Benwick Parish Council

About This Section

This section of the website contains as much information as possible about Benwick Parish Council, from the meeting dates to the minutes from past meetings. On this page is a bit of background information into the Parish Council, and you can navigate around the sections on the navigation bar at the top of the pages. If you have anything you think should be on these pages please let me know.

Benwick Parish Council are the lowest tier of government for the people of Benwick, the council consists of 7 people who are elected every 4 years, the last elections took place in 2007, where 11 people stood 6 of which were on the previous council (only Andrew Cade did not stand for re-election.) The new council saw only three members of the previous council get re-elected.

In the May 2007 elections Councillor Lyn Keppel-Spoor, who was on the previous council, and was also the clerk from 1998-2001, received the highest vote. Reg Few and Mark Chapman were also returned to the council. Reg having been on the council for many years now. This year also saw the return of Councillor Howard Langford who had not stood in the 2003 elections but had been a councillor for years previous.

The Role of the Parish Council

The Parish council conducts a number of roles. From the money it receives via council tax, as well as the money from concurrent functions the council organise the maintenance of the village verges and the cemetery*. The council are also responsible for the first stages of planning applications, where they give their recommendations to Fenland DC who have the final say in whether plans are passed or rejected.

The parish council also own a number of the street lights in the village, and it is their responsibility to ensure that they are working correctly, many of the newer street lights have been adopted by Fenland, and the parish council report problems should these ones not be working.

The council are also their to represent the parish in matters at higher levels.

*The current one. The Baptist Cemetery is "maintained" by the Baptists, and the one where St. Mary's Church stood is maintained by Fenland District Council