Civil parish
Civil parish (England) | |
---|---|
![]() Map of English civil parishes andWelsh communities | |
Category | Parish |
Location | England |
Found in | Districts |
Created by | Various, see text |
Created |
|
Number | 10,464(as of 2023[1]) |
Possible types |
|
Populations | 0–137,387(Northampton) |
Government |
In England, acivil parishis a type ofadministrative parishused forlocal government.It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government.[2]Civil parishes can trace their origin to theancient system of parishes,which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through theLocal Government Act 1894(56 & 57 Vict.c. 73), which established electedparish councilsto take on the secular functions of theparish vestry.
A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a largetownwith a populationin excess of 100,000.This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as thecommunes of France.However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are notprincipal authorities,and in most cases have a relatively minor role in local government.[3]
As of September 2023[update],there are 10,464 parishes in England,[1]and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of the English population.[4]For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partlyunparished;but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas ifdemanded by local residents.In 2007 the right to create civil parishes was extended toLondon boroughs,[5]although only one,Queen's Park,has so far been created.[6]
Eight parishes also havecity status(a status granted by themonarch). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village,neighbourhoodorcommunityby resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of a civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if the parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by aparish meetingwhich all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under a common parish council.
Waleswas also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced bycommunities,which are similar to English parishes in the way they operate.Civil parishes in Scotlandwere abolished for local government purposes by theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1929;the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are thecommunity council areasestablished by theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1973,which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units inNorthern Ireland.
History
[edit]Ancient parishes
[edit]The parish system in Europe was established between the 8th and 12th centuries,[7]and an early form was long established in England by the time of theNorman Conquest.These areas were originally based on the territory ofmanors,[8]which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes.[9]
Initially, churches and their priests were the gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of thelord of the manor,but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of theCatholic Churchthus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right.[10]
Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents.[11]However, bysubinfeudation,making a new smaller manor, there wasa means of making a chapelwhich, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuriesvestry).[11]This consistency was a result ofcanon lawwhich prized thestatus quoin issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult.
The consistency of these boundaries until the 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size.Writtle,Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring areShellow Bowellsat 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), andChignall Smealyat 476 acres (0.7 sq mi)
Until thebreak with Rome,[12]parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as atithe.[8]In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish'srector,who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or the (often well-endowed) monasteries. After thedissolution of the monasteries,the power to levy arateto fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by thePoor Relief Act 1601.Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered)charitiesare well-documented.[13]
The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of the parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas theselect vestrytook over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite.[8]The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of the established English Church, which for a few years afterHenry VIIIalternated between the Roman Catholic Church and theChurch of England,before settling on the latter on the accession ofElizabeth Iin 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress ofMethodism.The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and the perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places.[8]For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers toad hocboards and other organisations, such as theboards of guardiansgiven responsibility for poor relief through thePoor Law Amendment Act 1834.Sanitary districtscovered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in the parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868.[8]
Civil and ecclesiastical split
[edit]The ancient parishes diverged into two distinct, nearly exactly overlapping, systems of parishes during the 19th century. ThePoor Law Amendment Act 1866,which receivedroyal assenton 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their ownoverseer of the poorto be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes" ),extra-parochial areas,townshipsandchapelries.To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from the ecclesiastical parishes.[14]
The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termedecclesiastical parishes.The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its ownparochial church council.
In the late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent totime immemorial) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority ofexclaveswere abolished. Thecensus of 1911noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" inEngland and Waleswere not geographically identical when comparing thecivilto theecclesiasticalform.
1894 reforms
[edit]In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by theLocal Government Act 1894(56 & 57 Vict.c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties ofvestries.Parishes which straddled county boundaries orsanitary districtshad to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (seeList of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted asurban districtsandrural districts,with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes.
Rural parishes
[edit]The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annualparish meetingsin all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with a population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included.
Urban parishes
[edit]Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by the council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with theurban districtormunicipal boroughin which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to thepoor law unions.The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had a set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level.
1965–1974 reforms
[edit]In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished whenGreater Londonwas created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below aLondon borough.(Since the new county was beforehand a mixture ofmetropolitan boroughs,municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.)
In 1974, theLocal Government Act 1972retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to becomesuccessor parishes,with a boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they becameunparished areas.The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed the new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example,Hinckley,whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished.
