"It has been a pleasure working with you, and I am 100% pleased with the services that you supplied Long Melford Parish Council."
"Dave Crimmin joined Great Waldingfield Parish Council in 2011; it was then most probably at its lowest ebb with the prospect of having to borrow funds to operate. Once Dave had officially taken up position and received the handover of documentation from his predecessor, he was able to identify where things had gone wrong, and proceeded to correct the imbalance with the finances.
At this time the village hall was undergoing its refurbishment and to complete the financial side there were some additional hurdles to jump over which Dave did. This in part involved completing some long and in depth application forms to achieve funding, all in all this resulted in a hall that was fresh, eco friendly and fit for purpose.
Throughout his time as clerk and RFO Dave has identified many ways to save money for the Parish and at the same time deliver a better service. One major item being the replacement of the parish council owned street lights from halogen type lighting to LED. This required a loan from the Public Works Loan Board which resulted in the parish making a gain after the first year. This improved lighting throughout the village and enabled the county council to take responsibility for a number of them once upgraded.
Throughout his time as clerk Dave was a good shoulder to lean on, always ready with helpful advice and on hand to let one know if a decision or action was not appropriate, but then helpful to take the proper path. Dave never grumbled too much when asked to do something extra, it was always done to the best of his abilities. Also he was always available to attend meetings called by district or county councils, or other meetings as required. He was often asked to represent the Parish council at various meetings with representatives of other councils, ranging from local needs housing, exception site housing, planning permissions/disputes and exchange of playing field from the parish for the local school.
One of Dave’s last exercises was to set up the neighbourhood plan group, which he did with his usual skill and efficiency. The process involved meetings with BDC planners a retained planning consultant, parish councillors and lastly public. Dave steered the NP group through various processes and left it with clear strategies moving forward.
All in all it has been a pleasure to work with Dave for the last ten years; I have valued his guidance and friendship throughout. He has been a rock when required due to my personal health stepping up to minimise my work load. Dave has been exceptional throughout his employment with Great Waldingfield Parish Council his management skills and other skills will be sorely missed and I can only wish him well for the future."
"I first worked with Dave Crimmin when I became a parish councillor of Chilton Parish Council in May 2011. Dave has been our Clerk since December 2009. Since I became the chair of Chilton Parish Council in 2014 I have worked closely and happily with Dave as our clerk. Although we are a small parish we have had more than our fair share of complicated large-scale developments proposed in the parish which failed to take account of notable features and ignored the local community 's views. This has kept us very busy.
Dave is very well informed and knowledgeable about the role, responsibility and functions of a parish clerk. He is also very organised. However the quality I have most appreciated about Dave is his forthright advice and opinions. His advice might not be what Councillors expect to hear but it will be well considered. I have found Dave to be very supportive and helpful. He is retiring as our parish clerk in June 2019 and we are very sorry to lose him."
“I have worked with Dave Crimmin since he became a Clerk, in my capacity as a Councillor and Chairman of Newton Parish Council. Latterly I changed my professional role to that of Town Clerk, so I am able to evaluate Dave’s work as both a Councillor and a fellow Clerk. Cut to the chase; I regard him as probably the best Clerk in Suffolk. He provides an incisive, forensic perception of issues and deep knowledge of the law as it pertains to our sector. Whilst in this sphere of local government there is often more than one way to do something, it would be unwise to ignore Dave’s straight, no-nonsense advice, whether you like what you are being told or not. I value his advice and would not hesitate to commend him to councils seeking expertise.”
"Dave Crimmin has been Clerk at Little Cornard Parish Council for four years and being my fourth Clerk he far surpassed all others with his wealth of knowledge, hard work and efficiency. Dave has provided independent, objective and professional advice and support which serves to strongly underpin Little Cornard Parish Council. My fourteen years as Chairman has been greatly enhanced by his organised, positive attitude and ability to work well within a team - giving guidance and direction when needed. I would highly recommend Dave for any future consultancy work in this field."
"Dave Crimmin was the clerk at Chilton Parish Council for most of my time there as Chairman for almost 10 years. Dave was incredibly efficient keeping myself and other councillours up to speed on what was going on and also on what was required of us in our roles. He had an excellent grasp on all current legislation and legal matters and was incredibly knowledgeable on the complexities of modern local government and their procedures and requirements. I would highly recommend him as a consultant in this area."
"I employed Dave shortly after I took over the chairmanship of Little Waldingfield PC, which at the time was virtually a completely new council following a series of resignations. As such, councillors really knew very little of the ins and outs of running a council, and Dave's experience and counsel was invaluable to us being a great success and to me personally as chair. His knowledge is second to none and he expertly kept us on the straight and narrow; as a consequence LWPC punched well above its weight during the near three years we served together, constituting a great achievement."
"Mr Crimmin has been a conscientious and hardworking clerk for Polstead Parish Council. His extensive knowledge has been invaluable and he has always interacted well with Councillors and parishioners."
