Community council

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Community councils (CCs) are the most local official representative bodies in Scotland and Wales.

They are somewhat similar to parish councils in England. In Scotland, their only statutory role is to communicate local opinion to larger bodies of government.

Members are chosen every four years. They are elected to represent the entire community council area. If there are no more candidates than seats, no election needs to be held. If there are less than half as many candidates as seats, the community council shall not function until there are enough candidates.

1 Community councils in Wales
2 Community councils in Scotland
3 See also
4 External links, References

[edit] Community councils in Wales

Until 1974 Wales was divided into civil parishes. These were abolished by section 20(6) of the Local Government Act 1972, and replaced by communities by section 27 of the same Act. The Principal areas of Wales are divided entirely into communities. Unlike in England, where unparished areas exist, no part of Wales is outside a community, even in urban areas. Not every community has a council however, so such areas are usually without them.

Community councils in Wales are identical to English parish councils in terms of their powers and the way they operate. Welsh community councils may call themselves town councils unilaterally and may have city status granted by the Crown. In Wales, all town councils are community councils. There are currently two community councils with city status: Bangor and St David's. The Chair of a town council or city council will usually have the title Mayor.

In communities with populations too small to justify a full community council, community meetings will be established.

[edit] Community councils in Scotland

In Scotland community councils have fewer powers than their English or Welsh counterparts. There are around 1,200 CCs in Scotland, some of which represent groups of communities.

All of Scotland has had communities delineated, which fit into and change with council areas. However not all communities have community councils, which in Scotland are not statutory and only exist if volunteers are willing to run them.

Like in England and Wales, the main role of the CCs is to act as a channel of the opinions of the local community, and have the right to be notified of and respond to any planning applications. They are also sometimes involved in local projects mostly related to local infrastructure such as footpaths, parks, playgrounds etc, and local events.

Unlike in England and Wales, Scottish CCs do not have the right to raise funds by setting a precept on local taxes, and are instead dependent upon local fundraising and voluntary work, or local authority funding, which is usually received for running costs only.

In much of Scotland CCs are often disregarded and are not usually viewed as a tier of government, even though they can legally have that role. Although in places such as Orkney and Shetland, CCs are viewed as an important part of local government, and receive larger budgets.

Scotland's network of parishes was abolished for administrative purposes in 1929, when larger district councils were formed. Unlike Wales, the new CCs created in 1975 were not necessarily based on old parish areas, which no longer fit any modern administrative areas.