Sub-divisions
[edit]Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known ashamlets,tithingsortownships.[15]
Revival
[edit]Nowadays the creation of town andparish councilsis encouraged inunparished areas.TheLocal Government and Rating Act 1997created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created.[16]This right was extended toLondon boroughsby theLocal Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007[17]– with this, theCity of Londonis at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign apetitiondemanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal.[5]
Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been the desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples includeDaventry(2003),Folkestone(2004),Kidderminster(2015) andSutton Coldfield(2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically largeunitary authoritieshas been a spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples includeShrewsbury(2009),Salisbury(2009),Crewe(2013) andWeymouth(2019).[4]In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up forBurton upon Trent,and in 2001 theMilton Keynesurban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created.
Parishes can also be abolished where there is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants.[5]Examples areBirtley,which was abolished in 2006, andSouthsea,abolished in 2010.[18][19]
Governance
[edit]Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have aparish councilwhich exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have a parish council, and instead will only have aparish meeting:an example ofdirect democracy.Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting.
A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself a city council.[20]According to theDepartment for Communities and Local Government,in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes.[21]Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas.
Powers and functions
[edit]Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have a range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following:[22][23][24]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Ackworth_Parish_Council_Community_Centre_-_geograph.org.uk_-_339252.jpg/220px-Ackworth_Parish_Council_Community_Centre_-_geograph.org.uk_-_339252.jpg)
Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can includeallotments,cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields andvillage greens,village hallsorcommunity centres,bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in runningmarkets,public toilets and public clocks, museums andleisure centres.[4][22][23]
Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providinggrantsto local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion.[4][22][23]
Parish councils have a role in theplanningsystem; they have a statutory right to be consulted on anyplanning applicationsin their areas. They may also produce aneighbourhood planto influence local development.[4][22]
TheLocalism Act 2011allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a "general power of competence"which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law.[25]To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications.[26]
Funding
[edit]Parish councils receive funding by levying a "precept"on thecouncil taxpaid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In a civil parish which has no parish council, theparish meetingmay levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish (unparished areas), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as a Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities.[27]If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area.
Councillors and elections
[edit]Parish councils comprise volunteercouncillorswho areelectedto serve for four years. Decisions of the council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003.[28]
The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to the population of the parish.[citation needed]Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on the council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled byco-optionby the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor.
TheLocalism Act 2011introduced new arrangements which replaced the'Standards Board regime'with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt a new code. In either case the code must comply with theNolan Principles of Public Life.[29]
Status and styles
[edit]A parish can be grantedcity statusbythe Crown.As of 2020[update],eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral:Chichester,Ely,Hereford,Lichfield,Ripon,Salisbury,TruroandWells.
The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving the parish the status of a town,[30]at which point the council becomes atown council.[31]Around 400 parish councils are called town councils.[citation needed]
Under theLocal Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007,a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles:
- community
- neighbourhood
- village
As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally a city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specificallymetropolitan boroughsornon-metropolitan districts).[32][33]
The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title ofmayor.
Charter trustees
[edit]When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of the charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appointcharter trusteesto whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such asmayoralty.An example of such a city wasHereford,whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitaryHerefordshire.The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for theCity of Bathmake up the majority of the councillors onBath and North East SomersetCouncil.
Geography
[edit]![]() | This section needs to beupdated.(March 2017) |
Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one inGreater Londonand few in the other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than ahamlet,while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands.Weston-super-Mare,with a population of 71,758,[when?]is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termedvillages,localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church.
Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as the government at the time of theLocal Government Act 1972discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example,Birminghamhas two parishes (New FrankleyandSutton Coldfield),Oxfordhas four, and theMilton Keynes urban areahas 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007.
A civil parish can range in area from a small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023[34]areStanhope(County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km2), andDartmoor Forest(Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km2). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land:Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington(Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km2;3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common toBrancepethandBrandon and Byshottles(County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km2;4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas:Chester Castle(Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km2;4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) andHamilton Lea(Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km2;18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at the 2021 census).
Deserted parishes
[edit]The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These wereChester Castle(in the middle ofChestercity centre),Newland with Woodhouse Moor,Beaumont Chase,Martinsthorpe,Meering,Stanground North(subsequently abolished),Sturston,Tottington,andTyneham(subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by theArmed ForcesduringWorld War IIand remain deserted.
