We require ALL parish and town councils to consult the community about how New Homes Bonus allocations for their areas should be spent and to provide evidence that they have done so. For allocations of £10,000 and over we will expect a GREATER level of consultation.
We will generally expect allocations over £10,000 to be used for new community facilities and services, or significant expansions to existing ones, rather than being spent on lots of small items or activities.
Once the consultation has taken place include the consultation results on the proposal form, how you consulted, roughly how many notices/flyers etc were sent out and what the results were and if there were any other suggestions made by the community include those ideas and if you intend to look at them in the future. Don't forget to include copies of the posters/notices.
Ways to consult with the community:
- Article in the parish magazine
- Posters on notice boards, in the local shops, pubs etc
- Hold a public meeting
- Leaflet drop to all residents
- On parish/town Website
- Through social media
- You may also email residents as long as posters, notices, articles are placed in parish magazines
What to include in the leaflet/letter/article:
- You've been allocated around £…….. New Homes Bonus to spend on projects that benefit the community.
- Your Parish Council would like it to be spent on ……. (give an example of your project idea)
- A short paragraph about why the Parish Council thinks this is the best use of the money and what the benefits are.
- Ask for ideas what residents think the NHB should be spent on
- Include ideas of what other parish councils have spent their NHB on.
An example of how to complete the “consultation” box on the proposal - see below:
The Parish Council undertook a consultation on the full amount of NHB available to draw down (eg £?,???).
We produced the attached article and it was placed in the village magazine “the villager” in March 2018. The magazine went to every house in the village (200 houses)
We also sent an email to our contact list letting them know who much money is available and asked for comments on the two proposal we have in mind and asked for other project suggestions.
There is also an agenda item about New Homes Bonus at every Parish Council meeting. This is for us to keep the topic current and make residents aware.
The attached poster was also put on the 4 notice boards in the village, at the village shop, pub and the village hall.
We gave residents a month to respond to the consultation.
We received a total of 50 responses from the residents. 40 people supported the two proposals we put forward and others suggested the following
- ….
- ….
At the Parish Council meeting on 5 April 2018 all the suggestions were discussed and the Parish Council agreed to support the two proposals and would consider the other options with the remaining NHB money in the future.
Think about how you want residents to give their views – e.g. tear-off slip, or email address for electronic responses and don't forget to include a deadline date.
Ultimately it is up to the parish council how you decide to consult the community, what we are looking for is clear evidence that they have been consulted about how your New Homes Bonus allocation is spent and that there is support from across the village for what the parish council is proposing to spend it on.
Once the consultations have taken place, include on your proposal the outcome e.g. how many leaflets were sent out, how many people responded, what ideas were put forward.
Applying for a defibrillator?
Please include on the form the following:
- State exact locations, where they will be sited
- Who and how many people will be trained?
- Does the cost include training?
- What type of defibrillators are they?
- Who will be monitoring and maintaining the defibrillators?
- How will you let the residents know where they are?