Parish Councils in Action: By a Special Correspondent of The Times1
| Published date | 01 January 1959 |
| Date | 01 January 1959 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1959.tb01198.x |
Parish
Councils
in Action
By A
SPECIAL
CORRESPONDENT
OF
The Times!
MANY
rural
parishes were over a
thousand
years
old
in 1893
when
the
Liberals
proposed to substitute
parish
councils for
their
vestries.
The
uproar
was,
politically speaking, deafening.
The
Local
Government
Bill was stigmatized as
"The
Parish Councils Bill".
Sir
Henry
Fowler,
the
responsible Minister,
had
to rise in the
House
of
Commons
over
800
times
and
it took
more
than
a
year
to pass.
Thereafter
asilence (more or less) reigned for
40
years. Parish Councils
suffered from the effects of
the
agricultural
depression
and
consequent derating.
In
their
early
period
they also suffered from
the
opposition
and
sometimes the
derision of the sceptics,
and,
in
common
with
other
authorities, they
had
to
contend
with
public
indifference to local
government
generally. Moreover, they
had
all
the
disadvantages of
their
own
nature;
being small they were
poor;
being
poor
they
mostly
could
not
afford
expert
servants.
It
was as difficult for
them
to
know
what
to do
and
how
to do it as it was to find
the
necessary funds.
But
in
the
crisis of 1929,
Parliament,
which
abolished
them
in Scotland, left
the
7,500
parish
councils
south
of the
Tweed
much
as they were. Disinterested
voices
had
been
raised on
their
behalf.
The
National
Council of Social Service
and
the
Rural
Community
Councils
began
to offer
them
an
advisory service
and
to
persuade
them
to
combine
into
county
associations.
In
1947
the
enthu-
siasts,
helped
by
the
national
council,
began
to form a
national
association
through
which
the
parishes
could
help
themselves
and,
by 1951,
the
National
Association of Parish Councils
had
a
membership
of
more
than
5,000 councils
and
was
beginning
to function effectively as
an
independent
organization.
Typical Meeting
The
nine or
ten
members
of
the
average
parish
council
are
drawn
from all
walks of life.
They
will include some
of
the
parish
Poo-Bahs
and
at
least
one
woman.
As often as
not
they
meet
in
the
schoolroom,
and
the
public,
which
is
entitled
to
attend,
will often consist of a local Press representative
and
someone
who
attends
any
and
every village meeting.
On
controversial occasions, the
place
may
be
crowded
out.
The
council agrees to a proposal from
the
football
and
cricket clubs
that
a
playing
field
should
be
provided
"because
Mr.
Johnson
has
gone
over to
arable".
There
is a
request
for financial assistance from
the
memorial
hall
committee. Someone has
complained
about
the
muddy
state
of
Primrose
Path
.
.
The
recurrent
problem
of
the
churchyard
is
settled-this
year-by
one
of
the
members
offering to
mow
it himself.
The
lady
from
the
women's
institute
at
last
carries
her
motion
to call a
public
meeting
to
obtain
authority
for
the
lighting
of
the
village street.
Next
come
the
grievances,
which
usually concern
the
activities
of
the
larger
authorities.
The
clerk is told to
write
a
letter
of
protest
to
the
rural
district
council
about
the
allocation
of
council house tenancies
and
one
of
inquiry
to
the
county
council
about
the
rumoured
by-pass.
Can
something
be
done
about
1This article is reprinted from The Times of the
5th
November, 1957 by kind permission of
-the Editor.
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