French village, better or just different?

Countryside Colum for 23 August

Localism in Action

Golly. I wish someone would give our Parish Council a budget of €1.5 million to play with!  Instead we have to make do with £35,000.  But here in the Languedoc they really understand the concept of ‘localism’.

The village of Abeilhan where I’m staying is just a bit smaller than Benenden with a population of about 1,300. But its local council - Conseil Municipal - is of an altogether different scale. Apart from a mayor and four deputies, there are 10 other councilors elected every six years.  Our Parish Council has nine members headed by a chairman elected every four years. We employ a staff of two, the parish clerk and a cleaner, both part time.  Abeilhan has a full time town clerk plus a secretary, a direct works department of seven, and a further half dozen administrative or domestic staff.  Benenden Parish Council has responsibility for the village green, the bus shelter, the war memorial and the public toilets. Abeilhan’s council owns and maintains – among other things – the Mairie (Town Hall), the primary school, indoor sports centre, football pitch, tennis courts, village hall, sewage treatment works and most of the local roads.  It has a social fund and a budget to support village associations and clubs.  It’s also the planning authority, so if you want an extension, swimming pool or sun terrace you apply to the Mairie having first popped in for an informal chat about what is permitted or possible.  In Benenden the parish planning committee only has power to comment on an application submitted to the Borough Council.

France has chosen to miss out on the ‘borough’ level of administration altogether, going straight from town councils to regional and national layers.

The key question, of course, is does this devolution work?  On the whole the village seems well maintained. Roads are repaired, flower beds provided and watered, signs erected and, recently, a new walk has been created around the nearby River Tongue.  But dog mess remains a problem, and it’s taken me three years of lobbying the Maire and my local councilor to get new nets for the tennis courts. 

            The main advantage is that you have a direct line to your service provider and you can lobby the mayor or his deputies when you see them around the village. Does it cost more? Surprisingly not.  The respective council taxes are almost identical.