Council and Financial Information

Smeeton Westerby Parish Council has five Councillors with Cllr. Michael Coltman as the current elected Chairman.

All Councillors are equally responsible for all parish council matters, with no individual councillor given specific responsibility for handling any parish matters on behalf of the council.

Powers and Duties of a Parish Council

The powers and duties of Parish Councils in England are set out in the 1979 Local Government Act and its various amendments. Although its powers are not as extensive as those of county and district councils, a local council should not be regarded as being subordinate to either of those tiers of local government. A local council, being at grass roots level, has an important role in the local government field, representing the community which it is elected to serve.

The income and expenditure budget for each year is approved by the Council. At the same meeting, the precept required from Harborough District Council is agreed. The Parish Council may from time to time increase the precept because of pressures on the budget, but this represents a small increase per household in the Parish Council Tax element. In compliance with the Transparency Code for smaller authorities please see below details of Smeeton Westerby Parish Council's Financial Transactions for the last financial year.