About your Parish Council - what we do

(Click on the green bar above for notices).

Wye with Hinxhill Parish Council works at the centre of the community that it exists to serve. Councillors have no party-political affiliations, and being free from party political control they are independent, and able therefore to think, agree and work together for the benefit of the parish and wellbeing of its residents.

Some of the Council's functions are highly visible and have a direct impact on the appearance of the village and residents' quality of life, but other aspects of the Council's work are much less obvious. All Council and committee meetings are open to the public. Parish residents, the public and press have a standing invitation to attend these meetings, and are welcome to speak during the public open session. Usually this agenda item is at the start of each meeting. In a typical year (if such a thing exists), the Parish Council and its committees will meet about fifteen or twenty times, so there are plenty of in-person opportunities for residents to raise issues and ask questions.

Wye with Hinxhill Parish Council also supports other bodies that provide facilities and services for community benefit. For example, the Parish Council is the custodian trustee of the Wye Village Hall and the Recreation Ground charity. As such, the Parish Council holds the deeds of all the land and buildings in trust under the Public Trustee Act 1906. This Act places a duty on the Parish Council to assist the managing trustees of the Wye Village Hall and Recreation Ground Charity. The Parish Council appoints two councillors as trustees to provide liaison, and also appoints trustees as community representatives to the Wye Almshouse Charity and the Lady Joanna Thornhill School Foundation.

Parish councillors act together in the local interest to improve the local environment, initiate and lead projects, and get things done about the matters that people really need and notice - and care about.

These local environmental matters include public open spaces, footpaths, litter, village halls, the burial ground and churchyards, allotments, shelters, seats, signs and public events. The Parish Council owns and manages public open spaces like Churchfield Green and the public WCs, and provides financial support for the Wye Village Hall charity by managing the Taynters Field Recreation Ground under licence, and maintaining the play equipment. The Parish Council also owns and maintains the multi-use games area.

In 2015 the Parish Council protected Churchfield Green in perpetuity as a Centenary Field with a Deed of Dedication. This public open space forms a permanent memorial to the WW1 air crew who served in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force and flew from Wye Aerodrome. Seven of these casualties are buried in Wye churchyard.

In 2018 the Parish Council took on a fixed rate loan of £100,000 from the Public Works Loan Board to enable the Wye Village Hall charity to secure match funding and complete the refurbishment of the Large Village Hall and Reece Pavilion, and other works.

In 2021 the Parish Council embarked on Wye Revives, an amitious project to secure the redundant Wye Methodist Church for use as a community hub, and to extend the number of community meeting spaces and facilities available in Wye Village Hall.

In 2022 the Parish Council nominated the redundant Wye Methodist Church in Bridge Street as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), and in 2023 the Parish Council succeeded in buying the freehold.

Also in 2023 the Parish Council planted an oak tree on Churchfield Green to mark her late Majesty the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, as part of the Queen's Green Canopy tree planting initative.

Councillors are also elected to represent local views, and apply local knowledge to influence decisions made by Ashford Borough Council, Kent County Council and other bodies. For example, decisions about planning, library closure, policing, the Community Warden service, speed, street lighting and parking restrictions, flood prevention and community resilience.

The Parish Council is also able to show leadership, mobilise, equip and insure volunteers, and raise external funding for projects of public benefit. Recent examples include the Jungle and MUGA projects, and the Our Place Wye programme. With volunteer help, the Parish Council secured over £130,000 in external funding for these projects.

The Parish Council maintains several public open spaces around Wye. These include the parish churchyard; Churchfield and Beanfield allotments and the burial ground; equipped play areas, including the Recreation Ground and MUGA; Churchfield Green, (but not The Green, beside the Latin School); the Jungle natural play area, and the public toilets by Wye Co-op.

The Parish Council also undertakes routine street cleaning and litter picking, footpath clearing and other practical maintenance, and seasonal tasks like sweeping leaves and spreading grit on icy pavements, cleaning road signs and reporting faults e,g, blocked drains and faulty street lights.

The Council supports an increasing range of projects to benefit different groups, attract tourists, and to encourage jobs and balanced economic development. These work areas help to build community wellbeing and resilience.

The adopted Wye Neighbourhood Plan 2030 policies support these social, economic and environmental aims.

