Council
Governance
Remote Meetings
For remote meetings, Westbury Town Council uses Office365 Teams, live events. This is secure, allows the council to invite guests and up to 20,000 members of the public could watch and hear the meeting live. It also has the ability to record meetings, share information (agendas, minutes and reports), chat and the public can choose to turn on captions.
You can use Teams on the following mobile platforms:
- Android phones and tablets.
- iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Asset Register and Risk Management
Under the Transparency Act we are required to publish our Asset Register (as at 01.02.2022)
Constitution
Local councils, unlike principal authorities are not required by law to adopt a constitution, however they do need to adopt Standing Orders, and Financial Regulations and to have other governing documents such as a Members Code of Conduct and a Publication Scheme.
Local councils are required to have statutory governance documents, which need to be published in accordance with the Local Transparency Code 2015, as well as a number of other documents to help make its dealings more transparent to local people and businesses. The purpose is to enable local people to understand how their Town is being governed and how they can become involved in the decision making.
Town Strategy and Business Plan
Council Policies
Below are the policies that have been approved and adopted by Full Town Council
Air Quality Monitoring Device Guidance
Bad Debt Policy
Car Usage Policy
Chairing Meetings Policy
Climate Emergency – Action Plan
Community Engagement Policy
Communications Media Policy
Complaints Policy
Co-option Procedure
Disability Policy
Environmental Policy Statement
Equalities Policy
Freedom of Information Policy
Financial Regulations
Financial Strategy Medium Term
Gifts and Hospitality Policy
Grant Aid Policy
Grievance and Disciplinary
Health and Safety Policy Statement
Investment Strategy
Litter Pick Guidance
Lone Working Policy
Mayoral Policy
Member and Employee Protocol
Model Publication Scheme
Open Westbury – Terms of Reference
Privacy Notice – GDPR
Pandemic and Major Emergency Lockdown Response Procedure
Records Retention – Parish and Town Council
Reporting of Committees and Groups
Rewards and Recognition Policy
Risk Management Strategy
Safeguarding Policy
Scheme of Delegation
Sponsorship Policy
Staff Recruitment and Retention Policy
Standing Orders
Subject Access Request Policy
Terms of Reference Town Council Meeting
Terms of Reference Neighbourhood Plan
Training Policy for Councillors and Employees
Treasury Management Policy
Unitary Councillors Policy
Volunteering Policy
Youth Council Policy
Westbury Town Council aims to be a true guardian of personal data and will be compliant with GDP regulations and everything within this policy is pursuant to that objective. Where data protection is applicable this policy demonstrates accountability, fairness, lawfulness, transparency and security of all data held or used within this policy. Westbury Town Council privacy notice statement is available above to view.
How We Organise
The town council has a set of rules called standing orders. These determine how the council will conduct itself. Some of the items in standing order reflect national law, but most are just our own rules for procedure and debate designed to keep things fair and ordered. From time to time, the council will vote to “suspend standing orders”; technically they can only suspend those parts which are not law so sometimes the council will simply suspend a particular order. The most common reason for this to be done is to allow a member of the public to speak during a meeting – technically only members may speak so the committee can suspend its orders, let the person speak and then re-invoke standing orders to return to full council.
Protocol of Public Forum
Please click on the link to read the Protocol of Public Forum
Rules & Regulations
Westbury Town Council regularly reviews its working practices to ensure it operates within a legal, moral and safe framework and has the following rules and regulations in place, which are reviewed and published in accordance with current legislation: