About Parish Council

Parish of Ravenstone

Ravenstone Parish includes the village of Ravenstone and a few other dwellings and farms which are outside the settlement. Ravenstone has its own Parish Council and this is the first point of contact for anyone concerned with a community issue. The Parish Council has five elected members.

Parish Councillors

Parish Councillors are elected to the position and once elected serve for a maximum of four years. If they wish to they can stand for re-election. When a vacancy occurs someone may be co-opted into the post if no one stands for election. Parish Councillors are unpaid for their services.

Currently, the councillors are listed here:

https://ravenstoneparishcouncil.gov.uk/staff/

What do they do?

Parish councils have a variety of powers and duties, all of which impact directly on the community. In Ravenstone, the responsibilities currently include grass cutting, provision and servicing of dog bins and the provision of allotments which they lease from a local landowner. The Parish Council also owns and maintains the Recreation Ground. Funds to provide these services are raised by the village precept which is included within the Council Tax paid by residents to Milton Keynes Council.

The Parish Council is also asked to comment on planning applications made to the local planning authority.

Meetings

The Ravenstone Parish Council meet every third Tuesday of every second month in the Village Hall at 07h30 pm.

The local Olney Ward Councillors also attend the meetings to advise. They are Cllr Keith McLean, Cllr Peter Geary and Cllr Debbie Whitworth.

Draft minutes of each meeting are published on this site and the village notice boards approximately a fortnight after each meeting.

Agreed minutes of previous meetings are available in the Meetings section.

If you require Minutes of any meetings not displayed please contact the Parish Clerk.

Finance

In our Parish, as with all small parishes, the Clerk doubles as the Responsible Financial Officer, in charge of all things financial. A Cash Book is kept recording receipts and payments. At every meeting spending is monitored by councillors – that is against the Budget and as cheques signed. These balances and amounts are recorded in the minutes. The Allotments accounts form part of the Parish Council accounts at the present time.

The work of the Parish Council is funded primarily by the parish precept – that is the local tax payable by households which is collected annually alongside Milton Keynes Council Tax Bill (rates). The precept is supplemented from reserves.

The precept is usually decided when the budget is decided, for obvious reasons. However both these items have to be approved in a public meeting. This is usually our January meeting, as Milton Keynes Council requires parishes to submit their precept request at the end of January every year.

Precept 2026-2027 is £11 500.00