Questions about town and parish councils
Follow Councillor Q&A on X/Twitter

Follow us on X/Twitter

0 votes
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)

1 Answer

0 votes
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 (52.9k 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.

Welcome to Town & Parish Councillor Q&A, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of the community. All genuine questions and answers are welcome. Follow us on Twitter to see the latest questions as they are asked - click on the image button above or follow @TownCouncilQA. Posts from new members may be delayed as we are unfortunately obliged to check each one for spam. Spammers will be blacklisted.

You may find the following links useful:

We have a privacy policy and a cookie policy.

Clares Cushions logo Peacock cushion

Clare's Cushions creates beautiful hand made cushions and home accessories from gorgeous comtemporary fabrics. We have a fantastic selection of prints including Sophie Allport and Orla Kiely designs and most covers can be ordered either alone or with a cushion inner. Buying new cushions is an affordable and effective way to update your home interior, they're also a great gift idea. Visit our site now

2,895 questions
5,617 answers
7,949 comments
10,028 users
Google Analytics Alternative