Burton Parish Council

In order to get a feel of what is happening at Parish level I attended the Burton Parish Council on Monday night. Having seen Hurn in action last week I was keen to see how this elected executive was dealing with local issues. I must say that again I was highly impressed, not just that the meeting was held in the local pub, a pint on a rainy Monday night is always welcome, but more that the local Councillors were so involved in the day to day running of the village and that residents attended to make sure their views were heard. The Safer neighbourhood team featured, clearly in control of the issues affecting local well being and subjects discussed covered just about everything from signposts to speeding, ditches to dustbins. All extremely positive and I thought very pro-active and forward thinking. I had to leave a bit earlier than I had planned due to another meeting but those that are interested can take heart that my conclusion from attending both Parish meetings is that parish democracy is working very well in Christchurch.As we move into the localism agenda the importance of these Councils will be even more relevant and I am comfortable as a result of my visits that all the structure exists to ensure local issues are in the main dealt with at a local level.