We’re looking at options that could include introducing parish or town councils locally following wider proposals to reorganise local government in Hampshire.
Background to the potential changes
The government is proposing to make changes to the way that local government is organised, with plans to replace the current system of councils with new unitary councils.
Because any new unitary council would be much bigger than we are now, we considered what, if any, local arrangements could be put in place to make sure that residents' voices are heard on local decisions.
Update on the review
On Thursday 29 January, a meeting of the Council agreed that there would be no changes to the current community governance arrangements in Rushmoor at this time.
This follows a public consultation at the end of last year, where we asked if residents would like to see parish (or town) councils or neighbourhood area committees introduced when local government reorganisation changes move ahead. We received 610 responses to our survey and hosted several public drop-in sessions. Thank you to everyone who gave their views.
At the meeting, members considered the results and a report on the findings and given the relatively low response to the survey agreed that no changes would be taken forward at this time and when a new unitary council is created in the future this could be considered again.
Differences between parish councils and neighbourhood area committees
|
|
Parish council | Neighbourhood area committee |
|---|---|---|
| How they are created |
Set up by law as the lowest tier of government. Their powers and duties are given in acts of parliament. Councillors are elected to the parish council and are directly accountable to the electorate. |
Created by a council, they are committees of the council. Councillors are elected to the council, not to the neighbourhood area committee. |
| Powers |
They have legal powers, duties and discretionary powers. They can deliver services, own and manage assets. |
Powers depend on what the council decides the committee can do. They are advisory bodies to the council and can set local priorities. |
| Representation |
Councillors are directly elected to represent the local community, and they focus on local issues. They can serve as the focal point for community identity. |
They are a forum for local issues, they bring stakeholders together, provide local insight to the council and feed into decision making. |
| Funding |
They have staff, run services, and own and maintain assets, so they do need money to run. That comes from a council tax precept, plus money they raise through grants and the income they receive from things like allotment rent and community activities. |
They are not usually given assets and services to run, so the cost is covered by the council tax set by the council which creates them. |
| Duties |
They have legal duties (for instance consultations on planning), plus discretionary duties. Their meetings have legal obligations, and there are legal obligations around their financial management. |
Their duties depend on what the council sets them as. Their role is more about influencing the decisions of the council rather than having a legal mandate. |
| Area covered |
The area covered is what the electorate decides. For example, large parish council could cover all of Farnborough, with another for Aldershot, or it could cover a ward or a couple of neighbouring wards. |
They can cover a ward or several wards. |
| Responsibilities on planning |
Parishes have to be consulted on planning applications. They can also produce neighbourhood plans for development. |
They may have advisory input into planning applications and can be delegated small planning matters, but they do not have legal powers. |
This is a short summary of the differences. Please see our parish councils and neighbourhood committees page for more information.
Please visit our example council tax precepts page for more information about potential council tax precept charges and the types of services run by parish councils in our local area.
Terms of reference and public notice
Please see our community governance review terms of reference for further information.
We have also produced a public notice for the community governance review.
Contact us