Bamford with Thornhill Parish Council

Bamford with Thornhill Parish Council is a group of local people elected by local people whose aim it is to look after the interest of Bamford and Thornhill parishes.
We meet on the 1^st working Monday of each month except for August, in the Bamford Village Institute at 7.30 pm. Any member of the public can attend these meetings, but cannot contribute to any of the discussions, unless invited to by the Chair. We also have a separate Parish Meeting in April each year, where members of the public attend and are welcome to raise matters of concern or interest. Bamford and Thornhill each have their own separate meeting. See Parish Council’s notice board and the Bamford News for times and dates of each meeting. We are a very approachable group and villagers can and do speak to us about matters that concern them or any ideas they may have between meetings. Members of the public can also raise matters by writing to the Clerk; these matters are then brought up at the next Council Meeting. The Agenda for each meeting is posted on the village notice board each month.
What does the Parish Council do? Why does it exist? It represents the interests of people living within the Parish to the next tier in our democratic system – in our case High Peak Borough Council, Derbyshire County Council and the Peak District National Park Authority. We also have a budget available to us that we spend for the benefit of the parishioners. The Council also owns property around Bamford and Thornhill.
The Parish Council is the first port of call for parishioners when things are amiss e.g. the state of the roads, pavements, footpaths, street lights, hedges, signs, bus shelters to name just a few. We report these matters to the relevant departments and try to ensure that they are put right even though this can be later rather than sooner! Our budget comes from the Parish Precept, which is paid along with your Council Tax, a grant from High Peak Borough Council and any donations. A significant proportion of this money is donated by the Parish Council to the local charities and groups, such as the Moore Memorial Hall, Bamford Institute, Bakewell Community Transport, Bamford with Thornhill Recreation Ground, the Parish Churchyard, St. John’s Ambulance, Hathersage First Response Team etc. The money is nearly always given for a specific item or activity rather than just a general donation so that we can see where the money has been spent. We also contribute to projects within the Parish. Recent projects include a Parish wide survey and questionnaire to find out what you wanted in your Village, improvements to Thornhill Town Well, refurbishment of Bamford Village Green and a face lift for the War Memorial. We have to comply with many legal requirements and regulations to ensure that your money is being spent responsibly and our accounts are audited. The Parish Council sees every planning application within the Parish via the Peak Park Planning Board. We have these plans available for anyone to inspect and we pass any comments plus our own onto the Peak Park. Our comments are designed to reflect the interests of the Parish and hopefully influence the Peak Park Planning Board’s (P.P.P.B) decisions. This account of Parish Council business is designed to give you just a taste of what we do at our monthly meetings and is not a fully detailed account.

Bamford with Thornhill Parish Councillors are currently: -
                                           Committees & Trustees
Sue Beckett (Chair)                          Bamford with ThornhillRecreation Ground (Trustee)
                                                         Bamford Village Institute (Trustee)
                                                         Bamford News (Editor) - Lafarge Community Information Group
Rachel Waterfall                              Press Officer - Upper Derwent Officers Group
Dave Ashton (Vice Chair)                Footpath’s Officer
Jill Gascoigne                                Bamford with Thornhill Recreation Ground (Trustee)
Gordon Danks                                Bamford Village Institute (Trustee)
                                                        Vice Chair of Bamford School Governors
Georgina Hodgson                         Property Officer - Bamford Sheep Dog Trials - Belles of St Henrys
George Platts                                 Standing Order Committee - Parish Churchyard Committee
Tony Priestley
Andrea Sidwell                              Bamford School P.T.F.A
Stan Stanish
Tony Hodges
Anne Celnick (Clerk to the Parish Council)
Councillors are involved in many aspects of village life and therefore come into contact with a variety of people in the Village. Hopefully this means we are a good representative of village opinion!
Councillors also attend meetings in the wider community such as: - Association of Hope Valley Parish Councils, High Peak Council Liaison Meetings, Peak Park Parish Councils’ Day and many others.
Anyone who lives or works in Bamford is eligible to be a councillor, elections are held every four years, the next one being 2011.
To obtain a nomination form, ring High Peak Borough Council at the Council Offices in Chapel en le Frith telephone 0845 129 7777
website www.highpeak.gov.uk.