In the 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded.[35]
General abolition of anomalies
[edit]Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, includingBarnby MoorandWallingwells,both in Nottinghamshire.[36]
Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from the mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". TheVictoria County History,a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these hadexclaves,which could be:
- an enclave within another parish,
- surrounded by more than one other parish, or
- apene-enclave,partly surrounded by sea.
In some cases an exclave of a parish (a "detached part" ) was in a differentcounty.In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicablerepresentatives on the national level,justices of the peace,sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such asTodmordenin Lancashire and Yorkshire.[37]
Such anomalies mostly arose in the height of thefeudal system,when parishes evolved. Major land interests (manorproper orchurchlands) may have acquired non-contiguous parcels of land i.e. beyond the original parish/county bounds or what would become the boundaries of a new parish. Those extraterritorial land parcels influenced the formation of parish boundaries where the parcels were significant to the parish. Thus secular land in an exclave, almost always manor, may have been the site of a prosperous farmstead, or remained part of the manor for generations, or thelord/lady of the manormay have held the right to appoint the parish priest (advowson) or co-founded the church as its patron. The scenario may also have arisen originally as an attempt todiversifythe lord's (or overlord's) interests, or from a large burial ground in an urban setting. It could also arise from a chance inheritance. It caused inconvenience to the residents of most exclaves/enclaves (where not numerous or economically significant enough to have their ownchapel of easeas to religious matters and a vestry as to civil matters). They had to attend a distant church and/or themanorial courtfor certaintithes,rates, baptisms, marriages, funerals, or to obtain regular poor relief and most forms of education, charitable alms and hospitalry.
The end ofmanorial courtscoincided with growing agricultural innovation, fragmentation of land ownership and housing growth. The church and vestries were reluctant to bring boundaries up to date. This meant such anomalies were irrelevantnuisanceswith a real economic cost in distance of administration and confusion. They began to be remedied nationally instatuteby Parliament in the early 19th century in thePoor Law Reformsof 1834, and was more widely in 1844 when theCounties (Detached Parts) Act 1844moved most parishes which were partly or wholly in an alien county. Theremaining exclaves of countieswere transferred in the 1890s and in 1931, with one exception: an exclave ofTetworth,surrounded byCambridgeshire,was removed in 1965 fromHuntingdonshire.
Other acts, including theDivided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act 1882eliminated instances of civil parishes being split between counties, so that by 1901StangroundinHuntingdonshireand theIsle of Elywas the last example;[38]it was split into two parishes, one in each county, in 1905.[39]
TheChurch of Englandhas only abolished these where locally incepted (under the Anglican and the Catholic principle ofsubsidiarity). This means it has essentially kept, often divided in urban areas, the original parishes. The Church's main website has an accessible map, showing parish boundaries church-by-church.[40]
-
Eight exclaves of highly anomalousCowley,all in Hillingdon, then in Middlesex.
-
The two tiny exclaves ofEnfield.
-
Burial exclave of the 1724-createdSt George Hanover Squarein Paddington. It remains only in theC of E.Used for burials 1763–1852.[41][42]
-
Map of the other main enclaves and exclaves in Middlesex.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ab"Dataset: Civil parish".Office for National Statistics.10 September 2023.
- ^"A Beginners Guide to UK Geography (2023)".Open Geography Portal.Office for National Statistics. 24 August 2023.Retrieved9 December2023.
Parishes are subdivisions of local authorities in many parts of England, and their councils are the most local level of government. Unlike electoral wards and electoral divisions, parishes are not found in all parts of England. The Welsh and Scottish equivalents are communities. Note that the full term for administrative parishes is "civil parish", to distinguish them from the ecclesiastical parishes that are found in all parts of the UK.
- ^Barnett, Neil; Sweeting, David (2013)."Is UK local government really so big?"(PDF).University of Bristol.Retrieved20 July2022.
- ^abcdeBaker, Carl; Sandford, Mark (16 December 2020)."Unitary authorities: The role of parish and town councils".House of Commons Library.Retrieved8 March2023.
- ^abcGuidance on Community Governance Reviews(PDF).London:Department for Communities and Local Government.2010.ISBN978-1-4098-2421-3.
