Do you care about your community, want to make a positive difference, have ideas for improving Hellesdon?
If so, why not join the Parish Council?
We currently have 2 Councillor Vacancies and are looking for individuals who are enthusiastic and community‑minded. For more details please see the attached advert and application form.
Completed application forms need to be with the Clerk by 12 noon on 7 April 2026
A parish councillor plays a key role in their local community, fostering and representing
the views and interests of the electorate. They are collectively responsible, with their fellow
councillors, for making council policy and are accountable to the electorate in their parish..
Councillors will often be asked by electors to pursue matters on their behalf, and they should work with council staff to bring these matters to the attention of the council as they do not have executive authority as an individual councillor. The key purpose of a councillor is to represent the views of their electorate.
It therefore follows that there are no circumstances where an individual councillor can issue an instruction to their clerk or a contractor. Likewise, a councillor must never act on behalf of the council in the organisation of any function or service and must ensure they make it clear, when speaking to individuals, that they speak as a councillor and not on behalf of the council as a whole.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
- To attend parish council meetings.
- To prepare for meetings and be properly informed by reading agenda packs about the issues to be discussed.
- To take part in meetings and form sound judgements based on what is best for the community and then abide by majority decisions.
- To maintain proper standards of behaviour as an elected representative and abide by the Code of Conduct adopted by the council, maintaining high ethical standards at all times.
- To participate effectively as a member of any committee or working party to which the councillor is appointed.
- To contribute constructively to the democratic process and to actively encourage the parish to participate generally in the government of the area and provide access to information where appropriate.
- To uphold the parish or town council’s standing orders and ethical standards (ensuring that the impartiality of council staff is not compromised).
- To take an active part in the parish or town council’s arrangements to build community capacity and promote measures that contribute to the parish’s vision and strategy.
- To participate constructively in the government of the parish council.
- To participate fully in the formation and scrutiny of the parish council’s policies, budgets, strategies, and service delivery.
- To influence and shape the long-term development policy of the council.
- To ensure, with other councillors, that the parish council is properly managed, always remembering that the clerk is accountable to the council as a whole and not to individual councillors.
- To keep up to date with significant developments affecting the parish council at local, regional and national levels.
- To promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of the parish, taking account of the strategic effects on other communities and the parish council as a whole.
- To work to bring about improvements through local projects, lobbying other service providers.
- To effectively represent the interests of the ward for which the councillor is elected.
- To represent the whole electorate; listen, and then represent the views of the whole community when discussing council business and working with outside bodies.
- To represent the parish council on outside bodies to which the councillor is appointed.