Hexham Council Meeting dates and other Information
Hexham Council meets in the Council Chamber, Prospect House, Hexham
at 6.45 pm, usually on the first Monday each month. The scheduled
dates for 2010 are:
4 Jan
1 Feb
1 March
12 April
10 May
AGM
7 June
12 July
2 Aug
6 Sept
4 Oct
1 Nov
6 Dec
Each meeting is advertised with the Agenda
on the Council notice board at the Moot Hall. The Northumberland
County Council Reference Librarian stores minutes of past meetings
and they are available on this web site.
Every Council meeting is open to the public. At the start of each
meeting a period is set aside for anyone who wishes to address the
Council. Please look at the Council's
policy for public speaking if you wish to speak at a Council
meeting.
A Town meeting is held in May unless an election dictates otherwise.
The Annual Town meeting is for Hexham residents and at the meeting
any matter of concern or interest which relates primarily to Hexham
can be raised for discussion.
Hexham Town Council is a Local Authority created by the Local Government
Reorganization Act of 1972. It is a Town Council with fourteen Councilors
who serve for a term of four years and who elect one of themselves
each year to act as the Mayor of Hexham. He or she also chairs the
Council meetings and by an annual decision taken at the Annual meeting
the Mayor usually serves for two years. A Deputy Mayor is also elected
and takes the Chair if the Mayor is indisposed for any reason.
Hexham Councillors do not receive any payments, unless they go somewhere
on Council authorised business when they can claim reimbursement
of any lawful expenses. Payments for just being a Councillor could
be made but Hexham Council has always agreed it would not make any
payments.
Before the Council was created Hexham already had a Council which
was called Hexham Urban District Council. Other towns in the area
also had their own Councils - Prudhoe Urban District Council; Bellingham
Rural District Council; Haltwhistle Rural District Council and Hexham
Rural District Council. These Councils were all abolished by the
1972 Act and all the Rural and Urban Councils were joined together
and became Tynedale District Council. Also created by the 1972 Act
were new Councils at Haltwhistle, Prudhoe, Bellingham and Hexham.
They were initially created as Parish Councils but became Town Councils
to show their difference from the other already existing Parish
Councils; differences though were only in the size of their budgets
for the powers of Parish and Town Councils are all the same.
In Northumberland we no longer have any district Councils for on
the 1 April 2009 under yet another Local Government Reorganization
Act all District Councils were abolished together with Northumberland
County Council. The district councils and the county council all
then amalgamated to become a new Unitary Authority which is called
[still] Northumberland County Council.
So in Northumberland County we now have one Unitary Council and
many Town and Parish Councils.
As a Local Authority the Council adopted on the 1 January 2009 the
Model Publication Scheme, approved by the Information Commissioner,
as required under the Freedom of Information Act. You can
access the adopted Model Scheme [here]
and you can access the way in which information is available from
Hexham Town Council is held [here].(Opens in a new window)
The Council has also adopted an Equality and Diversity Policy
and you can read this [here].
Hexham Council owns St Andrews Cemetery and three allotment sites.
If you have any queries regarding the Cemetery
or the Allotments
telephone the Cemetery Manager, David Boaden on 01434609575 or 07710053732
or the Cemetery Superintendent, Steven English on 01434609575 or
07891101236.
If you have any queries regarding the
Council telephone 01434 609575 [please leave your name & number
if no one answers and your call will be returned]. Address correspondence
to:- Hexham Town Council, Council Office, St Andrews Cemetery, West
Road, Hexham NE46 3RR or email: clerk@hexhamtowncouncil.gov.uk.
