What Makes us Special
There are many other community groups that serve the Queen's Park Ward run by dedicated, passionate and hardworking paid or unpaid workers. At Queen's Park Trust, we are incredibly supportive towards local councils, charities and community groups, but what Queen's Park Trust offer is we are:
Unaffiliated to any Council
Open Membership for all Locals
Governed by Local Residents Only
Free Membership
Non-party Political
Un-funded, Non-budget Run
No Religious Affiliation
All Governers are Unpaid
How We Differ from Town Council and RAs
Community Trust
A community trust (not to be confused with a charity trust) is a non-profit organisation that helps local residents and focuses on free services and fundraising with the intentions of making the community better. It is often a collective of other local groups such as Neighbourhood Watch, Resident Associations (not in QPT), Charities (and in our case, a WhatsApp Community). It is run by a committee that is not elected and not affiliated with any political party or government office. Decisions are made by trustees who govern the trust but membership is also open to the public who also get opportunities to vote at public meetings. Our membership comes via our email subscription, WhatsApp group and Neighbourhood Watch group. This means QPT is run by residents for residents and members can all join and be heard, having a voice in what we do. We have a constitution and democratic vote but no elections.
Town (or Parish) Council
A town council is an extension of the Ward Council and is a government body. They also have a constitution, must have a minimum number of meetings and a minimum number of members at each meeting. Councillors are unpaid local residents that are voted in to do hands on work for the council but also support local residents. A town council does also have paid staff that are not elected in. There are many town councils across the world though not many in cities and they are funded by additional charges to the council tax of locals. Town councils may have many powers that community groups do not have so can make decisions without always needing to consult local council and they receive lots of funding opportunities especially for events.They often organise classes and events, offer local services to benefit residents, provide signage as needed, assist residents, provide gardening and much more.
Residents' Association
This is a group of residents mostly with council tenant memberships and a small mix of other tenures. The resident committee get to make decisions but supported and funded by council, and follow a council constitution. The committee members are elected in by member vote and a certain amount of meetings must be held each year with general members and the committee panel. An annual budget is given by WCC and the RA committee decide how it is spent to benefit the neighbourhood. When there is an RA in place, the council must consult the RA before making any decisions that affect the area that the RA governs. A name and geographical boundaries are decided upon. Every RA MUST have a Chairperson, a Secretary and a Treasurer and if possible, a leader of diversity and equality. These roles are also put to vote during meetings after residents from committee put themselves forward. Only covers a small area.