Local Council Services-who does what and who to contact?

In England, the local government has a three-tier system (please see the diagram below). Sheerness Town Council is a town council that is at the parish level of local government. The Town Council works in partnership with Swale Borough Council and Kent County Council.

These three local government bodies look after different aspects of Sheerness and the town community infrastructure.

All councils are led by democratically elected Councillors who, working together, set the council’s vision, direction, and budget. Like most Town Councils, Sheerness Town Council works with a ‘committee system’, where decisions are made across a range of committees.

Decisions from these committees are then acted upon by an employed Council Team under the leadership of the Town Clerk who is also the Responsible Financial Officer (R.F.O). The Town Clerk is under a statutory duty to carry out all the functions of the Council, and in particular to serve or issue all the notifications required by law.

The Town Clerk and the Council Team are responsible for ensuring that the instructions of the Council in its functions as a Local Authority are carried out. In addition, the Town Clerk is expected to advise the Council on the formation of policies to be followed in respect of the Authority’s activities. This work involves producing information required for the Council to make effective decisions and to implement constructively all decisions. The Town Clerk is accountable to the Council for the effective management of all its resources and will report to them as and when required.

The list above states some but not all of the responsibilities of each tier.