Hi Everyone.
  
Although we’ve called this ‘Newsletter 5’, it's really just a brief addendum to Newsletter 4, in which we invited Scotland’s 1,060 active community councils to carry out a survey of local opinion. The basic question is, do the people in your area support the idea of giving community councils at least the same powers and budgets as England’s parish councils(?). 
  
To begin with, I’d like to thank the first four community councils for agreeing to take part. In each case, we have provided a separate questionnaire for their area: 
  
-            Elie and Earlsferry  
-            Overtown and Waterloo  
-            Banchory  
-            Currie
  
Actually, the main reason for this addendum is to reassure you about the idea of empowering community councils. 
  
Firstly, no-one is suggesting that community councils should be forced to take on extra duties. Rather, this is about giving you the freedom and money to do things that your communities want, without having to cajole reluctant local authorities. 
  
Secondly, the funding that parish councils receive allows them to hire clerks who take on much of the administrative and clerical burden. Here are a couple of web pages about the role of clerks:
  
My Working Life: Parish Clerk | CIPD
What is a parish clerk and how much do they get paid?
  
Just let us know if your Community Council would like to take part in this national survey, and we will send you a dedicated questionnaire link for you to publicise in your local area, for example in social media and local press. 
  
Best wishes,
  
Michael. 
  
Michael Gallagher  
New Powers for Scotland's Community Councils? (Facebook group)  
Scotland's Community Councillors Chewin' The Fat (website)
  

Dear Community Councillor,

NEWSLETTER NO.4 – INVITATION TO SURVEY YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY

In our last newsletter (no.3) we proposed a 3-step action plan, leading (hopefully) to a meeting with the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee.

As a first step, we invite your Community Council to ask your constituents what they think of the idea of giving Scotland’s community councils the same wide choice of discretionary powers (with matching budgets) as England’s parish councils.

We have set up a template questionnaire (click here) and will make a copy of this for you with a unique website address that you can promote locally. We will also send you a link to the results of your survey (like this example). When you have completed your survey, we will gather the results and publish them.

Of course there is no guarantee that the public will support the idea of empowering community councils. That’s the annoying thing about democracy – you don’t always get the answer you want. But at least we’ll know, one way or the other.

Anyway, we look forward to hearing from you once you have made your decision.

Thanks and best wishes,

Michael
​
Michael Gallagher
New Powers for Scotland's Community Councils?
Scotland's Community Councillors Chewin' The Fat
Tel 07476 494021