What is a Parish Council and what does it do?

Local Councils are Local Authorities, first created by stature in 1894. Parliament has given Local Councils the power to raise and spend money, a power shared by other Local Authorities.

The Council is a single corporate body and the decisions it takes are that of the Council as a whole, it is responsible for the services that it provides and establishes policies for action and decides how money will be raised and spent on behalf of the Parish. It is also responsible for spending public money lawfully and without risk and for achieving value for money.

A Councillor should contribute to a decision by healthy debate and then voting. Once the decision is reached democratically, the corporate body then owns that decision and Councillors are expected to respect that decision.

The Council makes decisions through the democratic process of voting and as a body; it can delegate decision-making to an officer, Committee, sub-Committee or another Council but NOT to an individual Councillor.