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- ^Encyclopaedia Britannica 1993[full citation needed]
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- ^Richardson, John (1986).The Local Historian's Encyclopaedia.Historical Publications Limited.
- ^Churches in the Landscape, Richard Morris, JM Dent & Sons, 1989, Chapter 6
- ^abHistory of the Countryside by Oliver Rackham, 1986 p19
- ^"Status details for Ancient Parish".A Vision of Britain.University of Portsmouth.Retrieved20 July2022.
- ^TheVictoria County Historiesprovide, for most parishes but not all, evidence of local private charities with details.
- ^"Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 (29 & 30 Victoria, c. 113)".A collection of the public general statutes passed in the twenty-ninth and thirtieth years of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria.London: Google Books. 1866. pp. 574–577.Retrieved6 November2021.
- ^Youngs, Frederic A, Jr. (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society.ISBN0-901050-67-9.pxvi
- ^What is a parish or town council,National Association of Local Councils website, accessed 14 August 2010Archived3 September 2010 at theWayback Machine
- ^"Sections 58-77 of the Act, which received Royal Assent on 30 October 2007".Parliament of the United Kingdom.Retrieved20 July2022.
- ^Birtley Town Council – Annual Return 2005/2006,Gateshead Council, 29 September 2006
- ^"The Portsmouth City Council (Reorganisation of Community Governance) Order 2010"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 1 November 2011.Retrieved11 September2010.
- ^Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007
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- ^Full list of powers of parish councils (archived since 15 July 2007)nalc.gov.uk - Downloadable Microsoft Word Document
- ^"The General Power of Competence"(PDF).Local government Association.Retrieved10 November2018.
- ^"The Parish Councils (General Power of Competence) (Prescribed Conditions) Order 2012".legislation.gov.uk.Retrieved10 November2018.
- ^Local Government Finance Act 1992,section 35
- ^"Local Government Act 2000 The Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 Reg 30".[permanent dead link]
- ^Local government: the standards regime in England - Commons Library Standard Note,Accessed 1 May 2015
- ^"The council of a parish which is not grouped with any other parish may resolve that the parish shall have the status of a town""Local Government Act 1972 (c.70), Part XIII".Revised Statutes.Office of Public Sector Information.1972.Retrieved11 September2010.
- ^Local government in England and Wales: A Guide to the New System.London:HMSO.1974. p. 158.ISBN0-11-750847-0.
- ^NALC - National Association of Local CouncilsArchived26 September 2011 at theUK Government Web ArchiveRetrieved 26 December 2009
- ^Guidance on Community Governance ReviewsArchived17 May 2009 at theWayback Machine(April 2008), London: Department for Communities and Local Government.ISBN978-1-8511-2917-1.Retrieved 26 December 2009.
- ^Statistics, Office for National (4 January 2024)."Parishes and Non Civil Parished Areas (December 2023) Boundaries EW BFE".www.data.gov.uk.Retrieved29 January2024.
- ^"Unpopulated civil parishes and communities from the 2011 Census".Office for National Statistics.3 June 2020.Retrieved28 July2022.
- ^"Detached parishes and wards in England - Office for National Statistics".www.ons.gov.uk.Retrieved29 January2024.
- ^TodmordenCivil Parish Council and Community website. Retrieved 27 November 2014
- ^"1901 Census: General - Areas".A Vision of Britain.University of Portsmouth.Archivedfrom the original on 23 April 2023.
- ^Local Government Board Order No. 56410, made under theLocal Government Act 1894(56 & 57 Vict.c. 73) s.36
- ^Ecclesiastical parish still with detached part (example): HascombeTheChurch of England.Retrieved 27 November 2014
- ^It was sold in 1967 to the Utopian Housing Society who built 7 blocks, housing 300 flats and maisonettes, completed in 1973 having communal woodland gardens. Many of the site's mature trees, including a plane about 250 years old and a red oak, were retained; seehttp://londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.php?ID=WST100Archived12 June 2018 at theWayback Machine
- ^"St George's Hanover Square".17 December 2023.
Further reading
[edit]- Wright, R S; Hobhouse, Henry (1884).An Outline of Local Government and Local Taxation in England and Wales (Excluding the Metropolis).London: W Maxwell & Son.
External links
[edit]- In praise of... civil parishesEditorial inThe Guardian,16 May 2011.