of democracy in England and Wales, being the first tier of local government. Thurston Parish Council has been in existence since 1894, making it one of the oldest Parish Councils and, in 1994, celebrated its centenary with various commemorative activities.

This tier of local government has had a variety of responsibilities placed upon it due to changes within the law relating to the Localism Act of 2011, the Audit and Accountability Act of 2014 and a number of other legislation currently being laid before parliament. This has resulted in a busier Council and, from a resident's perspective, a more local place to access information and raise concerns.

The Council is an elected body with thirteen seats filled by Thurston residents whose primary function is to ensure that the Parish is efficiently and economically run using a proportion of the annual Council Tax income.

The Parish Council has a broad range of responsibilities some of which can be summarized below:

Provision of Sports. Recreational and Leisure Facilities
Provision of Playgrounds and Play Equipment
Provision of and maintenance of Street Lighting
Street cleansing
Statutory consultations on planning issues, working to influence Planning Authority decisions, based on Councillors local knowledge
Ensuring that the adopted Thurston Neighbourhood Development Plan reflects the shared vision for its neighbourhood
Making representations to other local and national bodies, on issues that affect the local community
Working with the Community Policing Team on policing in the village including the funding of a PCSO for Thurston
Managing a number of public open spaces
Working with the County Council on traffic matters
Engaging with other local Parish Councils on matters that affect us all.

Whilst there are limited powers to make decisions, Parish Councils do have the ability to negotiate with, and the power to influence, those other organisations that do make the final decisions.

In this section

Details for all serving councillors on Thurston Parish Council Code of Conduct adopted by Thurston Parish Council What is the role of a Parish Councillor? Roles & Responsibilities of those serving on the Parish Council Meeting Dates 2025 - 2026 for all Parish council and committee meetings Agendas & Minutes for all parish council meetings and committee meetings Finances inc. Financial Transparency Details of the council's spending of the Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy Minutes of the Annual Parish Meetings Policies, Procedures and Strategy as adopted and implemented by the parish council Freedom of Information Act detailing compliance with legislation Details of the parish council's compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations Details as to how the council operates under the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 Business Plan adopted by the parish council covering the next three years Joint Winner of the Village of the Year 2023