Hey, big spender!

It's the big night in Creeting St Peter, setting the budget of the Parish Council for 2010/11. Yes, I know, it's not as though we're talking about a vast sum here, approximately £40 per household, but it does matter.

I have agonised in the past about the effectiveness of small local authorities like ours, and reflected the local pride in doing small things well, and in representing the views of our residents. However, we as Parish Councillors are the frontline of citizen representation, so we'd better be competent, open and transparent.

There are some potentially enormous challenges for us in the year to come. Proposals for unitary government in Suffolk will open up a gulf between our village and the next tier of government and, whilst I have little positive to say about Mid Suffolk District Council, they do at least have a sense of what our issues are - unlike our district councillor, who rather relies on us to represent to her the views of the village - and are fairly responsive to them.

And so, three people, supported by our loyal and faithful Parish Clerk, will sit down this evening to agree a budget. Wish us well...