A parish clerk will be sent on a £1,000 training course to help improve the running of his council.

Parish councillors in Stanford in the Vale, near Wantage, have supported calls made by their 59-year-old clerk Mike Dew to enrol on a local council administration course.

Mr Dew was the council's sixth clerk in as many years, but has won admiration of members for his work.

The course in local government policy is run by the Cheltenham and Gloucester Higher Education Institute, and features a series of distance learning modules, with tutorials and seminars.

After the course, Mr Dew would have the option of embarking on a degree course.

The parish council has agreed to pay £500 towards the cost of the course.