Parish Councils

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About Parish Councils

Parishes are the smallest areas of civil administration in England and provide the statutory tier of local government closest to the people. Civil parishes are usually administered by Parish Councils, which have various local responsibilities. A Parish Council is a statutory local authority set up under the Local Government Act of 1972. In Bedfordshire there are two tiers of local government.  These are the three district councils (Central Bedfordshire Council, Bedford Borough Council, Luton Borough Council) and the Town/Parish Councils.

A Parish Council can also be called a Town Council, in which case the chair of the Town Council will usually have the title Mayor. A Parish Council can become a Town Council unilaterally and simply by making a resolution to do so, and around 400 Parish Councils are called Town Councils. Local examples of Town Councils are Biggleswade, Shefford, Sandy, and Stotfold.

A Parish Council can also be a City Council, but most City Councils are metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts and therefore are not parishes. A parish can only gain city status if it is granted by the Crown. Examples of parishes with city status are Ely in Cambridgeshire, and Wells in Somerset.

If a parish has fewer than 200 electors it is usually deemed too small to have a Parish Council, and instead it has a Parish Meeting. Alternatively, several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common Parish Council. There are about 8,000 Parish and Town Councils in England, serving around 30% of the entire population and involving about 80,000 Parish and Town Councillors. Total spending is around £200 million each year.

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Powers and Functions

Typical activities undertaken by Parish or Town Councils include:

• The provision and upkeep of certain local facilities such as allotments, bus shelters, parks, playgrounds, public seats, public toilets, public clocks, street lights, village or town halls, and various leisure and recreation facilities;
   
• Maintenance of footpaths, cemeteries and village greens;
   
• Since 1997 parish councils have had new powers to provide community transport (such as a minibus), crime prevention measures (such as CCTV) and to contribute money towards traffic calming schemes;
   
• Parish councils are supposed to act as a channel of local opinion to larger local government bodies, and as such have the right to be consulted on any planning decisions affecting the parish;
   
• Giving of grants to local voluntary organisations, and sponsoring public events.

The role played by Parish Councils varies. Smaller Parish Councils have only limited resources and generally play only a minor role, while some larger Parish Councils have a role similar to that of a small District Council.

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Councillors and Elections

Parish Councils are run by volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Different Councils have different numbers of Councillors.

In the case of most Parish Councils, Councillors are elected to represent the entire parish. In parishes with larger populations, or those that cover large areas, the parish can be divided into wards. These wards then return a certain number of Councillors each to the Parish Council (depending on their population).

Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on the Council will an election be held. It is common in rural parishes for the number of seats available to exceed the number of candidates. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the Council.

When a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually 10) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the Council will co-opt someone to be the replacement Councillor.