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We are discussing whether to change our moniker from 'parish council' to 'community council'.  One question that has come up is - how many (roughly) councils in England & Wales have changed from being called 'town' or 'parish' to 'community'?   In other words, is it quite common to do this - or not?
by (410 points)

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It's very rare for a rural parish council in England to do this, possibly due to the potential for confusion with other organisations with the words community and council in their name, e.g. the Rural Community Councils. It's the norm in Wales and Scotland.
by (57.9k points)
Thanks. The only one I know of which has changed its name to ‘community council’ is Walton in Buckinghamshire, though, as you say,the term is common in Scotland.
What about councils that have changed from 'parish council' to 'village council'?  Do you know of any of those?
I suspect that's even less common. Almost all parishes are larger than a single village, so to change the name to village council suggests that you are abandoning all of the outlying residents.
Yes, good point. Back to 'community council' it is!
I see the new council of the town of Bexhill on Sea preferred to call itself 'parish' (even though it covers nine parishes!), whereas Queens Park went for 'community'.
Both Queens Park and Bexhill are new councils.  In the case of Queens Park, an ill-defined urban enclave of London, "Community" seems an appropriate moniker. I'm confused about Bexhill. The governance review considered the establishment of a town council for Bexhill. That town council came into being with the election of 18 councillors (2 for each of nine wards) on 6 May. So who made the decision to change the name, how and when? Bexhill has a ceremonial Mayor, a role usually undertaken by the chair of a town council. I suspect there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes at present and changes may be made.

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