Parish Council

Parish Council - May 2023
Priston Parish Council - May 2023 - click photo for larger image
(Left-to-Right): Nick Keppel-Palmer, Helen Burns, Guy Davies, Jocelyn Nichols (Clerk), Peter Hopwood, Bruce Clarke, John Lippiatt, Farah Downing

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Role & Function

Priston Parish Council is a civil local authority, and is the first tier of local government. It is an elected corporate body with seven Councillors and a Parish Clerk, and has tax-raising powers.

The Councillors work to address the needs of local residents. Liaising closely with Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&NES), the Parish Council plays an important role in ensuring that villagers' views are heard on matters such as planning, highways, footpaths and rural transport. It also keeps track of flooding issues, and has established the Priston Emergency Group (PEG) WhatsApp group to support reporting and response to local emergencies.

The Council raises a precept from the Council Tax to spend on projects relevant to the Parish. It also provides a Trustee for the Priston Educational Charity - a fund which provides grants for academic books to children living within the Parish. It is also entitled to nominate a Representative Member for the Priston Village Hall Management Committee.

The Council owns and maintains:

  • the village green;
  • four Defibrillators (see separate PRIDE page for details);
  • the phone box (decorative only);
  • Priston website;
  • Our Millennium Book (copyright).

Your Councillors

The Councillors are elected to serve for a term of four years (next election due 2023) and some have specific responsibilities.

Councillor Role* Tel. Email
Bruce Clarke Chairman
Planning Rep.
01761 470999 bruceclarke70@gmail.com
Guy Davies Planning Rep. 0792 570 9029 gdwdavies@gmail.com
Helen Burns Vice-Chairman
Footpaths Rep.
0783 795 3430 54nellyb@gmail.com
Peter Hopwood Planning Rep. 0754 088 9630 peter@millwoodproducts.co.uk
Nick Keppel-Palmer Climate & Ecological
Emergency Rep.
0774 786 3960 nick.keppelpalmer@gmail.com
John Lippiatt Roads & Highways Rep. 01761 471080 johnlippiatt6@gmail.com

There is currently one vacancy for a Parish Councillor, see Notice.

Contact the Council

Please contact the Parish Clerk or one of the Councillors if you have any matters you wish to discuss.

Jocelyn Nichols
Laira
Priston
Bath
BA2 9EB

Tel: 01761 470638
Mobile: 07734 069751
email: parishclerk@priston.org.uk

Meetings

The Parish Council holds six meetings a year, including an Annual Meeting (May). Meetings are held in May, July, September, November, January and March in the Village Hall on Monday nights at 7pm. In addition, an Annual Parish Meeting is held in March - note this is not a Parish Council meeting, although it is chaired by the Parish Council Chairman, and the agenda and minutes are produced by the Parish Clerk.

All residents are welcome, and may raise issues before the meetings start.

Agendas are posted on the website and on the noticeboard on the village hall at least 3 days before a meeting.
Minutes are posted within one month of a meeting.

Please see the Calendar for dates.

Higher Tiers of Government

Most of the needs of residents are taken care of by B&NES.  Although the Parish Clerk reports issues, any resident may also report matters via the B&NES website using the Report_It  link.

Please click on the links below for further information on:
Waste Collections

Contact our Ward Councillors - Fiona Gourley, Matthew McCabe,
Contact our MP - Anna Sabine.

The West of England Combined Authority is made up of three of the councils in the region – Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire. It is headed by a Regional Mayor and cooordinates planning, infrastructure development and industrial strategy across the region.