Successor parish | |
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Category | Civil parish |
Location | England |
Found in | Districts |
Created by | Local Government Act 1972 |
Created |
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Number | 300 (as of 1 April 1974) |
Possible types |
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Government |
Successor parishes are civil parishes with a parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of urban districts and municipal boroughs: a total of 300 successor parishes were formed from the former areas of 78 municipal boroughs and 221 urban districts.
Until 1974, almost all of England was covered by civil parishes. The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) had created parish councils, but only for those parishes which fell within rural districts. In urban areas the urban district council or borough council was the lowest level of government, even if the district or borough covered several urban parishes. During the twentieth century the number of parishes in urban areas gradually reduced, as many towns consolidated all their urban parishes into a single parish which coincided with the urban district or borough.
Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act 1972 created the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, and part V of schedule 1 directed it to consult with the existing local authorities and make proposals for the establishment of new parishes. These would have a boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough, or if divided by a district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. The commission was also to propose names for the parishes.
The concept of successor parishes was a relatively late addition to the Local Government Bill, being added at report stage in response to pressure from the councils of small urban districts and boroughs. [1] It was further allowed that these parish councils would be entitled to be styled 'towns' and have 'town mayors', and retain other charter rights. [2] The mechanism for towns and town mayors was introduced in a government amendment in the Lords in September 1972. [3]
The Secretary of State for the Environment was permitted to give the commission guidance on making their proposals. The stated policy was "to retain elected councils at parish level for small towns but not for areas which are parts of larger towns or continuously built up areas". The original criteria for identifying "small towns" was that they should have fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, or less than 20 percent of the district's population.
A report was issued by the commission in May 1973. [4] Following the publication of the report, a large number of representations were made. Fifty-two towns in metropolitan districts wished to be granted successor status, of which ten were successful. A similar number of towns in non-metropolitan districts also made representations, of which fifteen were favourably received. [5] The parishes were created by three statutory instruments: the Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973 (SI 1973/1110), [6] the Local Government (Successor Parishes) (No. 2) Order 1973 (SI 1973/1939), [7] and the Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1974 (SI 1974/569). [8]
Where the area of a borough became a successor parish, the powers of the borough corporation under its charter to appoint local officers of dignity passed to the new parish council. Successor parish councils could also apply for the transfer of the coat of arms of the former council by Order in Council. [9] The majority of successor parish councils chose to exercise their right to designate their parish a town, with the parish council becoming a town council.[ citation needed ] A handful (Chichester, Ely, Ripon, Truro, and Wells) were successors to cities, with the parish council known as a city council.
Civil parishes are not permitted to cross district or county boundaries, and where the creation of a successor parish would cause this to happen, either only part of the former area became a parish or two parishes were formed.
Avon was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in the west of England that existed between 1974 and 1996. The county was named after the River Avon, which flows through the area. It was formed from the county boroughs of Bristol and Bath, together with parts of the administrative counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset.
Telford and Wrekin is a borough and unitary authority in Shropshire, England. In 1974, a non-metropolitan district of Shropshire was created called The Wrekin, named after a prominent hill to the west of Telford. In 1998, the district became a unitary authority and was renamed "Telford and Wrekin", which remains part of the Shropshire ceremonial county and shares institutions such as the Fire and Rescue Service and Community Health with the rest the county.
Ellesmere Port and Neston was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It covered the southern part of the Wirral Peninsula, namely that part which is not included in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.
Hinckley and Bosworth is a local government district with borough status in Leicestershire, England. The council is based in Hinckley, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Earl Shilton and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. The Bosworth in the borough's name refers to the small market town of Market Bosworth, near which the Battle of Bosworth Field was fought in 1485.
Shrewsbury and Atcham was a local government district with borough status in Shropshire, England, between 1974 and 2009.
The Borough of Swindon is a unitary authority area with borough status in Wiltshire, England. Centred on Swindon, it is the most north-easterly district of South West England.
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Erewash is a local government district with borough status in Derbyshire, England. The borough is named after the River Erewash. The council has offices in both the borough's towns of Ilkeston and Long Eaton. The borough also includes several villages and surrounding rural areas. Some of the built-up areas in the east of the borough form part of the Nottingham Urban Area.
Vale Royal was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It contained the towns of Northwich, Winsford and Frodsham.
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North Hertfordshire is one of ten local government districts in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Letchworth. The district borders East Hertfordshire, Stevenage, Welwyn Hatfield, St Albans, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, and South Cambridgeshire.
The Borough of Fareham is a local government district with borough status in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Fareham. Other places within the borough include Portchester, Hill Head, Sarisbury, Stubbington, Titchfield and Warsash. The borough covers much of the semi-urban area between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, and is part of the South Hampshire conurbation. The neighbouring districts are Eastleigh, Winchester, Portsmouth and Gosport. The district's southern boundary is the coast of the Solent.
Cannock Chase is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. It is named after and covers a large part of Cannock Chase, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The council is based in the town of Cannock. The district also contains the towns of Hednesford and Rugeley, as well as a number of villages and surrounding rural areas.
The Local Government Act 1972 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Government of 1970–74.
Waltham Holy Cross was a local government district in the county of Essex, England. It was created as a local board of health district in 1850 when the parish of Waltham Holy Cross adopted the Public Health Act 1848 and was governed by Waltham Holy Cross Local Board of Health. In 1894 it became an urban district and the board became Waltham Holy Cross Urban District Council.
In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish. Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparished. Many towns and some cities in otherwise rural districts are also unparished areas and therefore no longer have a town council or city council, and are instead directly managed by a higher local authority such as a district or county council.
The Borough of Havant is a local government district with borough status in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Havant. Other towns and villages within the borough include Bedhampton, Cowplain, Emsworth, Hayling Island, Purbrook, Waterlooville and Widley. The borough covers much of the semi-urban area in the south east of Hampshire, between the city of Portsmouth and the West Sussex border.
The County Borough of Teesside was a county borough in the north-east of England, which existed for just six years. It was created in 1968 to cover the Teesside conurbation which had grown up around the various port and industrial towns near the mouth of the River Tees. The council was based in Middlesbrough, the area's largest town. The county borough was abolished in 1974 on the creation of the new county of Cleveland, which covered a larger area, with the county borough's territory being split between three of the four districts created in the new county.
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) was the statutory body established under the Local Government Act 1972 to settle the boundaries, names and electoral arrangements of the non-metropolitan districts which came into existence in 1974, and for their periodic review. The stated purpose of the LGBCE was to ensure "that the whole system does not get frozen into the form which has been adopted as appropriate in the 1970s". In the event it made no major changes and was replaced in 1992 by the Local Government Commission for England.