About The Town Council
History of the Town Council
The residents of Mirfield lamented the loss of their urban district council, upon the formation of Kirklees way back in 1974 and it wasn't long before locals looked for ways to redress that 'injustice'. After much hard work, a Parish Council was formed in 1988 which evolved into todays Town Counci.
How The Council Does It
The Town Council is both pro-active and re-active in carrying out its duties to Mirfield residents. It was very pro-active when it introduced the Christmas Lights Event and in the early days Councillors actually erected the lights themselves! Health and Safety laws put a stop to this so nowadays specialist contractors are employed to do the work. Bringing back the Allotments into the ownership of our Town away from Kirklees is a second example. Mirfield Civic Sunday, Town clock maintenance, Mirfield Civic Dinner, the St. Georges Day celebrations and the Mirfield Remembrance Service were all pro-active actions by your Council.
On the re-active side the Council has responded to requests for financial support form many local community Groups. These have included Mirfield Free Grammar School, Battyeford Boys Club, G Sports, local churches, Upper Hopton Community Association etc, etc along with many items of sponsorship to fund raising by individuals.
Running along side this is the Council's general work that is carried out by the two main Committees. These are The Finance and General Purposes Committee and the Planning, Environmental & Development Committees.
The F&GP Committee is responsible for the financial well being of the Council by setting the rate precept and exercising budgetary control. It also responds to grant requests, oversees the Allotments and Christmas Lights, deals with Kirklees Council and Government directives and ensures that residents have access to all Council matters. It has introduced a policy that permits any member of the public to address any meeting that the Council holds to ensure this happens.
The PED Committee makes representation to the Kirklees Planning Department on all applications in Mirfield. They pass on their views and those of residents and have been pro-active on many issues. Commenting on and resisting suggestions made by Kirklees Strategic Planners in the UDP and LDF documents is ongoing work on matters that will have major long term effects on Mirfield and its residents.
Mirfield Town Council Precept
Mirfield Town Council is funded by a levy or precept set against each house in the town and collected by Kirklees for the Town Council with the annual rates. This works out at around £5 per household per year and is allocated in the following ways:
- 30% is used on administration (clerk's wages, costs, election coverage etc)- 30% is used to fund regular projects (hanging baskets and gardens, istmas lights etc)- 40% is used for community support (grants for local organisations and good causes etc)
A community fund has been set up to help residents oppose detrimental developments in Mirfield, plus provide help for more positive exciting projects which are happen.