What is a Parish Council?

There are over 9,000 parish and town councils in England and they form the tier of local government closest to the people. Parish and town councils are self-governing local authorities composed of representatives elected by parishioners to make decisions and speak on their behalf. A Parish Council represents and serves the whole community. It is responsible for the services it provides and for achieving the best value for the spending of public money.

The Council is a ‘corporate body’, which means it exists as a legal entity, and the decisions it takes are the responsibility of the Council as a whole. Individual members of the Parish Council, including the Chair, have no statutory authority on their own.

Parish Councils have a limited number of duties, but they do, however, have wide powers, should they decide to use them and they may, with agreement of the district or county council, exercise certain functions normally carried out by those councils.

By their very nature, parish councils aim to maintain a close relationship with the local community. South Hinksey Parish Council encourages the public to put forward issues for the agenda, and to attend council meetings as observers or to participate in the open forum at the start of meetings.