From TheBestLinks.com
(Redirected from
Civil Parish)
In England a civil parish (usually just parish) is the smallest area used for local government. In Wales the equivalent body to a Parish Council is termed a community council. Scotland also has bodies called community councils, but these are not equivalent to and have fewer powers than English parishes and Welsh communities.
The situation in England
Districts may be divided into several parishes (with all or no land left unparished). Parish councils have various local responsibilities. Typical activities undertaken by a parish council include allotments, parks, litter collection, maintenance of a village hall, public clocks, and entering Britain in Bloom. They also have a consultative role in planning. Parish councils have the power to raise funds through a range of mechanisms including by levying a tax on the Council tax payers of the parish.
Parish councils are run by volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for 4 years. Different councils have different numbers of councillors.
Most parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish. Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on the council will an election be held.
Some parishes are deemed too small to have a parish council and instead have a parish meeting; an example of direct democracy. Parishes can be grouped with other parishes and share a common parish council.
A parish council can also be called a Town Council or a City Council (but not all city or town councils are parish councils). It can become a Town Council unilaterally, simply by making a resolution to do so. City status however is granted by the crown. In England, there are currently six parishes with city status : Chichester, Ely, Hereford, Lichfield, Ripon, and Wells. The Chair of a Town council or City council will usually have the title Mayor.
Sometimes a city or town is abolished as a district, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of the charter until a parish council to replace it can be set up. In this case Charter Trustees perform some of the functions of a parish council, and maintain traditions such as mayoralty. An example of such a city was Hereford, whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire. The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city.
The policy of the present government is to encourage creation of town and parish councils in unparished areas. Recently established councils include those for Daventry (2003), and Folkestone (2004).
Parishes tend not to exist in metropolitan areas such as Greater London, but there is nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has a parish, New Frankley.
History
Whilst as their name suggests, Civil Parishes arose out of the ecclesiastical parish system, their purpose was to administer the Poor Law. The entire country of England was divided into parishes, each responsible for the maintenance of the poor people born in the parish. A rate (property tax) was levied in each parish.
As Local Government was restructured in the 19th Century, some parishes were designated Urban Sanitary Districts and had their powers greatly increased. Smaller parishes were grouped together as Rural Districts but still retained some responsibilities. However the Poor Law obligations were now given to "Unions" of a number of parishes, in order to have sufficient resources to establish and administer workhouses and "outdoor relief". In 1929 the old Poor Law system was abolished, central government now assuming responsibility for welfare payments. In 1974 rural parishes were retained but most urban areas became "unparished".
The situation in Wales
County and county boroughs may be divided into communities as English districts are may be divided into parishes.
Community councils in Wales are identical to Parish councils in terms of their powers and the way they operate. Welsh community councils may call themselves town councils unilaterally and may have city status granted by the Crown. In Wales all town councils are community councils. There are currently two community councils with city status: Bangor and St Davids. The Chair of a town council or city council will usually have the title Mayor.
In areas with populations too small to justify a full community council, community meetings will be established.
See also
External links
Related links
Top visited
0 of
0 links
[no links posted yet]
>> place link >>
Discussion
Last posted
0 of
0 messages
[no messages posted yet]
>> post message >>
Watch
You can
add this article to your own "watchlist" and receive e-mail notification about all changes in this page.
