What we do...

A parish council is the tier of local government closest to the people. A parish council is a locally elected body who represents the concerns and interests of the local community.

We are able to play a vital part in and can influence other decision makers and can in many cases, deliver services to meet local needs. We can make a difference!

We have a wide range of powers and in Pinewood these range from commenting on planning applications: highways, traffic, community safety, lighting, litter, rights of way and by providing and maintaining bus shelters, seats, litter bins, dog-dirt bins, notice boards and by providing a community hall.

The parish council has the power to award grants to community organisations for capital projects. In the past these have included funding a number of Neighbourhood Watch signs, supporting the Womens' Institute Sensory Garden project at Belstead School, grants towards improvement works in Belstead Brook Park, grants to charitable organisations that help those living in the parish and most recently in providing the majority of the funding to build the Pinewood Community Hall.

When we meet....

Currently we meet on the second Monday of each month in the Lounge Room of the Pinewood Community Hall in Laburnum Close.  All meetings are open to the public and start promptly at 7.30pm. See the link for the dates of the meetings for this year. Our District and County Councillors regularly attend our meetings and give reports.

Our next meeting however does not follow this normal pattern and is the Annual Parish Council Meeting which is to be held on Wednesday 23 May 2018 starting at approx. 8.30pm. This meeting  will follow the Annual Parish Meeting for the Parish of Pinewood which starts at 7pm. The agenda for each meeting is available one week prior to the meeting via the link on this page.

If you have any issues or concerns you wish to raise, come along and when the meeting goes into open forum for 'Parishioners Questions' then feel free to raise it at this point. Alternatively you may contact the Parish Clerk via email, telephone or in writing to raise an issue of concern and so that it may be brought to the attentiion of the parish council. If you would like to just come along and listen to the issues being raised/discussed then you are very welcome to attend. Please note that you must be a government elector for the area should any vote be taken.

Following a recent resignation from the council we now have a casual vacancy. For more information see notice of the vacancy on the document link down the left of this page or alternatively please contact the parish clerk for more information.