The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has started consulting on proposals to make it easier for neighbourhood forums to set up new parish councils.
A consultation paper published by DCLG said that the existing process for setting up a new parish council, which requires a ‘community governance review’, is too demanding.
The paper proposes a number of options. These include amending existing Government guidance to set out a six-month timeline for community governance reviews and changing legislation to halve the number of signatories needed for a petition for a community governance review.
The paper also proposes to allow neighbourhood forums to make an application for community governance review, rather than having to submit a petition with the required number of signatories.
‘Parishes are popular with people and for too long communities have battled with burdensome bureaucracy to get them created. Our proposal to remove red tape, simplify and streamline the current process to create Parish councils is common sense,’ said Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
‘We want to give local people a real sense of community control in their areas, giving them freedom to make changes and improvements which best serve their community and area.’
There are currently around 9,500 town and parish councils in England.
Read the Department for Communities and Local Government news release at: LINK
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