Chaired by Ben Harris for the 2025/26 civic year, we balance heritage with a vibrant, inclusive future. Quainton Parish Council is a tax raising local authority that makes decisions on behalf of the people in the parish. Local councils are the level government closest to the community, and invariably the first place people will go with concerns or ideas. For this reason they are a vital part of an
y community. The council has the power to raise money through taxation via the precept. The precept is the parish council’s share of the council tax. The precept required goes to the billing authority, the district council, who collect the tax for the parish council. The Parish Council has a wide range of powers which are essentially related to local matters, such as looking after community buildings, open spaces, allotments, recreational areas, street lighting, bus shelters and much more. Parish councils make all kinds of decisions on issues that affect the local community. Probably the most common topics that parish councils get involved with are planning matters (they are statutory consultees, which means they are not the final decision makers), crime prevention, managing open spaces and campaigning for and delivering better services and facilities. It’s true to say that on its own, the parish council has limited legal powers to make decisions, but it does have the ability to negotiate with, and the power to influence, those other organisations that do make the final decisions (such as the unitary authority, health authorities, police, etc). In this respect the parish council can be extremely effective. The organisations that make the final decisions know that a parish council gives the best reflection of how a community feels about something, and its views will be taken seriously. Quainton Parish Council should have 7 councillors who stand for election every four years. The duties and functions of a parish council are many and varied. The Council meets monthly and considers planning applications and any other matters referred to it by local residents and other bodies. All meetings are open to the public and there is a public forum 15 minutes before the meeting at which members of the public can raise concerns and ask questions. There is also an annual meeting which all parishioners are invited to attend where the chairman provides a report on counciI activities during the preceding year. All meetings are advertised on the council notice board at the bottom of The Green, in Quainton News and online. Residents can bring to the attention of the parish council anything that concerns them, either directly or though the clerk. If matters raised are not the responsibility of the council, the clerk can bring them to the attention of the proper authority. Civil parish councils were formed in England under the reforming Local Government Act 1894 to take over local oversight of civic duties in rural towns and villages from the vestry committee. Parish Councils are generically referred to as "Local Councils" to distinguish them from "Principal Councils"
Buckinghamshire Council is the Unitary Authority, the Principal Authority that makes decisions on behalf of the residents in the county of Buckinghamshire, except Milton Keynes. Unitary Authority Councillors usually get invited to Parish Council meetings, usually to report back about issues that Quainton Parish Council has escalated to Buckinghamshire Council. On that basis Ward Councillors, who are our elected representatives on Buckinghamshire Council, remain in close contact with the Parish Council. As a body we hope to be an asset to you all by being approachable, supportive, diligent and wise in our judgements and actions. We are keen to hear your wishes and views and will do our best to keep Quainton as a happy and caring community. SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES
These guidelines are in place to help create a safe environment on all social media channels run by Quainton Parish Council. The aim of our social media channels is to create an environment where our community can engage safely in debate and is free to make comments, questions and suggestions. We ask that anyone engaging with our social media channels shows courtesy, kindness and respect for all other members of our social media communities. In order to help create this safe environment we have set out some guidelines which apply to any engagement with us or other members of the community on any of our social media channels. By engaging with our social media channels you agree to follow these guidelines. Comments must not:
Contain spam, be defamatory of any person, deceive others, be obscene, offensive, threatening, abusive, hateful, inflammatory or promote s*xually explicit material or violence. Promote discrimination based on race, s*x, religion, nationality, disability, s*xual orientation or age. Breach any of the terms of any of the social media platforms themselves. Be off-topic, irrelevant or unintelligible. Contain any advertising or promote any services. Breach of guidelines
We reserve the right to determine, at our discretion, whether contributions to our social media channels breach our guidelines. We reserve the right to hide or delete comments made on our channels, as well as block users who do not follow these guidelines. We also reserve the right to send any comments we deem appropriate to law enforcement authorities for investigation as we feel necessary or is required by law.