You can find more details in the A to Z of Services.

For further information about the Parish Council, please contact the Parish Clerk.

The Parish Council is a corporate body, established by Statute in 1894. The Council is constituted to have nine councillors, who meet to make collective decisions, and a Parish Clerk who acts on its behalf as the Council's officer. Parish councillors are public office holders who serve a four year term. They receive no payment for their time, but as office holders they are not volunteers.

Wye's parish councillors:

• listen to and represent the views and concerns of parish residents;
• meet to make decisions, and act in the best interests of the community;
• deal with Ashford Borough Council, Kent County Council and other bodies;
• engage with residents and keep them informed about parish issues;
• are accountable to the parish electorate for their actions.
• Adapted from the Governance Toolkit for Parish and Town Councils (2009)

Councillors decide matters collectively and prioritise the nature of the work that the Council will undertake. They also decide how facilities and services will be provided, and set the annual budget and precept. Councillors have collective responsibility to ensure that public money is used wisely, and that the Council's financial management systems are sound. The Council must also maintain adequate reserves throughout the year, and be able to deliver the facilities and services that it has agreed to provide.

As soon as possible after they are elected each parish councillor must sign a Declaration of Acceptance, and give a written undertaking to observe the Council's Code of Conduct, before they take their seat. Parish councillors also have a duty to prepare for, attend and participate in Council meetings.

To be effective, each individual councillor must understand and able to balance the different needs of groups in the community (such as young and elderly people). Occasionally situations arise when there is a conflict of interests which requires sensitive judgement; for example, dog owners and the parents of young children might disagree about use of, say, Churchfield Green, which is now owned and managed by the Parish Council. Balancing views, and reaching difficult decisions in public meetings, in a fair, open and reasoned way, is a key part of the Council's purpose. In summary:

Councillors must:

• abide by the Kent Code of Conduct, and national rules about councillors' interests, (set down in the Localism Act 2011 and The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012).

Councillors should:

• attend meetings when summoned to do so by the Proper Officer (the Parish Clerk)
• consider, in advance of the meeting, the agenda items, and any related documents
• take part in meetings and consider all the relevant facts and issues on matters which require a decision, including the views of others expressed at the meeting
• take part in voting, and respect majority decisions
• represent the interests of the whole electorate of the parish, not just those people who voted for them.

Since 1999 the Parish Council's meeting agendas have included a public open session. Usually the agenda provides time for public contributions near the start of each meeting. This item enables members of the public to speak on any matters on the agenda, before councillors discuss them. Members of the public may also raise other issues with the Chairman's permission, but by law the Council may not discuss issues if they do not relate directly to an item on the published agenda for that meeting. This ensures that councillors and members of the public have at least three clear working days' notice of all the matters on each agenda item, and time to prepare and be ready to make decisions.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the Parish Council met virtually via Microsoft Teams video and audio conferencing software. Since May 2021 the Parish Council has met in a hybrid format. Please follow the link on the Agenda and Minutes page to view hybrid meetings, and for information about how to take part in the public session at a hybrid meeting.

All Council and Committee meetings where decisions are made are held in public. Only sensitive matters e.g. personnel, commercial contracts and legal advice are considered in closed session.

Parish Council meetings are normally held at 18.45 on the 1st Tuesday of each month in the Reece Pavillion. The agenda for each meeting is published at least three days in advance on the public notice boards and online under Agenda and Minutes. Please see the diary section for more information and to confirm the venue. Each meeting starts with a public open session.

• From the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 all meetings were held virtually, until 6th May 2021.
• From 7th May 2021 to November 2024 meetings adopted a 'hybrid' format for public safety reasons. Therefore, while all decision-making meetings must be held in-person and in public, they are also viewable remotely by the public, via MS Teams.
• From November 2024 meetings are held in public at the Reece Pavillion pending a review of policy and availability of the FMC for public meetings
• The Parish Council has a scheme of delegation in place to enable key functions to continue in the event of further lockdowns, and times of high risk.

When matters arise that require an urgent decision the Clerk may call an extraordinary meeting between the regular meeting dates. These extraordinary meetings are held in public and are advertised and managed in the same way as regular meetings.

Currently, the Council has three seats open for co-option. Please contact the Clerk via the 'Contact us' page.

