topic: parish council

Setting up a Parish Council

A civil parish council is the most local layer in local government in England. It is nothing to do with running the church and they are not restricted to country areas. Although most rural parts of the country have a parish council and most urban places do not, residents can set up a civil parish council wherever they live.

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Parish councils (also called town councils or community councils) are made up of elected councilors – like a city or borough council.  They have the same basis in law as higher level councils.  They have the same requirement to act for the economic, social and environmental well-being of the place they serve.

Unlike city or borough councils, they cover populations of a few hundred to tens of thousands of people.  They can give a democratic voice to a town or neighbourhood.  Parish councillors are frequently ‘Independents’ rather than members of political parties.    Where they exist, parish councils are the natural body to lead community planning and are the designated body to lead neighbourhood planning.

Parish councils can raise a precept (which is a local tax added to council tax) to provide local services.  Typically, they provide things like: allotments, litter bins, car parks, community centres, parks and open spaces and festive lights.  Parish councils can provide anything that benefits local wellbeing including for example: affordable housing; community safety and crime reduction projects; community transport and traffic calming; economic development and neighbourhood management.
What you Need

As with any project, you need to be clear about your objectives before you start the process of setting up a parish council: is what you want to achieve likely to be possible by having a parish council? 

You will need to be able to organise a petition that will be signed by 10% of the voters in the area covered by your proposed parish council.  This implies an extensive community network and good links with local businesses and community groups.

You will need lobbying and campaigning skills to promote the argument for a parish council to your city, borough or district council.  The support of your local district councillors isn't essential, but will help a great deal.  As will good contacts with the council officers who serve your area.

You will need to be able to wage a campaign that will encourage the majority of voters to support the proposed parish council.  You will need to work with local newspapers, websites and others; probably able to use social media effectively; and have a budget of at least a few hundred pounds and significant goodwill from local groups and business.

You should make contact with the National Association of Local Councils (NALC supports and networks parish and community councils) to find people in your region who can advise and assist you.


How to do It

Setting up a parish council is a long process which is likely to take several years.  The first step, formally, is the announcement of a Community Governance Review (a formal consultation on how decisions are made about public services etc in a locality.  In practice, this stage is likely to come after significant local campaigning and debate). The review is done by your city/borough/district council and it can cover all or part of its area. The council can call a Community Governance Review on its own intiative.  Or the process can be initiated by the community.

To initiate a Community Governance Review as a community group, you need the support of at least 10% of the voters (a higher proportion in small areas with less than 2500 electors) who live in the area.  They must sign a petition asking the local authority to carry out a community governance review to see if a new parish council should be created.  The petition must:

  • state exactly what it proposes, ie creating a parish or town council for a defined area
  • contain the signatures of at least 10% of local electors, based on the most recent electoral register.

The local authority must complete this review within one year of starting it, or of receiving a valid petition, unless it:

  • has completed a community governance review on the area in the last 2 years (in this case the council can choose to undertake the review or not)
  • is already undertaking a community governance review of the area or an area of which it is part (the council can’t undertake two reviews of the same or overlapping areas at the same time).

During the community governance review, the council will consult with local voters and with community groups and residents associations in the area.  The review can look at alternatives to a parish council inclcuing things like area committees, neighbourhood forums, tenant managed organisations, neighbourhood management schemes etc.

The council publishes its recommendations after completing the review.  It may recommend a public referendum on the proposed new parish council.  It may reject the proposal.  If the council rejects the proposal, there is no right of appeal but the community may ask the court for a judicial review of the process (which looks at whether the decision has been made in accordance with the rules).

A public referendum - if one is called - is held. 

The council can set up a shadow parish council with its own councillors until it is able to organise the first election of councillors to the new parish council.


Examples and Case Studies

Sutton Coldfield Town Council is a new parish council in Birmingham which covers teh area of the Sutton Coldfield parliamentary constituency.  It is a very large community council - covering just over 100,000 people. There are details of the stages that were gone through to set it up at the SCTC website (above) which is currently hosted by Birmingham City Council.

Queens Park Community Council was the first community council in London - set up in 2014 and covering the Queens Park area between Kensal Green and Kilburn in NW London.  The council serves 12,500 residents.  Its website shows what a newly established council can do.

Alwoodley Parish Council in North Leeds covers about 10,000 residents.  It was set up in 2008 and is now in the process of making a Neighbourhood Development Plan for the area - details of the process are on the council's website.


Checklist

Read more about the process - including on the National Association of Local Councils website, and, for example:

Talk to local community groups and local businesses and councillors about the idea.  Be clear about common objectives and your answers to some of the drawbacks of having a parish council (including that it will raise local tax).

Engage with local residents in a coherent and positive way.  Keep party politics out of your campaign.  Stress the benefits which a parish council would bring and be ready to deal with the objections - not everyone will be supportive.

Talk to your city/borough/district council officers.  Your aim is to keep a good working relationship with the principal council - they will be responisble for running the community governance review that could lead to the formation of the parish council.

BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLKIT METHOD SHEET This sheet may be reproduced in paper or electromic or any other form but please mention it was made by Chamberlain Forum Limited for Birmingham City Council supported by Department for Communities and Local Government.

created: 2016-07-25 15:59:54 by: admin status: f published

Local Councils

All local authorities in England have the same aim. Which is: to improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of their area and the people that live there. Councils, however, have different sets of powers and responsibilities for achieving this end. Councils fall into five, or six, main types.

