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Correspondence Policy

Document Control
Document No. POL-P10
Adoption Date Mar 2005
Last Review Date Apr 2026
Next Review Date Feb 2028

Parish Office
Whittle Hall Community Centre
Lonsdale Close
Great Sankey www.greatsankeypc.org.uk
Warrington enquiries@gs-pc.net
WA5 3UA 01925 712279
GSPC Correspondence Policy

Correspondence Policy & Procedure

1. Great Sankey Parish Council receives correspondence from various sources, including
members of public, councils and business. This policy sets out guidelines for responding to
such correspondence.

2. All correspondence addressed to the Parish Council will be received and opened by Council
Officers at the Parish Office.

3. Where possible, answers will be provided by the relevant council officer.

4. If appropriate, correspondence will be directed to an individual Councillor(s), or to the full
Council or a sub-Committee of the Council at their next available meeting for their attention
and response.

5. Office staff will endeavour to answer correspondence within 10 working days of receipt.

6. If a full answer cannot be given in that time a holding reply should be sent

• acknowledging the correspondence
• giving a brief reason for the delay
• giving an estimate of when a reply will be provided.

7. Freedom of Information requests will be dealt with in line with the provisions of the Freedom
of Information Act (including the exemptions) and the General Data Protection Regulations.

8. In the case of possible contentious issues, the Clerk should consult with the Chair of the
Council, or the Chair of the relevant committee. If they agree it is appropriate the
correspondence can then be copied to all Councillors (both original and any reply) at the
time of the Parish Council meeting, or earlier if particularly sensitive, so that they may be
briefed if approached by the public or the Press.

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