WHAT IS A PARISH?

There are two types of Parish whose boundaries do not necessarily coincide. There are Ecclesiastical Parishes centres on an Anglican Church with a Parochial Church Council and there are Civil Parishes, which form part of local administration.

Each Civil Parish is an independent local democratic unit usually in rural areas, small towns or the suburbs of urban areas. Each Parish with an electorate of more than 200 people has a Parish Council.

WHAT IS A PARISH COUNCIL?

A Parish Council is a local authority comprising Councillors who are elected for four years at a time. There are currently 35 Parish Councils in the borough of Maidstone. Parish Councils have many powers to provide and maintain certain facilities within their Parish. These facilities can include playing fields, leisure facilities, village greens and village halls. They can also maintain rights of way, bus shelters, public seats, allotments, cemeteries and some street lighting. They can also contribute to joint projects within the area with other authorities.

Parish Councils play a vital part in obtaining and representing local views on various issues and as a statutory body they are consulted by other public authorities such as Borough Councils, County Councils, Health Authorities and Government Departments on specific issues affecting their Parish. They have a legal right to be consulted on planning applications and are consulted on schools and highway matters.

Decisions by Parish Councils are taken by the elected Councillors, meetings are usually monthly and are open to the public. Each Parish Council appoints a Clerk to deal with correspondence and, report to and take minutes of its meetings undertake other duties on its behalf. To raise money, Parish Council issues a precept, which is added to the Council Tax bills of residents within the Parish. The Parish Council decides how much money it will spend each year and therefore how much it will ask each Council Taxpayer to contribute.

Thurnham Parish Council has a total of nine Councillors generally elected by parishioners, and meets on the third Monday of each month with the exception of January and August.

Summer in Thurnham

History and function of Parish Councils It is the first tier of Local Government and was created by statute in 1894. Before 1894, for many years, the affairs of the parishes had been administered by a vestry, or meeting of the village inhabitants. Inevitably these meetings were dominated by the squire, the parson and the principal ratepayers and some became ‘select vestries’, only open to those people deemed ‘suitable’ to serve. In many parishes, particularly rural ones, the system worked perfectly well, in others it was virtually non-existent or very inefficient. For a variety of reasons, including a general movement towards greater ‘democracy’; and a desire to break the power of the Church of England over the lives of nonconformists and non-believers, a Bill was promoted to create Parish Councils. After a difficult passage through parliament and many amendments, this Bill became an Act in 1894. Its effect was to transfer all non ecclesiastical functions from the church to the elected Parish Councils. Some other functions were added, such as those relating to the burial of the dead, which had, many years before, been vested in Burial Boards, an early form of Quango.

St. Marys Church, Thurnham

The regulations under which the first Parish Councils operated were not very tight at that stage and the influence of the church was not so easily to be diminished.

There were many anomalies and difficulties encountered in the years between 1894 and 1972, when the present basic Local Government Act came into being. A full and very entertaining account of these years can be found in the above quoted book.

Much has changed since 1894, despite the impression given by the“The Vicar of Dibley” TV series. Parish Councils are closely regulated and the amount of administrational bureaucracy and red tape has increased exponentially in the past few years, with an accompanying rise in costs of audit and insurance. On the other hand, with lines of responsibility more clearly drawn, there now appears to be no general animosity towards the church and some villages still have the parson on the Parish Council. That is, if s/he has the time to spare, because the church has also changed considerably, with greatly enlarged parishes, few curates and the same problem with red tape and mountains of post.

Powers and Responsibilities of Parish Councils

The Local Government Act, 1972, is the one most often referred to when describing the modern powers and responsibilities of Parish Councils but it is augmented by many earlier and later Acts, such as The Criminal Justice and Public Order, Act 1994, which, on the face of it, would not appear to relate to Parish Councils but which gave them a long needed ability to pay for measures to combat crime and the fear of crime in villages.

Parish Councils may only spend public money on projects or actions for which they have a Statutory Power. Breaking this rule is likely to result in a PC’s accounts being refused by the auditor and, possibly, the individual councillors being required to repay the money illegally expended. For those of an enquiring nature, a list of the legislation conferring some of these powers appears at the end of this section.

