Membership

Council's should be LALC Members!

What is NALC and LALC

  • NALC, the National Association of Local Councils established in 1947, is the only national body that represents the interests of 10,000+ local (parish and town) councils in England. NALC works in partnership with County associations to support, promote and improve local councils - such as LALC.
  • LALC is the appropriate body for Parish & Town Councils - A member based, not-for-profit organisation with a primary role to support Town and Parish Councils in the Lancashire County Palatine area.
  • LALC is governed by its members - representatives from member councils sit on its Executive Committee; represent the area on other relevant bodies and sit on the NALC National Assembly.

Direct benefits for your Council

  • Advice for councils and councillors - guidance and advice on aspects of Parish & Town Council workings, identifying essential local government legislation, policy and best practice materials.
  • Training opportunities specific and targeted to your Council - responding to Councils' needs and requests and adapting to changes as they happen. Member councils also receive some training fees at a discounted rate.
  • Area Committee meetings are for your Councils' representative to attend LALC networking meetings, receive relevant updates and network with other local councils’.
  • Vital news, policy updates and information distributed - to members through the newsletters, news section on this website, area meetings, direct email contact and social media.
  • Specialist advice from NALC - can be accessed through your LALC membership see Advice section below for the information.
  • Access to NALC documents - template documents, publications and policies can be obtained through website 'members' access. It is important to note that, template documents such as Standing Orders, Clerk Contract of Employment, Financial Regulations etc are NALC copyrighted documents and are not for use by Councils not in membership.

Advice

  • Advice for councils and councillors - guidance and advice on all aspects of Parish & Town Council workings, identifying essential local government legislation, policy and best practice materials. If you wish to seek advice Contact the office with your query.
  • Specialist advice from LALC & NALC - can be accessed through LALC membership, such as Finance & VAT, Health & Safety, Employment Law, Human Resources, Data Protection, FOIs, SARs and more.
  • Access to NALC specialist advisors and documents - Specialist advice on Health & Safety, Employment Law, Legal, Human Resources, Data Protection, FOI and more from NALC. Members (Clerk & Councillors) register for a login to the NALC members area to obtain template documents and policies when they need to and view NALCs latest updates, work and ‘Legal Topic Notices’.

Area Committee's

LALC has a number of Area Committee's and as a Council member you can send representatives from your Council to these networking events.

Indirect benefits for your Council

  • Representation for Parish & Town Councils - LALC amplifies the voice of individual Councils in consultations and through NALCs work.
  • Flexible and responsive - LALC operates an agile business model with home-based staff which allows LALC to serve our members better and be more flexible and responsive to their needs.
  • Partners in the negotiations of the County Charter - along with other key partners. The Charter sets down key working relationships between Parish & Town Councils and the County Council.
  • Public Works Loans Board - the loan applications process goes though the network of ALCs.
  • Dissemination of Information - Government and other bodies channel information directed at local councils through the NALC and its Association network.
  • Wider representations - through memberships with relevant bodies LALC keeps abreast of information and best practices to update its members. Organisations such as Northwest Federation of Parish & Town Councils; Northern Group of Parish & Town Councils and others.
  • Devolution - LALC is hosting information relevant to the moving landscape as regards the devolution agenda from central Government. It will be offering advice and guidance along the process and ultimately if/when all the Borough/Unitary & the County Councils are all merged LALC will remain with its network of Area Committees, guidance and advice.