Wiki: Successor parish - upcScavenger

Successor parishes are civil parishes with a parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of urban districts and municipal boroughs: a total of 300 successor parishes were formed from the former areas of 78 municipal boroughs and 221 urban districts.

Background

Until 1974, almost all of England was covered by civil parishes. The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) had created parish councils, but only for those parishes which fell within . In urban areas the urban district council or borough council was the lowest level of government, even if the district or borough covered several urban parishes. During the twentieth century the number of parishes in urban areas gradually reduced, as many towns consolidated all their urban parishes into a single parish which coincided with the urban district or borough.

Creation

Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act 1972 created the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, and part V of schedule 1 directed it to consult with the existing local authorities and make proposals for the establishment of new parishes. These would have a boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough, or if divided by a district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. The commission was also to propose names for the parishes.

The concept of successor parishes was a relatively late addition to the Local Government Bill, being added at report stage in response to pressure from the councils of small urban districts and boroughs.Wood, Bruce. The Process of Local Government Reform 1966-1974. (1976) It was further allowed that these parish councils would be entitled to be styled 'towns' and have 'town mayors', and retain other charter rights. Smaller towns may keep their mayors. The Times. March 6, 1972. The mechanism for towns and town mayors was introduced in a government amendment in the Lords in September 1972.

The Secretary of State for the Environment was permitted to give the commission guidance on making their proposals. The stated policy was "to retain elected councils at parish level for small towns but not for areas which are parts of larger towns or continuously built up areas". The original criteria for identifying "small towns" was that they should have fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, or less than 20 percent of the district's population.

A report was issued by the commission in May 1973.Local Government Boundary Commission for England: report number 3, Proposals for constitution of parishes Following the publication of the report, a large number of representations were made. Fifty-two towns in metropolitan districts wished to be granted successor status, of which ten were successful. A similar number of towns in non-metropolitan districts also made representations, of which fifteen were favourably received.Local Government Boundary Commission for England: report number 5, Parishes: further proposals The parishes were created by three statutory instruments: the Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973 (SI 1973/1110), the Local Government (Successor Parishes) (No. 2) Order 1973 (SI 1973/1939), and the Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1974 (SI 1974/569).

Where the area of a borough became a successor parish, the powers of the borough corporation under its charter to appoint local officers of dignity passed to the new parish council. Successor parish councils could also apply for the transfer of the coat of arms of the former council by Order in Council.Local Government Act 1972, Sections 246 (3) and 247 The majority of successor parish councils chose to exercise their right to designate their parish a town, with the parish council becoming a town council. A handful (Chichester, Ely, Ripon, Truro, and Wells) were successors to cities, with the parish council known as a city council.

Civil parishes are not permitted to cross district or county boundaries, and where the creation of a successor parish would cause this to happen, either only part of the former area became a parish or two parishes were formed.

List of successor parishes

Avon

Bedfordshire

Berkshire

Buckinghamshire

Cambridgeshire

Cheshire

Cleveland

Cornwall

Cumbria

Derbyshire

Devon

Dorset

Durham

East Sussex

Essex

Gloucestershire

Greater Manchester

Hampshire

Hereford and Worcester

Hertfordshire

Humberside

Isle of Wight

Kent

Lancashire

Leicestershire

Lincolnshire

Merseyside

Norfolk

North Yorkshire

Northamptonshire

Northumberland

Nottinghamshire

Oxfordshire

Salop (Shropshire)

Somerset

South Yorkshire

Staffordshire

Suffolk

Surrey

Tyne and Wear

Warwickshire

West Sussex

West Yorkshire

Wiltshire

Notes

1 Subsequently merged with North Weston to form Portishead and North Weston in 1993; subsequently renamed Portishead 1 June 1993
2 Subsequently split into separate Huntingdon and Godmanchester parishes in 1982
3 Subsequently renamed Saltburn, Marske and New Marske 1 April 1983
5 Subsequently renamed Wareham Town 18 October 1984
6 Subsequently renamed Droitwich Spa 25 February 1993
7 Subsequently renamed Swanscombe and Greenhithe 28 May 1981
8 Subsequently renamed Dereham 24 June 1991
10 Subsequently renamed Holme Valley 1 April 1976
11 Subsequently renamed North Turton 6 May 1975
(1974). 9780117508477, HMSO. ISBN 9780117508477
12 Subsequently renamed Chard Town
13 Subsequently split into separate Midsomer Norton, Radstock and Westfield parishes
14 Subsequently renamed Kempston 25 March 1975
15 Subsequently renamed St Ives 8 April 2010
16 Subsequently renamed Appleby-in-Westmorland 1 April 1976
17 Subsequently renamed Windermere and Bowness 29 July 2020

Categories: Local Government In England, Civil Parishes In England

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