Community Council
What does Overton Community Council do?
Community Councils represent the people living in their local area at the closest level, because they are part of the community. When decisions are being made at a County level it is the Community Council's role to put your views across.
Community Councils have three basic responsibilities in making the lives of local communities more comfortable, many of which are taken for granted. Essentially these powers fall within three main categories: representing the whole electorate within the community; delivering services to meet local needs; and striving to improve quality of life in the community. Overton Community Council is a single corporate body and the decisions taken are the responsibility of the council as a whole. Community Councils are guided by Local Government Act 1972.
What do Councillors do?
Decision making – Through meetings and attending committees and reading relevant legal, social service, and NHS policies and documents, councillors decide which activities to support, where money should be spent, what services should be delivered and what policies should be implemented. This includes setting an annual precept or budget. This is a ‘pot’ of money taken from the Council Tax collected by the Wrexham County Borough Council that is ‘set aside’ to be spent exclusively on local needs. This is called the Community Chest.
Applications for the Overton Community Chest have to
be in writing with The Clerk by the 30th November
and
Applications for the Clwyd Community Chest
Grants of up to £250 are available for purchase of capital items and/or
running costs for clubs and organisations. The Grants Committee meets at least 3 times a year, thus ensuring that groups/organisations do not have to wait too long to hear whether or not their application has been successful.
Monitoring - Councillors make sure that their decisions lead to efficient and effective services by keeping an eye on how well these policies and services are working.
Getting involved locally – As local representatives, councillors have responsibilities towards their constituents and local organisations. These responsibilities and duties often depend on what the councillor wants to achieve and how much time is available, and may include:
Attending meetings of local organisation e.g. Twinning Association,
Going to meeting of bodies affecting the wider community e.g. Community South Safety Group.
Taking up issues on behalf of members of the public e.g. Traffic calming within the village.
It is important that you let us know when you have issues that you are concerned about – tell us what YOU want. Some Councils do this by running a surgery for residents to bring up issues, this is something we could consider in Overton. However any resident can contact a Councillor or the Clerk to discuss any concerns, or bring the issue to the Council's notice at the monthly meeting, which has a period of 10 minutes (7.20-7.30) set aside for members of the public to speak.
Once full council has approved them the minutes of all meetings they are available to all members of the public at the Overton library.
Who are the Councillors?
Mr Edward Broad
Mr David Burton - Vice Chairman
Mr Clive Hellingman
Mr David Hughes
Mrs Joanne Kember
Mr Rob Lawrenson
Mrs Jacky Maskall – Chairman
Mr Mick Pinder
Mrs Lesley Pugh
Mr Harold Toone
Mrs Catherine Starkey
Clerk to Overton Community Council
Mrs Katrina Chalk
Overton Village Hall
Penyllan Street
Overton
Wrexham LL13 0EE
Telephone: 01978 710055 E mail the Clerk