Part IE Local Government Areas and Authorities in England

ParishesE

11 Orders for grouping parishes, dissolving groups and separating parishes from groups.E

(1)The parish meeting of a parish may apply to the district council [F1or London borough council] for an order grouping the parish with some neighbouring parish or parishes in the same district [F2or London borough] under a common parish council or by adding the parish to an existing group of such parishes under such a council, and the district council [F1or London borough council]may thereupon make an order accordingly, but subject to subsection (2) below.

(2)Parishes shall not be grouped without the consent of the parish meeting of each of the parishes.

(3)A grouping order shall make the necessary provision—

(a)for the name of the group;

[F3(b)the electoral arrangements that are to apply to the council;]

(c)for the application to the parishes included in the group of all or any of the provisions of [F4sections 298 to 303 of the Charities Act 2011 (parochial charities)] and of any of the provisions of this Act with respect to the custody of parish documents, so as to preserve the separate rights of each parish;

(d)for the dissolution of the separate parish council of any parish included in the group,

and the order may provide for the consent of the parish meeting of a parish being required to any particular act of the parish council, and for any necessary adaptations of this Act to the group of parishes or to the parish meetings of the parishes in the group.

[F5(3A)In this section “electoral arrangements”, in relation to a council, means all of the following—

(a)the year in which ordinary elections of councillors are to be held;

(b)the number of councillors to be elected to the council by each parish;

(c)the division (or not) of any of the parishes, into wards for the purpose of electing councillors;

(d)the number and boundaries of any such wards;

(e)the number of councillors to be elected for any such ward;

(f)the name of any such ward.]

(4)The district council [F6or London borough council] may on the application of the council of a group of parishes or of the parish meeting of any parish included in a group of parishes make an order dissolving the group or separating one or more of those parishes from the group, and an order so made shall make such provision as appears to the district council [F6or London borough council] to be necessary for the election of a parish council for any of the parishes in the group, where it is dissolved, and for any of the parishes separated from the group, where it is not.

(5)Parishes grouped under a common parish council before 1st April 1974 and situated in different districts on and after that date shall, notwithstanding that they are so situated, continue to be grouped under that council—

(a)unless an order is made under F7. . . subsection (4) above or [F8Part II of the Local Government Act 1992][F9or [F10section 86 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007]] dissolving the group; or

(b)except so far as such an order separates one or more of the parishes from the group;

and any order under [F11subsection (4) above or [F10section 86 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007]] in relation to any parishes so situated shall be made by the district councils concerned acting jointly.