Parish Councils

[Kathyan]

We've just had our council tax bill and the parish council charge has gone up by 4.9%. Can anyone tell me what, exactly, the parish council does?

[dzug2]

There's a long list here:

http://archive.defra.gov.uk/rural/documents/living/communities/PPow-dutylist.pdf

of what they can and in some cases must do

You'd need to ask your local one what they actually do

[woofgang]

essentially they deal with local issues, so local road safety, refuse dumping, local activities and community centres and so on.

[Old_Geezer]

I'd like the power to accept gifts too :-)

Seems a little strange that some are of the type, 'power to contribute' or 'power to enforce the bidding of others'.

I think there should be a 'one stop shop' where one can complain/suggest and it gets routed to the right authority.

[Peter Pedant]

has their power to grant planning permission gone ?

I notice it is right to be informed

They used to be the big hitters in the process....

[woofgang]

they still are to an extent PP, if they advise refusal then you either give up or go to appeal. The big difference is that they now have to have genuine reasons for the appeal not to succeed and if their reasons contravene the National Plan then they are sunk (my experience)

[cassa333]

They are a bunch of little fish that think they are sharks.

They are supposed to have the people of and the parishes' best interests at the heart of what they do but when they have been on it for years they tend to get a bit power hungry and class the grants they have to give out as 'thier' money and become officious and odious.

They are not all like that and certainly not to start with but a lot use the parish council as their own little kingdomes.

My own paris ouncil precipt has gone up the most in the county (if not the country I can't remember).