Policy Committee supports county association motions

The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) Policy Committee supported two motions submitted by county associations at its meeting on 16 July 2024.

The committee supported a motion from the East Riding and Northern Lincolnshire Local Councils Association on principal authority engagement with local (parish and town) councils. The committee encouraged county associations and local councils to frame charters with their principal authorities to help forge effective working relationships.

The committee also supported a motion from the Warwickshire and West Midlands Association of Local Councils on the reuse of graves. NALC will pursue this and engage with the Church of England, the Local Government Association (LGA), and the Ministry of Justice.

Zoe Adams, assistant research and communications officer at the LGA Special Interest Group for Municipal Areas (SIGOMA), joined the meeting and gave a presentation on their work, the challenges faced by their members, and local government finance lobbying priorities of certainty, fairer funding, and sustainability. The committee supported the ongoing collaboration with SIGOMA, particularly around creating new local councils in metropolitan urban areas.

The committee also reviewed the ongoing progress of the 2024/25 work plan, discussed NALC's open letter to political party leaders ahead of the general election, evaluated the election results and their impact on local councils, and expressed broad support for the LGA's Local Government White Paper.