About the Council
There are six members and elections are held in May every four years. The next election is in May 2027. The Chairman and Vice Chairman are elected from among the councillors at the Council's annual meeting which is held each May.
Monthly Council meetings are normally held on the first Wednesday of each month in Cusop Village Hall. There will sometimes be additional meetings, eg to comment on local planning applications.
Members of the public are welcome to be present at Council meetings. There is always a place on the agenda early on in each meeting at which the public can speak and raise matters with the Council.
An Annual Parish Meeting at which all parish electors are entitled to put forward proposals and to vote is held each spring.
About planning applications
Planning applications in Cusop are decided by Herefordshire Council. Everyone has a right to submit comments about an application to the Council. After it receives and validates an application the Council allows a period, usually four weeks, for members of the public to submit comments, but locally the only way it publicises this is by putting up a small notice near the application site.
Herefordshire Council must take account of comments received when it makes a decision, but this does not necessarily mean accepting them: the Council is supposed to decide applications on their merits, and only certain matters, "material considerations", are legally relevant. Because of this it matters what kind of arguments and information go into comments. You can find lots of advice about this by 'googling' on the internet. Two useful websites are Planning Aid (provided by the RTPI) and Planning Help (from CPRE).
Comments do not just mean objections: it can be just as important to submit a comment if you support an application, or would just like to see it improved or altered in some way.
Cusop Parish Council also submits comments to Herefordshire Council after considering applications at its meetings. The councillors welcome members of the public attending these meetings and offering views and information to help them judge the applications, but it is important to remember that a parish council is supposed to base its conclusions on the overall community interest. Also, its comment will be treated on its merits by Herefordshire Council like any other comment from the public. So speaking to the Parish Council is not a substitute for making your own comment to Herefordshire Council.
How to contact Cusop Parish Council
Write: Cusop Parish Council Clerk, c/o 21 Windermere Road, Hereford, HR4 9PR
Email: clerk@cusopparishcouncil.gov.uk
Telephone:
Privacy Notice
The Council will normally initiate correspondence with a member of the public only where necessary to exercise its public functions or powers. These extend to the discussion of any public matter of a parochial nature. Such correspondence, including any replies by the member of the public, will therefore be processed on the lawful basis of performing a Public Task.
The Council assumes that a member of the public will normally initiate correspondence with the Council only on matters relating to the Council’s functions or powers. Such correspondence, including any necessary replies by the Council, will therefore be processed on the lawful basis of performing a Public Task.
Personal data in such correspondence includes the name and (email) address of the member of the public as well as its content. The Council will not pass correspondence to or from members of the public to third parties without consent, except that it may pass it to another public body if the content of the correspondence relates to the function or powers of that body.
Correspondence will normally be destroyed after six years.
For further information, see the Council's Data Protection Policy which you can download here:
http://www.cusop.net/community/cusop-7976/council-documents/