A COUNCIL official has called for a shake-up in the way parish councils are run in Teesdale.

Kath Toward, clerk to Forest and Frith Parish Council and vice-chairman of the County Durham Branch of the Society of Local Council Clerks, said unless councils began working differently they could lose valuable funding opportunities.

Teesdale has 50 parishes, with 31 parish councils. Mrs Toward told the Teesdale District Parish Forum many parishes were too small to carry out projects like parish plans, or apply for Quality Parish Status on their own.

She said: "It is pretty obvious that in a lot of places the clerk's job is seen as a voluntary post. I clocked the hours I put in in 2002 and 2003 and if I was getting paid fully I would have wanted more than the precept the parish council actually claimed.

"I am beginning to think that we probably need to enlarge Barnard Castle Town Council and have three parish councils for the rest of Teesdale."

Another option would be a centralised council, possibly in Barnard Castle, with a trained clerk, and satellite councils using part-time clerks. Large projects could then be spread across the dale.

Mrs Toward said: "These part-time clerks would have different skills. For example, I have got finance experience, others might have fundraising skills. Each clerk could work to their own level of expertise. The one thing that is coming out of the society is that if parishes don't have a parish plan which proves the needs of their community, many funders won't give them money."

Larger councils in East Durham were making £1m- worth of funding applications on the strength of their parish plans, she said.

Mrs Toward hopes to begin discussion with upper Teesdale parishes about working together and hopes other parishes will follow.

But district councillor Robin Simpson said: "Are people going to have a huge parish precept? People are not going to accept this if they do."