75th Annual Conference & AGM - 2022

The next session was awards and recognition, with the Chair calling for rounds of applause for the six clerks who have achieved their CiLCA qualification since last year, and the forty-six councillors who have accredited under the Councillor Development Framework (CDF). Mike also congratulated Irthlingborough Town Council for achieving "Quality" standard in the Local Council Award Scheme.

Danny Moody then read out the commendation for the Council of the Year, which was awarded to Moulton Parish Council. Danny said: "All great councils need three things: a great clerk, a great chair, and a great team of councillors. Moulton Parish Council has those ingredients in spades, with a small staff team that is led by a passionate, dedicated, and exceptional clerk." Danny added: "The parish council will be having a genuine impact on people's quality of life and health and wellbeing. Most importantly, the upstream money that this council is investing will be saving tens, maybe even hundreds, of times more than that further downstream. Just the services it provides that reduce loneliness and social isolation could be saving millions of pounds." The award was presented by Northants CALC President, Jeffrey Greenwell, to the chair of Moulton Parish Council, Cllr David Aarons, and vice chair, Cllr Geoff Paul.

Unfortunately, as Jeffery Greenwell returned to his seat, he miscalculated the step up to the stage and fell backwards landing on the floor to audience gasps and great concern from the top table. It was good to have three senior police officers in the room at the time who leapt in to assist! Jeffrey went off to hospital as a precaution, but I am pleased to report that after extensive checks he was able to return to the venue just as we were leaving to collect his car and drive home. He was very disappointed that he missed some of the 75th Anniversary celebrations, but we are all just so relieved that he was OK. Sincere thanks go to Cllr Donia Harker, a delegate from Roade Parish Council, who is a qualified Paramedic, and Marie Reilly and Mike Scott, who together ensured that Jeffery was well looked after before the ambulance arrived.

There was then a choice of sessions for delegates. In the main room Danny Moody facilitated a discussion on the cost-of-living crisis focusing on what councils can do directly to reduce their own costs (e.g., energy), what they can do to help residents to reduce their costs, and what they can do to support other agencies who are trying to help residents. Suggestions from the floor ranged from warm rooms to community larders, and from community solar schemes to debt management advice. Danny's introductory presentation and the notes of the session are below. In the breakout room Chief Inspector Nathan Murray spoke on Local Policing & Community Safety – Working in Partnership with Northamptonshire Police and highlighted that to match the geography of the unitary councils in the county, there is now the North and West Local Policing Area, along with a Countywide Community Safety Department. One focus of the force strategy is local policing, and this is partially being fuelled from the Locally Identified Priorities (LIP) surveys. During the questions, the need for communication streams to be centralised was raised – as well as issues relating to speeding and the relevance of Neighbourhood Watch to Northamptonshire Police.

Lunch was then served to all delegates and guests, with a choice of main course and dessert. During the break there was plenty of opportunity to meet the exhibitors and for delegates to network with colleagues from across the county. It being Northants CALC's 75th birthday, a cake had been arranged and, after a few words from Mike Scott, it was ceremoniously cut by Danny Moody for each delegate to have a piece. The cake-cutting was followed by a surprise award to Danny Moody for his fifteen years working for Northants CALC. He was given a glass engraved paperweight, a bottle, and some vouchers.

After the lunch break, delegates were split into two groups for a Question Time-style panel; one for West Northamptonshire and one for North Northamptonshire. The questions had been submitted by delegates in advance and in true Question Time tradition, the panellists did not know what the questions were until they were asked. Danny Moody chaired the panel for West Northamptonshire comprising Keith Stevens, Chair of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), Anna Earnshaw, CEO of West Northamptonshire Council, and Assistant Chief Constable Ash Tuckley from Northamptonshire Police. The questions included the role of parish and town councils in health and wellbeing, rural transport, remote meetings, civility and respect, and parish-sponsored PCSOs. Mike Scott chaired the panel for North Northamptonshire comprising Jonathan Owen, CEO of NALC, David Watts, Executive Director at NNC, and Chief Superintendent Adam Ward from Northamptonshire Police. The questions ranged from considering how to get people involved in the community and that "there is no such thing as a hard-to-reach community, we just don't know what mechanism to use to reach them", to discussions around how traveller sites were policed and when static sites would be provided by NNC (David Watts confirmed that the Travellers Plan will be released soon). A point was raised regarding how councils can partner to support each other and how local bus services are practically non-existent in the rural areas of the county. All the panellists were thanked for taking part in what turned out to be lively and useful sessions.

Chair, Mike Scott, then bought the conference back to order and asked Danny Moody to announce the winner of the prize draw. Ed Gemmell drew the winner out of the box and £300 in vouchers and a bottle of Prosecco, generously donated by Wicksteed Playgrounds, went to Watford Parish Council. It was presented by Jodie Midlane from Wicksteed Playgrounds to the Clerk to Watford Parish Council, Sue Porter, and Chair, Councillor Peter Incley.

Mike Scott thanked everyone that had taken part in the conference, especially the sponsors and exhibitors whose generous support enabled the event to take place at the Kettering Conference Centre. He also thanked the special guests, speakers, and panellists and the staff at Northants CALC for all the arrangements. In closing, Mike thanked all the delegates for their interaction and engagement with the sessions, which had made the event such a success.

The 76th Annual Conference will take place on Saturday 7 October 2023 at Moulton Community Centre. Put the date in your diary!

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