DCLG consults on making it easier to set up new town and parish councils

The Department for Communities & Local Government has launched a consultation on proposals that would make it easier to set up new town and parish councils.

The current process for setting up a new parish council is set out in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 and in the DCLG’s Guidance on Community Governance Reviews.

The consultation paper said the existing process created a number of problems for those wanting a new parish council to be set up. These problems were:

• It was demanding for campaigners, who needed the support of 10% of the electorate (or a greater proportion in smaller areas) to trigger a community governance review. “A good working understanding of the local authority’s procedures may be required,” the DCLG added.
• The process did not allow designated neighbourhood forums for neighbourhood planning a distinct role in the process of creating a new parish council.
• Community governance reviews had too wide a scope. “They can cover the whole of the local authority area; consider a wide range of issues and consult a wide range of people.”
• It takes a long time. “There is no time limit for a local authority to set the terms of reference for a community governance review; once it has done so, it can take up to a year to carry the review out.”
• There was no right of appeal. The need for consent from the Secretary of State for the creation of new councils was removed by the 2007 Act. “Some campaigners have argued that a right of appeal would allow a community a redress if they felt that the local authority had been unfair in a decision not to create a new parish council.”

The Government said it wanted to make easier and simpler for people to set up town and parish councils where they did not exist. “We want to tilt the balance in favour of community groups, where there is the demonstrable support of a majority of local people,” the DCLG added.

Three options are set out in the consultation paper. The first involves changing the existing system by amending the statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State. These amendments could see the guidance “strongly encourage” authorities to complete the community governance review process in less time than the 12 month timescale set out in the 2007 Act. “As the process must involve consultation, a review period of six months could be a reasonable period for the entire review.”

This option proposes amending the guidance to “make it clear that the right weight should be given to what is effective and convenient for the local community, separately from for the local authority itself”.

It also suggests making governance reviews clearer about what considerations they take into account, and making it clear that a review can recommend different governance arrangements for different parts of the local authority area.

The DCLG said in addition that the guidance might propose that as a matter of good practice, the local authority could carry out a review of a decision not to create a town or parish council if campaigners want one. This review could be carried out on the application of a specified number of people or on payment of a fee, to discourage vexatious applications with little merit.

The second option would require changes to the law as well as to the guidance. This would see changes to the threshold for a petition for a community governance review (by halving the number of signatures a petition needs in order to trigger a rewiew).

There would also be limits to the scope for the local authority’s consideration of the issues in a community governance review, and a shortened timetable for the review. The timetable would be linked to the electoral cycle more clearly as well.

The third option would make it easier for neighbourhood forums to start the process for creating a new parish council. Such forums could submit an application to trigger a review, rather than having to submit a petition with the required number of signatures.

The DCLG said elements of the various options were interchangeable and that the approach taken need not entirely follow a single option.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: "Parishes are popular with people and for too long communities have battled with burdensome bureaucracy to get them created. Our proposal to remove red tape, simplify and streamline the current process to create Parish councils is commonsense.

"We want to give local people a real sense of community control in their areas, giving them freedom to make changes and improvements which best serve their community and area."

Cllr Michael Chater, Chair of the National Association of Local Councils said: "We welcome the creation of more new local (parish and town) councils to deliver wider services to local communities and be the voice of local people. We agree with the proposal to consult on how local councils could be given more power to deliver grassroots services and looking forward to hearing of innovative and radical approaches on how this will happen."

The DCLG said there are currently around 10,000 local (parish or town) councils.