Community Links
Parish Council
Information about the parish council
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 austparishcouncil@gmail.com
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.
The main point of contact for Parish Council business is the Clerk:
Emma Pattullo – contact on austparishcouncil@gmail.com or 01454 837271.
* 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.
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.
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.
You can read the approved minutes of the 2024 Aust Parish Assembly here.
The 2025 Annual Assembly was held on Tuesday 8th April 2025. You can read the draft minutes of the 2025 Annual Assembly here. The final version of the 2025 minutes will be published here after they have been approved at the 2026 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:
In the April 2025 edition of the community magazine Meeting Point, the Aust Parish Clerk reported:
Saltmarsh creation plans on hold!
EDF Energy have announced that they are pausing plans to create new areas of saltmarsh in the Severn Estuary. Instead, they are proposing to install an Acoustic Fish Deterrent (AFD) device to reduce the number of fish killed by being sucked into the water intakes of the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. This will use different technology to that included in the original Hinkley C plans; EDF believe that this new system will reduce fish kill to an acceptable level whilst also being safer to operate. EDF have stated that, whilst the saltmarsh plans have not been completely scrapped, they are on hold whilst the AFD system is developed. Some wildlife survey work may still be carried out but only with landowners’ permission. All saltmarsh design and development work has stopped. This is of course great news for the many residents of Littleton and the wider area who were in opposition to the saltmarsh proposals. Thank you to all those who have been working to gather evidence to protect our landscape.