A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 125 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, most of the county being parished: Luton is completely unparished; Central Bedfordshire is entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 312,301 people living in the 125 parishes, which accounted for 55.2 per cent of the county's population.
Parishes arose from Church of England divisions, and were originally purely ecclesiastical divisions. Over time they acquired civil administration powers. [1]
The Highways Act 1555 made parishes responsible for the upkeep of roads. Every adult inhabitant of the parish was obliged to work four days a year on the roads, providing their own tools, carts and horses; the work was overseen by an unpaid local appointee, the Surveyor of Highways. [2]
The poor were looked after by the monasteries, until their dissolution. In 1572, magistrates were given power to 'survey the poor' and impose taxes for their relief. This system was made more formal by the Poor Law Act 1601, which made parishes responsible for administering the Poor Law; overseers were appointed to charge a rate to support the poor of the parish. [3] The 19th century saw an increase in the responsibility of parishes, although the Poor Law powers were transferred to Poor Law Unions. [4] The Public Health Act 1872 grouped parishes into Rural Sanitary Districts, based on the Poor Law Unions; these subsequently formed the basis for Rural Districts. [5]
Parishes were run by vestries, meeting annually to appoint officials, and were generally identical to ecclesiastical parishes, [6] although some townships in large parishes administered the Poor Law themselves; under the Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act 1882, all extra-parochial areas and townships that levied a separate rate became independent civil parishes. [7]
Civil parishes in their modern sense date from the Local Government Act 1894, which abolished vestries; established elected parish councils in all rural parishes with more than 300 electors; grouped rural parishes into Rural Districts; and aligned parish boundaries with county and borough boundaries. [7] Urban civil parishes continued to exist, and were generally coterminous with the Urban District, Municipal Borough or County Borough in which they were situated; many large towns contained a number of parishes, and these were usually merged into one. Parish councils were not formed in urban areas, and the only function of the parish was to elect guardians to Poor Law Unions; with the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930 the parishes had only a nominal existence. [8]
The Local Government Act 1972 retained civil parishes in rural areas, and many former Urban Districts and Municipal Boroughs that were being abolished, were replaced by new successor parishes; urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes became unparished areas. [9]
Recent governments have encouraged the formation of town and parish councils in unparished areas, and the Local Government and Rating Act 1997 gave local residents the right to demand the creation of a new civil parish. [10]
A parish council can become a town council unilaterally, simply by resolution; [9] and a civil parish can also gain city status, but only if that is granted by the Crown. [9] The chairman of a town or city council is called a mayor. [9] The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 introduced alternative names: a parish council can now choose to be called a community; village; or neighbourhood council. [11]
The Borough of Bedford is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based in Bedford, its namesake and principal settlement, which is the county town of Bedfordshire. The borough contains one large urban area, the 71st largest in the United Kingdom that comprises Bedford and the adjacent town of Kempston, surrounded by a rural area with many villages. 75% of the borough's population live in the Bedford Urban Area and the five large villages which surround it, which makes up slightly less than 6% of the total land area of the Borough.
Bedfordshire is an English ceremonial county which lies between approximately 25 miles and 55 miles north of central London.
A civil parish in England is the lowest unit of local government. There are 284 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, with most of the county being parished. At the 2001 census, there were 359,692 people living in those 284 parishes, accounting for 73.8 per cent of the county's population.
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 104 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, most of the county being parished; Reading is completely unparished; Bracknell Forest, West Berkshire and Wokingham are entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 483,882 people living in the 104 parishes, accounting for 60.5 per cent of the county's population.
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 264 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, most of the county being parished; Cambridge is completely unparished; Fenland, East Cambridgeshire, South Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire are entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 497,820 people living in the parishes, accounting for 70.2 per cent of the county's population.
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 333 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, most of the county being parished. Cheshire East unitary authority is entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 565,259 people living in 332 parishes, accounting for 57.5 per cent of the county's population.
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 14 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester, most of the county being unparished; Bury, Rochdale, Salford and Stockport are completely unparished. At the 2001 census, there were 129,325 people living in the civil parishes, accounting for 5.2% of the county's population.
A civil parish is a subnational entity, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 219 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Lancashire; Blackpool is completely unparished; Pendle and Ribble Valley are entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 587,074 people living in the 219 parishes, accounting for 41.5 per cent of the county's population.
A civil parish is a subnational entity, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 101 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of West Yorkshire, most of the county being unparished. At the 2001 census, there were 557,369 people living in the parishes, accounting for 26.8 per cent of the county's population.
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 10 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear, most of the county being unparished; North Tyneside and South Tyneside are completely unparished. It is the County of England with the least count of civil parishes. At the 2001 census, there were 41,044 people living in the 10 parishes, accounting for 3.8 per cent of the county's population.
A civil parish is a subnational entity, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 21 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of West Midlands, most of the county being unparished; Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton are completely unparished. At the 2001 census, there were 89,621 people living in the parishes, accounting for 3.5 per cent of the county's population.
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 22 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Merseyside, most of the county being unparished; Liverpool and Wirral are completely unparished. At the 2001 census, there were 177,663 people living in the parishes, accounting for 13.0 per cent of the county's population.
Chicksands is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Campton and Chicksands in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The village is on the River Flit and close to its parish village of Campton and the town of Shefford.
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 218 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Cornwall, which includes the Isles of Scilly. The county is effectively parished in its entirety; only the unpopulated Wolf Rock is unparished. At the 2001 census, there were 501,267 people living in the current parishes, accounting for the whole of the county's population. The final unparished areas of mainland Cornwall, around St Austell, were parished on 1 April 2009 to coincide with the structural changes to local government in England.
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