ROLE OF PARISH COUNCILS

The 1965 Royal Commission on Local Government (The Redcliffe-Maude Commission) recommended that local councils should be empowered to do what they pleased for the benefit of their people, and a consequence of this was the very important 1972 Local Government Act which removed many of the restrictions on the activities of parish councils. For example, before the 1972 Act, parish councils couldn’t save money from one year to the next in order to fund a major project, something all councils have to do these days to avoid having a massive council tax for each year that anything new is attempted. Subsequent legislation has added to parish council powers and now local councils can undertake any of the following things:-

• The provision of allotments.
• Developing and improving knowledge of the arts and crafts.
• Provision of baths, washhouses and laundrettes.
• Cemeteries, crematoria, maintenance of churchyards and the provision of mortuaries.
• Provision and maintenance of public clocks.
• Provision of any form of public entertainment and of any premises for giving entertainment's; this includes maintaining bands or orchestras and providing for dancing.
• The provision of buildings for public meetings and functions, indoor sports, physical recreation, for clubs having recreation, social or athletic objectives.
• The provision and maintenance of footway lighting, which lights roads and pavements.
• The provision of litterbins and the support of anti-litter campaigns.
• The provision and maintenance of public open spaces, pleasure grounds and public walks, public lavatories, car parks, cycle parks, public parks and associated facilities.
• Maintenance of public footpaths and bridleway, planting and maintaining road side verges.
• Maintenance of public seats, shelters for general public use and particularly for bus passengers, erection of signs which warn of dangers, renounce a place name or indicate a bus stop.
• Provision of indoor or outdoor swimming pools or bathing places.
• Provision of facilities for conferences, the encouragement of recreation and business tourism.
• Powers to maintain a village or town green.

In addition to all those things, subject to certain formalities a parish council may spend up to a prescribed limit for any purpose which in its opinion is in the interests of or will directly benefit the general community, as long as the expenditure in any one year does not exceed £5.00 per local government elector in that particular parish or community.

In Whetstone, at the present time, that would limit expenditure to somewhere a little over £12,857 in any one year. But indeed, most things that the parish council might wish to do or hope to do could be covered by other legislation for which expenditure is unlimited. The only limit imposed is that of the reluctance of parishioners to pay.

(Adapted from Whetstone PC website)