Responsibilities of Councils

Everything a Parish Council does is provided for by legislation but is also subject to the provision of general law.

Parish Councils have the following powers - some of which are shared by the District and County Councils:

• Allotments (provision and maintenance).
• Arts (arts and crafts development and improvement of knowledge.)
• Baths, wash-houses, swimming pools and launderettes can be provided.
• Borrowing (for a maximum of 25 years after receiving loan sanction consent via NALC)
• Burial grounds (provision and maintenance and provision of crematoria, mortuaries and post mortem rooms).
• Bylaws for playing areas and village greens.
• Churchyards (power to contribute to the costs of maintenance of churchyards in use, and a duty to maintain any closed churchyards where that duty has been transferred through Order in Council)
• Clocks (provision and maintenance of public clocks).
• Commons (power to protect where no registered owner known).
• Crime prevention (establishment of schemes for the detection or prevention of crime, and making grants to householders and the police for the purpose).
• Entertainments (provision of any form of public entertainment).
• Halls (provision for public meetings, functions, sports, indoor recreation and clubs).
• Legal proceedings (power to defend or prosecute legal proceedings on behalf of parishioners and to participate in Public Inquiries.
• Lighting (provision and maintenance of any footway lighting).
• Litter (provision of litter-bins and support for anti-litter campaigns).
• Open spaces, parks and playing fields (provision and maintenance of open spaces and walks).
• Parking places (provision and maintenance of cycle and car parks).
• Planning (receive notification of applications in the parish and make suitable comments).
• Ponds (powers to deal with contaminated ponds and pools)
• Post and telephone (power to indemnify postal and/or telephone authorities against loss).
• Public lavatories (provision and maintenance).
• Rights of Way (maintenance).
• Roadside verges (power to plant and maintain).
• Seats (provision and maintenance on the public highway).
• Shelters (provision and maintenance for public use).
• Signs (power to erect warning signs).
• Tourism (provision of facilities for conferences and to encourage recreation and business).
• Traffic calming (contributions towards highway authority costs)
• Transport (car sharing, taxi fare concessions, community ‘bus services transport information).
• Village and town greens (maintenance)
• General Expenditure - power to spend a maximum of £5.00 per head of electors’ register on any purpose not otherwise covered, where that expenditure is of direct benefit to the area or the parishioners, provided no legislation exists whereby such expenditure is illegal.
  

District and County Council Responsibilities

The District and County authorities are wholly responsible for the following:

• Planning, roads & maintenance
  
• Housing 
  
• Education
  
• Waste collection 
  
• Waste disposal
  
• Environmental health 
  
• Libraries
  
• Parks 
  
• Social Services
  
• Leisure & recreation
  
• Fire & rescue services
  
• Country Parks
  
• Public footpaths
  
• Strategic planning
  
• Environmental protection
  

Code of Conduct

You can download our latest Code of Conduct