NPPC is currently looking for 2 new members to co-opt as parish councillors.
PLEASE DO NOT BE SHY!
It does not matter if lots of people put their names forward because the term of this Council has only 2 years left to run and so there are plenty of chances to serve at a later date. Like other parishes, North Perrott struggles to convey the importance of community involvement but if we lose our own parish council, then local governance will be passed to Crewkerne Town Council, and our voice in local matters will be severely diluted.
If you think you want to know more, please read on and come to the meeting on Tuesday 7th May at 7.30pm at the Hoskyns Memorial Hall.
North Perrott Parish Council (NPPC) consists of 5 members, drawn from the people who either live or work in the parish. At the last meeting, two members offered their names for resignation and so there are currently two spaces available for co-option.
Being a parish councillor in North Perrott is not an onerous job but a new councillor would be expected to undertake a basic training course (paid for by NPPC) and attend bi-monthly meetings regularly. You must abide by the Council’s code of conduct and standing orders, both of which are published on the website. The amount of extra work would depend on current commitments and projects, but are normally split between councillors so that they amount to no more than a few hours each between meetings. There are currently a number of long running projects, including minor road improvements and new village gateways. Future projects include a 20mph zone around the village green and the hall. There will also be consultations about how the community money from the Solar Park will be applied for when it finally goes online in about 2 years time.
A Parish Council has three basic functions;
To communicate the needs of the Parish to the next tier of governement above, in this case the Somerset Unitary Council.
To respond to requests for consultation from Somerset Unitary Council on behalf of the Parish, the most frequent of these would be for planning applications.
To manage and develop community assets groups within the village, usually a community hall, sports of amenity areas and a cemetary.
For historic reasons, in North Perrott the village hall, cricket club and St.Martins churchyard are all managed by independent community groups, which leaves NPPC with less manditory work to do that most parish councils. This does not mean there are not important projects to be managed but it does mean that commitment as a councillor in North Perrott is not as onerous or time consuming as it might be in other parishes. We do however, communicate with the bodies that run these facilities, help with funding where we are allowed and assit them in grant applications, where funding is funnelled through normal goverment pipelines.
The last parish council elections were in 2023 (to co-encide with the start of the new Unitary Council) and elections are generally held every four years. An election only actually happens if there are more than 5 valid nominations, if there are less, then the applicants are deemed to be elected without oposition. Whenever there are less than 5 members, then the existing Councillors are empowered to co-opt new members up to a maximum of 5. A quorum for NPPC is 3, if we drop below 3 members then the process becomes rather complicated and we risk losing our status as a parish council. There are currently only 3 members!
To qualify to stand as a parish councillor, you must be:
*British or a citizen of the Commonwealth. You may also be eligible as a citizen of the European Union, however the criteria has changed now that the UK has left the European Union. Please check on the gov.uk website for advice about EU citizens’ voting and candidacy rights in local elections. *At least 18 years old. *Registered to vote in the area or have lived, worked, or owned property there for at least 12 months before an election.
*If you have a criminal record or are in bankruptcy, you may be banned from serving.
This is not a long term commitment and now is an ideal time to dip your toe into the experience of serving on a parish council. At the end of the 4 year term (2026), the Council has to be re-elected, and although some Councillors choose to continue to serve, it is healthy to have a regular change to keep the Council fresh and effective.
The finger post at the south end of the village was kindly refurbished by Tom Winder and Chris Taylor. Thank you for a first class job.
There will be the Annual Village Meeting for North Perrott at 7pm on Tuesday 7th May 2024, to be held in the Hoskyns Memorial Hall
Following this meeting, the Annual Meeting of North Perrott Parish Council will commence at 7.30pm and shortly after that, a normal Bi-monthly meeting of the Council.
The Annual Village Meeting is a legal requirement for any Parish with a Council and is a short, open meeting without an agenda.
The Annual Meeting of the NPPC is a short meeting in which the outgoing Chairman makes a report and the Council elect their officers for the following year. There is also an item for the co-option of new Council members.
