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.

Parish & Town Councils

All Parish & Town Councils are a corporate body, a legal entity separate from that of its members. Its decisions are the responsibility of the whole body. The council has been granted powers by Parliament including the important authority to raise money through taxation (the precept) and a range of powers to spend public money.

There are around 9,000 local councils in England and they are growing in number, especially as councils in urban areas are established. Most local councils were set up in 1894 by an Act of Parliament. This created the civil parish, separating it from the church after its long history of delivering local services such as care for the poor, maintenance of roads and collecting taxes.

A typical local council represents around 2,700 people but some have much larger populations. These considerable differences are reflected in annual spending which might range from under £1000 to £4 million.

What can you do? What must you do? What must you not do? All Parish & Town Council have rules that they have to adhere to, these rules may not be exciting, but without understanding them councils could run into trouble.

• A council must do what the law requires it to do.
• A council may do only what the law says it may do.
• A council cannot do anything unless permitted by legislation.

Locking Parish Council and its members have a number of Policies and Procedures that they following.