All local authorities in England have the same aim. Which is: to improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of their area and the people that live there. Councils, however, have different sets of powers and responsibilities for achieving this end. Councils fall into five, or six, main types.

In more detail

In this toolkit, when we refer to ‘the council’ we are referring to the principal local authority with responsibility for local planning which is:

  • the city or metropolitan borough council, if you live in one of the old metropolitan county areas
  • the borough council, if you live in London
  • the unitary council, if you live in an area outside London or the metropolitan areas which is covered by one
  • the district council, if you live in an area outside London or the metropolitan areas which does not have a unitary council.

The five, or six, main types are of council are:

City, Metropolitan Borough and London Borough councils

There are 68 of these: 32 London boroughs covering Greater London; and 36 city and metropolitan borough councils in the metropolitan county areas: Tyne & Wear; West Yorkshire; South Yorkshire; Greater Manchester; Merseyside; and West Midlands.

These councils are the only principal local authorities in their areas and have responsibility for local planning, licensing, housing, waste collection, education, social services, public health and council tax.

Outside London, they are also responsible for transport, police and fire services.  In London, these are the responsibility of the Mayor of London alongside strategic planning and regional development.

Some authorities – like Liverpool, Salford, Doncaster and Hackney - have an elected mayor and in these cases, the mayor acts in effect as the executive head of the council (with the same powers over local planning and other services as the council has).

Councils are starting to form Combined Authorities covering, for example, Greater Manchester or the West Midlands.  These authorities will be led by an elected mayor who will have powers depending on the details of the devolution deal agreed with Whitehall, but including strategic planning and regional development and resembling these of the Mayor of London.

Unitary councils

There are 55 of these covering a mixture of urban and country areas. Unitary councils covering cities and large towns include Bristol; Leicester; Nottingham; Portsmouth; Derby; Reading; Middlesbrough; Hull; Peterborough; Slough; Blackpool; Luton; Brighton & Hove; Bournemouth; Milton Keynes; Plymouth; Southampton; and Stoke-on-Trent.

These councils are the only principal local authorities in their areas and have responsibility for local planning and the same wide range of services covered by metropolitan boroughs and cities (see above) except that police and fire services are managed at county level.

Some authorities – like Bristol and Leicester – have an elected mayor and (as above) the mayor acts as the executive head of the council.  (In other words, (s)he acts with the power of the council, not with additional powers.

Some of these authorities may become involved in Combined Authorities.  For example, the West of England Combined Authority which includes Bristol and Bath and will cover an area roughly the same as the county of Avon which was created by local government re-organisation in 1974 and abolished in 1996.  The responsibilities of Mayors of Combined Authorities would depend on agreements with Whitehall, but be likely to include strategic planning and regional development and be akin to those of the Mayor of London.

County councils

There are 27 of these covering mainly rural areas. These councils are part of a two-tier structure with district councils (below).  Districts lead on local planning, but county councils have responsibility for strategic planning, waste management, education, social services, transport, police and fire services.

District councils

There are 201 of these covering the same area as the county councils above. Some cover cities and large towns including Preston, Gloucester, Northampton, Norwich, Oxford, Cheltenham, Cambridge, Watford, Hastings, Dartford, Maidstone, Dover, Burnley, Corby, Redditch, Warwick and Worcester. They are responsible for local planning and licensing and for housing, waste collection and council tax.

Parish councils

There are about 8000 of these covering about one third of the country, mainly in rural areas. These councils may also be known as town councils or community councils.  Where they exist, they are the bodies which lead neighbourhood planning.  Where there is no parish council (which is the case in most urban areas), the lead body for neighbourhood planning is  called a neighbourhood forum.  A nieghbourhood forum is not a local council, but a partnership of people and organisations with an interest in the area.

Key Facts:

In the metropolitan areas and in towns and cities covered by unitary councils, there is one layer of local council which has responsibility for the full range of services including planning.  In London, boroughs have resposibility for most things including local planning, but the elected Mayor of London is reposnible for transport, policing and strategic planning.  Outside London, at present, elected mayors have no special powers beyond those of the local council, but devolution to Combined Authorities is likely to change this. 

In many, less urban areas, there are two-tiers of local council at county and district level.  The district tier has responsibility for local planning and the county has responsibility for strategic planning.  Parish councils - which can lead on neighbourhood planning- exist mainly in country areas.  They can, however, be set up in urban neighbourhoods.  Where there is no parish council, a neighbourhood forum can lead on neighbourhood planning.  A neighbourhood forum is not a sort of council.   

Page Links from here

Local Government Association is the national body representing local councils in the UK.

The National Association of Local Councils represents parish and community councils in England and Wales.

You can find your local council here using your postcode and the same government site explains what services your local council provides.

Also, in the toolkit:

Councillors

Devolution

Local Democracy

Dealing with Antisocial Behaviour

Noise and Nuisance

Licensing

Planning

Managing Neighbourhoods

Delivering Local Public Services


OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLKIT DEFINITION SHEET This sheet may be reproduced in paper or electromic or any other form but please mention it was made by Chamberlain Forum Limited for Birmingham City Council supported by Department for Communities and Local Government.

created: 2016-07-20 17:06:28 by: admin status: f published