So, my first meeting at national level, and very interesting it was too. Yes, it does seem that there are still some people who haven't really got the hang of Zoom (check the picture of you to make sure that you're both facing the camera and that the camera is facing you...), and the age profile is a bit like that of the House of Lords (which makes me comparatively young), but it's clear that the third tier of local government has adapted pretty well to the technology of virtual meetings.
And, as a gentle introduction to the upper echelons of the National Association of Local Councils, the Annual General Meeting is a pretty good place to start.
The Chair, Sue Baxter from Worcestershire, manages meetings briskly, which suits me fine, and the reports were succinct and to the point. NALC is in pretty good financial shape, which is reassuring, and there's evidently a wide range of knowledge and experience, which helps.
We cast a few votes, to adopt the annual report, to agree the increase in membership fees and to adopt the budget, and there weren't any evident signs of dissent, with all the votes being won overwhelmingly.
The centrepiece of the event, however, was a brief speech from a junior Minister at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Luke Hall. His portfolio is regional growth and local government, and he delivered a speech which rather skirted our "asks" as a sector - we'd like direct access to funding rather than having to go cap in hand to principal authorities - and appeared to face issues of Districts, Counties and Unitaries at times.
He did refer to the Non-Domestic Rating (Public Lavatories) Bill which, whilst it has little relevance to Creeting St Peter, is of real importance to Towns and larger Parishes, who have taken on responsibility for public conveniences and have to shoulder the additional burden of business rates for public lavatories. 100% relief will be doubly guaranteed when it completes its various stages in the Lords.
The rest of the speech was somewhat weighted down with platitudes, but those gathered were particularly exercised by talk of further reorganisation of local government, with the proposals for North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Somerset raising issues about the relationship between Towns and Parishes and new Unitary authorities. It was clear that there are limits to the creativity of local people, in that it will ultimately be the decision of Ministers as to what proposals will or will not be accepted.
From a personal perspective, there are questions about devolution of power and adoption of services. If towns and larger villages take on service provision, what happens to small parishes like mine? Will we be forced to combine with other villages or nearby towns in order to achieve economies of scale, or will we simply be left to our own devices?
He didn't stay too long - about twenty minutes or so - and it would have been nice to explore more than the three issues that could be fitted in before he left, but one can only assume that his schedule didn't permit it.
Other than that, one thing that slightly puzzled me was that, in most of the organisations I've been involved with, the Annual General Meeting sees the election of Officers and the like, and it doesn't seem that NALC's AGM does that, although it does elect the President and Vice-Presidents. So far, I haven't been able to locate the Constitution, but it's only a matter of time...
We finished nearly half an hour ahead of schedule, which allowed me to get an early lunch, and I do wonder if virtual meetings tend to discourage the sort of meandering interventions which slow business. I guess that we'll find out when this wretched pandemic is over...
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