There is still, as there was in 1894, only one power which the Parish Council must consider using and that is to provide allotments for the labouring poor, if asked for them. All other powers are voluntary - the Parish Council is not obliged to exercise them and indeed the majority would find it difficult to raise enough money to exercise them all on a permanent basis.

Parish Councils are empowered to raise money for their activities through a tax (the "precept") on the village residents which is collected on their behalf by the District Council, as an addition to the District and County Council Tax. This is then paid to the Parish Council in two equal instalments.

Two neighbouring Parish Councils might require the same amount of money to function but the fewer houses there are in a village, the more each household is obliged to pay towards raising this sum. Thus, the actual tax paid by similar houses in neighbouring villages could differ widely. Though not actually ‘capped’ in their expenditure, as are the Principal Councils, the activities of many smaller Parish Councils are effectively limited by this difficulty; to what, in vulgar parlance, ‘the market can stand’. To combat this, smaller councils are being encouraged to combine for some large projects and share the expense across a wider base.

Borrowing is allowed, up to a prescribed limit and with permission, but this is of limited help to a small parish because, of course, the loan (plus interest) has to be repaid from slim resources.

Grants may be obtained for specific purposes from various sources, not least the District Council. Very few, if any of these, can be used for maintenance or general administration purposes.

Limited fund raising can be done but this is so hedged about by restrictions that, in the main, it is hardly worthwhile for a very small council.

Some larger councils are enterprising enough to have obtained property from which a considerable income is obtained. Swanley Council, in Kent, is often mentioned because it owns a seaside hotel!

A few of the Statutory Powers bestowed upon Parish and Town Councils

Local Government Act 1972.

s.101 Assume a function delegated by another authority
s.111 Ensure effective discharge of council functions
s.112 Employ someone to carry out council functions
s.124 Buy or lease land for the community
s.142 Publicise council and local authority functions
s.144 Encourage tourism s.145 Provide entertainment
s.150 Raise money by precept (Council Tax)
s.175 Train councillors
s.214 Assume responsibility for a closed churchyard
s.222 Make representation at public enquiries
s.226 Acquire historical records
Sch.13 Borrow money
Sch.16 para 20 Comment upon planning applications Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953
s.4 Provide bus shelters Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976
s.19 Provide or support recreational facilities Open Spaces Act 1906
s.9 Acquire and manage any open space including valuable habitats.
s.10 Administer open space held in trust Provide lighting for any open space Commons Act 1899
s.5 Manage common land Public Health Act 1875
s.164 (see also LGA, 1972 sch. 14 para 27) Acquire and manage land for a village green Provide parks, pleasure grounds, public walks Make bylaws to prevent dog fouling or to ban dogs Public Health Act 1961
s.54 Provide a boating lake Public Health Act 1936
s.87 Maintain public toilets
s.125 Use a local water course to obtain water
s.260 Maintain a local water course The Countryside Act 1958
s.27 Erect signs for a right of way Highways Act 1980
s.30 Create a right of way
s.43 Maintain a right of way
s.96 Plant verges with trees shrubs and bulbs (with Highways Authority consent) Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
s.57 Take action to relieve traffic congestion Provide Parking facilities Parish Councils Act 1957
s.1 Provide roadside seats (with Highways Authority consent)
s.3 (see also LGA 1972 Sch14, para 34) Provide lighting for footways and public places Litter Act 1983
s.5 Provide litter bins Smallholding and allotments Act 1908
s.26 Provide allotments
s.34 Acquire land for common pasture Local Government (Records) Act 1962
s.1 Make community records available to the public
s.2 Purchase records of local interest
s.4 Support local archives National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949
s.16 Make agreement with English Nature to manage council-owned land as nature reserve. The Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981
s.39 Local authorities make management agreements with landowners Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Litter (Animal Droppings) Order 1991 Must keep own land free of litter and dog faeces.

There are many other Acts and Statutes which govern the activities of Parish Councils and these are being added to every few months.