The ususal business of the Bi-monthly meeting will follow on and the Agenda is available on the Village website. Previous minutes are available by clicking here.
PLEASE SEE A SEPARATE POST ABOUT THE CO-OPTION OF 2 NEW COUNCILLORS
Ben and his colleagues held a well supported meeting last night with over 45 villagers in attendance. There were a lot of questions answered during the evening, some of which are listed below, which may be of some help if you were not able to make the meeting:
WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE DIGITAL SWITCH OVER? – According to the government website, this will happen between now and 2025. When this takes place, all land line calls will be sent digitally over broadband. If the speed of your broadband is not sufficient, the quality of your land line calls will drop significantly. When the switchover occurs, you will need to either have a full fibre connection or Openreach will need to upgrade their service to North Perrott. There is no indication that the latter will happen. You can test the quality of VOIP calls (Voice over internet protocol) at any time using an app such as Skype, Messenger or WhatsApp etc. At present, these calls are very poor quality in North Perrott because our broadband connection is very slow.
HOW FAST IS BROADBAND IN NORTH PERROTT AT THE MOMENT? – there are various options for getting broadband in the village at this time: from Starlink (fast but very expensive), 4 or 5G mobile routers (less expensive but limited in speed) and conventional broadband via your landline. The latter is termed Sub-fibre by Openreach, because their fibre network only reaches Haselbury. From there, it is carried by a pair of copper wires to your home. This is a considerable bottleneck for digital communications. Over the years, the speed of broadband has quickened significantly but the current equipment is stretched to breaking point and will be replaced with digital technology within the next 2 years. At present, Openreach will guarentee 12-20Mb/s for most areas of the village but those further away from Haselbury may be on contracts that specify only 3-9Mb/s. On top of that, the system is oversubscribed, so although the speed reading may register as 20Mb/s, the more people using the internet in NP at the same time, the slower it gets. This is because we are all sharing the same “bandwitdth”. A similarly would be having a water pipe with multiple taps on it. Every time an extra tap is opened, the overall flow is maintained but the pressure at each tap drops, meaning each tap has less water coming out of it. A full fibre connection will mean that there is no concatonation and everyone will receive the full speed that is shown on their contract.
WHO IS BEHIND WESSEX INTERNET? – Wessex Internet is a young, small privately owned company that currently has 7,000 customers. It is owned by James Gibson Flemming, a farmer near Blandford and is backed finacially by ABDRN, a well established company with investments over £300bn
WHEN WILL CONNECTIONS START? – The current schedule is that the infrastructure should be complete by April and connections will begin from May.
WHAT PACKAGE DO I NEED? – Even the slowest Wessex Internet package at 100Mp/s download and 15Mb/s upload, is about 5 times faster than our current Openreach connections. In reality, because there will be no bandwidth restrictions, it will not suffer from peak usage slowdowns, so in effect, full fibre may be the equivilent of upto 10 times faster that we currently enjoy. The basic package will revolutionise most households use of the internet and be more reliable and buffering free. If there are several householders viewing different digital TV’s or gaming at the same time, then it may be necessary to have a faster package. There is also the question of keeping up with technology. When full fibre is available, the jump in technology such as smart TV’s and gaming will undoubtably increase the volume of data that you seek to use. Please ask advice if you think you might need more than 100Mb/s download speed. Upload speed is also important, not so much for watching TV, where the data comes into the home but if you are gaming or videocalling, then you also need data to upload. Uploading usually costs a bit more and you may need a faster package to accommodate this.
HOW LONG ARE THE CONTRACTS: – All signups commit to a year and after that are rolling monthly contracts that continue at the current rate. Unlike many suppliers, there are no penalties for being on a rolling contract. If you chose to upgrade before the year is up, you can do, so but the clock starts again for the new contract and you have to commit for another 12 months before the contract becomes monthly rolling.
VOICE OVER INTERNET CALLS (VOIP):- Wessex Internet provide a telephony package that starts at £7.95 for a basic service with unlimited landline calls but 10p per minute for calls to mobiles. £11.95 includes all mobile and landline calls. Please check about the cost of international calls. Using this service means you can dispose of your existing land line, which is frequently the most expensive part of your current communication cost. You can keep your existing landline number and your existing home telephones and wiring simply plug into the new router.
