The civil parish of Aust

This is a small rural parish with a large acreage but an electoral roll of only about 400.  It covers the three villages of Aust, Elberton and Littleton-upon-Severn.

Contact Aust Parish Council: 01454 837271 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

There are two very small parcels of registered Common Land in the parish. These are The Pound by the side of the Village Hall, Aust and The Pond in Rushen Lane, Littleton. Oversight and care of these sites are the responsibility of Aust Parish.

The Council owns the nature reserve known as Woodwell Meadows in Field Lane, which was acquired with the help of South Gloucestershire Council recently.  It is managed by South Gloucestershire Council as a nature reserve, because of the interesting flora in the meadow. An article in Meeting Point, the community magazine, gives some information about the Woodwell Meadows nature reserve and its history.

Councillors aim to promote the wellbeing of the parish and protect parishioners' interests. Main tasks are reviewing Planning Applications and submitting written comments and recommendations when necessary, and monitoring the conditions of roads and rights of way.

Notable achievements in recent years have been our contribution to the opposition to the proposal to build a wind farm at Ingst, resisting untoward developments in Elberton and Littleton-upon-Severn and the removal of the wide load layby at Aust. 

Councillors

The main point of contact for Parish Council business is the Clerk (see below for contact details). Individual councillors' contact details are shown here:

Council meetings

Council meetings are held monthly, on the second Tuesday of the month, with the exception of August and December, when there are no meetings.  The April Council meeting is usually held on the same evening as the Annual Parish Meeting.

Parishioners are welcome to attend Parish Council meetings.  Check out the Events page on this website for dates and times of meetings.   See this page for minutes of past meetings and the agenda for the next meeting.

You can read the most recently approved minutes of Aust Parish Council here.

Planning Committees

Planning committee meetings are held occasionally, where there is a need to discuss a planning matter before the next scheduled council meeting. They will include councillors from the area under consideration.

When a planning meeting is arranged, the agenda will be posted here.

The minutes of planning committee meetings can be found here.

Annual Parish Meetings

The Annual Parish Assembly (parish meeting) is an opportunity for residents to hear about what the parish council has been doing over the past year and to raise any issues which they might want the council to consider over the coming year, as well as a chance to discuss other matters of general interest to residents. It is not a council meeting, so the council can't make any decisions during the Assembly.

These meetings date back many years to when we did not have the many methods of communication which we enjoy now, but are still a useful way for residents to keep in touch with the parish council, and vice versa.

The latest Annual Assembly was held on 13th April 2021. It was very successful, despite having to be held online due to the ongoing restrictions. You can read the minutes of the Annual Assembly 2021 here.

Governance Documents and Policies

The parish council has a number of policies and documents which set out how we work, in compliance with relevant legislation. The main policies are listed here:

Standing Orders - the main governing document or 'constitution' of the council;

Financial Regulations - how we manage financial matters;

Code of Conduct - which all members of the council must follow;

Publication Scheme - gives details of what information you can expect the council to provide to you on request, how to make such requests and any charges applicable;

Reserves Policy - shows how the council will set levels of and manage reserve funds.

Public Accountability

The Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities (Department for Communities and Local Government, Dec. 2014) requires Parish Councils with an annual turnover not exceeding £25,000 to meet new transparency requirements and to do this with effect from 1 July 2015. 

Aust Parish Council is meeting these requirements by publishing a DOCUMENTS PAGE on this website which allows you to access all the relevant documents, current and past.  This is where you can find Parish Council minutes, annual accounts etc.

Aust Parish Matters

Our local community magazine Meeting Point regularly publishes reports from Aust Parish Council.  See the latest magazine here.

GDPR Privacy Notices

You can read Aust Parish Council's General Privacy Notice here.