>>PARISH COUNCILs (civil) were in existence long before 1894 although the Act
>>of 1894 (often referred to in those days as "the parish councils bill")
>>made them more formal and increased their powers a little.
Frank Sharman wrote:
>As I understand it parish councils have existed from about the year dot,
>or shortly thereafter. Essentially they were church organisations
>though from time to time they had non-church functions given to them by
>statute. In 1894 they lost whatever non-church functions they still had
>and they still continue to deal with local church (of England) matters.
>It helps to avoid confusion if one refers to these bodies as Parochial
>Church Councils.
>
>The civil parish councils established in 1894 were entirely different
>creatures and with no connection with the church or the parochial church
>council. They took over some of the local government activities
>formerly performed by the old style parish councils, but were quite
>differently constituted - basically as clones of county councils and
>district council, with democratic elections and so forth.
Well, yes, but in many places the civil parish had exactly the same
boundary as the ecclesiastical council.
>Joy does point out that confusion between these two sorts of councils in
>a parish is still alive and well and that the television series, "The
>Vicar of Dibley", does not help much by showing what seems to be the
>parochial church council performing the functions of the parish council.
I agree that there is confusion but having served for 12 years in my youth
as a clerk to a parish council (civil) and attended many others either as a
member or a visiting speaker, I cannot agree with this criticism of "Vicar
of Dibley"! The general atmosphere of a civil PC meeting is often like
that, especially in small parishes. Many PCs meet in the local school. The
vicar or rector is frequently an elected, or co-opted, member of the civil
PC.
Where there is even more confusion is in the understanding by the public of
the 'parish meeting'. The 'parish meeting' is in theory a meeting of
everybody on the voters' list but in practice less than 3% of the parish
turn up. It is a statutory local government entity. For some powers the
parish council must have a resolution of the 'parish meeting' before it can
go ahead. The 'parish meeting' must by law assemble at least once a year.
This is known as 'the annual assembly of the parish meeting' and should be
advertised like that but in February and March look out for advertisements
in local newspapers covering rural areas for an official parish
advertisement which invites electors to attend 'the annual assembly of the
parish council' or some similar incorrect wording. This gives the
impression that the clerk hasn't quite understood yet what a parish
meeting is!
Brian Read
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