About us

The Parish Council consists of eight councillors who volunteer their services. They are elected once every four years by residents of the Parish. Anyone can stand in the election. You just need a proposer, a seconder and a nomination form. There are no party politics involved, unlike in the District and County Councils. There is also a permanent paid clerk who works 15 hours a week from the village hall.

Each member is given a particular responsibility, such as transport, footpaths, finance or recreation. In addition there is a planning sub committee consisting of four councillors that considers all planning applications made within the parish. The Council’s opinion on each application is returned to the District Council, which then makes the final decision.

Please see list below of Councillors & their responsibilities.

Parish Council Roles and Responsibilities 25/26

Chair – James Davys (until December 2026)

Vice Chair:  Janet Harding

Finance – Janet Harding

Footpaths – Jason Debney

Grass Verges – Jason Debney

Neighbourhood Plan – Jason Debney

Planning – Jason Debney, Derren Fisher, Chris Hollebone

Public Transport – Derren Fisher

Drainage – Derren Fisher

Millennium Wood – Environmental Group/James Davys, Chris Hollebone

Kings Meadow and Recreation Ground – Graham Gilgrass

Village Hall – Graham Gilgrass

Playgrounds – Graham Gilgrass

Jubilee Pavillion – Bob Neilsen

Highways – Bob Nielsen

Staffing/Legal – TBA

Website/E-Publicity – Nettie Gray (Clerk)

Communications – TBA

The Council agrees the amount of money needed to carry out its various responsibilities such as mowing the Rec and King’s Meadow, insurance, the salary of the clerk to the Council and donations to village bodies. This is known as the precept. It is collected by SODC as part of the council tax. Currently it is about £45,000 a year. For large projects, such as the Jubilee Pavilion, grants can be obtained by the Council. The District and County Councils have the tasks of maintaining the road verges, the footpaths and repairing pot holes.

The Council offers donations to Parish organisations. The Donation Policy and Application Form can be found on our Website.

The Council is consulted on a variety of issues by the District and County Council, by bodies such as Thames Water and by central government. Where these are important issues, for example, crime prevention, the Core Strategy, and bus services, there will be a discussion so that the Council can agree its position.

Each year in late April/May there is an Annual Parish Council Meeting to report to the Parish on the year’s activities and to invite your suggestions for the coming year. We would warmly encourage all parishioners to attend.

A councillor’s work is interesting and lies at the heart of village life. Our democracy demands participation. Without it the way of life we know is in danger of decline. Our Parish Council is the first rung in our system of government. Help, support and participate all you can!

Always contact the Clerk in the first instance and they will forward messages to the appropriate Councillor.  Also, please don’t hesitate to  attend the monthly Council meetings in the Stewart Room, Village Hall, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell.

We also wish to enhance and modernise links with as many people in the parish as we can through an email directory, which will enable us to communicate with you quickly and easily. In order to facilitate this please could you send your email contact details to Nettie Gray by email.

It is important that we can communicate with you as easily as possible.

We currently have a rolling Chair of 6 monthly intervals.  Our Chair currently until December 2026 is Cllr James Davys

In line with the Accessibility Regulations 2018 the Parish Council (the council) have undertaken an assessment of Regulations.  The Council specifically assessed the following 3 areas:

• The cost of compliance to the Parish Council
• The impact to disabled users
• The impact of new products superseding the current platform

The Council believe that complying with the 2018 Regulations would place a disproportionate burden on both funds and resources.  It is the Council’s opinion that compliance would not significantly impact users with disabilities and are willing to meet specific needs on an individual basis.

This Assessment will be monitored regularly and reviewed annually.