Rule changes to make it easier to set up new town and parish councils

The threshold of signatures required to trigger a community governance review is to be lowered from 10% to 7.5% of residents as part of a package of measures to make it easier to create a town or parish council, the Government has said.

In its response to consultation, which can be viewed here, the Department for Communities and Local Government also said:

• the amount of time a local authority can take to complete a governance review will be set at 12 months from receipt of a valid petition. The current timetable does not include time taken by a local authority to complete preparatory work or set the terms of reference.
• neighbourhood forums will be allowed to trigger a community governance review for a new parish council without having to submit a petition.

A legislative reform order, which can be viewed here, has been laid in Parliament. It amends the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

The DCLG said it expected the new rights to come into force within the next 12 months. It added, though, that new councils should only be created where sufficient community support existed.

The Department insisted that the measures “will not erode the safeguards in the legislation or result in unsupported changes to communities”.

Communities Minister Stephen Williams said: “We want more people to have the opportunity to take control and have a greater say over what goes on in their neighbourhood.

“Parish and town councils have a crucial role to play, having both a democratically accountable voice and a structure for taking community action. However, the current obligations can stifle local campaigns and constrain local democracy.

“That is why we are changing the rules and helping campaigners by making it much easier to set them up so they can get on and start making a difference for their local communities.”

The move was welcomed by NALC (National Association of Local Councils). Its chairman, Cllr Ken Browse, said: “The proposals to remove red tape, simplify and streamline the current process is a common sense move.

“We welcome the continued impetus on the creation of more new local councils to deliver services to local communities and give them a voice.”

According to the DCLG, on average around a dozen parishes have been created each year since 2010. Around a quarter, are new parish councils in previously unparished areas – the remainder are parishes created as the result of splitting or merging existing parishes or changing the boundaries of existing parishes.

There are currently 33 live campaigns and nearly 100 communities considering campaigning for a parish, the Department added.