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 community of Caernarfon has the status of a royal town. 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.

Community councils were introduced in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The duty was placed on the newly established district councils to prepare an establishment scheme to divide their district into community council areas. In 1996 this duty passed to the present area councils. All of Scotland has had community council areas delineated, the numbers and boundaries of which can be altered by the area council. However not all communities have community councils, which in Scotland are not statutory and only exist if volunteers are willing to run them. They are officially stated to be "non-party-political and non-sectarian" in their discussions and decision making. Community councils must adopt a constitution stating the name of the community council and dealing with such matters as the frequency of meetings, office bearers, method of election, finance and standing orders.

Membership of community councils consists of:

Elected members: The area council's establishment scheme details the number of elected councillors, and the areas for which they shall be elected.
Co-opted members: The community council may co-opt additional members with particular skills or interests that will assist them in their work. These members may be co-opted for a specific period of time, or dismissed at the community council's pleasure. It is permitted for persons of between 14 and 18 years of age to be co-opted to represent the interests of "youth".
Ex officio members: The constitutions of many community councils provide that the area councillor for the ward containing the community council area, local MPs and MSPs shall be ex officio members.

Co-opted and ex officio members have no votes on the councils and may not be office bearers.

Councils are only established in areas where there is public demand. The establishment scheme will set out the exact procedure for establishing a council where one does not exist: a stated number of local government electors in the designated area must petition the area council, who will then schedule elections. In the case of all community council elections, if nominations are received for less than fifty percent of the seats, the election is postponed and the council not formed or dissolved. Community councils can be dissolved at any time for lack of numbers of members, financial irregularity or failure to reach standards. This can be done either by the area council unilaterally, or by the community council itself by a two thirds majority at a special general meeting. Community councils can also choose to amalgamate themselves with an adjoining community by a similar process.

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.

Community councillors may be included as non-voting members of area committees under the decentralisation schemes of area councils.

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 1930, 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. Several of them are based on former burghs, and have rematriculated the burgh coat of arms and use the title "provost" for their chairman.