About Fulford Parish Council
Fulford Parish Council covers an area from Crockey Hill in the south to Broadway in the north. Home to over 3000 residents, Fulford retains its village character with many areas and buildings of interest. The A19, a major trunk road, runs through the middle of the parish from south to north. The Parish Council is responsible for Fulford Cemetery on Fordlands Road and the playing fields opposite the Cemetery and on School Lane. Fulford Social Hall is also owned and run by the Parish Council. Fulford is home to St Oswalds Primary School and Fulford Secondary School.
What is a town, parish or community council?
Parish and town councils in England and community and town councils in Wales are the first tier of local government. They deliver a vast range of services at a community level.
There are around 10,000 community, parish and town councils in England and Wales, made up of nearly 100,000 councillors. These first-tier councils can respond to the needs of the community – delivering the services or representation it most needs.
At present, but not in all locations in England and Wales, there is a three-tiered structure of local government.
Town/Parish/Community Council
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District/Borough Council/Unitary Authority
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County Council
Powers and duties
Parish and town councils have a large range of powers, and the activities parish and town councils are involved in are immense. Many parish and town councils are involved in planning, promoting tourism, licensing, community halls, representation, management of town and village centres and providing community halls.
How parish councils work
Parish councils are statutory bodies. Members are elected for a term of four years and councils are funded principally by an annual precept. Income and expenditure for the next financial year are calculated in the form of estimates. The net amount (the precept) is added to council tax, collected by the county, borough or district council (principal authorities) and paid to parishes in two six-monthly instalments. Parish and town councils can apply for other funding such as grant and funding awards, but they do not receive funds direct from central government, as principal authorities do.
Creation of parish and town councils in England
The 1997 Local Government and Rating Act introduced a new procedure for creating parishes in unparished or partly unparished areas by petition. A petition may be presented to the district, borough or county council requesting the creation of a parish and a parish council for a defined area. The petition must be signed by at least 250 or 10% of the local government electors in that area, whichever is the greater number. The receiving council must forward the petition to the Secretary of State. It has a right to add its comments but cannot block the petition. The Secretary of State may accept or reject it, or refer it to the Local Government Commission for review on the same basis as a recommendation from a district, borough or unitary council. This procedure is currently under review.
The Role of Parish Councils
There are about 8,700 parish and town councils in England, serving 30% of the population as their most direct tier of government and responsible for a budget of £493m. That is an average of about £20 for every parishioner. Individual budgets range from £100 to over £1million. Parish councils have wide powers in law, but relatively few duties, making individual councils very different in size and activity.
Typical Parish Council Business
As can be seen from our minutes, typical business includes helping parishioners with local issues, often by taking up their problems with the City Council, Police or other agency, commenting on local planning applications, managing Fulford Cemetery, our playing fields & green and the Social Hall and working pro-actively on local issues such as development, flooding, traffic and recreation.
The History of Parish Councils
Parish Councils have their origins in Saxon and Norman times. Villages were ruled by the Lord of the Manor and sometimes the villagers all met to make decisions which affected the whole community. Parish Priests and later Schoolmasters took on roles of leadership and by 1601 Church Vestry Meetings were given the responsibility of levying the poor rate. These were the first effective local taxes.
There have been 25 Acts of Parliament over the last two centuries conferring, directly or indirectly, various powers on Parish Councils including Gladstone’s 1894 Local Government Act which established them in their modern form as the third tier of Local Government and the 1972 Local Government Act which revised their role substantially.
The powers of Parish Councils include:
- The maintenance of a village green or other common space or pasture.
- The maintenance and protection of war memorials.
- The provision of allotments, including the duty to provide allotments if demanded by parishioners.
- The acquisition, provision and maintenance of cemeteries and the maintenance of closed church yards.
- The provision of bus shelters, public clocks, buildings for public meetings, community centres and facilities for sports, recreation and social events.
- The provision and maintenance of street lighting, roadside verges (including tree planting), litter bins, car parks, public conveniences, public seating, and some traffic signs.
- The maintenance of rights of way, ponds, ditches, public footpaths and bridle-ways.
- The right to appoint school governors.
- The right to be notified of planning applications.
- The passing of bye-laws in relation to open spaces, cemeteries, cycle parking and pleasure grounds.
- The provision of public entertainment and support for the arts.
A full list of the acts of Parliament and powers that apply to Parish Councils can be found at the web site of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), In addition to all those things, a parish council can do anything, provided it is for the general benefit of the community, and that in any one year does not exceed a set amount per local government elector in the parish (£8.41 for 2021/22) . There is also a power called “The Power of Well Being” which was extended to local councils in 2008 enabling them to become involved in more projects and initiatives in their communities.