Haydon Parish Council is made up of 11 councillors. The Council has the power to provide bus shelters, public clocks, cemeteries, land for recreation, and to comment on planning applications among other things. The work of the Parish Council is funded largely by the Precept – which is a (small!) part of your council tax – along with some income from other sources such as grants.

Parish Councils are the tier of local government closest to the people, and are there to serve the whole community. There is a public participation session at the beginning of every full Parish Council meeting, when members of the public are welcome to come along and raise issues of concern within the parish, or comment on items on the agenda. Some of these, like street lighting and highways issues, we will pass on to the relevant department of Northumbria County.

Your Parish Councillors are:

  • David Thornhill (Chair)

  • Sue Jackson

  • Brian Howard (Vice Chair)

  • Louise Alderson

  • Avril Kirsopp
  • Kelly Richardson

  • Danielle Webster

  • Tessa Simmonds
  • Anne Suddes

  • Charlie Morshead

  • Caitlin Kendall

Your County Councillor is Alan Sharp.
You can contact the Parish Council via the Clerk:

Haydon Parish Council Meetings

The Parish Council meets every month except for August, when it takes a summer break. Meetings are normally held on the fourth Thursday of the month, at 7.30pm in Haydon Bridge Community Centre. However, once a year in April, the Parish Council meeting moves to Langley Village Hall to give people living in that part of the parish a chance to have their say.

2026 Meeting Dates

  • Jan 22nd

  • Feb 26th

  • Mar 19th

  • Apr – 23rd at Langley Village Hall

  • May 28th

  • Jun 25th

  • Jul 23rd

  • Aug – no meeting

  • Sep 24th

  • Oct 22nd

  • Nov 26th

  • Dec 17th

The next meeting of the Parish Council is at 7.30pm on the 22nd of January 2026 and will be held at Haydon Bridge Community Centre. The agenda for January can be read here.

Members of the public are welcome to raise any issues they may have regarding the Parish, or to comment on agenda items.

Documents relating to the activities of the Parish Council can be found by following the links below:

 We were unable to publish the audited AGAR and completion notice by 30 September in line with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 because we are awaiting the audit report from the external auditor but will publish as soon as these documents are available.

 

Declarations of interest can be seen on the County Council website.

Annual Audit Process:

The Parish Council accounts undergo a rigorous audit regime at the end of each financial year. Firstly, the accounts are checked by the Chair of the Parish Council, followed by an audit by the Internal Auditor. Finally, the Annual Return is completed by the Clerk and Chair and sent to the external auditors. Once the external audit is returned and any issues addressed, the audit process is concluded.

The external audit for 2023-24 has now been completed and the statement of accounts is published. Please note that the audit document is a scan and may not be fully compliant with accessibility regulations.

The Conclusion of Audit Notice for 2022 is now available.

Electors’ Rights Form

The period during which electors may inspect the accounts is from the 3rd of June to the 14th of July. Please contact the Clerk by email or phone to request this. Carole McGivern, Clerk to Haydon Parish Council/RFO.

Contact details for the external auditors are – Mazars LLP, The Corner, Bank Chambers, 26 Mosley Street, Newcastle, NE1 1DF.
Email: local.councils@mazars.co.uk.

In November of each year the Parish Council holds a meeting to discuss the budget for the following financial year, (which runs from the beginning of April to the end of March).

A draft budget is drawn up by the Clerk, which is then discussed and/or amended at the Parish Council meeting in December. Once it has been approved a precept is set for the next financial year, and requested from Northumberland County Council. This is deducted from residents’ council tax. The Parish Council budget for 2025-26 has been approved.

Code of Conduct

The model code of conduct was issued by the government and was adopted by Haydon Parish Council at in October 2007.

Parish councillors must agree that they will abide by the code of conduct whilst carrying out any duties relating to their position as a councillor, as part of their declaration of acceptance of office.

The Code of Conduct can be viewed on the Office of Public Sector Information website.

Financial Regulations

Haydon Parish Council’s financial regulations govern all aspects of how the money raised by the council is spent. They are based on the model financial regulations provided by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC).

Privacy statement –

In accordance with the law, we only collect a limited amount of information about you that is necessary for correspondence, information and service provision.  We do not use profiling, we do not sell or pass your data to third parties. We do not use your data for purposes other than those specified. We make sure your data is stored securely. We delete all information deemed to be no longer necessary.

If you have a complaint regarding the way your personal data has been processed you may make a complaint to Haydon Parish Council by emailing  haydonbridgeparish@gmail.com and the Information Commissioner’s Office casework@ico.org.uk Tel: 0303 123 1113

Publication Scheme

Haydon Parish Council’s publication scheme is based on the model publication scheme drawn up by the Information Commissioner’s Office. The Information Commissioner’s Office expects local council’s to make available details of the information they hold, and provide details of how this can be accessed by members of the public.

The new publication scheme was adopted by Haydon Parish Council on the 1st of January 2009.