Holbrook Parish Council

 

Your Parish Council
The Parish Council is the first tier of local government and consists of a number of elected councillors from the Parish, supported by the Clerk.
Holbrook's Parish Council currently has ten councillors with one casual vacancy.
The Council was elected in May 2023 and will serve for 4 years until the next election.
The Chairman is elected each year by the council and is currently Cllr John Ambrose.

If you are interested in becoming a councillor in the future, click The Role of a Parish Councillor for further information.

Structure:
The full Parish Council meets usually on the third Monday of the month at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.

HPC has two sub-committees:
The Planning Committee meets only when required, for example if the full council cannot meet in time to comment on a planning application or if there is an application which requires extra attention. 

The Finance/Budget Planning Committee meet towards the end of the Autumn to plan a detailed budget for the following financial year to present to the full Council for approval.

In addition, The Reade Field Improvement Project Committee is a working group, chaired by Cllr Sally Ingleton was established to investigate the opportunities for improvement and grant funding for the Reade Field. The working group consists of at least three councillors together with representatives who have skills or experiences useful to the project. 

The Climate Action Working Group (Greener Holbrook, Greener World GHGW) is a working group of the Parish Council, but has many members of the public as well.  Meetings are held in The Methodist Chapel - the next full meeting will be on Monday 14th October, at the Methodist Chapel.  The Group will post information and tips onto the dedicated GHGW page on this website and also in the Parish Papers.

Individual councillors may take on specific roles for example monitoring plans or linking with another organisation. The current list is:

Village Hall Liaison	Councillor Ambrose
Alton Water User Group	Councillor Martin
Emergency Plan	Councillors Pittman
SALC Liaison	Councillor Stephens
Shotley Peninsula Tourism Action Group	tbc
The Police Forum	Rotating
Tree Warden	Councillor Allinson
Churches Together	tbc
Climate Action Working Party	tbc

Responsibilities:
HPC is responsible for the Reade Field, Church Green and Alton Green. It is responsible for a number of village assets including the war memorial, benches, street lighting and litter and dog bins.
The Parish Council must also be consulted by the District or County Council about a number of issues including planning applications, rights of way surveys and street-naming.

The Parish Council is funded through levying a precept, which is collected with the Council Tax by Babergh District Council.

HPC is able to make grants and a copy of the policy can be found under policies and procedures or grants.

Councillors must provide accurate information for the public Register of Interests which is maintained by Babergh District Council and information can be found on the following link:  Holbrook Parish Councillors Register

Next meetings of the Parish Council are:

Monday 18th November

Monday 16th December 

Monday 20th January 2025

Monday 17th February 2025

Monday 17th March 2025

Monday 14th April 2025 (note 2nd Monday, due to Easter)

Monday 19th May 2025 - Annual Parish Council Meeting     

All meetings will be held at the Village Hall at 7.30 p.m. 

Members of the public are always welcome to come along to a Parish Council Meeting.  There is an item on each Agenda which gives members of the public an opportunity to speak.  If you wish to raise something, it would be really helpful if you could notify the clerk at, or before, the start of the meeting.