Birchwood Town Council

 

 2nd May 2024 - Election of Birchwood Town Council Councillors

Birchwood Town Council has received information from Warrington Borough Council regarding the election of Parish Councillors for the Birchwood Ward.

Only Gorse Covert will be contested.

The Chatfield, Locking Stumps and Oakwood Ward Councillors have been elected without contest.

To read the details of the uncontested election for the Chatfield Ward click here.

To read the statement of persons nominated for the election of Town Councillors for the Gorse Covert Ward click here.

To read the details of the uncontested election for the Locking Stumps click here.

To read the details of the uncontested election for the Oakwood Ward click here.

 

About Birchwood Town Council

Birchwood Town Council is the first tier of local government, and is therefore the closest to the local community, followed by Warrington Borough Council.

Parish and Town Councils were created in law, and they can only act within the law, by exercising their powers and functions which have been conferred on them by Statutes (i.e. Acts of Parliament). Town Councils have a number of powers available to them, but the ability to exercise any such powers may sometimes depend upon a number of other other factors, such as land ownership, financing, or planning approval.

There is some confusion as to what the difference is between a Parish and Town Council. The answer is simple, nothing, they are exactly the same. However, a Town Council can elect a Mayor to be Head of Council, instead of a Chairperson. Birchwood Town Council chooses to have a Chairperson, and in May of each year, a Chair is elected by the Council. Cllr Joe Dempsey is the Chair of the Town Council for 2023-24, with Cllr Jacquie Sheridan as Vice Chair.

In order to support their activities, Parish/Town Councils need funds, and they are primarily funded from a small percentage of the Council Tax charge, made by Warrington Borough Council, to parishioners. This is known as the Precept. For the majority of Parish Councils. the precept is a small portion of the whole Council Tax Bill, and is the main source of income. The level of this precept is at the discretion of the parish, based on the Council's budget, and the number of Band D equivalent properties within the parish. Birchwood Town Council does not receive any Government funding, or income from business rates.

The Town Council campaigns on local issues, and lobbies other agencies (including land owners) to take action, or rectify defects, which are in the interests of the local community. It normally comprises of twelve Councillors, who are elected by the people of Birchwood. The twelve Councillors represent four wards within Birchwood; Chatfield (2), Gorse Covert (3), Locking Stumps (4) and Oakwood (3).

There are three Borough Councillors for the Birchwood Ward: Cllr Nigel Balding, Cllr Russ Bowden and Cllr David Ellis.

There are currently three part-time administrative staff based at Parkers Farm; The Clerk, the Responsible Finance Officer/Deputy Clerk and an Administration Assistant who, together with local Councillors, deal with matters of concern to local residents, on a daily basis.

Birchwood Town Council is quite unique, in that it has its own community maintenance resource, currently made up of a full-time Senior Maintenance Operative, four full-time and one part-time, Maintenance Operatives who tackle things such as litter picking, some landscape and horticulture maintenance, footpath gritting in winter, as well as many other jobs.

From 2017 the team took on some additional, intermediate grass cutting, on the Warrington Borough Council land located in Birchwood. This is done in between, and in addition to, the Borough Council's grass cutting schedule.

There are many things which the Town Council does on a daily basis; delivering and coordinating services, to meet local needs and striving to improve the quality of life in the parish.

All our staff are competent, and are equipped with the knowledge, support and equipment required to do their job.

The administrative offices are open to the public, Monday to Friday from 9.00 am until 3.00 pm, and the Maintenance Team is out and about from 8.00 am until 4.00 pm Monday to Friday.

 

Contacting Warrington Borough Council (WBC)

Birchwood Town Council Officers have been informed, by WBC, that all issues regarding queries on Borough Council land must now be made directly to the Borough Council and not via our offices.  For further information, please click here.

 

Meetings

Information about, documents, and draft Minutes for upcoming meetings can be found by clicking on the 'Meetings' button on the top menu bar and then choosing 'Minutes of Monthly Meetings' from the drop down menu.

 

Birchwood Climate Emergency Plan

A climate emergency motion was presented to Birchwood Town Council, and approved unanimously by Council, in March 2019.

Click here to view the Town Council's Climate Emergency Plan. 

 

Warrington cycle Map

To view a cycle map for Warrington, click here.

 

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)

Data Protection law has changed. On the 25th May 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation, known as GDPR, came into effect. GDPR imposes additional obligations on organisations and gives you extra rights around how your data is used.

We want you to know that Birchwood Town Council respects the information we hold on you and that we take the security of your information very seriously.

We have recently published a new Privacy Notice to give you more information on the data we hold on you, what we do with that data, who we share your data with and your new rights under GDPR.

Click here to view our Privacy Policy.

Alternatively we can send you a copy if you ask us to.