Home> Meeting Minutes>Meeting Minutes 2024-2025>Parish Council Minutes December 2024>Communications Strategy

Communications Strategy

Managing Parish Council Communication

PDF Version for Download

Report to Sticklepath Parish Council November 2024

This report was originally created by Cllr Derek Moore in April 2024, but not taken forward due to lack of support and time constraints in Council and Clerk availability. I would like to thank Cllr Moore for the basis of this report, which I have now adapted.

A Managing Incoming Correspondence

Background

We need to consider what it is essential for Councillors to receive as part of their specific responsibilities within a Parish Council.

Councillors have a responsibility to be aware of many aspects of public policy and decisions which affect this area, and need to make their own arrangements to use media sources and contacts with Agencies appropriately.

However, it is also important to rationalise some of the traffic to manageable levels for the Clerk and Councillors alike. At the moment, critical Council communication is getting lost in the large number of emails forwarded to Councillors. Moreover, some of the notices we receive are duplications, or they have been issued through many other sources. We are being asked to increase the public access to the information, for example through our Village Website. It is an important role of a Parish Council to communicate with the Community and disseminate relevant information from higher authorities. We are the level of government which should be frequently in contact with the community; this should also be a two-way conversation, but that is not within the scope of this report. West Devon Borough Council (WDBC) forward press releases to all Clerks with the intention that they are propagated to the communities.

Whilst we have used an online voting system to decide whether to advertise notices on the village notice board or Village Website, this has led to some delays, but also additional work which these proposals should prevent.

In many Parish Councils, there is less demand for the levels of communication to which we have become accustomed.  These often use close collaboration between the Clerk and the Chair to ensure that there is sufficient time and resources to be able to meet its essential requirements/obligations and to meet its specific objectives within agreed timescales. These proposals are made to assist both in managing one specific area of workload.

Councillors can personally seek out information through local media e.g. Beacon, Okehampton Times, Moorlander. This also includes online media such as the Sticklepath Community Facebook page – but there are many other similar sites which inform us of activities in neighbouring areas.

There are a lot of other emails received by the Clerk, not specifically mentioned below, which I will delete, read through for information or occasionally forward. I hope that you will continue to trust my decisions as to what I forward, and let me know if you think I’ve made a mistake.

Proposals

  1. Decisions on Publishing Information – Where possible the publishing of external information on the website and noticeboard should be decided at the Council meeting by agreement of the Council. Between meetings, when time is of the essence, The Clerk and Chair (or in his absence the Vice-Chair) should decide which items should be published. Any councillor wishing an item to be posted on the website should contact the Clerk with details. The following items will always be published, other categories to always be published can be agreed by the Council:
    Changes to 6A Bus Services
    Road Closures
    Okehampton Hospital Campaign Updates
  2. Stopping Newsletter Forwarding – The Clerk should no longer forward the following categories of email. Councillors should (if they wish) register directly with the organisations to gain direct access to newsletters and in some cases their websites. It is particularly recommended that Councillors should register with DALC. Any items specifically of interest to Sticklepath Parish Council will still be raised by the Clerk and if agreed by the Chair and Vice-Chair, or a majority of other Councillors, will be added to the agenda. Councillors should also raise any items that they feel of importance with the Clerk. Information on items already being discussed may be added to the Shared Folder or Clerk’s report. Action required by Councillors.
    DALC Newsletters –  register for our website, and sign up to receive our newsletters
    DCC Newsletters –     manage subscription
    West Devon Climate Change & Biodiversity Newsletter –     manage subscription
  3. Essential Correspondence – The following correspondence will always be forwarded, but will also be available on the shared folder.
    DNPA Planning Applications
    Items due to go on the website
  4. Planning Monitoring – The Clerk will no longer monitor the DNPA or WDBC lists of planning applications for information on applications in neighbouring parishes, and will trust that DNPA will consult on ones in Sticklepath.
  5. Targeted correspondence – Where the Clerk identifies that there is a Councillor, Committee or Team with a specific area of responsibility, this to be forwarded only to them by email for action and decisions as to who else might need the information.
  6. Playing Field – The Clerk receives a large number of advertisements relating to playing field equipment. The Playing Field Committee should appoint one of their members to liaise with the clerk to ensure that playingfield@sticklepath.org can be subscribed to that information and the Clerk can then unsubscribe. Where the information is not applicable, a list should be made so that irrelevant information can always be deleted. Action required by Playing Field Committee/Clerk.
  7. Communication by WhatsApp – This has proved to be useful for alerts e.g. for Councillors to access a specific email. It has also been used to provide updates on actions e.g. by the Road Warden, or if there needs to be other responses. However, it must be noted that this medium might appear confidential/end to end encrypted, it is still liable to data protection and access to information requests. Its use as a method of seeking decision making; linking to online polls has not proven that successful and may obscure open and transparent practice required of a Council. It should be used carefully and as a support only to other forms of communication e.g. phone calls, emails and reports. The Clerk will use WhatsApp to let Councillors know when a new document is available on the Shared Drive, rather than forwarding some documents such as the WDBC and DCC Councillor reports, and reports from other Councillors, grant requests etc.

B Outgoing Correspondence

Guidance for Correspondence by Councillors, including press releases and social media.

Any letter/email, media release or online post published on behalf of the Parish Council will either be prepared by the Clerk or should be copied to the Clerk. Media releases and online posts should be approved by the Clerk before publication if possible. This enables some accepted standard for the Council and ensures that we adhere to the Code of Conduct and relevant legislation, but it also ensures that it is collated as part of the report on correspondence.

Key points

  • All correspondence and media releases should be brief and ‘businesslike’ as expected from any level of Local Government
  • It is important that Councillors set out clearly in their communications whether it is sent on behalf of the Council or as a personal representation.
  • Confidential information should generally not be disclosed
  • Obligations under data protections rules and legislation must be observed
  • Consider carefully forwarding or sharing third party communication, in case it could be affected by copyright rules or could be considered defamatory material

Official role or private capacity

Councillors should bear in mind that if communications are made public, even if they are sent in a private capacity, the media and the wider general public may not make the distinction.

Confidential information

It is advisable that Councillors consider when making a communication, whether by letter, email or social media, that it could be made public, even if it is marked ‘confidential’. In exceptional circumstances, confidential information could be disclosed if it is considered to be in the public interest ( more Guidance through the Clerk or from  https://www.local.gov.uk/basics-communicating-residents-colleagues-and-officers )

Data protection

The Data Protection Act 1998 makes requirements as to how data is used, which makes it important to consult with the Clerk, as the Information Commissioners Office may need to be informed. There is a useful guide available at https://ico.org.uk/

Copyright

It is important to consider copyright in communications that involve sending a photograph or printed material, especially if the items were photographed or written by a third party. The usage rights of any photographs on the website must be ‘Not subject to licence’ or ‘Creative Commons Licence’ with the appropriate attribution.

Defamation

It is important that any communicator takes care in passing on any material received from a third party if such material could be considered defamatory, as they will be as liable for defamation as the original party.

 

Sally Fullwood (Clerk) and Cllr Derek Moore
November 2024