The civil parish of Aust

Aust Parish Council covers the three villages of Aust, Elberton and Littleton-upon-Severn, and the surrounding rural areas. It covers a large area but has a small electorate of around 400.

The council has seven councillors (details below) and one part-time paid employee, the Clerk, who is the key point of contact.

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

Parish councils are the lowest level of local government and thus are best placed to know and represent the real interests of local people. Aust PC does this by:

• commenting on planning applications;
• advising on strategic level planning decisions such as the South Glos. Local Plan;
• working with South Glos. Council and others to address issues of local concern such as speeding, parking, litter, fly tipping, potholes or anti-social behaviour;
• … and anything else which residents bring to us!

The council is funded through the ‘precept’ (a share of your council tax). In recent years the cost has been around £27 per year for the average household in the parish.

The Council owns the Woodwell Meadows Local Nature Reserve Field Lane, Littleton, a beautiful area of grassland which has an abundance of wild flowers in summer. An article in Meeting Point, the community magazine, gives some information about the Woodwell Meadows nature reserve and its history. A volunteer group meets at the site occasionally to carry out practical habitat improvement work; please contact the Parish Council if you are interested in getting involved.

There are two very small parcels of registered Common Land in the parish. These are The Pound next to the village hall in Aust and The Pond in Rushen Lane, Littleton. These have no registered owner so the Parish Council has historically carried out maintenance on these areas when needed.

Councillors

The main point of contact for Parish Council business is the Clerk:

Emma Pattullo - contact on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 01454 837271. 

The current Councillors are listed below:

* Planning Committees meet only occasionally, if there is an urgent planning matter to consider which cannot wait until the next Full Council meeting.

The Registers of Interests for each councillor can be viewed on the South Glos. Council website.

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 the Aust Parish Council Documents 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 2024 Annual Assembly was held on Tuesday 9th April 2024.  You can read the draft minutes of the 2024 Annual Assembly here. The final version of the 2024 minutes will be published here after they have been approved at the 2025 Annual Assembly. 

Additional Parish Assembly

From time to time, additional Parish Assemblies may be called to discuss items of particular local interest. Details will be posted here.

A Parish Assembly was held on Thursday 17th October 2024, from 7:00pm, in Littleton upon Severn Village Hall, to hear from EDF Energy about their plans to develop a new area of saltmarsh habitat in the Severn Estuary. Littleton is one of four sites under consideration for this project. Residents were invited to attend to hear more about the proposals and the potential impact on the local area and community. You can read the minutes of the meeting here: 

Minutes of Parish Assembly 17/10/24 - EDF plans for saltmarsh creation at Littleton

Slides from the EDF presentation

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;

Complaints Procedure - explains how we deal with complaints;

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.

Co-option Procedure - explains how parish councillors may be co-opted.

Risk Register - how we manage risk.

Biodiversity Policy and Action Plan - sets out the council's approach to biodiversity.

GDPR Privacy Notice - sets out how Aust PC manages and protects personal data

Data Protection Policy 

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.