Can a town council resolve to become a parish council again?

Question

More of a hypothetical question this as I suspect many wouldn't want to do this, but could a parish council that became a town council pass a resolution to go back to being a parish council, or is it a 'one-way street'/some other process that needs to be followed?

Answer 1

The legislation allowing the change of name is contained in Paragraph 6 of Section 245 of the Local Government Act. Paragraph 9 states the following:-

"A parish council by whom a resolution under subsection (6) above has been passed or, if the council has been dissolved, the parish meeting in England may resolve that the parish shall cease to have the status of a town and thereupon subsection (6)(a) to (c) above and subsection (8) above shall cease to apply to the parish."

That which may be done may also be undone.

Answer 2

As Dave the Clerk says, a subsequent resolution under article 9 can be applied to turn the Town Council back to a Parish Council, but why would anyone want to do that? Town and Parish Councils are virtually identical in terms of powers and responsibilities. Is it a case of trying to stop councillors becoming a Mayor and Deputy Mayor? Are there people in such positions currently? If so are the incumbents erroneously trying to assert themselves as pseudo supervisors and takers of other unauthorised elevated powers?

Comments

You might very well think that I could not possibly comment! It's a potentially extreme but likely successful way forcing a culture change. I may be wrong but I can't imagine many people would fall over themselves to be chair of a parish council (which sounds much more egalitarian) whereas they definitely do to be Town Mayor!

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Is it a 'town?'

Are there a majority of current Cllrs likely to support such a proposal?

Would such a proposal have the weight of public interest?

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It is a town council but the community refers to itself as a village (though it is in fact closer to a town in population size).

No, a majority of current councillors would probably not support such a proposal. Although when it became a town council, only in about 2009, it wasn't a universally popular decision amongst the councillors who (rightly it seems) thought people were pushing for the transition to town council simply so they could call themselves mayor.

Would it have the weight of public interest? Well, that depends on perspective. It's hardly a major change, just a minor technical one, so it's not like it takes up a huge amount of time. And it could lead to better governance as is hinted at in Graeme_r's original reply to my question.

Ultimately, this isn't something I'd be actively pushing for because I think you can change cultures without taking relatively drastic steps such as this. I was just wondering if it was something legally possible.