Types of Council following Governance Review

Question

Can anyone tell me what these different types of Council are?

Community
Neighbourhood
Village

My Principal authority is currently undertaking a governance review. It has recommended Parish Councils move to one of the three. Where can I find our more? What are the pros and cons? Thank you

Answer 1

As far as I am aware all these bodies are the same as a parish council, but just with a different title. If you were big enough you could call your self a Town council!

Does the Principal Authority give any reason for the changes of name - perhaps they want a more cuddly name?

A good summary is here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parish_councils_in_England

HTH

Comments

Thanks for your response. My PC is a strange one. It is currently two Councils under the umbrella of one name. All historic documents were apparently given away to the local school. This is the first governance review for this Principle Authority (Cheshire East). CE say the current two Councils, both with 3 cllrs each hold no value to the Parish or electorate. There was an election for one Council in 2019. With this in mind CE propose this Council to increase to 4cllrs (it is slightly larger in size ) and proposes a name change and style of Council. We are not the only small Council that CE has proposed these changes. I'm.guessing they want more delivered!

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Curious that the old records were given to the local school. Surely the proper place is with the County record office so that everyone has access.

I can see where the PA are going. Reduce admin burdens I would think is a major driver.  Interesting non the less.
As Graeme points out....
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/28/part/4

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This is a Council that appears never to have functioned properly. I've raised a few questions on here which are only the tip of the iceberg. In hindsight I should have contacted the Monitoring Officer years ago. In response to your question yes the documents should have gone to the County Archives. I'm actually sceptical they were given to the school and having recently contacted them to get them back they have no record of them. It's a sorry state of affairs.

Answer 2

See page 5 of this - I will look into it later. Seems like you also need to look at Part 4 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (as amended) for context

Comments

Thanks Graeme I would welcome your input and others regards this. Helen

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Having looked at the legislation in a bit more detail I think it is about what types of populated area will be  examined for parishing assessment purposes. If you were to use adjacent villages as one such area, one village could have over 1000 residents and the other 75. Would you want to form a Parish Council for each of those villages, or would you rather form one to cover both on neighbourhood criteria for example.  In another possible case, you might want to set up a town Council, where one doesn't exist but several wards might be dead set against it. In such an instance those wards in favour might be regarded as a community within a town.

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Hi Graeme you appear to have hit the nail on the head! A number of Parishes have been proposed to be merged for various reasons. One neighbouring Parish has been proposed to merge with two others and another neighbour with their neighbouring Parish. Our Council isnt scheduled to meet until May and nobody yet has questioned the proposals. Thanks again, Helen

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Well if the review involves interaction between Handforth PC, there might be some questions. Especially if Jackie Weaver invites herself into the discussions!

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Sadly Jackie has been involved with this Council stating it couldnt get any lower!. Fingers crossed this governance review will force positive and meaningful change.

Answer 3

There is no difference in rights or powers as a result of the alternative style.

My understanding is that in England all Local Councils are Parish Councils regardless of the style used. The equivalent level of Council in Wales is a Community Council, even if holding an alternative style such as that of a Town Council. The Local Government Act 1972 originally only allowed Parish Councils to resolve using Section 245 subsection 6 that "that the parish shall have the status of a town". The implementation of the resolution is outlined in the Local Government Act 1972 Section 245 subsections 6-10. The main effect beyond the styling of the council is the opportunity to style the chairman and vice-chairman (if applicable) as Town Mayor and Deputy Town Mayor respectively.

More recently the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 chapter 28, section 75 subsection 8 inserted Sections 12A and 17A into the Local Government Act 1972. This allows a Parish to have the alternative style of Community, Neighbourhood or Village by resolution or by order. The impact as with a town status resolution is to restyle the Parish, Parish council and the title of the chairman. So upon a resolution or order to style the Parish as a Village the Parish Council Chairman as the Village Council Chairman or the Parish Trustees as Village Trustees.

A Community Governance Review such as that being undertaken by Cheshire East Borough Council would be expected to suggest renaming of Parishes where appropriate and when a new Parish is being created to consider the name of the new Parish for its inclusion in the order which creates the new Parish and abolishes any old Parishes as required. The wording used for a number of Parishes on the point of name and styling in the Cheshire East Community Governance Review is "A name for the new parish should be considered, and the Borough Council welcomes proposals on this point. The Council also requests comments on whether the new parish should have the style of ‘parish’ or one of the alternative styles that the Council may recommend where a new parish is being created: ‘community’, ‘neighbourhood’ or ‘village’". This or similar wording has been included in the recommendations for a number of locations including Cholmondeston and Wettenhall, Great Warford and Little Warford and Kettleshulme and Lyme Handley. The draft recommendations of the Cheshire East Community Governance Review reads to me to be raising the styling and naming question for the next round of consultation prior to the Final Recommendations being made. 

Perhaps this topic is something that could be considered at the Annual Parish Meeting and/or a Parish Council Meeting when the next round of consultation is held.

Comments

You are correct in your reading as that has been confirmed by the Clerk.
Is this just dressing something  up to gloss over  or does real change happen in these situations? Anyone know or have experience?

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I don't have experience of the Community, Neighbourhood and Village alternative styles, but I am a member of a successor parish that has the status of a Town Council. The results of adopting an alternative style could be seen as largely cosmetic, although it may change the perception of the Parish and its Council by the public. The use of the terminology Parish for instance could be seen to suggest that a Council of a Civil Parish is related to the management of the Church Parish or that this name is not reflective of how the residents of a Parish view their area. As part of the 2007 act, the options of having Parishes and Parish Councils were reintroduced for areas within Greater London and so having the option to be styled as a neighbourhood or community could have been seen to have been more appropriate for the new authorities created as a result.

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Thanks for this. The name Town Council wouldn't be a goer as a very traditional rural area slapped between two towns with their own respective Councils. I'm guessing village would be selected. Helen