Hartland Parish is one of the largest in the UK and incorporates the hamlets of Stoke and Meddon. The majority of Hartland Parish is in a Designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

To find out more about the area please visit the AONB website www.northdevon-aonb.org.uk

Hartland village is three miles from the coast at Hartland Quay. The village provides a good range of shops, pubs, cafes, a pottery and other craft workshops. More information about these facilities are in the Hartland Directory (PDF) and on the Hartland Peninsula Association website. Hartland Abbey lies in the valley below Stoke, not far from the parish church of St Nectan.

The council is a small local authority. Its councillors are elected for four years at a time in the same way as for other councils. The council is the corporation of its village or town. Each year the councillors choose a chairman from amongst their number.

Parish Councils have a number of formal powers. Many provide allotments, look after playing fields, village greens and other ways of getting exercise such as swimming pools. They have a hand in communications by maintaining or guarding such things as rights of way, bus shelters and public seats, smaller scale street lighting and the provision of halls and meeting places.

They have the power to improve the quality of community life by spending sums of money on things which, in their opinion, are in the interests of the parish or its inhabitants, and many kinds of activities are aided this way.

Parish Councils are funded by a tiny part of the council tax, and are the most unbureaucratic and cheapest kind of local authority in existence.

You elect its members every four years and are entitled to go to the annual parish meetings and say what you think. There are also public participation sessions in Parish Council meetings. The accounts are strictly audited.

Information courtesy of the Devon Association of Parish Councils

Latest Agenda together with planning applicationa and decisions can be found on the minutes page