Colerne Parish Council

All council decisins are taken at committee meetings.

The Full Council sits on the third Thursday of every month. Other committees have been set up to handle specific areas and these report to the Full Council. These committees are; Planning, Recreation & Allotments, Highways & Footpaths, Personnel, Finance and Assets and the Old School Charity.

The Planning Committee meets on the second Wednesday of the month. Other committees meet roughly on a six weekly cycle.

The Planning Committee can only make recommendations to Wiltshire Council, which is the planning authority. Its recommendations do not supersede any submissions made by any other groups or individuals in the village. All views are taken in to account by Wiltshire’s planning officers.

Parish council meetings generally start at 7.30pm and take place at the Old School. They are open to the public and the agendas are posted a week beforehand on the village notice board in the Market Square. The minutes are published as soon after the meeting as possible. The only times when meetings might be held in private are when agenda items of a personal or commercially confidential nature are being discussed. The council has to agree at the meeting to meet privately only for those items and explain why.

At every parish council meeting there is an opportunity near the beginning of the meeting for members of the public to ask questions, and residents can also write in before the meeting with questions or comments to be raised.

Outside representatives with particular expertise may sit on committees (eg the Cotswold Warden on Highways and Footpaths) at the invitation of the council. In addition the council is invited to send representatives to sit on numerous other bodies both within and outside the village.