Parish and Town Councils
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has a policy on the creation of new town and parish councils as part of the devolution process.
Answered by Jim McMahon
We strongly encourage all local authorities to involve their town and parish councils in their plans to ensure that their contribution to local public services is recognised in future arrangements. Town and parish councils can work with other tiers of local government to determine how they can best serve their communities in their area, including by making local agreements regarding the transfer and management of assets.
The power to create and restructure town and parish councils is devolved to principal local authorities, which can review and make changes to local governance arrangements through Community Governance Reviews. In doing so, they are expected to take the views of local people into account. Plans to establish Town or Parish Councils in response to reorganisation should show how these will contribute to reorganisation’s overall goal of creating simpler structures that deliver high quality and sustainable public services to citizens.
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