Highclere Parish Council
Parish Councils and local government in England:
Question and Answers
The answers to all those questions you never dared to ask!
|
|
What is a Parish?
There are two sorts of parishes whose boundaries do not always coincide.
These are:
- Ecclesiastical Parishes centred on an Anglican church with a parochial church council, and
- Civil Parishes, which are part of local administration
Some Civil Parishes are called Towns. Ecclesiastic Parishes no longer play a role in local government. The boundaries of Ecclesiastic and Civil parishes may be the same or they may be different.
What is the Civil Parish?
A civil parish is an independent local democratic unit for villages ,for the smaller towns, and for the suburbs of the main urban areas. Each parish has a Parish (or Town) Meeting consisting of all its local government electors and most (where the electorate exceeds 200) have a
Parish or Town Council. Over 13 million people live in such parishes.
What is the Parish (or Town) Council?
The council is a small local authority. Its councillors are elected for four years at a time in the same way as for other councils. The usual election years are 1999, 2003 etc. but some councils will have elections in 1997, 2001 etc. or 1998, 2002 etc. Bye-elections may be held to fill
vacancies occurring between elections. The council is the corporation of its village or town. Each year the councillors choose a chairman from amongst their number: in Town Councils usually called Town Mayor.
What Powers have Parish Councils to do things for their areas?
Parish councils have a number of formal powers. Many provide allotments, look after playing fields, village greens and leisure facilities such as swimming pools. They have a hand in communications by maintaining or guarding such things as rights of way, bus shelters and public seats: smaller scale street lighting. An important matter in which they are concerned is the provision of village halls and meeting places.
How do they do undertake these responsibilities?
The parish council can do these things by actually providing them itself, or by helping someone else (such as a volunteer or a charity) financially to do them. Parish councils are heavily dependent on voluntary effort.
What else do they do?
Plenty of things. Some provide village guides or leaflets to new-comers, or help the Meals on Wheels service, or a local bus service. They make village surveys. One runs a holiday hotel. Many provide car or cycle parks. Others provide public conveniences, litter bins and seats, and can prosecute noise-makers or litter bugs. Many appoint charitable trustees and school managers. Very often the local cemetery is managed by the Parish Council. They have the power to improve the quality of community life by spending sums of money on things which, in their opinion, are in the interests of the parish or its inhabitants, and many kinds of activities are aided in this way.
How much do they cost?
Parish councils are the most unbureaucratic and the cheapest kind of local
authority in existence. Their funds are a tiny part of the council tax: they get no general government grant: so they have every incentive to keep expenditures low and economical.
What else is important to know about Parish Councils?
Parish councils have lately become more important because District
councils have become larger and therefore more remote. The parish councillors know the village and can (and increasingly often do)
represent its views to other authorities like the District Council, the County Council Health Authorities, providers of transport services, and to Ministries. They are entitled to be consulted on planning applications and are often consulted on such things as schools and roads. They put the
parish's case at public inquiries.
Who controls the Parish Council?
You elect its members every four years and you are entitled to go to the
annual parish meeting and say what you think. The accounts are strictly
audited every year.
Parish Reviews
Parish and town boundaries are reviewed by the Local Government Commission; the aim is to make existing parish and town boundaries correspond better to the social communities in which people live and to create new councils for areas which have not had them before.
How does one find out more?
The Parish Councils' Meetings are open to the public, and an assembly of the Parish Meeting for all the parish electors has by law to be held every year in March, April or May. The Highclere Parish Council meets in the Village Hall on the second Tuesday of each month except for August and
December. Residents of the Parish are very welcome to attend and listen to the discussion. Matters for the agenda should be sent in writing to the Clerk.
These Parish Council pages are maintained by the Clerk to the Parish Council, Pat Clark, email parishclerk@highclervillage.com. You can write to the Council by email, fax (253666) or letter (at Midstreams, Mount Road, Highclere, RG20 9QZ), or you can phone the Clerk on 253666.
If you have suggestions about other information you would like to see in these pages please contact the Clerk.
Return to Highclere Parish Council home page
Return to Highclere and District Community home page
This page last updated: 12 April 2000