When Parish Councillors take office they must sign the Code of Conduct, and undertake to disclose any pecuniary interests that either they or their spouses have that could affect their role as a Councillor.

In summary, the Localism Act 2011 requires councillors to disclose details of any employment, property ownership, contract or tenancies with the council, sponsorship, or shareholding.

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI's) must be disclosed and registered within 28 days of election. If not already disclosed, a member must disclose a DPI at any meeting at which an item affecting a DPI is being considered. Any new DPI's must be disclosed to the Monitoring Officer within 28 days.

Councillors must not participate or vote in any discussion on any matter in which they have declared a DPI, unless prior dispensation permitting this has been provided. They will need to leave the meeting for the whole of the discussion on that item.

If, without reasonable excuse a councillor fails to comply with these rules, they may be found guilty of a criminal offence, and be liable to a maximum fine of £5,000 and be disqualified from office for up to five years.

A councillor may also declare an Other Significant Interest (OSI) if they have an interest that is significant, but not pecuniary. In this case they will be permitted to speak on the item, but will be required to leave the meeting for the vote.

For transparance, a councillor may also make a voluntary declaration regarding an agenda item, that is neither a DPI nor an OSI.

The Register of Members' Interests is available online or in hard copy from the Clerk and the Monitoring Officer at Ashford Borough Council.

Financial and procedural matters are subject to an annual audit.

Click on the green bar above to see the adopted Kent Code of Conduct, and Wye Parish Council's Standing Orders and Financial Regulations.

Click on the green bar above to see the register of disclosable pecuniary interests (DPI). These documents are copies of the register kept by the Monitoring Officer at Ashford Borough Council.

The Annual Parish Meeting (APM), is a statutory meeting for the electors of the civil parish of Wye with Hinxhill. This is not to be confused with the annual parish council meeting (APCM) which is a statutory meeting of the Parish Council.

The APM is a separate legal entity to the Parish Council. Therefore the APM is NOT a Parish Council meeting. (Nor is it connected to the Parochial Church Council which must by law hold an annual parochial church meeting, and an annual vestry meeting). To add to the opportunities for confusion, the Parish Council has a legal duty to call, publicise, chair and meet the cost of the annual parish meeting of electors.

By tradition in Wye, the APM is the occasion when the chair of the Parish Council presents Annual Awards to recognise and thank individuals and groups for their contributions to the community and to village life. In recent years, in response to feedback from residents, the APM has become much less formal and is now a mainly a social occasion and an opportunity to ask questions and network. The APM is also a good time to inform residents about progress with the range of community projects in Wye with exhibitions.

By law the APM must be held each year between 1st March and 1st June, and the meeting may not start before 18.00. However, the format and agenda are matters for local choice.

Each spring the Parish Clerk invites local groups to write a short article to record their activities and achievements during the past year. The Parish Clerk then collates these articles and presents a printed Annual Parish Report at the APM. This provides an archive and the collation of printed reports avoids the need for a long series of verbal presentations. As Wye is a very active community the old annual meeting format used to take hours! The informal approach is proving much more popular with residents.

Have you considered becoming a parish councillor? Now is a good time to give the question some thought.

After each local government election the Parish Council lasts for four years. The most recent elections being held on Thursday 4th May 2023. This was also the election day for all Ashford Borough Council seats. In 2015, the parish and borough elections coincided with the general election for Parliament. The next election for all parish and borough seats will be held on Thursday 4th May 2027.

Wye Village Hall serves as the polling station for the whole parish at elections at all levels.

For further information please read the leaflet 'It takes all sorts' (link below) and contact the Parish Office more specific questions. If you are considering standing as a candidate at a parish council election, you can download independent Electoral Commission guidance and resources here. Please contact the Clerk for more information.

"...Everyone who's part of a community benefits from the input of other people to that community.

It makes sense for everyone therefore to do their bit and contribute; if everyone sat back and let 'other people' do it, we'd soon have no community organisations of any kind - voluntary, cultural, sporting, youth, or local government. And that's not even starting on the challenges one can meet, the things one can learn from such involvement, or the immense satisfaction one gains from being part of something that makes a difference in one's community..."

Cllr Talis Kimberley-Fairbourn, Wroughton Parish Council