Councils: Who does what?
Council Owned Land and Property
FAQ’s
About us
Cottenham is a Fen Edge village approximately 6 miles north of Cambridge. It is a large village of around 2500 households and a population of 6200.
The Parish Council is the first tier of Local Government and is here to help the village.
We have responsibility for maintaining various open spaces in the village, keeping the communal trees tidy, providing recreational facilities and monitoring and responding to planning applications among many other things.
The Parish Council is made up of 15 Councillors, a Clerk, Assistant Clerk and RFO (Responsible Finance Officer). The Councillors give their time and don’t take any form of allowance. The Council normally meets every month for a full Council Meeting. Notification of meetings, and our smaller committee meetings, can always be found on the parish noticeboards, at least 3 days prior to a meeting, and on this website.
Any parishioner may have items considered at meetings, this is best done through the Clerk, in writing, or for more urgent issues the Chair and Vice-Chair are happy to be contacted.
Members of the Public are not permitted to speak during the meetings, however time is always made available prior to the start of a meeting.
We hope you find this site useful. Details of contacts and meetings scheduled for the year may be found on the site.
Transparency Information
The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 (the code) came into effect on 1 April 2015. The code is issued by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in exercise of powers under section 2 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980, and replaces any previous codes issued in relation to authorities in England under those powers.
The code does not replace or supersede the existing framework for access to and re-use of public sector information provided by the:
- Freedom of Information Act 2000 (as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012)
- Environmental Information Regulations 2004
- Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005
- Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community regulations 2009
- Sections 25 and 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 which provides rights for persons to inspect a local authority’s accounting records and supporting documentation, and to make copies of them.
Cottenham Parish Council meets the definition of a local authority covered by the requirements of the code, defined as ‘a parish council which has gross annual income or expenditure (whichever is higher) exceeding £200,000’.
The code requires local authorities in England to publish the following information quarterly:
Government Procurement Card Transactions
Cottenham Parish Council does not use a Government Procurement Card and therefore has
no information to publish
Additionally, local authorities are required to publish the following information annually:
Grants to Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Organisations
Social Housing Assets
The code requires that local authorities must publish details of the value of social housing stock that is held in their Housing revenue Account.
Cottenham Parish Council does not hold and social housing stock and therefore has no information to publish.
Trade Union Facility Time
The code requires that local authorities must publish the information on trade union facility time:
Cottenham Parish Council has no staff members who are union representatives and therefore has no information to publish.
Parking Account
The code requires that local authorities must publish on their website, or place a link on their website to this data if published elsewhere.
Cottenham Parish Council has no chargeable parking and therefore has no information to publish.
Parking Spaces
The code requires that local authorities must publish the number of marked or controlled on and off-street parking spaces within their area, or an estimate of the number of spaces where controlled parking space is not marked out in individual parking bays or spaces.
Cottenham Parish Council has no controlled parking spaces and therefore has no information to publish.
Senior Salaries
Local authorities are already required to publish, under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the following information with regard to senior salaries:
- The number of employees whose remuneration in that year was at least £50,000 in brackets of £5,000
- Details of remuneration and job title of certain senior employees whose salary is at least £50,000
- Employees whose salaries are £150,000 or more must also be identified by name
In addition to this requirement, local authorities must place a link on their website to these published data or place the data itself on their website, together with a list of responsibilities (for example, the services and functions they are responsible for, budget held and number of staff) and details of bonuses and ‘benefits-in-kind’, for all employees whose salary exceeds £50,000.
Cottenham Parish Council has no staff members whose salary is £50,000 or greater.
Fraud
The code requires that local authorities must publish information about their counter fraud work:
Cottenham Parish Council has no staff members undertaking fraud investigation work and therefore has no information to publish.