WHAT ABOUT MY EXISTING HOME NETWORK? – Most homes have some kind of hardwired or Wifi Network. This might include a smart TV, networked printer or even third party equipment such as sky box etc. Generally speaking, if it plugs directly into your existing internet router, it should simply plug and play when connected to your Wessex Internet router. Some equipment may not be compatible, especially if it does not connect directly to your existing router. Some Wifi and “Mesh” extenders are paired to specific models of router (eg BT) but most aftermarket equipment will continue to work or may need re configuring to the new router. If in doubt, ask before signing up.
WHAT ABOUT MOBILE PHONES:- Wessex Internet do not currently offer a mobile service but for anyone who’s mobile phone can use WiFi calling, their service will be greatly enhanced when using taking mobile calls from within their fibre Wifi network. For those who do not use their landline, it will enable them to live without the cost of VOIP and rely just on their mobile contracts.
ARE THERE ANY HIDDEN COSTS TO WESSEX INTERNET: – For the next 12 months at least, the government scheme ensures that full fibre will be brought inside your home for free, including a new router. If your home is large or has thick walls, you may need a “mesh” or series of Wifi extenders, as you currently would. Extenders can also be hardwired using ethernet cables. If you choose to delay or have no requirement for internet, then a coil of cable will be left outside your property for a future connection. If the eventual connection falls outside the government scheme (beyond 12 months) then you may be charged for some or all of the cost of connecting the fibre inside your property. The cost of this will depend on the work involved.
I ALREADY HAVE A TELEPHONE CONTRACT:- Homes that already have a telephone and/or broadband contract maybe charged a cancellation fee to break that contract and may therefore prefer to wait until their contract ends before swapping to full fibre. If that contrat is for longer than 12 months, it is worth considering that the subsequent cost of connection will be greater than the cancellation fee, so please contact both your current provider and Wessex Internet, to determine what is best in your particular instance. If you are under contract, you whatever circumstances you should call Wessex Internet who may be willing to help you break your existing contract. This will be entirely down to individual circumstances but is a stone that should not be left unturned!
IS FIBRE SUITABLE FOR ALL – At the current time, full fibre cannot support the use of “assitance/panic buttons” in the during a power cut. Advice is to contact your service provider and find out what provisions they are making for the digital changeover. This will likely consist of a rechargeable battery in your home that will support the continued use of a panic button during a loss of power. If in doubt, please ask your service provider before cutting off your existing land line. You can have full fibre and continue your land line for in the immediate future.
WILL FULL FIBRE COST ME MORE THAN I PAY NOW :- Currently, broadband packages are dependent on renting a landline. On top of that, there may be a calls package, the actual cost of broadband and most families also have at least one mobile phone. This all adds up to a considerable cost per month but is viewed as essential for modern life. A typical contract might cost per month, £17 – £20 for line rental, an additional £8 – £18 for broadband and my be another £8 for an inclusive calls package. Some of those costs will be bundled together but a very basic internet and all calls included package will cost between £30 and £40 per month. The basic equivilenet from Wessex would be £29 per month for 100Mb/s and an inclusive calls package for £11.95. Although this is at the top end of what people will be paying at the moment, it is for a service that is 5 – 10 times faster than we currently enjoy and opens up a digital world that many of us cannot currently access. It only becomes a financial burden if you choose to keep your landline. However, there is a opportunity to save money if you decide to discontinue with your old landline number and instead choose to use only your existing mobile phone through your Wifi at home.
TOP TIP! – Wessex Internet have a one off charge for activating a new account. Currently this charge is £49 for broadband and there may be a smaller activation charge for telephony too. Those people that attended the meeting were offered a waiver for that fee if they signed up on the night (with no commitment). If you have already signed up or missed the meeting owing to unforseen circumstances, please call Wessex Internet and plead on bended knee for a discount 😉
North Perrott 