Borough to hold referendum on creating first parish council in London for 50 years

Westminster Council is to hold a referendum on proposals to set up the first parish council in London for more than 50 years.

The local authority said it expected around 8,000 residents in Queen’s Park to take part in next month’s vote, which will be independently run.

The move was approved by the council’s Cabinet yesterday and follows a community governance review.

The review was held after Westminster last year received a petition containing 2,181 signatures calling for the creation of a community council.

Westminster said there were 408 responses to the community governance review. Of these, 87% directly supported the creation of a new council. One hundred responses came from school children, while 200 respondents signed a pro forma letter.

The Queen’s Park Campaign Group has been behind the drive to set up a community council. It has proposed levying a precept of between £3.30 and £3.70 a month for a band D property. This is expected to raise between £181,000 and £207,000 per annum to pay for the set up and ongoing running costs of the new council.

“To achieve £180,000 per annum will require all households in Queen’s Park to pay the precept, including 100% benefit claimants, or alternatively will require a charge of nearly double the Campaign Group’s original estimate for Band D properties across the reduced tax base,” Westminster said.

A final decision on the plans will be taken in June.

Cllr Robert Davis, Deputy Leader for Westminster, said: “The council is excited by the idea of localism and devolving powers down to local people. However, before making such a significant decision, we want to ensure that the proposals for Queen’s Park have the clear support of residents who will be asked to pay an additional levy for a parish council. Holding a referendum will enable all residents to have their say. I look forward to the results of the referendum.”

Parish councils were abolished in 1963 after the London County Council was replaced with the Greater London Council.

The power for London boroughs to establish parish councils was re-established by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. However, no parish councils have been established since the Act came into force.