Successor parish

Successor parishes are civil parishes created by the Local Government Act 1972 with the same boundaries as an urban district or municipal borough abolished by the Act. In a few cases an abolished area was divided between counties or districts, and two successor parishes formed.

Part V of Schedule 1 of the Act directed the Local Government Boundary for England to consult with the existing local authorities and make proposals for the establishment of new parishes with a boundary coterminus with an existing urban district or borough, or if divided by a district boundary as much as was comprised in a single district. The Commission was also to propose names for the parishes. The concept of successor parishes was a relatively late addition to the Local Government Bill, being added at report stage in response to pressure from small urban district and small borough councils. [Wood, Bruce. The Process of Local Government Reform 1966-1974. (1976)] It was further allowed that these parish councils would be entitled to be styled 'towns' and have 'town mayors', and retain other charter rights. ["Smaller towns may keep their mayors". "The Times". March 6, 1972.] The mechanism for towns and town mayors was introduced in a government amendment in the Lords in September 1972. [cite hansard|house=House of Lords|date=22 September 1972|column_start=1476|column_end=1481]

The Secretary of State for the Environment was permitted to give the Commission guidance on making their proposals. The stated policy was "to retain elected councils at parish level for small towns but not for areas which are parts of larger towns or continuously built up areas". The original criteria for identifying "small towns" was that they should have fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, or less than 20 percent of the district's population. A report was issued by the Commission in May 1973. [Local Government Boundary Commission for England: report number 3, Proposals for constitution of parishes] Following the publication of the report, a large number of representations were made to the Commission. Fifty-two towns in metropolitan districts wished to be granted successor status, of which ten were successful. A similar number of towns in non-metropolitan districts also made representations, of which fifteen were favourably received. [Local Government Boundary Commission for England: report number 5, Parishes: further proposals]

The parishes were created by three statutory instruments: the Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973 (S.I. 1973/1110), the Local Government (Successor Parishes) (No. 2) Order 1973 (S.I. 1973/1939) and the Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1974 (SI 1974/569).

Where the area of a borough became a successor parish, the powers of the borough corporation under its charter to appoint local officers of dignity passed to the new parish council. Successor parish councils could also apply for the transfer of the coat of arms of the former council by order in council. [Local Government Act 1972, Sections 246 (3) and 247]

The majority of successor parish councils chose to exercise their right to designate their parish a town, with the parish council becoming a town council. A handful (Chichester, Ely, Ripon and Wells) were successors to cities, and the parish council known as a city council.

List of Successor Parishes

=Avon=

Buckinghamshire

=Cleveland=

Derbyshire

=Durham=

Gloucestershire

Hereford and Worcester

Isle of Wight

Leicestershire

Norfolk

Northumberland

=Salop (Shropshire)=

Staffordshire

Tyne and Wear

West Yorkshire

† Subsequently renamed Holme Valley.

Wiltshire

References